WhiteWolfSonicPrincess Tour Diary:
6:00 p.m. - Stop at the coffee shop to get a caffeine fix. Back at the apartment pop in a new battery for my delay pedal, tune up guitar, put it in my beat-up guitar case, close it by wrapping a belt around it - probably time to get a new case. Carla is ready - she's got her music stand, her tambourine, hair curled. We get on the EL and head to the big city.
7:00 p.m. - We disembark at Addison. Clark and Addison. Wrigley Field - a big silent stadium in the dark winter night. This area of the city is sports bar heaven. Lots of neon. Shiny and friendly places - wood and silver - dedicated to sports and beer. Arrive at the Goose Island Beer Pub - a magnificent bar - kind of like the Chartes of beer joints. Long bar, big booths, lots of artery clogging food, big vats of beer - this is where the golden liquid is made.
8:00 p.m. The band trickles in. I have it easy. Just my acoustic guitar and a couple of effects pedals. I feel sorry for the drummer - it's all about setup and tear down with the show kind of shoe-horned in the middle. The sound guy is helpful. We're a pretty elaborate outfit now - bass, drums, electric and acoustic violin, the Lovely Carla and I. We do a sound check. It's a big room, large stage, nice lighting. It's a little strange - we're used to playing in a circle all connecting, the stage setup kind of works against our tight circle of communication.
9:00 p.m. The show goes well. The room is dotted with friends. A small but enthusiastic audience. We feel pretty good. No major glitches. Carla is singing with power and authority. My guitar sounds a little weird to me. We are so used to our little rehearsal space. Always need to adjust to the moment.
9:45 p.m. Another show under our belt. You have to approach each show as if it's that last stand. And then chalk it up to the next step in the process. It's all just an unfolding. Our band is really starting to jell. The sound is still evolving. It all felt good. My friends from Famous in the Future - Frank and Terry, tell me we sounded "Prog" - prog rock?! My great friend Ken tells me we sounded "Stonesy" - ala the Rolling Stones, and then someone else says we sounded: "indie-country-rock-punky-tori amos." Wow.
12:00 a.m. We hitched a ride home with our bass player. Sitting watching Craig Ferguson on the box. Man, that guy is funny! Hard to come down after a show. Hit the pillow and think about fighting windmills and grabbing circles of gold...