June 11 Phoenix, AZ
Willow House

This was a very cool gig. The Willow House is a funky old house in downtown Phoenix that is a cafe and performance space. Each room is full of mismatched furniture and lots of local art of all kinds. One room has used books and records for sale, another has used clothing. Since it was about 100 degrees, we played on a little stage outdoors on the patio, under hot evening skies and misters to keep us cool. We played a whopping 3 sets to an ever changing assortment of people, and were very well received. We didn't feel that we'd really hit our stride until about halfway through the second set, as it was our first duo gig in awhile. But by the end of the evening we knew that we were off to a great start on our honeymoon tour!

This was RTP's second visit to this cool desert town. Val went on her mini tour to Tucson earlier this year in March, playing at local community radio station KXCI, live in store at Zia Records, and also at the Plaza Pub.

A friend of ours was out of town and left us the keys to his plush abode, (thanks, Kevin!) so we had a comfortable place to crash for a few days. Since we got to town the day before our gig, we did a quick 2 song teaser performance on air at KXCI and then wandered around Tucson in the blazing heat. That night we caught an amazing set by locals Calexico at 7 Black Cats, a funky bar which we hadn't previously known about, but definitely plan on returning to next tour. Calexico plays dreamy, sleepy, desert surfy spaghetti western tinged rock, and their set was positively inspiring.

Our gig on Sat. at Plaza Pub felt kind of mediocre and was poorly attended, but we did get a positive response from the few who caught our set. The local band Wisefolk Malconent played after us and Val turned in early, retiring to the van to sleep off a bad headache. Lucy caught and enjoyed their set and rapped with Andy, the guitarist and singer of the band, and also got to meet and chat with Joey Burns from Calexico, who unfortunately wasn't there in time for our set. The door that night pulled in all of about 100 bucks which was to be split by the 2 bands, but the guys in Wisefolk Malcontent kindly gave most of the money to us, saying they know what it's like to be on tour. Thanks, guys!

This was one strange gig. Not so much strange as just possibly difficult. Greens is sort of a BAR, bar, like it's the local watering hole and a kind of place where BAR bands go over really well, and so it seemed to us like they weren't sure what to make of us, but we did get a glowing review in the local paper.

Hmm, another tough gig. This time were sort of background music and kind of felt a little like a lounge act, but again, as with each gig so far, we sold a CD or 2 and made a few new fans

July 4 Burlington, VT
Border's Books & Red Square

The drive up to Vermont was a beautiful one. We played 2 great sets at Border's Books Cafe in downtown Burlington on Sunday afternoon, and lots of people came and went throughout our performance. We played well and felt good and sold some more CD's and made a few more fans, spreading our pestiness all the way to the east coast, little by little...

The next night we played 3 slightly more edgy and amplified sets at the Red Square, a college-y sort of pub downtown. For a Monday night, there were a fair amount of people there. The sound system was cruddy and even though we had some of our own gear, we had a really hard time with the sound. Also it was about 1 billion degrees in there with 1000 percent humidity and mosquitoes preyed on us relentlessly, but we charged on and played with a nice, irritable intensity that won us a few more fans before the night was through. During our second set the wind started blowing outside and the hot sky opened up and poured down an intense rainstorm. When we loaded the van later, the sky was cool and the air was clear.

Val was a little suspicious of this place at first, admittedly walking in with certain preconceived notions about the place and the people hanging out in it, thinking they wouldn't like us. There were about 40 or so people there and we were very well received. They were an attentive and appreciative audience, and again we made new friends and sold more stuff, and a fun and beer filled time was had by all. Cleveland turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. It's a great place to thrift shop and go garage sale-ing, and when we left town our van was full of vintage finds too good and cheap to leave behind. Lucy took an excursion to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and was deeply moved. He managed to touch everything that was not behind glass cases, such as the very same red les paul guitar (#5) Pete Townshend was playing in September of 1979 when the Who played at Madison Square Garden in NYC (when Lucio's life was changed forever...). The stuff behind the glass was great too: Muddy Waters red Telecaster, Johnny Thunders yellow Les Paul Jr. Howling Wolf's "money suitcase," Sun Records Recording Studio...etc. etc. Ahhh. Thanks to David, Georgie and Henry for sharing their fine home with us.

We rolled into town to find a prominent photo and nice blurb in the Chicago Reader. We had a great time wandering around Chicago for several days and thanks to our friend Gil we had a comfortable base to stretch out for a few days.

When we walked into Puffer's that night, Val was about ready to cry, looking around at all the boozing union steel worker looking kind of guys, watching sports and playing darts and being rowdy. There was a poster for our show in the window, but the bartender didn't seem to know anything about the show and the owner was nowhere to be seen. So the bartender told us to have a seat while he called the owner, and while we waited, we drank beer and debated if we even wanted to stay and do the show. Val cried into her beer and wrote herself into a deep depression until the owner, Bruce who turned out to be a great guy and genuine music fan, showed up and assuaged our concerns, well, Lucy's at least. But Val was still nervous. We stayed and played in a dark corner in front of the big fan and a little too close to the dart board, but something magical happened. They loved us! They clapped and howled and started tipping us! A woman walked up and handed us a pitcher full of money! They bought CD's and insisted on buying us drinks! They chatted with us and wouldn't let us leave the bar till closing time! It was the complete opposite of Val's initial perceptions and a huge lesson in not judging people by thinking they could only like one kind of music.

Later that week we played at The Hideout, also in Chicago. This was such a treat--a very cool bar with a separate music room, very ambient lighting, a nice stage/sound system and funky furniture. It had recently been featured in Rolling Stone as one of Chicago's best bars, and it's not hard to see why. The owner, Rick, gave us a very kind introduction, we played a great show and were very well received, and we met several people later who said they came just because they saw the write up in the paper and it sounded interesting. We musn't forget to mention and thank Cheryl Moody, publicist at large, for doing such a great job to get us this publicity. After our set, the owner came out and toasted to us, the newly hitched couple, with champagne for everyone! Ridiculously nice! Everyone here made us feel so welcome. Thanks to our good buddy Tom Gerlach for joining us in bass guitar for "Big Black Hole" and getting us these two gigs!!

This gig was a blast. It was another one of those gigs where we walked in not quite knowing what to think, but it turned out to be so much fun. First of all, the drive through and around Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana were so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Love those open roads in Wyoming, where there is no speed limit! Anyway Jay's Downstairs is kind of a cowboy bar, and Jay's Upstairs is kind of a punk bar, which was where we played, wedged in between 2 hardcore bands, and a grand time was had by all. Again, the people were so friendly to us. Before the show we were sitting at the bar and hanging with some guys who live there, who as it turns out saw both Moxie (now Peachfish) and Schlong (now no longer, and bassist Pat Mello plays w/ Lucio in ZEBU) when they'd played at Jay's, and they said the Schlong show was like there most favorite show they'd ever seen at Jay's. We also met a cool woman who is starting a pirate radio station, who learned about pirate radio from Berkeley's own free radio pioneer, Steven Dunifer. And then, there was the really drunk guy who claimed to be a wizard, copying down poetry onto cocktail napkins and surreptitiously handing them to Val....

When we finally reached the west coast again, we were ecstatic to smell the Pacific ocean and be that much closer to home. Our gig at Borders was a little strange, as they had us set up in the middle of the record section, so we didn't really play to an audience so much as to a bunch of rows of records and several passing people. A couple of our friends did show up, bless 'em, and of course, we got yet more Borders gift certificates as payment, which is a little nicer than playing for free beer! Thanks to our friends Tim and Joe, Kristin and Charley for putting us up and putting up with us.

By this point, we were beyond ready to get home, irritable and agitated from being on the road and yet sad that our months of living out of our van were about to come to an end, and dreading settling back into normal life. We got to town early enough to sneak off for a soak in Cougar Hot Springs, which was perfectly divine. Our gig at Sam Bond's was pretty sparsely attended, but the handful who were there seemed to enjoy it. We were so anxious to get home that we planned to leave town right after our set, but our friend Alain convinced us to rest in his abode, and we had a lovely time hanging out with him and his dog Walter, and he made us crepes with fresh blueberries the next morning, a perfect send off.

All in all, it was an excellent trip, and we were definitely infested with the urge to do more touring, so look for more of RTP in your town in '99! For all you other touring folks who may be reading this, we'd like to pass on that we actually ate well on this trip almost everywhere we went, be scouting out the local health food store and filling our cooler with things like fresh fruit and vegetables. We're pleased to say we didn't eat fast food once! "The Tofu Tollbooth" is a must have travel book that was compiled by Dar Williams, a touring musician, and it contains info. on where to find healthy, organic, vegetarian food in 48 states. A useful tool!