Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Almost home - March Tour

Here - back in Flagstaff, Arizona - a favorite town of mine and I'm glad that this is the last stop before heading back to LA. It's been a busy month of traveling - playing lots of shows, seeing friends and family - and it's going to be strange to go back to life in LA - back to the day job and back to the day to day things.
My last official show was Friday night in St. Louis - it was good one at the Heavy Anchor - a crowd that was listening and I caught up with an old friend - and the Dead Soldiers who were from Memphis, TN were really good. My cousin Mike and I ran into them later at Mangia. The next day I drove back to Nashville to see friends before leaving the area completely. The drive is only 5 hours and by that point really easy to get there.
It ended up being a quiet, relaxing night and after a decent night of sleep I woke up ready to head back to the west. I had wanted to get to Dallas, but I got out of town a little later than expected - I had stopped by Trader Joe's on the other side of town to see some friends before leaving. A storm started rolling in - a storm that brought rain and later, snow. That night I only made it to Texarkana which isn't too far down the road, but the weather and my late start and the fact that Dallas was still a ways away that night, I stopped right there on the Texas border.
The next day I had wanted to make it to Las Cruces, New Mexico - a good 12 hours away - so I prepared myself for a long day of driving. I made several stops along the way - once for BBQ in Sulphur Springs and coffee in Abilene - and then no major stop until I rolled into New Mexico. I was pretty beat. It's a strange thing to be in your car driving for that long alone. Thoughts of the past come into my mind - and thoughts about the future - listening to music keeps things interesting, although occasionally I'll continue with no music. I was happy when I got into my motel room that night and was able to rest.
Yesterday I woke up not sure of where I wanted to go. It's about 13 hours or so to get back to LA and I didn't want to spend another day driving. So I asked some friends in Arizona about what was going on and my friends in Flagstaff said that they were planning dinner and a bit of a guitar jam - so I decided to head there.
I drove up through the mountains of south west New Mexico and into the eastern mountains of Arizona - all places I hadn't seen before. It was a good drive - although by the 5th hour I was ready to be there. I hooked up to the I-40 in Holbrook and cruised into Flagstaff just as the sun was setting in the sky. It felt good to be back in this town - and out of the car. I was able to see the full moon rise up into the sky and had a great night with some great friends.
It's about a 7 hour drive back to LA from here. I need to time it so that I miss the worse of the LA traffic - so I'm more than happy to just hang out in town for a bit more - a bit more of a reprieve from reality.
yours truly,
Jeremiah

Friday, March 15, 2013

In Between Days - Tour Break

Back in Southern California for a few days - took care of some business this morning, going to work tomorrow and then the next, then on Monday I fly back to Denver and continue eastward with the tour. It'll be a stop in St. Louis, a stop in Nashville, then early Thursday morning on the 21st I'll head to Knoxville, Tennessee to play on the WDVX show The Blue Plate Special - 12 noon EASTERN standard time. Here's the link:
WDVX Blue Plate Special
From Knoxville I head up to the Cincinnati area and play from 10pm to 1am at The Southgate House Revival in Newport, KY - which is right across the river from downtown Cincinnati. This place has been good to me in the past and I'm looking forward to coming back to this venue.
After the Southgate House I'll be driving over to St. Louis to play Friday night, the 22nd, at The Heavy Anchor - which is a place I played last year - it's a cool spot and I'm glad that they're having me back.
It'll be nice to be out on those midwest and southern roads once again - I'm looking forward to getting some BBQ too.

www.jeremiahandtheredeyes.com
www.mikaeladewar.com

Here are some photos from the rest of The Homesick Blues Tour
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Mikaela Dewar at Vino Loco in Flagstaff, AZ
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The road out of Flagstaff
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Monument Valley
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The town of Frisco, CO - a rest stop on our drive through the mountains as the snow fell and fell
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Chris Evans and yours truly in Denver
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Mikaela and I at The Laughing Goat in Boulder, CO
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Chris and I at The Laughing Goat
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Mikaela and I at the KRFC studios in Fort Collins - after our Live @ Lunch show
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On the road to Taos - Southern Colorado mountains
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The sign for the Taos Inn - where I played that night
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Taos, New Mexico
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Some mighty fine huevos rancheros at The Coffee Spot in Taos
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Flying high over Colorado
thanks for looking
yours truly
Jeremiah

Monday, March 11, 2013

Southwest Tour - Day 8

It's Monday night and I'm in Denver, CO. Mikaela flew back to Nashville this afternoon after we played in Fort Collins at the KRFC station. I head south tomorrow morning for Taos, NM where the next show is - at The Adobe Bar at the Taos Inn. I hope the weather stays mild so I can get there safely.
It's been a busy 8 days - a little stressful with the storms that rolled through the areas we were in - or going to be in - so that's why I've missed writing here over the past several days. We made it from LA through Arizona - up through the east side of Utah and then western Colorado. We heard about the storm that was going to hit the mountains with forecast of some large amounts of snow - Denver too. But luckily it wasn't as bad as expected and slowly and carefully we made it into town - with enough time to get to our gig on Saturday night. We had a show in Boulder last night and today the radio show.
It's been a good road trip and I look forward when we can hit the road together again - hopefully before the year is over. It's nice having a road partner again - I've definitely missed having someone to share the experience with and I felt that we had a good mix.
After a trip back to LA over the weekend to take care of some business I'll be heading east - stopping in St. Louis and Nashville - and then on Thursday, March 21 at 12pm EST I'll be playing on the radio again out of Knoxville, TN on The Blue Plate Special show -
listen in here through the link: WDVX Blue Plate Special
Then later that evening I'll be in the Cincinnati area at the Southgate House Revival in Newport, KY - which is right across the river from downtown Cincinnati from 10 to 1am. On Friday I head back to St. Louis for a show at The Heavy Anchor - then eventually make my way back to the West Coast.
yours truly,
Jeremiah

Friday, March 8, 2013

SW Tour - Day 5

It's been a long day today. Last night we were in Flagstaff where we played our 2 shows - and both went well - good crowds. We woke up to snow - and it continued to fall. Cautiously we headed northeast towards Monument Valley as the snow fell more and more. As we came down from the high elevation it cleared up, but when we got into Utah it started snowing again.
We finally made it to Fruita, CO - which is on the west side of Colorado just past the Utah border. Mikaela and I had a good gig in a nice little venue - attentive crowd, great sound - it's called Cavalcade - and hopefully I'll be back there before the year is over.
Tomorrow we're supposed to head to Denver, but there is a blizzard that's going to hit pretty much the entire state - so we might be stuck over here for another night. I'll be checking the weather report when I get up in the morning.
I think that's it for now - after a couple nigts of not sleeping all that well or that much I'm feeling pretty beat this evening - so over and out
yours truly,
Jeremiah

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Tour - day 3

The Arizona weather has been amazing - a perfect time to venture out here - 75 degrees during the day and not too chilly at night - well here in Scottsdale that is - and the surrounding areas. Even up in Jerome is was cool but in the sun warm - we sat for a while in the sun in Sedona and relaxed and just looked out to the surrounding view which is truly amazing. We almost didn't want to leave, but we have shows to do and soon we made it back to the car and headed down Highway 17 to the Phoenix Valley.
Tonight we played in Cave Creek at Janey's Coffeehouse and Bodega - a cool spot in a cool little town that's north of Phoenix in the hills. The town has a relaxed feel - and Janey's has that feeling too. We set up the gear and soon got down to playing some music. People showed up and we worked our way through our sets. Things are feeling more familiar to me as we keep playing each show and it was a good idea, I see now, to book the radio show towards the end of this run - but that's on Monday.
Tomorrow we're headed up the road to Flagstaff - I can't wait to get back to that town. We're doing two shows. The first is at Vino Loco from 6 to 8 - and the second is at the Flagstaff Brewing Company from 10 to 1 am. I'm sure we'll be pretty tired at the end of the night. On Friday we head to Colorado - I'm hoping that the snow that's supposed to fall won't be too bad
yours truly,
Jeremiah
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The Spirit Room in Jerome, AZ - and the room at Conor Hotel that we had was nice a big
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Miss Mikaela Dewar
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Me, at The Spirit Room
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Looking out from Jerome to the east
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The stage is ready - at Janey's Coffeehouse and Bodega in Cave Creek

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Homesick Blues Tour - day 2

So it has begun
- we played last night at 4th Street Vine in Long Beach which was the official start of the tour that my friend and singer/songwriter Mikaela Dewar are doing together. I felt that it was a good night - even though we're still getting things worked out and I know things will be getting better with each show - it feels good overall and I'm looking forward to playing tonight up in Jerome, Arizona at The Spirit Room.
Yesterday morning I was up early and started getting my things ready - knowing that I had to pack the car. I had my check list of things since in previous trips I always seem to leave something important behind - I have yet to realize what I've left behind so far. Midday I made it to LAX to pick up Mikaela who was flying in from Nashville where she recently relocated back to after two years in Austin (she's originally from Christchurch, New Zealand). I met her just about 4 years ago when I was living in Nashville and have been good friends since.
After some food in Echo Park we got down to some rehearsing - looking through lyric sheets and and chord charts and felt we were ready for the gig. We packed up the car, managing to get everything inside - a lot of stuff for this 9 day tour and I had to leave some stuff home - but we're ready.
I'm looking forward to the drive up through the middle of Arizona and over the mountains to get us to that crazy old hillside mining town of Jerome - more later...
yours truly,
Jeremiah

www.jeremiahandtheredeyes.com
www.mikaeladewar.com
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yours truly and Mikaela Dewar at 4th Street Vine in Long Beach