We Are the Willows tour diary, Vol. 12

​Since my last entry, a cold had been creeping up on me and really got me in Florida.  I could still sing, but I felt like I was singing with my fingers up my nose.  For the last week or so, I was either sleeping in my van, or playing tunes in a fever dream.  I found that, for whatever reason, I talked a lot more between songs in this delirious state.  In Savannah, GA a guy paid me $20 to stop talking and play some songs.  I think I had asked the crowd if the name of the venue, "The Wormhole," was a euphemism for a man's urethra.

Pee Are The Willows in Savannah.  (Right now I'm elbowing you with an expression on my face that says, "Do you see what I did there?")

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I was feeling so shitty that I stayed in a hotel that night, which, when you make as little money playin' tunes as I do, is not a good idea.  But boy did I sleep well.
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When it comes to booking shows out of state, it can take a lot of work to even get a show, let a lone set up a successful one.  So when Ed Hammel's manager, Doug set up a show for me in New Bern, NC (the birthplace of Pespi Cola), he had done me a huge favor.  He also let me sleep in his laundry room and shnuggle with his dogs.

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I spent the next couple days in North Carolina; Durham and Chapel Hill.  The shows were not packed full of folks, but the folks were nice and seemed to dig my jams.   The folks at Motorco let me sleep on the couch in the green room and fed me chili when I woke up.

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My buddy Yan let me crash in his room whilst he was on the road playin' tunes and boy, oh, boy does he have some great bedtime reading material!

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Playing in Richmond, VA was another scarcely attended show.  In fact, I prolly wouldn't have gotten any dough if this big group of dudes didn't happen to come into the bar to play pool at the same time as we were playin' tunes.  Alison gave me some dough too.  Luckily the folks in Richmond are super nice.  I even did sound!  This is Alison playin'.

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My show in D.C. was unfortunate.  I played at a small community art space that seemed really neat.  The problem was that the guy I had been in correspondence with had agreed to find some local bands to play the show, but did not.  He also didn't tell me this until I got there. He also didn't know where any cords were for their PA. I found the sound equipment, set up the PA and played to this guy. No one else showed up. He felt really bad and gave me some cash. Shit happens.

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My show in Baltimore was fun.  But the sonic difference between myself and the bands I played with can best be shown by this picture of our amps.  My amp is the small one.

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My show in Philly was much needed.  There were a decent amount of nice folks there, I made some decent dough, and had a lot of fun playing.  I was even getting to a point where I could go 20 minutes without blowing my nose.

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More Travel stories to come,
Peter