Thoughts on the eve of The AllOne Onederlust Tour
Welcome back AllOne family!
I'm currently typing this in my grandmother's house in Inwood, NY. Tomorrow morning, I'll be leaving my car at her house and then taking a 6:45am train into NYC and a 11:30am Megabus to Providence where I'll meet up with D.o.drent to do my first performance of the Onederlust tour and my debut appearance at the Everett Open stage event, which promises to be rather densely populated as it is the last event of the season! Oh by the way, it's also technically the first time D.o.drent and I have ever performed these songs together or seen one another perform live!
I am excited and nervous but really looking forward to the trip overall. Anyone who knows me personally will vouch for the fact that I am afflicted with an embarrassing navigational ineptitude, which I think is due in part to my tendency to be wool-gathering or lost in my own thoughts rather often. Perhaps being on this tour alone will help me to focus and channel my thoughts, though I am apprehensive, I'm also hopeful! My good friend Michael Setteducati at Archangel Graphic Design is currently working on a tour poster which I will share with you ASAP! Check out his work if you need anything done, he has done much of the artwork and all of the design and layout for my albums thus far, he's a fine artist as well as graph designer and web developer.
The Route
Check this cool "widget" below for my tour schedule! This is just a "so-far" rough draft of my performance itinerary.... I'll be updating it as I get more dates confirmed for opportunities (especially in the Chicago, Atlanta area) that I've been waiting on. Some of the performances, such as house shows that I'll be doing, won't be posted on here, but you can bet I'll be reporting on them! You can see this also on the AllOne Reverbnation page itself!
Why "Onederlust"?
I like the idea of naming a trip or a journey like this, it gives it a solid identity, something to rally behind, charge in front of and represent. It's a portmanteau, obviously there are a handful of wordplay factors here, AllOne, wanderlust, wonder-lust. I think we all get this, once we experience travel we have a wanderlust, a thirst to see and do more, to meet people and have expansive experiences and be quenched by the seemingly constantly new world. Ever since the little piano, BIG MOUTH tour I've wanted to be on the road again and cherished and missed that period of my life greatly. Getting to take this trip is an attempt to sate my desire to travel to new places and revisit old ones, to make many new friends and to reacquaint myself with those that distance had held from me. Phonetically, there is the sound "wonder-lust" since I am branching it off of "AllOne" and that to me is a phrase that I take to mean something like a voracious appetite for all things new, be it knowledge or emotion, person or place. I mean it to be overcome with wonder at the world, with a childlike excitement about life and it's countless inhabitants and environments.
The Things He Carried
I won't get TOO into it, but after a long debate I decided to bring a suitcase to accompany my briefcase (that I use for merchandise and performance gear) and my backpack. I thought the suitcase would be too cumbersome and I didn't really like the idea of dragging it around but my parents got me a nicer and more rugged/compact luggage carrier in anticipation of our April trip to Italy, so I feel a bit better about it. It was also just going to be quite a long time to not have much more than 2 or 3 outfits max! As far as merchandise, I ran out of AllOne t-shirts so I brought CD's of The Inevitable Effort and An (ep)iphany, download cards of Coal Aberrations and AllOne & The Room and of course, stickers and flyers galore! I brought along my laptop this time so that I can more easily write up my blogs and make more prose writing progress on this trip. It will also provide better quality music during performances and make for more efficient research on where I have to travel to and how to get there! I have some amazing friends and a group of them that got together in a little farewell meal at a diner wednesday night, pitched in for a belated birthday gift and got me this really amazing pocket-sized project that can show videos/music/photos in 1080p HD quality from Iphones, micro SD cards and USB drives, so I'll be experimenting with that as well and how to utilize that interestingly or productively in my performances or at events! I'm so lucky to have the generous and thoughtful friends that I do! All of you, really!
Reader's Block
Of course, I brought a few books with me, as I'll be on the bus for a total of several days with of driving and I always want to be reading! My mother bought me a "Chicken Soup For The Soul: Inspiration For Writers" compilation of inspiring and informative essays for writers of all sorts, which I thought might help enlighten me a bit as a huge goal for this trip for me is to get a lot of writing towards my book done. I brought a giant tome, The Complete Unabridged and Illustrated works of O'Henry. I wanted something that I could read in concise short bursts, perhaps read aloud with people if that were an activity anyone wanted to share in. O'Henry is easily one of my favorite writers, a master of short story telling, ironic twists and capturing a sort of sepia toned, clever but precise lens of life. I wanted to settle into that style and use of the form more, to inform myself more on the subject of stories to inspire my own work. I also brought One by Richard Bach who always delights and inspires me. The cover asks the question "I gave my life to be the person I am right now. Was it worth it?" which is provocatively concise and poignant as he brilliantly tends to be and I look forward to seeing how he'll answer that and what I'll be thinking along the way! Lastly, I'll be reading my first Tom Wolfe novel, Bonfire Of The Vanities, which I've heard so much about and is a small but dense paperback so it seemed apt for travel!
Other News
***Mos-def.net did a nice review of The Inevitable Effort, wherein journalist Ilias G said (among other things) "...By the time you get to ‘This Is For‘ you already know AllOne’s certainly not your average rapper with cliché beats and forced self esteem. Actually, his clever and focused wordplay reminds me of Atmosphere’s Slug..." Click here to read that!
***D.O.drent and I are weeks away from releasing our EP, and it feels like a huge weight off my shoulders to have this project done, I think you will all get a lot out of this unique offering!
***I've also recently gotten great news from the Long Island Bard's Initiative, who have decided generously to be the first to publish any of my work! My two pieces "Anti-Social-Network-Ethic" and "Rush Hour '98" will be included in their Bard's Annual 2014 anthology! Thanks guys!
***Also, this hasn't happened yet, but it is certainly something to anticipate...the day I come back from tour (July 7th) I will find out if Red Bull Music Academy has accepted my application for their Fall 2014 Tokyo event of performances and conferences!
There will be a lot of new experiences, photos and videos to share on this trip and I intend fully on making the most of it. Off on the road with Onederlust once again to convince the world to love itself, while the world reminds me why I love it so!
Keep wondering!
-AllOne
Reader's Block
Of course, I brought a few books with me, as I'll be on the bus for a total of several days with of driving and I always want to be reading! My mother bought me a "Chicken Soup For The Soul: Inspiration For Writers" compilation of inspiring and informative essays for writers of all sorts, which I thought might help enlighten me a bit as a huge goal for this trip for me is to get a lot of writing towards my book done. I brought a giant tome, The Complete Unabridged and Illustrated works of O'Henry. I wanted something that I could read in concise short bursts, perhaps read aloud with people if that were an activity anyone wanted to share in. O'Henry is easily one of my favorite writers, a master of short story telling, ironic twists and capturing a sort of sepia toned, clever but precise lens of life. I wanted to settle into that style and use of the form more, to inform myself more on the subject of stories to inspire my own work. I also brought One by Richard Bach who always delights and inspires me. The cover asks the question "I gave my life to be the person I am right now. Was it worth it?" which is provocatively concise and poignant as he brilliantly tends to be and I look forward to seeing how he'll answer that and what I'll be thinking along the way! Lastly, I'll be reading my first Tom Wolfe novel, Bonfire Of The Vanities, which I've heard so much about and is a small but dense paperback so it seemed apt for travel!
Other News
***Mos-def.net did a nice review of The Inevitable Effort, wherein journalist Ilias G said (among other things) "...By the time you get to ‘This Is For‘ you already know AllOne’s certainly not your average rapper with cliché beats and forced self esteem. Actually, his clever and focused wordplay reminds me of Atmosphere’s Slug..." Click here to read that!
***D.O.drent and I are weeks away from releasing our EP, and it feels like a huge weight off my shoulders to have this project done, I think you will all get a lot out of this unique offering!
***I've also recently gotten great news from the Long Island Bard's Initiative, who have decided generously to be the first to publish any of my work! My two pieces "Anti-Social-Network-Ethic" and "Rush Hour '98" will be included in their Bard's Annual 2014 anthology! Thanks guys!
***Also, this hasn't happened yet, but it is certainly something to anticipate...the day I come back from tour (July 7th) I will find out if Red Bull Music Academy has accepted my application for their Fall 2014 Tokyo event of performances and conferences!
There will be a lot of new experiences, photos and videos to share on this trip and I intend fully on making the most of it. Off on the road with Onederlust once again to convince the world to love itself, while the world reminds me why I love it so!
Keep wondering!
-AllOne
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