Day One of Detroit (A Month On The Road and My Best Show)
Happy New Years folks of the AllOne family! Hope your holidays were wonderful. It's 2014 and nearly a year since I got home from the Little Piano, BIG MOUTH tour. I've decided I will finish it by the end of this week so I can more actively utilize this site to keep you updated on the many happenings of the music I'm doing! Also, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me, the AllOne Facebook Page is over 1,000 strong, doesn't that feel grand?! Love ya'll! While you're online, feel free to download the collaborative compilation that I released on thanksgiving, "We'll Make It Together" on my Bandcamp!
Lets inhabit the past tense, as though it is our now:
Day One In Detroit (Our Arrival at Corktown Studios)
Thus far, we have left Chicago and are on bus arriving in Detroit on Saturday, March 2nd, and it has officially been a month on the road! Beginning to feel a little homesick, but also seeing the end of the road and a welcome home house show just days away. There is a paradoxical aspect of this because it seems absurd that our travels should already be over and as much as we are brought back to the amity of our loved ones, we return to the sedentary chains of routine as well. These thoughts stir in my head ceaselessly as we drive, cold and exhausted, further north.
We arrived in Detroit and took a bus and a walk in the freezing cold. We were meeting Alexa's friends Jaye and Lisa, whom she met on her last tour. The plan after our delivery to Detroit was to meet them and perform during their Daytripper series at their art space/concert venue Corktown Studios then stay with them afterward. They are wonderful people, talented artists and multi instrumentalists, comprising a band called Rogue Satellites. If in the area I recommend a stop at Corktown Studios as well as a Rogue Satellites show if you can get to one, for now, a few satisfactory fun listens to their music should serve you very well! Corktown studios was in an unassuming little building and when we entered we were greeted by Jaye and Lisa sweetly as though we'd known each other a long time, the performance space was just the right size, the walls full with pictures remaining from the most recent art exhibition, many of them created by Jaye himself! We settled in and got ourselves prepared for the performance that was to occur in a few hours.
Internet Connection...the power of music, an International friendship (a noteworthy back story)
While waiting anxiously on the start of the show and enjoying the art displays and meeting our new friends, I got a call from my Canadian friends Jeremy and Jon, who were crossing the border to come see me perform! A few months prior, Jeremy contacted me entirely randomly saying that he discovered my music online (we had no mutual friends, purely the power of the internet). He confessed generously and flatteringly to being a big fan of my album, The Inevitable Effort and, get this, due to how it helped him and influenced him positively he GOT A TATTOO inspired by the lyrics of the song "What's Your Problem?" ! This was a mind blowing message. It is the highest compliment I can think of to have someone be so affected my work, to have them believe in themselves due to their belief in it, that they immortalize their appreciation on their body. This is everything I strive to do, affect people, total strangers or closest friends positively with the poetry and music I make. Once again, as I found often on this tour, all this inter-connective technology could do some good and share true friendship with people. For a few months I'd talked with Jeremy and befriended him, and when I told him I'd be in Detroit, he'd sworn he and his friend Jon would be there with bells on!
The Daytripper Show at Corktown (photos by Chris Cunningham)
The evening came and folks began filing in. We met a number of people, a kindly bearded woodsman looking fellow named John who would host us the next day. We met plenty of noteworthy and interesting people, one of them being an ambitious, amicable and creative fella named Kevin McCoy (check out his artwork here), a close friend of Lisa and Jaye's who appears significantly for several reasons I will unveil later! The line-up was Allen Wimbly, Alexa, myself, and then Rogue Satellites was closing out the show, the grand finale!
Allen opened the show with some great acoustic music that really warmed things up. He had a bare and intimate sound that was inviting and raw! People continued to file in, including the aforementioned Jeremy and Jon! They are both really fun guys with great attitudes and expressive senses of adventure, clearly illustrated by their generous willingness to brave the cold, the borders, and the haggard socio-economic areas of Detroit to support an independent artist!! Seeing Jeremy's tattoo (pictured below) was a surreal experience for me and filled me with awe.
Alexa played an incredible set. The room was lit in a dim blue aquarium glow with one lone light bulb dangling above the stage like an anorexic chandelier. This added to the ambiance of her performance, which was simultaneously beautifully arresting and energetically dance-inspiring. She has an ability to mesmerize as well as mobilize, which was a phenomenal mood shift that blanketed the room that I never get tired of! Everyone was into it and flocked to her after her performance.
Then came my set, I was nervous because thus far this was the single most focused and large audience with the best vibe and musical line-up in a two weeks or so (Houston's Community Center or the house show in Atlanta being other big highlights of the trip). The occupants of the crowd were respectful, attentive and eager, I felt I owed a hugely magnificent performance to everyone as always, but also an emphasized weight of responsibility to reward Jon and Jeremy for their hugely complimentary gesture coming out to see me. Our expectations are always highest for ourselves, and yet we project that onto others and make ourselves nervous. I have to say this was maybe one of the best performances of my career, between crowd involvement, articulation, gesticulation, energy, I was passionately putting it all out there and everyone was giving it right back and that is the best thing I could ever ask for.
This was my set list:
Carsick (a capella)
Homesick Is Where The Heart Is
Needle Kiss (which everyone finished the final lines of the bridge with me...a first timer, so intense.)
Build Here (everyone sang and chanted along to this one)
It Always Pays (which Kevin McCoy bravely came up and beat-boxed for!)
What's Your Problem? (For Jeremy and his tat! He and Jon were spitting the words into the mic with me!)
Pennsylvanian Patriarch (hugely respectful response to this emotional epic of mine, felt cathartic)
The Inevitable Effort (Needed a pick-me-up blast of energy after the lull and Jon was all over this one)
Grab The Horns (huge finale, people were all over it chanting along, a triumphant finisher)
I could write about this experience for days but it was one of the most gratifying performances of my career to be so far from home for so long and to be in a room of strangers who gave their bodies and hearts and ears and minds to me for a short space of time but with such wholesome and sincere energy. It galvanized me for the remainder of the trip and it was everything I needed.
Finally, the Rogue Satellites went up and they were just absurdly good, innovative and interesting. It was just Lisa and Jaye, Jaye makes programmed drums that then interact with a light system he rigged up so that bursts of light herald their energetic choruses. It was theatrical and fantastic! Jaye switched between guitars and basses, Lisa played xylophone, tambourine, keys and sang harmonies or traded vocal parts with Jaye. Their music was catchy and made you move but it was cynical and smart. Analogously Jaye lyrically reminded me of the guy who is the life of the party but is sardonic and solemnly critical of his and other's debauchery afterwards. Wonderful wonderful finishing performance. My favorite song was Sky Writhing, from their newest release "Other Angels" which you need to own immediately! I happened to capture a bit of them performing this song on video, Check it out on the AllOne Youtube Channel!
Afterward everyone gobbled up everyone's albums and stickers and traded information. I chatted with Jon and Jeremy, took photos with them and then had a brief freestyle session with them outside in the cold before I had to go.
Eat, Praise, Love
Jaye, Lisa, Alexa, Myself and Kevin McCoy headed to a wonderful Spanish restaurant. Jaye and Lisa covered our meals, another eye watering and palette pleasing generous gesture of kindness! We all got to know one another more, Kevin and I had some great philosophy talk. He and Alexa got to talking on art and several other left-field, quirky topics. I saw a spark there, him being clearly interested in her, and her warming appreciably! I later teased her that whether or not she knows it she's totally into him and maybe they'd fall for one another some day. They kept in touch and months later they developed a happy relationship and nearly a year later, their connection is flourishing, despite the long distance, something Alexa initially felt couldn't possibly foster a healthy relationship! Cue the Fidder On The Roof "Matchmaker" song! As far as love and affection goes, it has appeared to me that as long as the connection and love is true and sincere, and the friendship healthy and productive, it will endure all obstacles of distance! Just another example of touring has reaped wonderful things. It is a mobile life where adventure and fulfillment lurks around every corner, so long as you are ready to accept and make use of it! We stopped in at our host's friends' housewarming party. Several of them made comics, which was interesting as I'd never met comic writers/illustrators. After some fun time of new characters whom added drunken hilarity, we headed to Lisa and Jayes cute little apartment and, spent we fell asleep promptly!
Our next day was entertaining adventurous and odd, and I'll be posting the account of it soon!
I hope you've enjoyed meeting these new people and placed through my journals and experiencing their talents as I have!
See you soon!
-AllOne
Allen opened the show with some great acoustic music that really warmed things up. He had a bare and intimate sound that was inviting and raw! People continued to file in, including the aforementioned Jeremy and Jon! They are both really fun guys with great attitudes and expressive senses of adventure, clearly illustrated by their generous willingness to brave the cold, the borders, and the haggard socio-economic areas of Detroit to support an independent artist!! Seeing Jeremy's tattoo (pictured below) was a surreal experience for me and filled me with awe.
Alexa played an incredible set. The room was lit in a dim blue aquarium glow with one lone light bulb dangling above the stage like an anorexic chandelier. This added to the ambiance of her performance, which was simultaneously beautifully arresting and energetically dance-inspiring. She has an ability to mesmerize as well as mobilize, which was a phenomenal mood shift that blanketed the room that I never get tired of! Everyone was into it and flocked to her after her performance.
Then came my set, I was nervous because thus far this was the single most focused and large audience with the best vibe and musical line-up in a two weeks or so (Houston's Community Center or the house show in Atlanta being other big highlights of the trip). The occupants of the crowd were respectful, attentive and eager, I felt I owed a hugely magnificent performance to everyone as always, but also an emphasized weight of responsibility to reward Jon and Jeremy for their hugely complimentary gesture coming out to see me. Our expectations are always highest for ourselves, and yet we project that onto others and make ourselves nervous. I have to say this was maybe one of the best performances of my career, between crowd involvement, articulation, gesticulation, energy, I was passionately putting it all out there and everyone was giving it right back and that is the best thing I could ever ask for.
This was my set list:
Carsick (a capella)
Homesick Is Where The Heart Is
Needle Kiss (which everyone finished the final lines of the bridge with me...a first timer, so intense.)
Build Here (everyone sang and chanted along to this one)
It Always Pays (which Kevin McCoy bravely came up and beat-boxed for!)
What's Your Problem? (For Jeremy and his tat! He and Jon were spitting the words into the mic with me!)
Pennsylvanian Patriarch (hugely respectful response to this emotional epic of mine, felt cathartic)
The Inevitable Effort (Needed a pick-me-up blast of energy after the lull and Jon was all over this one)
Grab The Horns (huge finale, people were all over it chanting along, a triumphant finisher)
I could write about this experience for days but it was one of the most gratifying performances of my career to be so far from home for so long and to be in a room of strangers who gave their bodies and hearts and ears and minds to me for a short space of time but with such wholesome and sincere energy. It galvanized me for the remainder of the trip and it was everything I needed.
Afterward everyone gobbled up everyone's albums and stickers and traded information. I chatted with Jon and Jeremy, took photos with them and then had a brief freestyle session with them outside in the cold before I had to go.
Eat, Praise, Love
Jaye, Lisa, Alexa, Myself and Kevin McCoy headed to a wonderful Spanish restaurant. Jaye and Lisa covered our meals, another eye watering and palette pleasing generous gesture of kindness! We all got to know one another more, Kevin and I had some great philosophy talk. He and Alexa got to talking on art and several other left-field, quirky topics. I saw a spark there, him being clearly interested in her, and her warming appreciably! I later teased her that whether or not she knows it she's totally into him and maybe they'd fall for one another some day. They kept in touch and months later they developed a happy relationship and nearly a year later, their connection is flourishing, despite the long distance, something Alexa initially felt couldn't possibly foster a healthy relationship! Cue the Fidder On The Roof "Matchmaker" song! As far as love and affection goes, it has appeared to me that as long as the connection and love is true and sincere, and the friendship healthy and productive, it will endure all obstacles of distance! Just another example of touring has reaped wonderful things. It is a mobile life where adventure and fulfillment lurks around every corner, so long as you are ready to accept and make use of it! We stopped in at our host's friends' housewarming party. Several of them made comics, which was interesting as I'd never met comic writers/illustrators. After some fun time of new characters whom added drunken hilarity, we headed to Lisa and Jayes cute little apartment and, spent we fell asleep promptly!
Our next day was entertaining adventurous and odd, and I'll be posting the account of it soon!
I hope you've enjoyed meeting these new people and placed through my journals and experiencing their talents as I have!
See you soon!
-AllOne
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