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ghosts and IPO

The things that work on my mind I find fascinating at times. I saw the Others a couple of days ago. It was an alright movie, a mental scare which I prefer, but it didn’t get to me like the Sixth Sense did, for example. I’m afraid of the dark in the first place and I find our house a little creepy anyway, so after seeing the Sixth Sense I had trouble navigating the house alone late at night. Forcing myself not to rush through the hallways and things like that, always expecting to hear the brush of someone passing behind me who wasn’t supposed to be there. I sort of assumed I’d have the same thing after having seen the Others but it never occurred. But then a day later I was reading Everything You Know Is Wrong, in particular the article on Columbine and the alleged third shooter and then the article on how much information was available before 9/11 as to what was coming down. It was about 2 am when I was reading and I decided to go to sleep. Making my way down the hallway I had the same paranoia I had expected to have the night before. I suppose the scary movie we live in is a lot better at leaving me with lingering irrational paranoia.

Onto the completely unrelated…

Monday I got an invitation to play International Pop Overthrow out in LA again this year. Anyone who’s been reading this for a while will know that is a little unexpected to me. Not just because of how I thought they felt about last year but also because I got a major brush off months ago when I asked about doing the New York IPO. But nevertheless, here we are and they want me back. Which is great and helps to file all the rest away as a combination of my neuroses and the fact that they can be a little goofy and scattered at times which can come across as indifference. SO. All that said, I did something that a lot of people may consider foolish.

I told him no.

With apologies to the natives, I can’t afford to travel out to LA. I enjoy playing the festival and I enjoy visiting the people I know there. But I also know that the festival so far hasn’t done much at all for me in the way of adding fans. I have done more to win over the pop crowd just by getting reviews and the talk last year on mailing lists when “Jeff Lynne” started floating around the internet. I did sell CDs last time, unlike my first trip out, and it’d be nice to see how well Camera Obscura would do out there since it wasn’t out last year. But the amount of money it will take to get myself and the band out to LA to play a 20 minute set for free is just too much. Aside from which, there are two other IPO festivals during the year, both of which are on my side of the country, for god’s sake. Why he keeps booking me to go to the furthest one from me is beyond me.

I emailed him back and explained, in less detail, that I just couldn’t afford the trip. I asked him if he could put me in the Chicago or New York show that it would be much easier for me, that I could make that trip pretty easily. He wrote back yesterday to say he understood and that he’d get back to me about New York, which happens late in the year (Chicago is pretty much already booked, it takes place next month). Hopefully he will.

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21 Feb: Iowa City

21 Feb – Univ of Iowa Memorial Union (Iowa City, IA)
w/ Indigo Girls

When I saw the room for the first time it wasn’t at all what I expected. It was more of a really large banquet hall with a very high ceiling, but it held 1600 people and the show was sold out. My ‘dressing room’ was actually a smaller banquet room off to the side. They had called when I was in Cleveland asking if I had any requests for the room, and I just asked for water. They pressed me on it, as if they just really wanted to PROVIDE something, so I told them if they could get me a Mountain Dew that’d be nice. In the dressing room there was a cooler with water and about 20 cans of Mountain Dew.

I’m just one guy. Not even I have that big a problem with the stuff.

Anyway.

I talked with the Girls on the drive over about doing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” with me. It was a last minute thing and I know they were wiped out from this whole tour but they agreed to give it a go anyway. After we ate we went over it at the table. Then I had about an hour to kill by myself wandering about the building. As the time got closer I kept taking a look into the room and it was only about half full and they were all sitting on the floor (the room was standing only).

With five minutes before I went on I took another look and it was packed and they were pressed up against the raised stage. Amy walked out with me to introduce me and the place went up and it was LOUD. Really loud. And they went on and on. Nervous? Yep.

So here’s how it went… They cheered loudly after every song. I started with “Fall Down” and after the first chorus got my first mid-song cheer from a crowd. They cheered punchlines. I made a concise political statement before playing “O, Columbia” and they went up. The Girls came out for “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and they went completely nuts. They sang along on the “hey now”s. They cheered the line in “Hitchcock Blonde” (“tells herself she’s no one’s Hitchcock Blonde”) at the end. They were loud and great. I told them so.

After the set I went out as usual to sign CDs and meet people. I was getting a better response than the last show already at that point. People telling me they never like opening acts and they really enjoyed me. I noticed when I went out that I had already sold CDs before I came out.

I went back in and watched the full Indigo Girls set, joined in on “Closer to Fine” and “Kid Fears” again. Just like Cleveland the place went nuts when I hit the third line of the Michael Stipe part. They were so loud I couldn’t believe it.

Back out at the merch table I sold and signed CDs. I sold as many CDs as the best shows in Florida with the band. As the crowd thinned I sat and talked with a group of people for about 15 minutes or so, they invited me to go eat after we were done, but I had to say no since we were leaving for Chicago immediately after. But I would have really liked to have stayed. It’s one frustrating thing about being in town before the show and leaving town right after. When I’m there no one knows who I am and by the time I’ve potentially won them over I have to leave.

On the bus once again everyone went to bed pretty quickly. It was a four-hour drive to Chicago and I was getting a little carsick. I lay in the coffin but didn’t really sleep. We got into Chicago around 4am or so. I got about 3 hours of sleep before going to the airport. I ran into Amy waiting for the flight and we talked a little. I really dislike flying, not because of fear but just because it’s such a tedious uncomfortable experience. I actually lucked out and got a three seat row all to myself, but unfortunately I had two sales guys sitting behind me who LITERALLY never shut up for the entire flight. I tried to watch a movie on the laptop with headphones to drown them out but the seats in front are so close there’s no way to comfortably look at the laptop screen.

I really hate flying.

I ran into Amy, Emily and Sulli at baggage claim, hugged and said goodbye.

Back home, where no one knows anything happened.

Back home, where I’m unemployed and can’t pay my bills this week.

I can’t describe my mood or whether it’s good or bad.

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in Iowa City

Well, we’re in the hotel now. I made a slightly foolish mistake in putting my guitar with the other guitars because I can’t get to it now until tomorrow. So I have no way to rehearse tonight. I’m really very nervous about tomorrow’s show. I’m not a big fan of my solo show and now I’m about to perform it in front of about 2000 people. I have no idea how it’s going to go over. I had an idea of a cover song to see if Amy and Emily wanted to do backing vocals, it wouldn’t be too difficult. I mentioned it to Amy in Cleveland and she said she wouldn’t mind but they’re worn down I think from this particular tour. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Emily about it so I’m not sure it will happen. It would be a big boost to the crowd response if they could do it; it’s like getting a stamp of approval from the Girls.

I just got back from walking around town. Iowa City is a college town, with all the benefits and negatives that implies. Amy thought it was really funny this morning on the bus when we were getting off the interstate and I said, “the thing that confuses me is that I don’t see a city…” I’d call it a town, but I suppose Iowa Town just sounds silly. Anyway, I spent time walking around by myself, not something I normally do. I’m a little too self-conscious, okay, way too self-conscious, and walking around by myself makes me uncomfortable. But I tried to make myself feel invisible for the sake of being here. I grabbed lunch and now believe that if you want to find the slackers in a college town (you know, the people who you’d actually want to hang around) you go to the pizza place and watch the employees. I found a used CD store and bought a couple of CDs I shouldn’t have, financially speaking. Then I found the indie bookstore and got a copy of McSweeney’s 8. I ran into Amy at one point and we went into a vintage clothing store, but all I came away with was a little round Mod pin. But that’s a good thing.

Now I’m going to rest a little, I haven’t really rested in any normal sense since leaving Atlanta, so I could use an hour or so of just lying on the bed and watching TV. Those of you waiting for email from me please be patient, one perk of this room is that I have an ethernet connection so I’m connected permanently, or at least until I leave tomorrow afternoon.