Moscow, Idaho

With all of us currently living in different places, it takes a little more planning to get everyone together. The old days of all of us hopping in the van, in the same town and heading out together to take on the brave new world are over. It’s a new paradigm in so many different ways both personally, professionally and within the music industry itself. A couple of us read the musings of a music blogger named Bob Lefsetz to garner his take on the situation. He thinks that technology has leveled the platform for aspiring musicians and the world is your oyster. But there are no guarantees that you will ever get out of the basement, or to the next level no matter how often you tweet, post videos or update your website. He maintains that if your music is good enough, people will eventually notice. I agree with Bob that the one major thing a musician can control is getting out there and playing live and connecting with people who appreciate your music. So, amidst all these shifts, that’s what I think this band can continue to do if we are smart about it. We will never be U2, but we are The Clumsy Lovers. And we’ve survived this long and met thousands of wonderful people along the way. Why stop now?

So, where was I…

I loaded up my little car in Missoula and set off for Moscow, Idaho last Friday. About 40 miles up the Interstate 90 I had to stop the car as 3 large deer were crossing. That went fine but they sprinted into the eastbound lane and one of them was mowed down by a van going in the opposite direction. I had never seen that before. Pretty disturbing actually. I’m generally a cautious driver but I was about 10 mph more cautious for the rest of the journey.

Met up with the gang to set up at John’s Alley and afterwards went for Chinese food on the main street. Such a quaint little town and the band has had so many good shows there going back to the early 90’s. After that nutritional goodness, we were ready to rock! And we did! People seemed to be enjoying themselves. We were a little rusty but all in all I though we played pretty well. The venue actually records every show which is cool for posterity, but I think one really needs to be there in the room to get the true flavour of the experience. I was tired by the time we finished around 1:45. I was up with the boys at 5 a.m. after a short sleep, drove quite a ways and played all night. Not complaining, just a reminder to myself that I’m not 21 anymore.

Slept in a bit on Saturday at the mighty Royal Inn. That place certainly has a lot of character and is conveniently located near the venue. Old friend Jill bought me lunch at a new bbq place she is managing, had a little Mexican food later with my friend Storm for dinner and stopped in to see Brett at Nectar to swap child stories. By then it was 9:30 and time to play again. Again, I thought the band played well and we did some experimenting with songs and solos. The band is at it’s best when we are spontaneous for sure. Loose in a good way. But there is a fine line between loose in a good way and borderline terrible. Saturday night we were loose in a good way. (Just don’t listen to the recording…)

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Nothing like a little road trip to cure the winter blues. Actually, I’m quite happy these days for the most part, but if you aren’t I highly recommend a little road trip. A change of scenery is usually a good thing. I had 474 sunny miles there, and 474 sunny miles back to contemplate life while listening to AM 750 Country Classics. Loretta, Merle, Willie, George…I lost reception through the 4^th of July pass and switched over to talk radio from Spokane to Seattle. Romney, Newt, Obamacare, Iran…and just like that I had arrived in the magical place known as Seattle.

We were hired by a longtime fan of the band to play her 40^th birthday party at a club in Pioneer Square. We’ve never played Amyfest before. It was fun. A full house of family and friends in a quirky little bar. One of the highlights for me was when one of the staff walked in front of me with a deli tray to put in the fridge behind the stage. I’ll bet that hasn’t happened to Pearl Jam lately…

Jason’s Greyhound was late once again so he missed the first set. It’s pretty apparent how dependant we are on the banjo for the majority of our material. Things still sound good, just different. After the show we stayed up the road at a friends place. We felt really safe once inside as they had two pit bulls. The next morning Annette and Chris made us breakfast and we were on our way to the Knitting Factory in Spokane.

We’ve been playing “The Knit” on and off for quite a while. It’s a fantastic club that features a full on light show, massive PA system and even a couple of guys to help us load our gear in. I think they were quite happy when they saw the minimalism of our set up. Everyone takes a handful and bob’s your uncle, the Clumsy Lovers have loaded in their gear.  We set up and sound checked and had time to chill out. I had a bit of a Spinal Tap moment going from floor to floor in the elevator trying to find the green room.

Our friend Matt, who once played with Ten Mile Tide opened up the show with his new band Folkinception. Groovy tunes. Good musicians. We played straight through from 9:30 to close to midnight. Sound was good. Audience was festive. Band played fairly well for the most part. It was a high-energy affair. 500 or so came to see us so that was nice to see. Spokane has always been a little hit and miss for us. After the show we got to reconnect briefly with some friends in the lobby then it was off to bed. I got up early and made my way back to Missoula with the contents of our storage locker in my car to store at my place.

Anybody out there looking for a vintage Clumsy Lover t-shirt from 1996 or so? A 2 song Christmas CD? A Barnburner poster? A gas receipt from November of 2003?

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Here’s Trevor’s recount of the fall Montana/Idaho swing.  I wasn’t there, so I’m taking his word for this being what happened:

Montana/Idaho Fall Tour October 2011

Our first show was in Great Falls, Montana at Machinery Row. The owners are very supportive of the band after seeing us play 12 years ago in Las Vegas. They’ve been doing a good job bringing in regional and national touring acts. James McMurtry and Tony Furtado are two recent examples. Being a Friday night we were hoping for a good turnout and we were not disappointed. In fact, I would say we were pleasantly surprised that it was a full house and a fun night of music. Here’s to live music in Great Falls!

On Saturday afternoon we did the pleasant and beautiful drive over to Helena for a Halloween party presented by Exploration Works. We had played the same event back in 2008 and it was whole lot of fun. Little Orphan Annie, Sarah Palin, ghouls, goblins and pumpkins all made an appearance that night. We were looking forward to being back and reacquainting ourselves with our Helena friends. The event was held in the ballroom of the Best Western and the place was really well decorated.  We had a little time to mingle while they were doing the charitable auction. Dressed up as a bowler, Roy told us he dislikes Canadians almost as much as people from Iowa. We worked on him through the night and he eventually came around and big burly hugs were exchanged. A tip for next year’s party: If you dress up as a bowler you can keep a six-pack in the bowling bag!

We dressed up as lumberjacks, rockers, power rangers and the icing on the cake was the intriguing Nascar man. Show was a blast and everyone had a good time. For some weird reason the band was banned from the hotel when we stayed there in 2008. All I know is I went to sleep. Someone must have had a loud party or maybe staff thought someone in the band was having a loud party. I blame a former drummer.  So yeah; we are a pretty badass band I guess. A badass band that plays “You Are My Sunshine” three nights out of four… So we set up a tent in the alley and caught our 40 winks.

Sunday was a short drive up to Pray, Montana where Chico Hot Springs is located. It’s a really charming historic lodge. We’ve been playing there a couple of times a year for ten years or so. It’s always a blast. Lots of people road trip from other places in the state to see the band, have a soak in the pool and spend the night in the lodge. Apparently room 349 is haunted. Jason stayed in that room and no paranormal activity was reported. However, he is a deep sleeper…

The show was the usual high-energy affair.  It was a pajama themed party so we all wore robes to fit in. Pale Canadians in white bathrobes. Worth the price of admission right there. Montana is a hotbed for celebrities. Almost as many famous people as grizzly bears at last count. We’ve seen Jeff Bridges and Dennis Quaid up at Chico. This time it was National Geographic bear expert Casey Anderson. Rebecca spotted him with her eagle eyes. One of the nice things about playing in the saloon is we get to sleep pretty much upstairs and we don’t load the gear until morning so we get to hang out with the staff and some of the friends we’ve gotten to know over the years. In the morning we loaded up and headed towards Billings. We stopped in Livingston and I ran into the owners of Chico at the Subway. We played Mike’s 75^th birthday party 5 years ago already. It reminds me once again how fast time is flying.

We got to Billings around 4 and checked into the hotel. Met a nice young woman from Bulgaria in the lobby. It occurred to me as we were talking that I really don’t know anything about Bulgaria. In fact I probably couldn’t point it out on a map. Just another place that would be incredibly interesting to visit. They appear to be a good-looking people based on my limited experience.

So we loaded in at the Yellowstone Brewery. It’s become a great place for us to play in Billings. George, Donnie, Randy and the others run a really great show there.  They make gin the good old fashioned way along with really tasty brew. It’s an all ages concert so it’s nice to see a mixture of people having a good time together. On this particular evening it was a benefit for an initiative to build a new library in Billings. I don’t know much about it but encouraging people to read books can’t be such a bad thing. If I read more I’m certain my writing would quickly improve and I wouldn’t need to think so hard when called upon to spell a word like necessary or extra-terrestrial.  Speaking of reading, I’m back on the bandwagon with the Keith Richards bio and the classic On The Road. Quick Keith Richards’ factoid: He had a pet mouse as a kid called Gladys. See, reading is good. I never would have known that if I hadn’t dug into his book. It’s actually a really fun read. So many stories and anecdotes and hilarious British slang and wit.

So we played the show and it was fun. David Cleaves from local band The Sons of Billings joined us on mandolin for the second set. We finished up around 8:30. Lots of people were in costumes. We asked Wonder Woman to join us at a local pub down the street where some other friends were hanging out too. A couple of us went to Karaoke at the Chrystal later. The Chrystal is a bit of an experience on an ordinary day but seeing as how it was Halloween the interesting factor was tripled at least. If you haven’t heard Frankenstein, Raggedy Ann and Sarah Palin sing Girls Just Want To Have Fun, well quite frankly you haven’t lived. It’s a must see in life. Kind of like seeing the Grand Canyon, The Pyramids or the Taj Mahal. Head on down to the Chrystal in Billings, Montana next Halloween if you get a chance and you’ll see what I mean. 

So we said goodbye to the Bulgarian, Billings and the Best Western and headed on down the highway to Butte America. We’ve been playing here a couple of times at year for the last ten years or so, normally at the Silver Dollar. There is so much character in Historic Uptown Butte that it’s off the charts on the character meter. I’ve had so much fun over the years and have met so many wonderful, earnest and humorous people. The shows are always fun too. Sometimes the place is packed, sometimes the numbers are a little thin but Butte people know how to have fun anywhere. Anytime.

For the show itself, we played a lot of up-tempo barnburners but we also tried 9 or 10 songs that we rarely play anymore so that was pretty fun. The energy was loose and festive and we kept her going pretty late. It was a cold walk back to the hotel. Fall is definitely giving way to winter temperatures in these parts. We got up and headed to the Dollar to pack up our gear on a gloriously sunny day and did the three-hour drive to our next stop: Idaho Falls.

We had a night off and posted on Facebook that we were looking for fun things to do. Lots of great suggestions but we ended up watching three hours of Storage Wars. I fell asleep at 11:30. Unheard of but I sure felt great in the morning. Karaoke in the hotel lounge will have to wait until next time. I took the van in for a wobbly tire and ended up with a whopping bill three hours later. The cost of doing business I guess. Can’t get to all these places with a broken down vehicle. This current van has been great. 520,000 kilometers and still going strong but I dream about a new vehicle almost every night.

Back in the day we would play at DB’s in Idaho Falls a couple of times a year but they stopped doing live music for a time. But now the bands are back and the locals seem to be enthusiastically showing up. We did an epic four sets of music. Everyone had a sweet time and we played until the wee hours.

So then it was off to Pocatello for the weekend. We normally play every summer outdoors at Idaho State University, and once or twice a year indoors at The First National, or The First Nash as the locals call it. We’ve got our load-ins down to an almost perfect science. We can be unloaded, set up and sound-checked with our own PA system in 20 minutes or so. Unfortunately for the show itself, it was the first snowfall of the year and that seemed to keep people at home. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun crowd but not the crushing numbers we have come to expect. We made a few uncharacteristic blunders on stage but recovered to have an OK night.

Saturday was super relaxing at the hotel. Slept in, caught up on some computer work, ate a few slices of pizza, had a bath & a shower and left for the club at 7. Night was off to a much better start. Weather was mild and the town showed up. It was a nice surprise to have banjo player Jason’s family show up ready to throw down and party up a storm. Because the clocks where scheduled to fall back at 2 am, we determined that we would keep the music going until 3! That’s the latest we’ve played in a long time. Band was a little tired by the end of that odyssey but it felt like a fitting way to end the tour. 6:30 wake up came early the next day let me tell you…

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Here’s some August dates recapped:Bellingham/San Juan Island

We had played this weekly summer concert series at the amazing Boulevard Park once before in the year 2000. We must have made quite an impression~ They only waited ten years to have us back! The sweet organizer Amanda remembered us back in 2000 as carrying on before the show like Van Halen or Aerosmith in their heyday. We think that she may have been thinking about a different band. We party more like the Osmonds!J Ok, more like members of a Slo Pitch League living it up after a victory…

It was a spectacular summers evening. A few thousand people showed up to enjoy the scenery and the music. Chris and I had our little ones there too so that was pretty special. Great night. We’ll be back in 2020.

The San Juan County Fair is another event that we played a long time ago. It reminds me of various fairs that we’ve played over the years. There was an amusement park, a livestock area and a stage set up for music. We had a little time so we did the following:

-Went on the Zipper

-Went on the Tilt-O’-Whirl (Amazing as usual. If I ever win the lottery I am buying one for my backyard)

-Watched a 4H animal auction. (The sheep command a much higher price per pound than the cattle it seems)

-Ate fair food and drank lemonade

-Petted farm animals

-Played a rock and roll show

-Caught the last ferry home

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I wasn’t even there myself, so I have to take Trevor’s word for it when he says this is how it happened:”It was another whirlwind weekend down to Washington State. Friday night we were back at the Watertown Pub in downtown Anacortes. I think it’s been nine or ten years since we played there last.  We worked our way through three long sets to an appreciative crowd, said our goodbyes and it was off to sleep at the cozy Anacortes Inn.

In the morning we checked out and had breakfast at a really cool diner/bowling alley. I guess the theory is that after you eat a stick to your ribs breakfast, you then burn it off bowling. After the diner, we headed on down to the Anacortes Arts Festival. There sure was a lot of art there, tent after tent after tent…Lots of interesting and quirky stuff. Unfortunately it was raining and a little cold so after five or six hours of wandering around I think we were all looking forward to playing.

A local band called Spoonshine played before us on the main stage. We’ve known the mandolin/guitar/singer Jacob for quite a few years. They were really rockin’ out with lots of awesome solos. Seeing as how Jacob had his stuff already set up, we invited him to sit in on mandolin.  It was really nice to hear the banjo, the fiddle and the mandolin playing together at the same time. It rained a little but everyone had a good time. Thanks to Tim Carey for filling in on bass and my two intrepid roadtrippers Amanda and Levi for making the trip extra fun!”

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Here’s a Trevor recap from a few weeks back…

Newpark Amphitheatre

Park City, Utah

We had driven to Boise the night before to break up the drive to Utah so we left at a reasonable time in the morning for the gig. We had played their summer concert series the year before so we already knew what to expect. And our expectations were met! Beautiful weather, awesome mountain views and close to a thousand people digging the tunes. It must have said in the newspaper that bringing a cute kid along was required for admission, because there sure were a lot of them!

After the show we retired to the condo and did some of the regular stuff that bands do. Some of the highlights:

-We put a crouton on Jason’s shoulder and took a picture of it without him noticing

-Talked about Lebron James moving to Miami

-Changed Tyler’s homepage on his laptop to something taboo

-Ate pizza. Ate more pizza

-Luxuriated in the hot–tub

(I won’t say who went in as naked as the day he or SHE was born)

-Watched a show on Panda mating habits

-Saw an advertisement for a show called “Lifestyles with Rebecca”

-Watched Henry Winkler flirt with Joy Behar whilst promoting his book about what it was like growing up with Dyslexia. The Fonz has still got it!

-Surfed the net, online pokered, tweeted, and status updated

Life on the road. Thank you and goodnight!

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Another whirlwind weekend.  Here’s Trevor to tell us about the first two days:

It was a 4 a.m. departure from Vancouver on Friday morning. We made good time and got to Lewiston Idaho in the early afternoon. We seem to end up In Lewiston about once a year. This time we were back behind Boomers on an outdoor stage playing with The Bellboys who were mostly born and raised in the area so it was kind of a homecoming gig for them. It was a beautiful night with a bright moon overhead. A couple of hundred people showed up and a good time was had by all.

We left early Saturday morning for the Mt. Helena Music Festival. Most of the journey is alongside a river. Beautiful for sure, but kind of slow going in the “make good time” department. But we generally allow plenty of time so we rewarded ourselves with a half -hour pit stop at the Missoula Taco Bell. We’ve played the festival a few times in the past and Jim and his crew always present an interesting and diverse line-up of folk, rock, blues and Cajun music. This year was no exception with Michelle Shocked and a bunch of great bands from Louisiana among others rocking Helena in the sunshine!

We took the stage at six and played hard for a solid 90 minutes. The summertime outdoor vibe is always a good one. So wonderful to see people of all ages enjoying the music. There’s always something that happens that lives on in your memory years after the show: seeing Kevin Costner in Las Vegas, or Jeff Bridges at a wedding, or a freak storm knocking out the power at a festival forcing us to play unamplified, a cute kid joining us onstage, a long lost friend showing up, Rebecca’s 89 year old Grandma making a surprise appearance in Seattle…I could go on and on and on… After our set in Helena, we were presented with a card signed by several hundred in the audience as we played. So sweet and a nice keepsake to keep with us in the van. Won’t forget that anytime soon.

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Here’s Trevor’s recap of a whirlwind weekend in the gem state:Sometimes it seems a little crazy to travel so far to play only a couple of shows. But at the end of the day I think that we all generally agree that the payoff overrides the monotony of the long journey there and back. This weekend was no exception. It was a fifteen-hour drive each way but it came and went like most days eventually do.

Friday we played a house concert/party at Kirk and Kerri’s amazing place overlooking the Snake River outside of Twin Falls. A GOOD time was had by all! Great people. Great situation. They even made us pancakes in the morning!

Then it was on to Pocatello for Riverfest. We’ve been there before and were excited to be coming back. Ecological preservation is a great cause for sure and we knew our Pocatello friends would be raring to go. The thunder and rain that threatened to derail things passed over, the sun came out and we all had a good time for a few hours. One friend who was conspicuously absent was a wonderful young lady and a longtime fan of the band who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer earlier this year. We miss you Ryleigh! A woman named Barb left a comment on our Facebook page that seems like a fitting way to wrap up this entry:

“It was very special that you remembered Ryleigh. Heart-warming to see her parents enjoying themselves. I looked to the sky and knew she was lovin’ it too!”

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A long time since a road diary entry.  Sorry y’all.  But here’s Trevor’s recap of our three-day swing through Oregon, which ended, like, yesterday.  How’s that for timely?

It was a long day on Thursday to get from Vancouver to the show in Bend. Things got rolling about 5 A.M and we arrived at the Silver Moon around dinnertime. Oregon is such a beautiful and geographically diverse state that’s for sure. Such an awesome drive but it left us a little tired. Thankfully, the chipper and youthful Tyler was kind enough to stick around to organize some of our technical requirements so we could drift over to the mighty Shilo Inn to gather our bearings before the show. Our friends the Bellboys opened up and rocked hard with an energetic set that went over well with the crowd. Then it was us and lo and behold for the 2600^th time we did the same thing- rocked hard with an energetic set! We’ve had our ups and downs here in Bend as we’ve had in most places over the last decade and a half so it felt really good to be in “the zone” in front of an appreciative audience.

For sure we continue to do all the things bands are supposed to do (send out our mailing list, take hopeful stabs at social networking, try our best to make good albums, add new songs to the show…etc) but we always come back to the obvious realization that at the end of the day the future of the Clumsy Lovers is firmly rooted to our performance on any given night. Every night really. We still figure that if we play to our potential, to crowds big medium or small, the word will get out the next day that something cool and unusual transpired the night before. And that will hopefully inspire you and your friends and your friends’ friends to want to check us out the next time we roll through town. Or the time after that. It’s an ongoing experiment. We’ll let you know how it all ends up. We will one day publish our findings.

When the evening came, we all slept like fallen Doug Firs and awoke refreshed for the three-hour drive to Hood River, reminding ourselves along the way that any drive through the mountains without snow is a good drive.  Hood River is a town we played all the time back in the day but it’s been a little bit of a tough sell for the last five years or so. Hence the infrequent visits. But thinking back to Friday night, what I saw was an amazingly energetic audience, a supportive promoter willing to take a chance and a bunch of  Canadians kickin’ out tunes in a beautiful ballroom. What’s not to like about that?

And it was only a hundred paces to a super comfy bed for a glorious sleep. As the relatively new proud papa of a bouncing baby boy, sleep is uber appreciated these days. Who would have thought a few years ago that I would need to go out on the road with a rock and roll band to get my beauty rest.

So Saturday arrived and we found ourselves rolling down the I84 alongside the majesty that is the Columbia River on our way to Portland to play the indie-rock Mecca known as the Doug Fir. We arrived in time to take a little stroll across the bridge to check out the Saturday Market. Quite the scene. Man it was hot. Rebecca’s experiment to familiarize herself with 20 minutes of vitamin D left her reaching for a Cosmo and the Aloe Vera as the sun went down. She is currently pretty AND pink. Great Molly Ringwald movie by the way…

Showtime at the Doug Fir~ Such an awesome venue! It is without doubt the twin sister of the Biltmore Cabaret here in East Vancouver. After some backstage jamming and PBR’ing, the Bellboys stepped up to sing their sweet soulful tunes heavily laden with awesome harmonies. Norman was next and they sounded amazing! Then some band I’ve never heard of called the Clumsy Lovers shuffled in from Buffalo and played into the wee hours. So great to see old and new friends enjoying  the music, singing along and generally making merry. All in all, a great night with three groups of musicians offering up their own take on things.

Long live live music!

After loading the van we walked up the stairs in the pouring rain to our rooms at the Jupiter Hotel where we were immediately transported back to 1970’s Los Angeles, left thinking that some Led Zeppelin would have sounded good right about then as we drifted off to sleep cursing the early morning wake-up.

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written by Trevor

What can we say that hasn’t already been said about the Tractor Tavern in beautiful Ballard? Everyone that plays there raves about the place. We’ve been playing the Tractor for a decade or so, and every time we do Chris and I can’t help but say to ourselves “Maybe tonight nobody will show up, the show will tank and that will be that.” Not saying it won’t ever happen, but so far it hasn’t.

It’s always good to see Dan the owner and all of his great staff. Ballard is thriving. The bars and restaurants all seem to be full. There is definitely a cool vibe in the neighborhood. And especially inside the Tractor. Even more so when it is so packed full of people you can barely move. And I’m happy to report it was.

Lots of familiar faces and first–timers side by side feeling the love and the energy in the room. And participating in the madness. After all, it wouldn’t be a Clumsy Lover show without some kind of spontaneous thing happening: An impromptu jam, a weird medley, a wacky dancer or the occasional colossal mix-up on stage that we do our best to skillfully steer around…J I would guess that these are only several of a dozen reasons why some people keep coming back time after time. Like Juliana and Matt who for some reason know that they have seen the band 65 times.  

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