sound check at Ram's Head

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

Arriving in Annapolis

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

Got up and got a coffee. Sat at a table on the side walk next to the bus and enjoyed the beautiful day.

All set for show tonight at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

At the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center back stage. Just got in from making a phone call. The only place I could find signal was in this empty lot next to the theater. As I was on the phone, these girls across the street were playing "autumn leaves" through a small PA and it was really good! They couldn't have been much older then 15 or 16. Walking bass line and full jazz chords and octaves for the lead melody. I heard a few chords in there that I don't know haha. Looks like I'll have to practice a bit more!

Looking forward to tonights performance -

Harrisburg, PA

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

Nothing like a tornado warning to shake things up a bit before walking on stage. I haven't seen rain like that in a while either.

During the show when it came time for my electric solo, i looked down and saw that my guitar was not plugged in. So I plugged it in and then looked at the other end and that wasn't plugged in either! So I tried not to be too obvious as I slowly and quietly plugged in both ends (of course in full spot light) But I was able to hit the first note on time with no problems and I was very happy with what I played. I would have felt like a super dork if I had hit that first note and nothing came out.

Here in West Hampton now, about to sound check -

photos from sound check last week

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

Thanks James!

Sunday night at Humphrey's

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Originally uploaded by stromo.

Sunday night's show was a lot of fun. Besides dodging seagulls when they were on bombing runs or the fly that kept buzzing into the side of my head like 22 times in a row (zzzz zzzzz z z z zzzzzzz) the show went wonderfully!

Beautiful evening, the weather was perfect and the crowd was fantastic. I remember looking over and seeing all the boats pulled up along side watching the show as well. Really cool venue to play.

Little did we know that a few hours from then, (around 3am) we would all be lined up standing on the pavement in the middle of nowhere for 45 min while Boarder Patrol had their way with us for no reason.

Click on the photo above to see more shots from the show (thanks James for the nice photos!)

Tonight

Intermission: Back on the bus getting cooled off in the AC. Roasting on stage under the lights. Great crowd tonight! Looking forward to getting back out there for the second half of the set.

Welcome to our world

Today I woke up around 8am to the smell of diesel fumes when we were at a truck stop, which wasn't the best way to wake up. So I decided to get up and feed Harvey the fish. I turned on my iBook only to find that there was no internet signal, bummer. Not much else to do so we put the new Casino Royale movie on the big screen in the front lounge. Not sure if Harvey had seen that one yet.

No chance of finding coffee once we got to the gig. No matter how hard I prayed to the Coffee Gods, I walked around for an hour but it just seemed impossible to find a place. The only thing around was a Quiznos, so I settled for a sandwich.

Just got set up and will be sound checking shortly.

Paradise, CA

I enjoyed tonights show in Paradise, CA. Nice to be back on stage after a month off. Davo used a new Dumbek that sounded great. During sound check, something wasn't right with my in-ear mix. The panning was totally different then what the mixer was saying. It said my guitar was panned slightly to the right but I heard it on the the left etc... However, Alan (our sound engineer) was right there to fix the problem.

On the tour bus now and we're getting ready to back out and depart to Santa Anna. Thinking about watching Apollo 13 in the bunk, but I'm not sure yet. We have a small fish on the tour bus. I think someone rescued it at the county fair yesterday in Ventura and will be taking back to Santa Fe to give it a nice home. Maybe he can be the new Luna Negra mascot, well, at least for now. I named it "Harvey".

Not the only one on vacation...

New England this time of the year is wonderful. The weather is beautiful and it's a great place to go hiking, canoeing and to sit out on the deck and write new song ideas. Now that the upcoming tour dates are right around the corner, I decided to change strings and get that over with so I don't have to think about it when I get home to Santa Fe.

I thought it was a good idea until I rememberd that Cosmo "America's favorite kitty" is also on vacation up here in New England. You would think there would be plenty for a cat to do up here in these parts but as usual, as soon as I opened a fresh pack of strings, I look down and there she is.



Lately she's been doing this thing where she waits at the end of the fret board to grab the strings as they come off but I know whats going on, I'm not fooled by this. Cute kitty right? Meow meow... purr purr. Really though, she is a ferocious string eating feline in disguise!! So I'm totally prepaired to out smart her this time.



But as a new string goes on, out of no where she leaped up like Jaws out of the water and completely landed an all out assault!! Totally took me off guard. Usually she starts batting the strings a bit here and there but not this time.





As I started to get up and away from the attack, she ran off with a new string from the pack. Again I had to chase her around the place and then she stood on the string and wouldn't give it back. Believe me, you don't want to reach for the string at this point. So I tried to play nice. Here kitty kitty..... Please note the look on her face below, she wasn't about to fall for the "here kitty kitty" bit.



I grew up with a big dog and it was simple, you throw the ball, the dog runs. This is a bit more complicated. It seems like she had this one planned out for a while. Hm.... Until next time...