The Miracles Of Multnomah, The Wonders of the Willamette

Archive:  January 19, 2012
Let me start off first by saying that I am playing live in Portland, OR on Saturday, January 21st at The Hawthorne Theater Lounge with Destroy Nate Allen.  Here’s what you need to know if you’d like to come:  

 

Address + 1507 SE 39th, Portland, OR 97214 + 8:30 PM Doors + 9:00 PM Start. + $2.00 +Kat Jones (first) + The Darkest Moons + Destroy Nate Allen (last)

The following morning I will be recording a podcast for Live From The Yellow Room, here in Portland.  I will let you know as soon as that posts.  

Last night I found myself pulling over to the side of MLK Blvd., just off East Burnside.  Compelled by the giant flakes of snow and the glistening streetlights brightening the world by the fluffy layers of white in every direction.  I couldn’t resist the opportunity to play.  For about 30 minutes I had been driving down the road from a delicious Mexican restaurant (Oh Dear God!  Real Mexican Food!  Finally!  Thank you!) and feeling envious of all the 20 and 30 somethings running through the streets at midnight, throwing snowballs at my car passing slowly by, young couples holding hands or snuggling under the covered bus stops along the street.  I pulled over, prepared my self for the cold, and took off into the night, with the only goal of crossing the Burnside Bridge, turning around, crossing it again, and driving away.  So many times at night I have had the unbelievable desire to cross those bridges and hang my head over the water, watching the blue and green lights of ships passing underneath.  However, I am a female.  Portland is one of the drug and homeless capitols of the U.S.  Practically, it’s not safe to do.  But with the city out in full wonderment and the night sky lit up by the reflection of snow from the ground, I felt confident of my safety and everyone else’s distraction by the whimsey of giant flakes easing their way onto the noses of everyone in the city.  I walked.  I skipped.  I stopped and wrote on the banister of the bridge in snow.  I tilted my head into the flakes and watched them land on my face.  I didn’t notice how cold it was.  It was incredible.  It reminded me of walking at 3 a.m. in Scotland.  Down Leith Walk from Princess Street.  I would marvel at the fact that I was actually living in Edinburgh.  200-1000 year old buildings towering around me in every direction.  This was much the same feeling.

As I walked across the bridge a car, being propelled up the slope of the icy bridge by two young men behind it, slowly tobogganing up the hill and back down again.  I looked over and smiled.  They laughed and greeted me, remarking on the glorious evening.  I could not disagree.  I arrived in the heart of downtown and made my U-Turn.  A lost 21 or 22 year old boy asked me if I knew where the Greyhound Station was.  He carried a small vintage suitcase.  I didn’t know where it was but I connected him with some men my age to help him get to it.  I turned around and made my way back across the bridge.  A young couple greeted me on the bridge.  I stopped to look at the water.  I wished my camera was working.  I crossed the street.  Three grown-ass-men asked me if I wanted to snow ball fight with them and then they took off running across the bridge.  The kind of run that lets you know that their inner 8 year old is the one in control.  It was beautiful.  And as I made my way to the car I breathed deeply.  A free, deep, unselfconscious breath.  It filled my lungs and then I got into my car.  The first order of the moment to thaw out my feet.

The rest of the drive was gorgeous and slow.  My Toyota Camry with my dads “If you can read this, you’re keeping up with the Jones’s” vanity plate around the license.  I swerved.  I fish tailed a bit.  I was one of the only vehicles on a street filled with pedestrians who were not going to be affected by the car careening at them at a whopping 3 miles an hour and the only time it looked like I might have to ditch the car and figure out if I could call someone to pick me up (on the way up a not very steep hill) 2 men, my age, were walking by and just gave me that extra push up the 20 feet of asphalt and into smooth sailing for the rest of my journey home.

It was wonderful.  And it brings me here:

I am officially going in to a stage of rest and preparation for the next tour and I am so excited.  For the next month and a half I will be resting and recording new material for this next tour.  It will be an e.p. to have for everyone for this next leg before the album comes out.  And it will only be available from the road.  So, hopefully I’ll see you at these shows.  Things are starting to look awesome but we need some help on the tour. So if you have any ideas please shoot me a message.  Here is the general outline:

Sunday, February 26, 2012 – Southern OR/ Northern, CA – Help! 

Tuesday, Februrary 28, 2012 – Sonoma, Ca  – Confirmed – TBA

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 – San Fran / Merced, CA – Help!

Thursday , March 1, 2012 – Fresno, CA – Confirmed – TBA

Friday, March 2, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA – Confirmed – TBA

Saturday, March 3, 2012 – Fullerton, CA – TBA

Sunday, March 4, 2012 – San Diego, CA – TBA

Monday, March 5, 2012 – San Diego, CA – W/ Gayle Skidmore – Confirmed – TBA

Thursday, March 8, 2012 – Phoenix, AZ – w/ Gayle Skidmore – TBA

Friday, March 9, 2012 –  TBA – w/ Gayle Skidmore

Saturday, March 10, 2012 – TBA – w/ Gayle Skidmore

Monday, March 11, 2012 – TBA – w/ Gayle Skidmore

Tuesday, March 12, 2012 – Austin, TX – SxSw – If you have information on an official or unofficial show you think I could be added on to please email me 

Wednesday, March 13th, Austin, TX – SxSw – If you have information on an official or unofficial show you think I could be added on to please email me 

Wednesday, March 14th – Oklahoma City, OK – Help! 

Thursday, March 15th, Memphis, TN  or Little Rock, AR – Help!

Friday, March 16th, Nashville, TN – TBA – abrasiveMedia Fundraiser

Saturday, March 17th, Chattanooga, TN – Help! 

Tuesday, March 20th, Atlanta, GA – Help!

Wednesday, March 21th, Ashville/ Chapel Hill, NC – Help!

Thursday, March 22, Charlotte, NC – Help!

Friday, March 23, Knoxville, TN – Help!

Saturday, March 24, St. Louis, MO – Help! 

Monday, March 26th – KC City, KS – Help!

Maybe something in between KC and Fresno

Friday, March 30th, Fresno, CA – Confirmed – TBA

Saturday, March 31, 2012 –  San Fransisco, CA – Help!

Sunday, April 1, 2012 Redding or Chico, CA – Help!

Monday, April 2, 2012 – Eugene, OR – Help!

Saturday, April 7, 2012 – Portland, OR – Vino Vixens

Sunday, April 8, 2012 – Portland, OR Vino Vixens