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We’re Back!

The Week In Review is back in action after a vacation and a packed two weeks; we have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get to it!

The Big Apple

Our first trip to New York, NY was incredible; it was Ed’s first time to the city, and Whitherward’s first gig! We stayed with an old friend in Brooklyn and got to explore a bit of the city with Stephanie! The gig at Sidewalk turned out wonderfully, with a full house of folks and a spectacular opener in the Scott Tran Trio. Our time in NYC was short, but it was a fantastic whirlwind ride of fun!

Homeward Bound

We’ve played a few shows in Ed’s home state of Missouri, but we hadn’t quite made the trek to Ashley’s home state of Massachusetts – until now! The entire New England area was new territory for Whitherward, but it was all-too-familiar for our heroine, and we had a wonderful trip back. Our first show was a SoFar show in Boston at a venue called Zumix, a community center of sorts built around music and music education. The other bands were fantastic – the first was Wild Painting, a group of 16 year olds that were all products of the Zumix community, and the second was a fantastic jazzy soul group called Riva Saputo (who did a killer cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, btw!) We were honored to be a part of it.

The next show was in New Haven, CT at a place called Stella Blues. Before the show started, however, we got a chance to explore the home of Yale University, and wound up in a secondhand store unlike any we’ve ever seen. Fashionista Vintage & Variety hosts a staggering amount of secondhand clothing and costume – with virtually everything available for both rent and purchase! Everything there was curated by the owners and has a very descriptive tag detailing not only the content of the article, but also a history behind it (or their best guess). Their prices were also more than fair for the quality of the clothing they provide; if you find yourself in New Haven, definitely check this place out!

Then it was back to Boston to finish out a couple more shows! We played half of a gig at a restaurant called John Harvard’s – we say half because midway through the show, the restaurant started flooding! It was a mad dash to get all of our equipment to higher ground before the waters could get high enough to flood the restaurant proper, but the lower offices were not spared. Thankfully no one was hurt in the ordeal, but it was definitely the first time a gig was short due to flood (indoors, no less!) Our final Boston show was at a brewery called Aeronaut which had a fantastic crowd, lots of old arcade games, and several small shops – all inside the brewery! It was a fascinating place, and a good show to round out the trip.

Limerick Capital of the World (unverified)

For the last stop of our East Coast run, we travelled by (slooooow) ferry all the way to Nantucket, MA – a beautiful island off the coast of mainland Massachusetts. It was very invigorating for us to be back by the ocean, and even in the fall climate, the ocean was beautiful. Nantucket has a very interesting landscape; the beach is adjacent to large swaths of prairie land, and that is caddy corner to a very quaint New England town with lots of fun shops and restaurants. We played at Cisco Brewing and had a real great time, met some fantastic folks, and had half-price lobster rolls! Doesn’t get much better than that, folks. We were very sad to leave Nantucket, but we had to catch a (fast!!) ferry to start the drive back westward.

Chicago Redux

After a stop for some authentic New England clam chowder at Captain Parker’s, we bolted across 8 states in two days to play yet another SoFar show in Chicago, IL! This one was at a media business incubator company called 2112, and it was unplugged (mostly!) We had a fantastic time playing and met two really great bands; you can catch our performance on YouTube! This was also a bittersweet show, as it was our last one with Stephanie on this part of the tour! But don’t despair (we’re not!) – she’ll be back soon!

Old Friends, New Friends

We reconnected with our good friends Erik Jarvis and Katie In at a show they booked us for in Grinnell, IA – the restaurant was called Relish, and it was outstanding! We had a great audience, the meal was lovely, and we even got to sing and chat with Erik and Katie! They’ve formed a great duo project called Pink Neighbor that you should check out immediately – it’s worth the listen. Our final show for this review was in Paoli, WI at a taproom for the Hop Garden brewery. We were a little put off initially, as we were double-booked – it happens sometimes in the business – but the booker and the other band were accommodating, and we went on with the show! We made a lot of great friends and fans in the process and became adept at dodging the many, many bees that really loved our music. A lot. Like, they had to get really close to us to tell us they loved our music. It was terrifying.

Until next time…

Whew! That was a lot of info! I hope you guys made it to the end! Thanks so much for following our travels through the US, and be sure to check out our fundraiser for the full-length album we’re recording this winter! See you on the road!