Feel lika fooool
Impending Single Release! CVille contd. + NYC + Boston.
WOTSIT
It’s James. I’m in the back of the band van on the way to Western MA, we’re listening to Wristwatch by MJ Lenderman, and Cleo’s head is on Mak’s lap; The Good Life.
First thing real quick: our first single, called 23, is coming out on October 4th. Pre-save here.
There’s a lot to report, so I’ll get right to it. Sorry for the length, and for all the names, but this is as much for our records as it is for your enjoyment. So not that sorry.
Charlottesville
was awesome. Dürty Nelly’s is a no-frills dive bar, and it’s been around since the 70’s, when my mom was in middle school right up the road. There are a bunch of regulars, and we overheard some of them talking about cattle herding. They were very friendly. Bartender also very friendly, and secured us mini key lime pies even though the kitchen was closed. Stage was tiny, and we ran our own sound, which lit Levi up like a christmas tree, what with all the solvable technical problems. We played 2 sets of about an hour each, with progressively diminishing attendance, which was sort of a bummer but it meant that we started playing absolutely whatever. It was a blast. We played the song of the tour so far, which is Joker Lips by MJ Lenderman, despite never having played it. After the last set, we talked to Koda, who books the shows and plays with his own band around CVille. We told him we’d spent the day on the James River, and he told us about his friend that takes his boat out to the middle of the river with his guitar, drops an anchor, gets high, and plays for the kayakers and the tubers.
Frantic cleaning and spider-avoiding in the morning and then a calm and decisive northbound exit. Many thanks to Peepaw and Audrey for allowing us to stay.
NYC
Well really Montclair, NJ, which is where Levi grew up. We picked up some famous New Jersey pizza on the way to the house and I ate a lott of it. To the point of feeling like I was 10 and at a birthday party and I was still testing my carrying capacity. We were greeted by Levi’s very small and very cute doxen/chihuaha named Dolly, Levi’s younger sister Asa, Levi’s mom Alma, and Levi’s longtime friend Matan. After a brief period of digestion and outfit selection, we (everyone except Dolly - 7 total) drove into Manhattan in Alma’s Honda Odyssey. Approaching Bleecker St., none of us really expected to find a spot; so when a car pulled out of a spot right in front of us, we quite literally erupted into cheers. The sign said “no parking 6 am - 6 pm”. None of us noticed the darker, more sinister sign perched above the first.
We carried our stuff into the Bitter End, where we met up with Sachi (our opener) and Nick, her keyboard player. We felt right in the thick of it. Bitter End is in the middle of West Village, and it was BUSTling. Stimulation of all shapes and sizes, every which way. Posters of people who had played the Bitter End in its heyday lined the walls. People started filing in, Levi’s friends, Levi’s parents’ friends, my mom’s friends, Sachi’s friends, Mak’s mom and her friends. Bryn, a friend of ours from Northwestern who made the first Widemouth doc, is putting together our tour doc, and came with fancy cameras. Mak set up our merch, and immediately started selling shirts.
It all threatened to be too much. But we got the band together backstage and meditated for five minutes, and it felt whole again. We had come a long way from Chicago, but nothing really was different. We were playing for NYC, but also just mostly for each other.
Sachi played her beautiful and gentle songs, and then we went on and played one of the best sets we’ve ever played, for my money. I got really sweaty, but had so much fun.
We talked until they kicked us out, and then walked towards the car with all of our stuff, feeling like we’d just cleared a boss level. But the car wasn’t there.
The darker, more sinister sign above the sign that said “no parking 6 am - 6 pm” said “no standing 6 pm - 6 am”.
Oops.
Boston
On our way to MA, we stopped at my uncle Ben and Scott’s house in idyllic Southbury, CT, for tea and the below munch. We splashed around in the creek, and Cleo tore around in circles in the meadow.
That night Lily and Levi made their 9 Cantwell Road debut, my brother Simon and his boyfriend Brian came over, and my parents grilled some chicken and veg. Yum.
We watched the VVitch, a Robert Eggers horror movie/period piece set in 17th-century Puritan MA. Fucking wild movie, and Levi dropped a few all-time great one-liners.
Next morning Mak and I went to get coffee and breakfast supplies, and made a big team breakfast: kale/tomato/mushroom scramble, bacon, grapefruit, toast, coffee, OJ. Munch below.
That afternoon, we went to Brandon Daly’s apartment in Cambridge; he was sitting in on a song that night. More accurately, actually, we were playing one of his songs, and he was coming up and singing it. It immediately got stuck in our heads. He releases music as Dean Daly.
We then met up with one of my best friends from high school Kate Possi, who was opening for us. She releases music as Kate Possi. Her opening set made me cry three different times, and she came back up to sing Mary by Big Thief in three-part harmony with me and Mak.
I used to live in Cambridge, a couple years ago with my brother. The Lilypad was right next to our apartment, and they had a Wednesday open mic that I used to go to every week. I met a lot of great musicians there, and started writing music in earnest essentially because of that open mic. So it felt good to be back singing there again, and to share that little piece of Jamie History and gem of Inman Square with the band family. The set felt really good, and the room was packed with people I love; my guidance counselor and latin teacher came, as did my scary vice principal. Levi’s friend who came pointed out, as he watched the boomers stream through the door, that the economic model of this tour is kind of a transfer of generational wealth, much like a bar mitzvah.
After the show, we went to a bar with Kate and some awesome people I went to high school with and hadn’t seen in about five years. Lily ordered the “dog of the day”; apparently they have a different dog every day. Levi guessed that they have about 30 dogs on rotation, but I guessed more like 85. The dog of the day that day involved cucumbers and creme fraiche, which don’t feel like ingredients you’d use if you only needed to make 30 hot dogs.
That was Friday night. It’s now Wednesday, but I’m gonna stop there and save the rest of the MA stop and the ME stop for the next installment.
A brief catalogue of the things each of us have forgotten so far:
Lily:
Her tambourine for the NYC show. The venue had a spare.
Levi:
His toothpaste somewhere, we’re not sure where.
Mak:
The merch bag in St. Louis (which is really not solely her fault but I needed something on her list. Huge, huge shoutout to Nikki Mitchell for shipping it to NYC. )
Jamie:
Cleo’s food in St. Louis.
His razor in St. Louis.
His toothbrush in St. Louis.
His sunglasses somewhere.
His book (Pachinko) in New Jersey.
Cleo’s leash in Vinalhaven.
Cleo’s harness in Vinalhaven.
The Well Tour 2024: spreading our music, love, and belongings across the great United States. If I left something at your house, I’m sorry. Consider it an offering of gratitude.
We have our last show tonight! At the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, MA, with B’Shara, the band of my friend Darby. We have referred to Northampton a lot, which is where we’re staying, but the show is in fact in Easthampton (tickets here). Then we go home and rest.
Love to everyone and their pets.
Jamie (+ Mak + Lily + Levi)
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