Walking Downhill
Vinalhaven, North Haven, and Easthampton. Plus THANK YOU
TALLY HO
It’s been a week since we got back from tour. I meant to write this sooner but I didn’t. Right now I’m having the Saturday Afternoon Doldrums (the SADs) but sometimes writing is the best thing for those. Mak and I finished a new song this morning and I can’t wait to play it with the band. Levi’s already here, and Lily gets here on Friday, so won’t be long. We have our first song coming out on October 4th, and more coming out soon after, TBA, but First! Tour recap! Continued! Whee!
Vinalhaven
We last left our intrepid heroes in Boston, dreaming sweetly of dogs of the day and Bar Mitzvah money. The next morning - Saturday - we met Kate Possi of Kate Possi at the Goodwill on River St., and got some goodies for the remainder of tour. Levi got slacks, Mak got a red sundress, Lily got a g’button down (gay button down), and I got a black t-shirt that says “Vancouver” and has a bunch of bears showing their asses. That day was slow; we were tired. We played some music in the afternoon, my parents made dinner, and we all played Scattergories and went to bed.
The next morning we packed up and headed North, first to pick up my cousin Frances in Portland and then to the Rockland Ferry Terminal, where we would ferry over to Vinalhaven. Vinalhaven is about an hour off the coast of Rockland, 24 sq. miles, and about 1,000 year-round residents, most of whom are lobstermen. Or Lobsterpeople. Lobsterfolk? It’s a granite island - the first Europeans to settle it came to quarry the granite. The old quarries have since filled with water, and they are now ideal for swimming and doing jumps off the ledges. My dad and his brother Luke bought a creaky old house on the island when they were in their 20s, and a lot of the Eder family - my grandparents, three of my dad’s seven siblings, family friends - also bought property up there over the years. I’m actually not sure who the first to buy were, so let’s just say they all did it together. But by the time my brother and I were born, the island was crawling with Eders, and we went up every summer since I was little. It’s a really, really gorgeous part of the world; green, soft, wild. There was a New Yorker article this week about all of the children’s books set on the Northern Coast of Maine - Blueberries for Sal, Miss Rumphius (the lupine lady), Charlotte’s Web. Most of my growing up happened on Vinalhaven. It’s a magical place.
We stopped at a farmstand for sundries on the way:
We met up with my brother Simon and his bf Brian at the Ferry Terminal, rolled the Band Van onto the boat, and set off for VH.
My aunt Maria, cousin Cristian, and grandma Esther were all already on the island; they spent the summer there. The next couple days, we slept late, cooked, took Cleo to the beach, swam in the quarry and in the ocean, picked blackberries, played Catan, did a puzzle. And Frances, who is doing beautiful stick-and-pokes in the Portland area for a living and who gave me my only tattoo a few years ago, gave Lily and Mak tattoos!! you’ll have to ask them to see the tattoos because I don’t have good pictures, but they’re great. Nice work Frances.
Our gig on Tuesday was on North Haven, which is an entirely different island (less good in most respects. Richer, less rocky, no quarries, more summer people). It’s about a three minute boat ride north of Vinalhaven and only accessible by skiff. I had to call about seven different people - referred to me by my aunt Maria - to see if someone would take us across. I heard a lot of “oh yeah man no worries, we’ll get you across,” followed by a redirect to a different guy with a boat.
Tuesday afternoon, we packed up our shit into the van, drove to the northernmost point of the island, and carried everything down a ramp onto a little floating dock. North Haven was right there. It looked like we could’ve swam across. Which honestly was a little emasculating, to need so much help to travel about 1000 feet. But we called the boat woman, and she came over in a whaler, waving hello. It took two trips, one for the gear and Lily and Mak and one for the rest of us. We paid in cash. It kinda felt like that riddle where the farmer has to get his grain and chicken and fox across the river, what with the boat ride and the multiple trips.
The venue was thankfully right next to the boat dock - Waterman’s Community Center, a combination pre-school / cafe / event space / community theater. We set up in the middle of a big stage with big black curtains, in a room with amphitheater seating and bright spotlights. Alison, working sound, was the only person we saw. She was lovely. The only restaurant on North Haven was closed, so she drove us to the grocery store and we got sandwiches, raspberries, and diet cokes. She had Chappell Roan-themed fuzzy pink dice hanging from her rearview. On the way back, she said that she wished we would’ve come earlier in the afternoon so we could’ve gone swimming together.
Expecting about three people to come, we were pleasantly surprised by the ragtag group of ones and twos that eventually wandered in. One girl was wearing a Boygenius shirt, and was visiting from Chicago! She whooped at the line in “Counting” about taking the Metra to Wicker. My aunt Maria and cousin Cristian also came, and my mom’s friend from college and her husband. All small miracles, considering you have to charter a skiff to get there. Everyone sat a little far back from the front, so when the spotlights were on us it kinda felt like we were playing to no one. A couple songs in, Levi said into the mic, “this show kind of has the energy of a stress dream.” Which is so funny but also NOT INTO THE MIC DUMMY
The set was fun - we played Joker Lips. We definitely had started to gel in a different way by this point; the songs sort of became their own things, that we could just step into.
We sold a little merch, packed up our stuff, and lugged it back down to the boat dock, where honestly one of the more beautiful men I’ve ever seen showed up on his boat. His name was Joseph, he was from Dallas, and he tried to not let us pay him because was just happy to be out on the water. He was mostly silent, but did say things like, “it’s a beautiful night.” I hope we meet again one day.
The ride back was pretty surreal, though; perfectly still and clear, gentle breeze, stars reflecting on the water. It was kinda easy, all in all, to take a boat to a gig. Eaaasy.
We woke up early the next day and made the 8:45 boat back to the mainland.
Easthampton
We consistently claimed that this show was happening in Northampton, which was wrong. It was happening in Easthampton. And then in the last newsletter I said that it was happening in Easthampton, but that we were staying in Northampton, which was also wrong. We stayed in Holyoke, with my cousin Staige and her wife, Jess.
This general sense of confusion made its way into our drive. We first plugged in the address of the venue, and rolled into downtown Easthampton looking for Staige’s house. Realizing our mistake, we asked another unnamed member of the touring party to plug in the address; he said “got it,” and proceeded to plug in “Northampton,” directing us to the exact geographical center of the town of Northampton. Finally I called my cousin and we straightened ourselves out, and reached our destination.
Staige and Jess bought a house in Holyoke in January. Jess is a professor of plant biology at Smith, and Staige works remotely for MassHealth. They have a giant yard, essentially a meadow, which seems largely to be in service of their little friend of a dog, Cosmo. Cleo was instantly happy. She and Cosmo would lay down near each other, not quite touching, but in a will-they-won’t-they kind of way.
Lily was also instantly happy. She said, once we were shown to our rooms, “guys if this isn’t me with my wife in 15 years then I did something wrong.” Sorry to dox you Lily oop
That night we ate at an incredible restaurant in the back of an old warehouse, called the Daily Operation. We were skeptical of the menu, and ready to be disappointed, and then we were so deeply, profoundly satisfied. Probably the best meal of the tour.
We drove over to the Marigold Theater and unloaded our stuff. It’s a beautiful space, super old, big stage with a big rug. I love a stage rug. Instantly cozy. There was trivia wrapping up when we loaded in, with questions like “For a time, the U.S.S.R. considered shortening their week from seven days to five. Why?” (the answer: To prevent religious practices). Serious stuff. Actually maybe that’s what all trivia’s like? I have not done trivia. We got soundchecked, and went on first. Some of Mak’s friends came, and some of Levi’s family. I tried to close my eyes as much as I could, and just listen. It was sad to know we wouldn’t get to play a show for a little while. Playing our songs got more fun as we went along; I hope our next tour is at least a little longer.
My friend Darby from high school is in the band that we shared the bill with. They’re called B’Shara, and they’re great. Darby and I used to be the two bass players in the Milton High School jazz band, so it was so good to see her still ripping, and also just good to see her. Absolute goof.
And poof, tour was over. We dropped Levi off in New Jersey and stayed the night there, then woke up early and hauled back to Chicago. Lily got on an Amtrak back to St. Louis the next night, and Levi drove from NJ back to Chicago the day after that.
I was gonna include a list of all the people that made tour either possible, or just more fun, but I think I’m gonna try to send some snail-mail thank you notes instead. Also, if you think of any ways that British people say hello, please do let me know, because I’m running out of openers. Thanks to Jimmy for today’s.
Much love and gratitude to all the family and friends that came to shows, hosted us, ate with us, got coffee with us, played with us. And much excitement for the fall, for new songs and more shows and new friends.
Jamie (+ Mak + Lily + Levi)