Miles and Miles of Diapers

The Return of Claire Small -- Massage Therapist Styles

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Yesterday during my free time, I went and got a massage from Claire Small. You remember Claire? She's the incredible singer songwriter who came out on the road with us and helped watch Lisel and opened shows. She's an amazing woman and a great friend.

And now she's an awesome massage therapist.

About this time last year, she decided that she wanted to expand her skill set and go to school for massage. It was a good idea on her part because she was born for this work. This coming from me, who is not always hip to massage. I would usually prefer accupunture to tell the truth. I've had many an underwhelming experience on the table.

But yesterday...I believe the massage term is WOMP! I was womped by Claire Small! After her massage I felt all flowy and giggly and sparkly and generally right with the world. Content in body, mind and spirit.

Claire's not licensed yet, but you can get her to work on you at the Lauterstein-Conway Clinic for $35 an hour, no tip. I think they might even be running a 5 dollar off special on the internet. And she'll be licensed in April, just so you know.

Now go! Take care of yourself! I was so glad I took care of myself.

Staying Sane at Home -- Time Sharing

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Since the beginning of the year, Dave and I have found ourselves in a very unfamiliar place -- our home. We haven't had any gigs and strangely did not decide to do any traveling outside my jaunt to St. Louis (St. Louis rocks!).

Which leaves us home, at our house, alot. And we kind of don't know what to do with ourselves.

Now, I was home a bunch after Willow was born, but most of the time I was home alone. With two kids. (cue hands to face and McCulkin-esque ahhhh!) I kind of figured out how to rock that and then I went slightly crazy and then I went back to work.

But both of us at home for any amount of time is just foreign. It's taken us a while to figure out how to work it.

We already had a protocol for days when Lisel goes to daycare -- we do the childcare split, a concept first introduced to me by fellow artist couple Katy O'connor and Randy Cole. They both have open schedules and a child and they figured out long before we did that if one parent takes the wee one in the morning and the other takes him in the afternoon then everyone gets time to get both their kid time and their creative groove on. So when there's just Willo, that's what we do.

But when Lisel was home, and we had two kiddos to care for, our first instinct was to to spend every waking hour together as a family. Which is fun until 3 days have passed and neither parent has had a minute of alone time.

Things would get a little stressed up in Sanger McQueenville.

And so I had the bright idea to maybe to a shorter version of the time split on days when we're all together. Each parent gets two hours of free time per day. And it really seems to make a difference. I mean, we love our girls to the ends of the ever expanding universe and back, but we also both have or own needs, our own thoughts to think and music to make. Touching our toe in that water on a daily basis makes us better parents.

What about you? What are your tactics for keeping track of yourself amongst the child rearing?

New Projects Afoot! Collaboration! Jubilation!

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Remember when I wrote about going to St. Louis? About how when I was there I played some gigs with Brothers Lazaroff backing me up? Yeah I had a a great time. And we were all inspired to continue our collaboration.

Way back when I put out my last solo record, The Laziest Girl in Town, David and I had been talking about the Brothers maybe doing some remixes of the songs. I'm a big fan of the Verve remixes series, and it seemed like a good fit. And then I put the record out and life got crazy and then I had a baby and the remixes idea fell by the wayside.

But during this trip we had such a great time playing together that we revived the idea of collaborating. and so we're doing it. Brothers Lazaroff are hard at work figuring ways to rework some of my songs. The'll start recording those re-imaginings soon, adding their own tracks to the original ones from the record. We're even planning on playing some shows during SXSW.

To say I'm excited about this is an understatement.

This video from the set we did on KDHX. Thanks to Andy Coco and everyone there for treating us so good. The band is David Lazaroff on Guitar, Jeff Lazaroff on guitar, Grover Stewart on drums, Teddy Brookins on bass and Mo Egeston on keys.

Yes!

Life is Marbleous -- A Movie, An App, A Song

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:22:00 +0000

One of the many, many things that I meant to do before the holiday was to hip everyone to this really cool app called Life is Marbleous. A couple of years ago, my friends Mike and Andrew from Beef and Pie asked me to write a song for a documentary they were making called "Life is Marbleous." And so I did. It was called, quite appropriately, "Life is Marbleous."

It's all about the simple yet ample joys of the game of marbles. It follows avid lovers of those little glass spheres, including a woman named Cathy who is known far and wide as the "Marble Lady."

Recently they came up with a really cool way to get their documentary out there. They created a marble themed app. Win the game, and unlock the movie! Like i said, cool! As you play, you can listen to music that folks like Kevin Russell of the Gourds, The Meat Purveyors, Dale Watson, Carolyn Wonderland and myself wrote for the movie. You can even buy my song on iTunes.

FYI for local peeps, Beef and Pie also made a documentary called "Man on a Mission", about gaming entrepreneur Richard Garriot's quest to make it into space, just like his astronaut father. NASA wouldn't take him, and so he booked a flight on a Russian Soyuz and headed to the International Space Station. Pretty cool. It looks like they'll be screening it tonight at 7pm at the Alamo Drafthouse! And according to their Facebook, they'll also be showing Apogee of Fear, the first sci-fi movie actually shot in space, after the documentary.

For those of you not in the Austin Area, you can see if the film will be coming to your town soon.

Life. It is Marbleous.

The Relentless March of Time (Is Breaking My Heart)

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:33:00 +0000

I feel like I may have finally crossed the threshold into adulthood.

I know it sounds strange, me being like 34 and a wife and a mother of two kids...but I reside in a city where we revel in unending adolescence. It's like Never Never Land with more coffee shops. And I'm a musician. Adult avoidance is at the top of my job description.

But somehow as I crossed the threshold of 2012, I felt this change inside. A sadness and yet an understanding of the transience of everything. Maybe it was because there have been some close couple friends of mine who've parted ways and other friends who've gotten sick and other friends who've passed on. Maybe it's because having two children is such a strange mix of life affirming wonderment and heart crushing vulnerability. Or maybe I'm just finally old enough to see it -- everything changes, everything ends.

It's just breaking my heart these days.

Yesterday I found myself in the gym listening to The Street's "A Grand Don't Come For Free" in its entirety. I've owned it for years, but in true modern music listening form I never had listening to every track in order all the way through. It's a great record; funny and hooky and very, very cinematic. The whole record is a story with plot and conflict and climax and pathos and by the last part of the last track I was near tears as I sat there on the mat, stretching my hamstrings. I hurried out of the gym and straight to my minivan and just let myself weep for it all. I hadn't realized until that moment how heavy this acceptance of endings had weighed on my heart.

So I want to share this track with the internet, even though I know it won't make any sense, it being the last track on a record where you really need to hear the whole record. And it's really the second half of this song, starting at around 3:10 that got me. I'm posting this unofficial stop motion lego video because it makes me smile. Cathartic music plus legos equals pure happiness.

Just so you know, this is Brit-hop with a bunch of cursing and a little violent language. If you have small kids or don't like anything that falls under the umbrella of rap, you may want to avoid this video. But you never know, you may really like it.

Rocking Ray's Backstage at the Rattle Inn

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Over the years, I've watched my boss, Ray Benson, slowly amass a food and beverage based empire. It started when he and the folks at the airport collaborated on a Ray Benson/Asleep at the Wheel themed bar and hotdog/taco stand. It's pretty cool. Everyone we take a trip I get to eat my tacos under a gigantic yellow neon sign with the name of the band on it, while looking at a cardboard cutout of my boss that resides on the stage (yes, we have many stages in our airport, the one in this bar being the biggest).

Ray has barbecue sauce with his name on it. He partnered with a local coffee roaster to bring the world "Awake at the Wheel" coffee. Like I said...food and beverage based empire.

And tonight we'll be playing the Grand Opening of his latest venture, Ray's Backstage at the newly opened Rattle Inn. It's a Wheel themed outfit with 45's on the bar and 41 years of band paraphernalia decorating every nook and cranny of the joint. Doors open at 7, we go on at 8. But if you can't make the show, you should definitely check it out soon. In fact, if you want to you can see pics of it at Asleep at the Wheel's Facebook page

It's also our first night back to work since the start of the new year. I'm so happy we had time to recover, and at the same time ready to play with the Wheel again. This time, I hope to stay a little more on top of my personal health than I did before.

Here's to new beginnings, and grand openings.

I Heart St. Louis

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Last weekend I went to St. Louis to play some solo gigs.

It was amazing.

My good, great, brother of a friend David Lazaroff set it up for me. He hooked me up with Rick Wood who runs Wood House Concerts. Man, if you live in the St. Louis area, and you're not on Rick's mailing list you should be. He brings in incredible acts, sets them up in his house which is one of the best rooms in St. Louis, feeds them and then invites really cool people to watch them. I had such the best time playing there. And he's an artist who has let his imagination run free in his house. Seriously, it's coolest.

David also hooked me a radio gig at KDHX on Saturday, and a brunch at Lola. And he and his band, the Brothers Lazaroff agreed to play those shows with me, and learn my material and rock it. KDHX is just the kind of radio station you want in a town. Broad minded musically yet intensely community oriented. And they made us sound really good on the radio.

And Lola, dude, Lola was awesome. The staff was excellent, the food was excellent, and the vibe was laid back and fun. I got to see so many cool people. Some I were meeting for the first time, like Robin Wheeler, who did a really cool interview with me, and who runs a really cool blog and others who I've known for years. (See you at SXSW Roy and Dana!) Good times.

It was such a fulfilling weekend. With kids and work and life, it's been very easy to put my own creative life on the back burner. At the end of the day, I'd usually rather sleep than write a song. I choose early bedtimes over gigs in town.

In some ways, it was easier to leave town and gig than it would have been to stay home and do the same thing. I can't remember the last time when I focused on myself and my music and my friends. I felt like I spent the whole weekend thanking people. Thank you I kept on saying. Thank you to David and Rick and Chris and Roy and Nico and Andy and Robin for giving me a place to play and helping me tell people about it. Thank you to Grover and Teddy and Mo and Jeff for learning my stuff. Thank you to Gayle for taking me into your home and Julie for hanging with us and Ella and Daisy for reminding me of my own girls at home. Thank you to Lisa and Bryan and Dillon and Jessica and Jim and Vicki and everyone else who came out to the shows.

Thank you, thank you, all weekend thank you. And even now I feel thankful. Because becoming a mom has been wonderful and amazing, but it's a bit of a necessary part of the job that you let go of and lose track of some parts of yourself that are integral to your existence. And that works for a while because you've got these little beings who fill in any and all gaps in your life. But last weekend I found that part of myself that had been sitting back, taking a break while I took care of the kids. I like her/me so much.

Thank you, St. Louis, for giving us a chance to get reacquainted.

Why I Left, Why I Came Back

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:49:00 +0000

Yes, it's true. Once again, I left the internet for a while. And once again, I have returned.

I started a very long blog post about why I left. But it was so very long winded, and it basically just said the following thing.

I got very, very, tired.

I would venture to say I was exhausted. I hadn't slept a full night's sleep in months. I was not in a situation where I could create sleep friendly scenarios. I finally understood the term "under water" because that was how I felt. Like I was literally under water, looking up at the surface and watching the refracted sunlight make the sky look like a painting -- and I knew that up there was air and real life and releif. But I was held down and held back and so I just. kept. swimming. Swimming forward. Holding my breath.

I don't think I've ever been that stressed for that long. In the past, back before kids, when I felt this kind of stress-outedness approaching, I would make my retreat. I would lock the door and turn off the phone and turn on the television and just not show up. For life. I would not show up for life.

But these are the days when not showing up is not an option. I cannot ignore my children. I cannot call in sick to work. I cannot make the world go away.

But I can stop showing up to my blog. Stop checking my facebook. Stop reading other people's tweets. Ignore some emails.

It's like the only place where I can indulge the introvert within me is the internet, and this blog specifically.

And so one day, I just stopped blogging. And I told myself I would blog tomorrow, but tomorrow came, and then days after and then weeks after and the blogging never restarted. I needed to be in my room, in my own head, alone, with no one privy to anything I had to say.

The internet, after all, would not miss me. There are millions of cat videos and mommy blogs and tumblr threads out there, and they filled up any small hole I made instantly.

But now, after almost a full week of good sleep and exercise and good food and home, sweet home, I'm ready to open the door and start writing again. Some pretty rad stuff has been happening, and I want to talk about it.

So thank you blog, for allowing me to come and go at will. To show up or not, depending on how I'm feeling.

And right now it feels good to be back.

A Big Christmas Show With Kat Edmonson!

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:20:00 +0000

Have you heard Kat Edmonson yet? If you have, then you know that she's great. If you haven't then you should follow this link and check her out, and then you'll know how good she is.

Now that we're all on the same page I'll continue.

This Sunday Kat is having a Christmas Show at the One World Theater, and it should be awesome. Not only will she be singing, but she has also invited a bunch of friends to come down and join in the fun with her. Miles Zuniga, Ray Benson, Floyd Domino, Elias Haslinger and me -- we'll all be stopping by and singing a couple of songs with Kat.

You know what, you should totally come. Because it's going to be a blast. Perhaps a bit of a Christmas Miracle even.

Bastrop Fires -- a Documentary by Lindsay Greene

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Remember this summer, when fires engulfed Central Texas? During that time fellow musician and recent Bastrop transplant Robert Kraft decided to put his cell phone to good use and film his experience with the fires. And our very own Lindsay Greene edited the footage together. He returned to his property after the evacuation, in order to save what he could. What happens is pretty heavy. I won't ruin it for you, but I will say you should totally watch it. And I'll also remind you that people in Bastrop still need some help, and if you have a little extra time and money, you can donate here.

Friends Along the Way -- Boston, MA

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:47:00 +0000

On this last trip, we had a delightful spur of the moment lunch with one of my best friends in the world, Meredith Goldstein. About an hour outside of Boston, I realized that we were, well, an hour outside of Boston, home to Mere. I sent out the call, which she luckily got, and an hour later we were all eating Dunkin Donuts treats in her living room.

Maybe at some earlier point in my life I would have planned this meeting. But unfortunately my brain doesn't work like that anymore. These days, I'm living minute to minute.

Mere got to meet Willow, and they got along wonderfully until Willow tried to eat her boot, at which time I realized my youngest daughter was very hungry.

I've talked about Mere before. But have I ever bragged about her? Well when you've been friends with someone since middle school, you achieve parental bragging rights. Look it up, it's the law, I swear.

Not only is Meredith the advice columnist for the Boston Globe, with her Love Letters Blog, but she's also a soon to be published author. Her book, The Singles, is due out on April 24th. It's the story the only five dateless friends at a wedding. And it's good. Which is why you should totally put it on your to-do list of books to read for 2012. It's so good in fact that it's already been optioned by a production company to be made into a movie. I mean, come on! That's information worth bragging about.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:35:00 +0000

This Thanksgiving my sister and her family came to Austin. She has a one year old son, Lute. Dave and I have two daughters. Suddenly, the kid table is filled with our kids, and we're the in the middle of the holiday generation spectrum. And for that, we are truly thankful.

Friends Along the Way -- Takoma Park, MD

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:49:00 +0000

I spent my junior year of college in Granada, Spain. It was hands down one of the best times in my life. Granada is gem of city replete with history (it was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain) and more importantly for twenty year old me, nightlife.

Viva la Marcha!

During one of my many, many nights out, I met a young man named Graham Copp. We were instant friends. Of all the folks I met in Spain, he's the one I've kept in touch with the most, even though he's lived in Jolly Olde England and I've lived the U.S. of A.

When we met, we were kids, concerned mostly with whether we would meet up at the Irish bar or the El Fondo Reservado (Granada's premier drag bar) that night. Somehow though we got jobs and found life partners and had kids -- we grew up. I still have no idea how that happened.

About 7 months ago Graham and his wife Keri and their daughter Sylvia decided to move from Great Britian to the U.S. And they ended up picking Takoma Park, MD as their landing place. Incidently, Takoma Park is the last place I lived before I moved down to Texas.

Life is just so strange sometimes.

Graham and Keri were gracious enough to not only offer us a place to stay during this last tour, but Keri also drove all the way to BWI to pick the girls and I up. That's the very definition of above and beyond.

Their daughter Sylvia and our daughter Lisel made an instant connection. They were off and playing with barely a glance at us old folks.

And there we were, people who'd met when we were just kids ourselves, watching our children play together. I can't even really wrap my head around the enormity of that. This forward progress of life, this constant change, i so mind blowing to me. At the same time though, it's the most natural

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Tempting Fate = Never a Good Idea

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:06:00 +0000

You know that post I wrote about how great the road was going? Well I almost didn't post it. As I've said before, I'm a highly superstitious person. And that post seemed too...well too positive. It seemed to me like a fate tempter.

Because fate loves a good tempting. It loves you to speak aloud how great things are going and how good you feel, because those statements open some kind of cosmic karmic door through which it can walk with its anti-hubris stick so as to give you a good smacking about.

Or so the superstitious part of me thinks.

But the other day whilst sitting in front of my computer, I wasn't feeling superstitious. I was feeling like the hip 21st century mommy blogger that I aspire to be, mostly. I hesitated a bit before it became time topublish though. "Are you sure you want to put this out into the universe right before a tour?" I asked myself."

"Come on," my modern self told my superstitious primal self, "There's no way that posting one little blog post is going to possibly influence the course of events on this tour you're about to take. The world just doesn't work that way. Go ahead, click publish and be done with it."

How foolish of me! Because it seems the world does work that way! How else can you explain the Baby Bus starting act up twenty miles outside of New Orleans. 20 miles before I was scheduled to take the girls on a flight to Baltimore. 20 miles before Dave and Lindsay were to start their 20 hour trek up to meet us.

Fate! I admit to your hubris hating existence!

Luckily I must not have gone over the positivity edge, because we made our flight. Dave and Lindsay were able to find a Sprinter mechanic to fix the leaky hose that was causing our woes.
The backup plan was to rent a minivan, and thank goodness they didn't have to do that.

Fate cut us a small break, and for that, I thank Fate.

But man, it was looking kind of bleak there for a while. As soon as I heard we were having car troubles, I admitted to the guys my mistake and apologized to them. Was a quick admission of guilt the key to a less intense punishment? Is Fate like my parents in that way? Who know? But I do know for now on I'll be saving the positivity for after the long tours.

I won't underestimate fate ever again.

Best Friends

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:29:00 +0000

I think my daughter and my best friend are becoming best friends.

That is so cool.

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The Play! The Play!

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:43:00 +0000

The weekend before last, we did the play in Claremore, Oklahoma. And it was an excellent time, both onstage and off. And I really meant to blog about it sooner but, you know, life and all.

(Just when I think I have the hang of this new groove we've gotten ourselves into, I find that in fact I'm actually free falling, grasping in the open air for something, anything to grab ahold of so I can stop for a moment or two. But that's a whole 'nother post completely)

But the play. The Play! How I love the play. I love the differentness of it. I love the backstage dance and the dressing room chatter. And I love the people. The cast and crew are just the loveliest people ever.

Colby and Lisel Play Cups

I've known this for a long time. But this trip it was just especially evident. I felt like part of a huge family.

15 minutes later Charissa had totally whispered Willow to sleep

The trip (another) ball breaker. Two flights and a car rental and then a thirty minute drive without Dave. I'm getting used to that kind of trip. But this time I flew up and back with cast members, and they all wanted to help and hang with the kids. Our good friend Taylor even helped me with the whole rental car madness. It was really delightful travel.

Lisel and Uncle Taylor getting some drawing done

When we got to the theater, Cheryl Smith, the head of wardrobe, had staked out two small practice rooms for Lisel and Willow to sleep and nap in. Lisel, very astutely called them their "dressing rooms."

Jobelle watched them while we were onstage. During dress rehearsal, she even brought them out to watch us. I brought Lisel up on stage during the barbershop number, and then watched with Lisel during the parts when I wasn't needed. We ranged around the empty theater, hand in hand, Lisel pointing out her friends as they came onstage. It was incredible.

Us onstage

Ruby Jane Smith and Lisel

Steve Uzzell and Willow

all picture taken by Jobelle Smith

And exhausting. I cannot tell a lie, these days work is a serious kick in the ass. But what they hell? I spent years of my young adulthood kind of bored. This is so much better.

We worked and played and ate and slept and almost as quickly as it began, the weekend was done. Just like that we created another sweet memory.

This December we'll be doing the play in Richardson, Texas at the Eisemann Center from the 28th through the 31st. And normally, I would look at working during that sacred week between Christmas and New Years as an affront to my holiday happiness. But this is different. I get to spend the holidays with my extended, extended family. That's a present all in itself.

How Goes the Road?

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:25:00 +0000

People often, and by often I mean every day, ask me "How is it going with two kids on the road?" They almost always sound very, very concerned.

And I understand their concern because before we started this new chapter in our choose your own adventure book, I was very, very concerned myself. Life with one kid was hard. Life on the road with one kid was harder. Yes, it was also very fulfilling, but also very hard. How on earth would life on the road with two children be.

Super hard. That was my guess. So super hard in fact, that I wasn't sure we would be able to pull it off.

What was also very, very concerning was that Dave didn't seem very convinced that we could make two kids on the road work either. When we decided to take Lisel on the road with us, I was often the naysayer to Dave's cheerleader. "It'll never work!" I'd moan. "Of course it will," Dave would state in a voice brimming with boundless enthusiasm, "we can do anything!"

But when we talked about bringing both kids out with us my "It'll never work!" was more often than not met with a "Yeah. I'm having a hard time seeing it work myself."

Which was distressing, to say the least. Every bold (read crazy) idea needs a glass half full type pushing it along.

But after doing this for two whole months (which as I write it seems like barely any time at all, but what the hell) I'm here to report that our concern though warranted seems to be waning. Because it's somehow working. Traveling with a toddler and a baby seems to be going well so far.

We are very, very relieved.

I've been trying to pin down why it seems to be going well, and I've come up with a couple of ideas.

1) We know what we're doing. With Lisel we spent two years bumbling around in the dark, both learning how to be parents and learning how to travel with a wee one. Now we have a chance to apply all the things we learned. Plus we have a very seasoned traveler in Lisel to help us along and show her sister how it's done.

2) We're not so ambivalent about what we're doing. This applies mostly to me. I spent a lot of time during those first years wondering if our choices were the right ones. But now, after seeing what a great kid Lisel is turning out to be, I feel less worried. It's incredible how much nicer things are when you're not kvetching and worrying yourself and those around you silly.

3) And this I think is the biggest reason why we're enjoying the road with two kids. I apologize in advance to anyone I've said this to in person, because I'm finding it to be my standard response to those wondering how we're doing. Okay here goes...

Being on the road with two kids is not noticeably more stressful or exhausting than being at home with two kids.

It's different that when we had one kid, and being on the road put a physical and emotional strain on both parents at the same time. That was in contrast to being home, where we had the time and the space to give each other a break. Now, with two kids, there is no free time for either parent whether we're driving from Sandusky, OH to Philadelphia, PA or spending time in an around our humble abode.

So the road seems very, very doable. And there is the added bonus of getting to play good music with exceptional players when we're on the road. That joy cannot be underestimated.

And the extra added bonus of the road is that we don't have to do housework. Oh housework, how I abhor you and your sysiphean sysipheaness. Dave and I were never good at cleaning, and we're even worse now that we're picking up after four humans, rather than two. Oh hotel rooms, how I love your default cleanliness, and my ability to leave you a little bit, or a lot, messy.

So there you have it. Life on the road with two kids is actually pretty cool. Who knew?

Dungeons and Dragons

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:16:00 +0000

In the middle of our last East Coast trip, Lindsay Greene spearheded an activity that I believe will transform our road experience from here on out.

He suggested we start playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Neither Dave nor I had ever gotten into role playing before because, um, we're not total nerds. Just kidding (kind of). Well, I did play D and D once, but I've never immersed myself in the land of enchantment and elves and trolls and wizards and warlords and all things vaguely Tolkienish. Lindsay had played some back in the day, but had pretty much forgotten what the deal was. But it seemed like a fun way to pass the time, as well as a good excuse to by many different dice of many side types. We have now, traveling with us, 4,6,8,10 and 20 sided dice. Or dyes? Or die? Who knows? Probably a more exoerienced D and D player than I.

Anyway, we haven't bought a 100 sided one...yet.

Speaking of dice, according to the Players handbook, it's bad form to touch another players' dice. In the baby bus, this knowledge has only led to much giggling and touching of other people's dice.

So Lindsay procured a players handbook and a Dungeon Masters handbook and we all started in on the game without any real knowledge as to what we were doing.

And what are we doing? In a word? Math.

Dungeons and Dragons is basically one extended addition and subtraction session. You start by creating a character, which is basically quantifying as many qualities as one can. Strength. Charisma. Fortitude. Stealthiness...this list goes on and on. And for novices like us, it seems like it takes FOREVER. Because in addition to these suddenly quantifiable qualities there are all these variables. Want to buy some armor? Cool. What kind would you like? Well, the leather will give you a plus 1 in Armor Class, but won't do much against magic or large melee weapons, while the Chain Mail will give you a plus 4 in Armor Class but will give you a minus 3 in Stealthiness. And what powers do you want? The Flourishing Pierce will only deal damage to your opponent on if you roll a twenty sided die over your enemy's armor class and then roll and eight sided die plus add you strength modifier and the square root of your age plus half your shoe size.

Or so it all instructions seem to read to novices like myself and Dave.

As a woman playing a game made by boys for boys, I was struck by how much these character creations lacked, despite their mind boggling complexity. For instance, there's no quantifier for love, no modifier for friendship. This is kind of weird considering the game is built around the idea of group play. You would think that fighting and defeating multiple magical foes would create a strong bond between the members of a roving band of magical adventurers. And it would stand to reason that the longer you adventured, the stronger the bond would be, and that this would provide everyone with individual as well as group strength. Unless of course, someone broke ranks and sided with the enemy.

But there's no betrayal index. No anger modifier.

Dudes.

Anyway, despite some (to me) glaring shortcomings, Dungeons and Dragon ended up being really fun. It transformed the long car rides from drudgery to be dreaded, to fun times to be looked forward to. Many pre-D&D mornings, Dave would start to count down the miles as soon as he started driving. That's rough when your traveling 350 miles. But post-D&D we were all psyched about going out and searching for treasure, or fighting Giant Rats, or doing whatever Dungeon Master Lindsay had in store for us. We got excited that we could use our character voices, which inevitably included bad British accents and words like henceforth. We even included Lisel (when she wasn't watching a movie or napping) as our official dice roller. Is there anything cooler that rolling many dice of many sides? No. The miles just flew by.

And now we're a little hooked. We have some at home games planned, and we'll definitely be rocking exploring some Dungeons and slaying some Dragons on our next big trip. Are we giving into nerdiness, or just admitting our already existing inner dorks? Who cares? It makes the road more fun, and that's good enough for me.

M.E.O.W. Day at Momo's! This Saturday!

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:29:00 +0000

This Saturday I'll be taking part in a very cool happening. I'll be sitting on the "Do Music and Motherhood Mix" Panel as part of M.E.O.W. Day at Momo's. My panel starts at noon, but the event lasts from 11am to 6pm. They even start the day with Pancakes!

What is M.E.O.W. you ask? Well, the letters in the name stand for Musicians for Equal Opportunities for Women. You know I'm all about that. And this Saturday is the Kickoff Event. Awesome women like Susanna Choffel, Shelly King, Sara Hickman, Margaret Moser, Patrice Pike will be talking about everything from Staying Healthy on the Road to Building a Creative Community to Mixing Family and Music (that would be my panel!).

It should be very cool event. You can check it out and register here. I'll see you there!

Leaf Peeping

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:59:00 +0000

All through the last big trip to the East Coast I wanted to talk about leaf peeping, mostly because I like writing/thinking/saying leaf peeping. We definitely peeped some serious leaves on that trip, though not in New England, where they have like, a leaf peeping industry. All the hotels were full up and down the New England Coast due to leaf peeping tours. But when we were there it was very drear -- lots of rain and mist and gray skies. More stay inside and eat split pea soup weather while wrapping your warm blanket around you weather that peep at leaves weather. But West Virginia! Holy Mountain Mama, did we peep some leaves! When we pointed it out to Lisel, she said "They're Rainbow Trees!" And she was so right. Here in Texas, leaf peeping is rare. Fall is actually our second growing season, so we peep the green, rather the reds, oranges and yellows. Our course, we peeped many a colored leaf, but snapped not a pic. Luckily Ray snapped this photo above, and it letting me use it so that you too may get a peak into the leaves we peeped.
And now I think I may have actually quenched my thirst to write/thing/say Leaf Peeping.

Psych!

Leaf Peeping!!!!!!

Happy All Saints Day!

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Love,

Peter Pan

And Tinkerbell

The Show Must Go

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:51:00 +0000

In show business, we have a little saying that gets us through the hard times. "The Show Must Go On," we tell ourselves whenever we are worn down or just not not in the mood to play, as encouragement to ourselves to shake it off and do our job. "The Show Must Go On," we tell our compadres when they're coughing and wheezing and achey and sneezing, as encouragement to get them on stage with us. And most of the time, it works. The show does go on.

Sometimes I think this is one of the best aspects of our profession, and other times I find it extremely ludicrous. I mean, most jobs are at peace with the idea that sick people don't go to work. They have (gasp!) sick days. I mean, it makes sense. If you're ill stay home, rest up and for goodness sake prevent the spread of your illness. But in music and the theater, at least in the circles I run in, sick days barely exist. The idea that you would stay home because you have a little thing like the swine flu is scoffed at.

I've played shows with people so sick that they could barely stand up backstage, gasping and wheezing and sometimes even puking, sweaty and on the verge of sleeping sitting up. And damned if they didn't summon the strength when it came time to get on stage to do it and do it well. I myself have performed with the stomach flu, the regular flu, a voice on the edge of collapse (many, many times), and when I was so pregnant that every muscle, especially those in my feet, felt like they were on fire. I've seen Ray muscle through a sprained wrist and laryngitis at the same time.

In fact, almost every musician I know I has story like this one -- "One time I was so sick but played the gig anyway and had to keep a bucket next to me , and use it, while I played. I became known as that guy who puked on stage." (story courtesy Dave Sanger).

And theater people are no different. When we first did A Ride With Bob we had this run where half the cast got a terrible flu. The green room became this huge sick bay, with cast members draped over the couches moaning and groaning as a giant fan blew on them and tried to relieve their fevers. But as soon as it was someone's time to hit their mark, they hit it.

Which is why, Friday morning when Dave started complaining that he felt a little weird, and then a lot weird, and then so nauseous that he couldn't eat and then the room started spinning so he couldn't stand -- well it didn't occur to either of us that we wouldn't make the gig in Abilene that night. We had planned on driving up there with the kids that day. Our nanny for the night would be Michelle Valles, or Tia Mitch as our kids call her. Since she and Ray are a couple it made sense for her to ride the bus up with him and meet us at the gig.

No extra person with us meant I would need to drive the Baby Bus, even though due to my baby wrangling duties, I hadn't driven the Baby Bus at all in a couple of years. And I needed to get everything packed and get the kids ready to go alone because, well, my husband couldn't stand up.

Which I did. I packed up, drove to Abilene, even doing a solo stop for lunch in Lampasas. Dave spent most of the ride in the Baby Bus bed, and just a little of it in the bathroom trying to rid himself of whatever ailed him. (We think it was food poisoning. From now on, we'll always heat our leftovers up, right Dave?!?!)

Luckily, the ick wore off a little bit after we got to town, and Dave was able to both help with the kids and play the gig. And I'm going to say it, I felt and feel like a badass for singlehandedly taking the family on the road, if only for a few hours. Though I will admit that during the whole process I questioned what we were doing. Were we blindly following the tenet of shows going on no matter what? Should we have seen a doctor first instead? Should we have stayed home all together nursed Dave to health, show be damned. The right path wasn't clear at the time.

Is it ever? Maybe that's why we as performers really buy into the idea of nothing stopping the show. It gives us a clear path, it makes the decision for us. You just have to show up, period, no excuses. And if you do that usually. hopefully, at the end of the day you will feel like a badass and have a good story to tell (or blog about)

Road Songs -- Gotye

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:42:00 +0000

This past couple of trips I found a couple of artists that have really gotten under my skin in the most inspiring way. This particular song has been obsessing me. It kind of crept inside my head and then spread to every crack and crevice of my being, so that it was the only thing I could listen to for a week. The artists name is Gotye, and he creates these albums essentially by himself, using a mix of instruments and samples. The woman who he's dueting with is Kimbra, a Kiwi who lives in Australia. I think I may have to travel down under, because these Aussies and Kiwi's are really floating my boat.

Fire Relief

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Central Texas Wildfire Fund

Oh man, I'm a little late on the posting about this, but as often happens when I get overwhelmed and tired, the blogging has taken a hit.

It wasn't actually that stressful of a weekend, but after two weeks on the road it only took a little jaunt up to Oklahoma and back to wear us out. And when we got home, it was time to get ready for the big Fire Relief Concert.

As you probably know, Texas is in the middle of a gigantic drought. And at the end of the hottest summer on record, every last bush, tree and bit of ground cover was dried out. Which is why we had a series of devastating fires all around the state. The biggest one happened just down the road from us in Bastrop. Thousands of families lost everything to the fires.

It was and remains to be a truly heartbreaking situation.

So Ray and Eric Johnson hatched a plan to throw a benefit concert to raise money for the fire victims. And they got all these amazing Texas artists to sign on -- Shawn Colvin and Randy Rogers and Joe Satriani and Christopher Cross (Sailing! Hello!) and the Texas Tornados and Lyle Lovett and Willie Nelson and George Strait and the reunited Dixie Chicks -- it became this huge show. So they had to get a huge place to hold it. So they got the Erwin Center.

And then they sold out the Erwin Center.

And Monday night Asleep at the Wheel got to play the Erwin Center and back up Lyle Lovett and Willie Nelson, and watch all those other acts -- it was really incredible. I mean, I saw Christopher Cross sing "Sailing." I saw John Michael Whitby play with Randy Rogers. He used to play piano with us and now he plays key for Randy (and George Straight) AND he sings backup, AND he sounds really good. I got to watch the Dixie Chicks twice; once at soundcheck and once during the show. (I didn't have the balls to even take a picture. They're badassedness provoked a super respectful anti-paparazzi thing in me,) I knew they were good but I was unprepared for how blown away I was by them. I actually got to see George Strait live. No one can deny the power of George Strait.

It was a very good night.

It was definitely the largest crowd I've ever played for. I didn't do an official head count, but I heard there were 17,000 people. Hearing a crowd like that let loose is an intense experience. Dave describes it as akin to the sound of an airplane flying all around your head. That's a very apt description. It's strange to think that for act like George Strait and the Dixie Chicks, a gig like that is run-of-the-mill. Can one get inured to that kind of giddy energy? I may never know, but being in the middle of all those people was a real mind blower.

In the end, it was an awesome night, and one that I felt lucky as well as proud to be a part of. What a fun way to help out. And even though this blog post does not coincide with the event the way I wanted it to, I want you to know that you can still help out. You can donate to the Central Texas Wildfire Fund or you can text FIRE to 84465 to donate $10 in the easiest peasiest way possible. Because we're all usually pretty lucky. But sometimes fate takes a swipe at people and for no reason, and suddenly everything they have is lost. If we as a community can come to together and pick them up and help them out and sings songs to encourage people to help them some more -- well that's nothing but a good thing.

I Couldn't Have Said it Better -- Anxiety

noreply@blogger.com (EMQ) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:12:00 +0000

I read a fair amount of blogs, many of them about parenting, some of them about traveling with kids. Though most folks don't travel exactly the same way, or for exactly the sane reasons as we do, there are quite a few families out there who are hitting the highways and byways of the world.

One blog I've particularly enjoyed is "It's a Small World After All" about a British family with three kids who took a trip around the world. With three kids. For nine months.

Did I mention they have three kids.

Their adventure makes our traveling seem like a bunch of day trips to the Round Rock Ikea.

They're back home now, and I just read a post that really resonated with me. It's about the constant anxiety that one feels when traveling with kids, especially when they're yours. I hardly ever write about my fears out here. Strike that -- I write a lot about my fears, but there are certain areas that I stay firmly away from, lest my writing about them should provoke the fates and bring on the very result I worry about.

I can't even bring myself to write about them now.

I'm not above magical thinking.

But this post really sums up what I feel at a very low level all the time while we're on our adventures. I understand why Victoria waited until she was home to write this post. Perhaps she's not above magical thinking either.
How about you? Does travel provoke this kind of anxiety for you? Got any tips on dealing with it?