Today (Thursday) Mad Tea Party heads out on an 11-day southern tour. Our first stop is Huntsville, and our next stop is New Orleans, where we have 3 gigs planned. I am so excited to go to New Orleans I decided to feature a New Orleans musician for the Thursday Hooray. It was very dificult to decide what to feature, since there is there is so much incredible music from the Crescent City, but I decided on Fats Domino. This is one of my favorite songs – it gets played in the Mad Tea van all the time, and on vinyl at the house.

Dang! I still almost have to pinch myself to believe that Mad Tea Party got to open for Southern Culture on the Skids on Halloween. I guess if you stick with something long enough, things that at one point seemed like a virtual impossibility can come true. Like getting to open for one of my favorite bands on my favorite holiday.

Jason and I have made a lot of sacrifices and shed a lot of tears in the pursuit of a sustainable career as musicians. I would not say that trying to make it as ukulele/one-man-band duo playing mostly original songs is the easiest path to take. But I will say that nights like Saturday night help fuel us to continue holding the torch for Mad Tea Party.

We didn’t know what to expect as we drove down the mountain to the show, but it turns out that the Catawba Valley Brewing Company in Morganton, NC is a really nice place. And it has fantastic sound (thanks Josh and L.P.!). The show was sold out and the crowd was in full Halloween regalia and ready to party. We nailed our set (the great sound and the receptive crowd made it easy). It was the culmination of our push to promote ZOMBIE BOOGIE, so the songs from the EP took on extra significance. And it was extra fun to play “Zombie Boogie” and to look out and see zombies dancing along to it.

Once we were finished, we got to hang out and listen to a stellar band (and, admittedly, to enjoy the Catawba Valley Brewing Company’s excellent beer). Throughout the night we got tons of feedback from folks who really liked our music. One guy even said, “You guys give me hope,” and went on to compliment our uniqueness. It was all very affirming. Southern Culture on the Skids ROCKED it, as usual. Boy do I LOVE them! I took this photo from backstage. Rick got a bunch of folks up to dance on the stage. It was mayhem. Completely delightful mayhem. I wish I had taken more photos of the awesome costumes there (including ours), but honestly I was too busy playing and dancing.

After the show, we hung out a long time shooting the shit with the Southern Culture crew. Finally we headed back to Asheville and landed at a friend’s party. The party was raging when we arrived and we were jacked from an exciting show. So we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, hanging with a dinosaur and a turtle and a skeleton and other assorted costumed creatures.

On Thursday and Friday Mad Tea Party had the good fortune of opening up for our friends Toubab Krewe in Charleston (at the Pour House) and in Charlotte (at the Neighborhood Theater). We are very happy they asked us to be on those bills, because we had SUCH a great time with them. The venues and crowds both nights were top notch. The show in Charleston was extra special to me because my dear friend Amanda and her partner Tasha were there to cheer us on.

On Friday before the Charlotte show we stopped by WSGE to help them with their fund drive. Earlier in the day WNCW aired a live performance we taped the week before. I have to get up on my soapbox for a moment: I can’t express enough how important public radio stations are. They are crucial to the cultural vitality of our country. They do so much for independent musicians. I sure hope you support your favorites!

Jason and I are both huge fans of Toubab Krewe – they are super-talented musicians. Not to mention the fact that they are all the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet. They are experiencing great success in their career and they totally deserve it. Jason sat in with them on fiddle both nights, which was awesome. I took some video which I will try and post soon though I have been slack on video editing lately, sorry. We’re getting a Mac soon so hopefully I will get inspired by it. Anyway, I got to play before great crowds and to dance to one of my favorite bands two nights in a row. Can’t beat that.

Here’s a random story: We drove home after the show in Charlotte. I think we pulled into Asheville around 3:45 am in the morning or so. As we drove up Chestnut Avenue, we saw a guy lying in the street with his bike between his legs, not moving. Of course horrible things ran through our minds as we stopped and jumped out of the van. Jason ran to the guy and I dialed 911. But it just took a moment to realize that he had not been hit by a car (though he would have if he stayed there), but certainly had been hitting the bottle. I guess he just passed out while riding home. We asked him where he was heading and he told us. It didn’t seem like he was going to be able to make it so we put his bike in the van and drove him home. At one point he said, “Who are you guys? Angels?” He works downtown. I wonder if he’ll recognize us when we see him around. Probably not. Maybe when he sees us he’ll think he’s seeing ghosts. It was a bizarre way to start Halloween.

I believe we are exactly where we are supposed to be at any given moment.

My friend Lydia See took this fantastic photo of us at the Hellbilly Hootenanny…

Recently Jason and I watched Anvil! The Story of Anvil which is a great documentary about a heavy metal band. I rarely watch movies, but when I do documentaries are my favorite. This will probably one of the few movies I’ll ever include in a “Thursday Hooray!” Anyway, we were really struck by how much of ourselves we saw in Anvil. The same type of things happen to so many bands and musicians, no matter what the genre. It’s really fascinating.

On a side note, we were stoked when the very popular Rue Morgue Radio included “Zombie Boogie” on a recent show – and that Anvil’s song “Metal on Metal” was on the same show! Thanks to Zombie Boogie, Mad Tea Party is starting to make our way into uncharted territories, for sure.

On Saturday night Mad Tea Party played in Wilmington, NC. We saw this boat before our set and felt like it was a sign. Jason and I are sticking to this crazy path.

Truthfully, it wasn’t my most favorite night ever, but there were some rockers at the show whose reaction to our songs affirmed that we are kickin’ butt musically.

On Sunday morning we had a peaceful walk on the beach. That is, until this huge crazy pit bull that was ignoring it’s owners almost attacked us. We got to our van safely and high-tailed it back to the mountains.

We had a wonderful time in on Friday night! Mad Tea Party performed at The Showroom at Hub-Bub, a super cool art/performance spot in Spartanburg. The show started out fun, but mellow, but evolved over the evening into a RAGING dance party. I can’t thank the fantastic crew of folks who were there enough for being so wide open and wild. We got to turn it up full throttle, which felt great.

Our show this Saturday at the Soapbox in Wilmington, NC was listed as a “Top Show” in the Star News. How nice! And they used the great marionette photo that Scott McCormick took of us.

Here’s what John Staton writes:

“First of all, they’re not that kind of Tea Party. Second of all, one of these days I’ll write a feature about this awesome Asheville duo – Ami Worthen (vocals, ukulele, guitar) and Jason Krekel (vocals, guitar, fiddle, foot drums) – that’s bringing songs from its new album ‘Zombie Boogie‘ to town. The title track is a uke-driven rockabilly tune about a teenybopper who’s devoured by a zombie. ‘You Really Spooked Me‘ is a garage rock screamer with more than a lotta soul. Sounds like it’s party time.”

Details:

9 p.m. (doors) Saturday
255 N. Front St. (ground floor),
downtown Wilmington.
With Sarah Blacker. $7.
www.TheMadTeaParty.com
www.MySpace.com/TheMadTeaParty