Spinach

…I know that music is as close to religion as I’ll ever get. It’s a spiritually and biologically sound  endeavor– it’s healthy. Some music is healthy, anyway. I know a lot of bands who’re candy. Or beer. Fun and bad for you in a way that makes you feel good. For a minute. My band is… spinach, I guess. We’re ragged and bitter. But I swear to god, we’re good for you.   –Kristin Hersh 

All I Really Want… or My Trip to the Dead Zone.

Someone sent me the world’s most epic YouTube video this morning. Although I’m home sick today, it brightened my day and I couldn’t be brought down after I watched it.  In order to understand why it was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen (even better than the recent Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, which I totally loved), you’ll need to read this blog post from waaaaayyyyy back in the Sarah Mac Band archives.

This was posted January 4, 2006 (6 years ago today!!). I tried my best to edit it, but the writing was so manic and bad that I’m not sure that I would be able to edit it and still save it without substantial work (YAY! At least all that money spent on graduate school yielded an ability to write well since it didn’t yield  a grown up job!) And since I’m sick, I just sort of wanted to post it because it gave me great joy… and then go back to bed and have sweet dreams of alligator wrestling and muddin’  (that’s a joke… sort of).

And ladies and gentlemen, here you have it… from the Sarah Mac Band archives:

All I Really Want… or My Trip to the Dead Zone by Sarah Mac

Never so strongly has fate has tempted me… Normally, I am a pretty self-disciplines individual, but for some reason I gave in. Maybe it was because I felt all crazy from being off of work for an entire week, maybe it was the holiday season that puts a little extra spring in everyone’s step, I don’t really know, but I do know that I chased after that illusive little mother (fate) and she turned around and beat me in the throat and in the stomach with a six-inch tall plastic action figure.

My mom and dad bought themselves a freshwater fishing boat for Christmas. Then Mama Bear got the flu so, I offered my services to Mister Elwood as an assistant boat-breaker-inner two days after Christmas. In typical North Florida fashion, we loaded up the camoflauge boat, dressed in all flannel, and took off for Taylor County to buy a fishing license for me and commence with the maiden voyage. If anyone knows me, they would just laugh at that odd mental picture and not need to read the rest of this. But, for those of you that don’t know me well enough yet to appreciate it, I will continue.

There is a stretch of  State Road 59 that stretches from Wacissa (inland) to Highway 98 (which runs parallel to the Panhandle Gulf Coast) that Mister Elwood calls the “dead zone.”  Apparently, it has something to do with cyclists riding it and wanting to die because it goes on forever and there’s nowhere to stop and take a break because marsh/swamp goes straight up to the side of the road. I would say it’s much more the dead zone because of your complete inability to pick up any kind of cell phone signal out there.

We were driving through the dead zone listening to the radio when the dj announced a contest. They would play four songs and then if you could guess the common thread, you could win, gasp!!! a Slash (from Guns N’ Roses) action figure complete with his own mini-Marshall amp!!!! Upon hearing that, I immediately lost all bowel and bladder control right there in the middle of the dead zone from the sheer force of my fierce desire to win that contest and own that Slash doll.

As much of a cosmopolitan, cultured girl as I am, there is still a tiny bit North Florida red neck running in my veins. In fact, I would wager to guess that deep down inside, I might cling so desperately to the cosmopolitan, cultured, eyebrows always manicured girl as an overcompensation for my deep desire to be dirty. Not like, Christina Aguilera gunchy, sexual “drrrty”, but like trailor trash, bleach blonde, blue eyeshadow, too many cigarettes, Gretchen Wilson (whom I abhor), needs to brush her teeth dirty… so I guess more like Britney Spears “barefoot in the public restrooms” dirty. Something about the faded red Camaro driving, mullet wearing, sleeves ripped out of your t-shirt, Tasmanian Devil cartoon character tattoo on your arm, 80′s hair band blaring, no seat belt wearing  just calls my name (except for the no seat belt wearing because that’s so totally dangerous).

Guns N’ Roses is soooo completely the soundtrack said picture. Especially “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” which is my favorite song of all time… ever. I could play it over and over and over again and never grow tired of it. It’s like it’s a new song every time I hear it.. oh Lord, it could bring tears to my eyes right now just thinking about it—but as we all know, that’s not super difficult to do.

So I guess that you could understand the special significance of a Slash action figure for me. I was salivating as I pictured it in the Sarah Mac Band practice room. He could be our muse. We could all rub his belly for good luck before we play or something. And hello, how cool would Charlie look if he took some fashion pointers for the hardest, dirtiest, most “I-don’t care” rocker of all time?!? Leather pants, anyone?

The common thread between the four songs was kind of a tricky one. And that my friends, was in my favor… In that sense, I’m a little less like Britney and more like Shakira (who reportedly has an IQ of 140). For the most part, I know my music stuff (we all know that I have some weird Rain Man-esque tendencies). Instead of  “all the bands are from Seattle” or “all of the songs mention school buses” this was really hard. Get this– the bands that they played were Black Crowes, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, and Bad Company.

Ready??…  Each of the bands has two words in their name and those two words are in sucessive alphabetical order. How random is that? I figured it out on song three.  But I didn’t even think hard, it just came to me, and that’s how  I knew that it was fate.

[Side note: The following paragraph is no longer true after six years of singing on the radio and doing live performances. I guess we can use this as a record of my  personal growth!!]

I’m terrified of talking on the radio. I was never one of those punk pre-teen kids who would call the radio station and harass the dj to get on the air. And then in college, I had my one brush with radio fame when I played a song live on air and forgot the chords to the song that only has freakin’ three chords in it! Since I’ve been burned, I generally don’t call in to win stuff just because I don’t want them to record me and put me on the air– quite possibly a future problem since I want to be a rock star when I grow up. But a little like the mother who runs blindly back into the house on fire to save her baby from perishing, I picked up my cell phone to call in my answer and win my Slash doll. And then my call got dropped– repeatedly. I tried to call from my phone and then Mister Elwood’s phone until we weren’t even getting enough service for our calls to be dropped. There was just nothing. He drove faster to get us out of the dead zone before someone else figured out the answer. But it goes on forever!! Although it took probably twenty minutes for the rest of the Gulf 104 listening area to figure it out, someone did. And they did right about the time we pulled onto Highway 98 and got cell phone service again.

It was one of those things where you want to cry, but you don’t because you know how much of a fool you’ll look like being 25 years old and crying because you didn’t win a doll from a radio contest– even if it is a Slash action figure with his on mini-Marshall amp!!! So I bit my lip and pretended to use the bathroom at the gas station while Mister Elwood inquired about a fishing license (because I’m a rule follower and I don’t believe in fishing without a license). After I composed myself, I decided that this whole situation was actually dang funny and I laughed at myself all day long– which was helpful because we didn’t have any luck with the fish.

I read about Tom Jones today in the paper and how his fans throw panties at him all the time– apparently that’s a sign of beign a successful musician. I think that when the SMB gets to be famous (in the event that such a day comes) I would much rather have fans throwing Slash dolls at me– just makes sure to wrap them in bubble wrap so that they don’t hurt so much if they hit me… I might lose all bowel and bladder control.

The End

And now ladies and gentlemen, the video that served as a catalyst for the revitalization of a long dead blog post for the depths of the Sarah Mac Band blog archive (You really do need to watch the whole thing to appreciate all of the subtle musical textures and nuances and the great costuming)…

CLICK HERE —> http://youtu.be/gAJ2LDcBmXE

And just so that no one worries, a fan actually did purchase a Slash action figure for me and throw it at me (well, too me… but since I can’t catch worth anything, it sort of bounced off of me awkwardly as I yelped and jumped out of the way) at a concert. He now resides on a shelf in our practice room in all of his heavy-metal-hair-band-screw-you-I’m-too-stoned-to-care glory in our practice room next to Mr. Eko from Lost, Michelle Obama, Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, and 3 cans of Spam.

Claire’s 2011 Best of: Music Edition

Hi Everyone,

I’m the least stellar example of a dutiful blogger these days. This morning over coffee and shopping, Claire was telling me about her Top Music Picks For 2011 List. I thought that maybe since it’s almost the New Year and I’m a little overwhelmed with how behind I am on blogging, I could publish Claire’s list to tide you over while I get my act together and craft a blog post. She’s the one that always introduces Charlie and me to the hippest, coolest, new music anyway.

I think that we’ll probably have some more Top of 2011 lists coming…

[Don’t worry, we didn’t kick Charlie out of the band. He’s just been home in bed, super sick, so he has not been privy to the coffee, shopping and Best of 2011 List comparisons. I did see him this morning and talk to him on the phone a few minutes ago. So, as of early evening on Friday, December 30th, he was still kicking and the flu hadn't done him in yet.]

Keep on rocking in the free world,

SM

 Claire’s 2011(ish)* Faves (somewhere in transferring this from email to blog, I lost one of the songs and I’m not sure which one it is… sorry!!)

If you have Spotify, you can click here to listen to her list as a playlist.

*Note from Claire: This is not a true “best of 2011″ list because quite a few of these came out prior to 2011.  However, I let those slide because these songs were my soundtrack to 2011….

• Share the Moon – Indigo Girls
• Wilhelm Scream – James Blake
• Go Outside – Cults
• Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
• Lost in My Mind – The Head and the Heart
• Up Up Up – Givers
• The Way it Will Be – Gillian Welch
• Down by the Water – The Decemberists
• Learn How to Love – Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
• I Will Remain – Matthew and the Atlas
• Repo Man – Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs
• Howlin’ for You – The Black Keys
• It’s Not Impossible -Ben Sollee
• Tree by the River – Iron & Wine
• Shake it Out – Florence + the Machine
• You are a Tourist – Death Cab for Cutie
• How Far We’ve Come – Dawes
• Always – Blind Pilot
• Be Set Free – Langhorne Slim
• American Nomad – The Apache Relay
• Born with a Broken Heart – David Wax Museum
• Up All Night – Alex Clare
• Goat Rodeo – Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile
• Don’t Gotta Work it Out – Fitz and the Tantrums
• Bad as Me – Tom Waits
• Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars
• East Harlem – Beirut
• Rolling in the Deep – Adele
• Home – Lisa Hannigan
• The Lion’s Roar – First Aid Kit
• This Could All Be Yours – Guster
• Hannah – Freelance Whales
• Fathers Be Kind – Ivan & Aloysha
• F*** You – Cee Lo Green

Sarah adds to Claire’s list:

I concur with most of Claire’s choices. But there are some noteworthy songs that made my 2011 Soundtrack that she failed to mention. The same * disclaimer applies (see Claire’s note above about things that weren’t technically released in 2011).

• Tell ‘Em- Sleigh Bells*
• Palomino- Mates of State
• Dark Horses- Switchfoot
• The Catalyst- Linkin Park*
• Sugar Buzz- k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
• Young Blood- The Naked and Famous
• Cough Syrup- Young the Giant*

Sarah’s “Least of 2011”:

Normally, I’m all about expressing your creativity through music. But seriously??!? Yikes!

• E.T.- Katy Perry. Kind of freaks me out and I feel a little bit violated when I listen to it. And… the video is the creepiest thing that I’ve ever seen. Seriously.

Claire’s Favorite Live Shows of 2011:

She’s a concert goer. In fact, when we were in college and (strangely) had much more disposable income than we do now, jumping in a car with our friends and traveling all over creation to go to concerts was our hobby. Now with a few exceptions, we pretty much just watch the videos of the Tiny Desk Concerts on NPR.

• Guster / Jukebox the Ghost – House of Blues (Orlando, FL)
• Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs / Brandi Carlile – Verizon Amphitheatre (Atlanta, GA)
• Gillian Welch – Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA)
• Paul Simon – Hangout Fest (Gulf Shores, AL)
• The Avett Brothers – Hangout Fest (Gulf Shores, AL)
• The Black Keys – Hangout Fest (Gulf Shores, AL)
• Amos Lee – Hangout Fest (Gulf Shores, AL)
• Cee Lo Green – Hangout Fest (Gulf Shores, AL)
• Dawes – Disc Exchange Record Store (Knoxville, TN)

Sarah adds to Claire’s list:

These days, I’m pretty stingy with my nights off. But there were a couple of concerts that I felt like were well worth exchanging for a relaxing night at home with a glass of wine and a good book.

• Guster/ Jack’s Mannequin – The Ritz (Ybor City, FL) Not as good as Guster/ Jukebox the Ghost in Orlando, but it was still wonderful because I love Guster… and Claire and I got extra entertainment when we watched the totally plastered girl pass out at the bar while trying to order more alcohol and then get carried out by being thrown like a rag doll over a bouncer’s shoulder.
• Mates of State- Club Downunder (Tallahassee, FL) Another of my favorite bands. Did not disappoint. We still talk amongst ourselves about the opening act that yelled to the audience, “How about you learn to respect the f***ing artist!” Poor form. Shocking and humorous, but still poor form, sir.
• Bill Cosby- Ruby Diamond Auditorium (Tallahassee, FL) Not a concert per se… but just as good. He’s the greatest. So funny and so sweet and so old, it made me cry (not that such a feat is difficult).
• The Head and the Heart- Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, CO)
• The Decemberists- Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, CO) It actually wasn’t the greatest show I’ve ever seen, but it was fun. And I love them. And they were funny with their onstage antics. And Sara Watkins was filling in for Jenny (their accordion playing lady) while she went through cancer treatment (which was sad under the circumstances, but a fun treat).
• Punch Brothers- Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, CO) These boys are so cute and so awesome. It excites me to see young people who are really good at playing their instrument and could do anything, but instead choose to play roots music. I definitely ran into Chris Thile in a coffee shop (literally… as in, I-wasn’t-looking-where-I-was-going –and-sort-of-crashed-and-almost-spilled-coffee-on-him…) and almost peed my pants because after I saw him play the mandolin in real life, I decided that I would need him to father my children.

Claire’s Near Miss Live Shows That Would’ve Been Favorites:

What?!? Canceling a show? They need to take a page from the Sarah Mac Band playbook. The show must go on (with the exception of maladies of the intestine, in which case, we’d rather not see them on stage).

• Ben Sollee – Tallahassee (canceled)
• The Civil Wars – Atlanta (canceled)
• The Head and the Heart – Variety Playhouse (Atlanta) – The Sarah Mac Band was playing the same night a few doors down.  Got put on the list but couldn’t stay to see them because we had to head back to our venue and play for the six people in Atlanta who weren’t at the Head and the Heart show….

Sarah Adds to Claire’s List:

Shoulda, coulda, woulda. There’s always the one that got away (Yikes!! Another Katy Perry song!!). These are the ones that I would have added to the list were I Claire.

• Mumford and Sons- Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, CO) – Technically, I listened to this live from the balcony of my condo. However, I was not in the audience because although it was the middle of summer, it was snowing and I was scared of getting wet and sick with shows to play the next week. Took one for the team.
• Tori Amos- Cobb Energy Performance Arts Centre (Atlanta, GA) –It bled over into our rehearsal time for the Sarah Mac Band Christmas Shows. Boo, hiss. Again, took one for the team.

Crash and burn!

A boy told me once that a girl's "datability" is inversely correlated to the number of objects that she carries in her handbag. Whatever dude... If the need ever arose, you be glad that I had a portable clothes steamer and a first aid kit with me at all times.

Hi everyone! I’m headed out of town in a few minutes. There’s lots to catch you up on as evidenced by the 150 pictures that I just downloaded from my camera (yes, thank you… I found it in the bottom of one of my Hermoine-style magic handbags underneath my eighth grade annual and a ski suit that I borrowed from Claire when I went to Colorado in 2001) from  from our most recent adventures. I know that I told you last week that a more substantial blog is coming. Fear not, it really is. I have packed a notebook and a pen with good ink for our imminent travels. But I thought that I’d give you a head’s up for our live radio performance today. We’ll be in Tampa on WMNF’s  Live Music Showcase this afternoon at 2PM EST. You can click here to listen live.

While you’re waiting for that to come on, please feel free to peruse the Sarah Mac Band store to purchase your tickets for our upcoming Christmas shows or to pre-order our new Live Covers album, which will be available in time for Christmas (we’ll even wrap it and send it straight to your intended recipient, if you want!! And you don’t have to worry about it being and ugly wrapping job because I’m quite particular about the presentation of gifts…).

I’ll leave you with a photo of my latest (failed) culinary pursuit: Vegan Green Velvet Pirate Cake. It was twenty different types of awesome and I was so proud of myself. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I ought to take a photo to prove how awesome it was. I just had this dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach that it wasn’t going make it all the way from my house to my Peter Pan party.

And…. it didn’t.

Crash and burn, Mac. Crash and burn!

Always wear your seatbelts…

Hi everyone. I’ve been a bum these last few weeks. Sorry. I’ve been diligently preparing for our live  recording that happened last night and will happen again tonight. Here’s a video that I found today on Youtube that someone took with their fancy phone last night [Side note: Mister Elwood took me out and got me an iPhone this morning, so now I've officially joined the ranks of the "fancy-phoned." Although, I still don't know how the heck to use it, so I'll have to get Claire to give me some lessons before I am able to post videos taken with my fancy phone on Youtube.]. I thought I’d give you a little sneak peek at what you might expect on your Live Covers Volume 1 album when you buy it in early December.

Two other notes:

1. If you’re thinking that you might be interested in driving to Sopchoppy tonight to be a part of the live recordings that will happen at 8PM at the From the Heart of Sopchoppy Recording Studio, someone just got in touch with us and has 2 tickets that they would like to sell.  Please email Claire (claire@sarahmacband.com) if you’d like to buy those tickets and we’ll hold them for you at the door. You might want to include your phone number in that email so that she can call you and give you the skinny.
2. Tickets are now on sale for our Tallahassee Christmas show. Your can get yours here. I’m not sure about tickets for our out of town Christmas shows. I know that there are Facebook events for them, but I’m  not sure how ticket sales will happen since those tickets are sold through the actual venues. Check back with those. I’ll research that and post it later.

Okay kids, I just wanted to post quickly and give you a heads up to let you know what’s happening here in Sarah Mac Band world. I’ll post another epic blog later this weekend once life slows down a bit and I’ve caught up on sleep. Until then, keep on rocking in the free world and always wear your seatbelts!

SM

My Dad Sings Dirty Songs…

 

True words from Mister Elwood regarding his 40 foot tall blaze: “This thing is as big as the G.D. house!”

Last night Mama Bear and Mister Elwood had a bonfire. In the Mac family, “bonfire” is a term laden with much more than you might generally expect. This is our biannual party where the much loved ones come together and catch up, play music, drink, share food, stories, and get to relish in how much we enjoy each other, with little entertainment other than a fire big enough to be seen from space. Depending on who is in charge of the invitations that time around, it is called either “Brother Elwood’s Bonfire” or “Our Dad Sings Dirty Songs” (I’m hoping that you can put that one together and determine which Mac family members are responsible for each of the titles).

 The bonfires are something that I have come to love and appreciate over the years for many reasons. Other than a blessed night off from performing (not that I don’t love that, too), it’s always a really sweet reminder of who I am and where I came from.

 Several weeks ago, the Sarah Mac Band played in Clemson,SC. After that gig, we carried on to North Carolina and holed up in a house with no internet or cell phone signals, to force ourselves to finish some unfinished songs. We actually had a really productive weekend, and permitted ourselves a bit of television on the last night there. Since I don’t have television at home, I was fascinated and the next morning as we waited for Charlie to get up so that we could have breakfast, I made Claire turn on the television for me to watch while I had my coffee (it was a very complex machine with like twelve remote controls, so I was completely incapable of operating it myself). We watched CNN, which was already making me a little weepy as I heard about the 33 year old racecar driver who died the night before leaving behind a young widow and two sons, 2 years and 7 months old. Then came on a story about a couple whose three week old daughter wasn’t breathing, the news shared the 911 tape of the operator walking the parents through how to perform CPR on their infant. Ugh—their terror was palpable even through the degrees of separation that it took to get it from real life to television broadcast. Even though their baby did survive, I felt so sad for them that I started to cry again… This time sort of sobbing (just a little).

 Claire is used to this since I’ve always been a crier. Charlie sleeps really heavy and snores pretty loud, which serves as a substantial white noise barrier for him against anything else that might be happening in a twelve mile radius. So, I felt pretty okay about just letting loose and crying about the sad parents with their not breathing newborn.

 

Bill Clinton = Twelve Degrees of Awesomeness

Then, CNN came to the clincher story—they showed the highlights of the 10^th anniversary celebration of the William J. Clinton Foundation with performances by Lady Gaga and Usher. No, that wasn’t the part that got me. It was when Bill Clinton made his speech: “I was born into a poor family in the second poorest state in the country. I was the first person in my family to ever go to college. [This next part is my paraphrasing…] Blah, blah, I’ve done really awesome things in spite of the setbacks that I’ve faced, and I’m living proof that it takes a village to raise a child—all that I am is a direct result of the people who have held me up and poured into me along the way.” That one was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This time, it wasn’t just stifled sobs, it was full on waterworks. I was bawling like I had lost my three week old baby, but it was a sweet, inspiration bawling and not a sad one. Of course, Claire was still like, “Girl, you are NOT right.” But then after a little while, she reconsidered and decided to agree with me, “It’s too bad we can’t have him be president again.”

 It was more than just the fact that Bill Clinton is cool. It was that his comments hit me close to home. I too, am a direct result of the people who have held me up and poured into me along the way. Sometimes, I’m amazed at how separated we allow ourselves to be in our society. Everyone on their own. Everyone doing their own thing. Everyone self-sufficient, alone, divided without even knowing it. It’s almost a badge of honor to be able to take care of yourself without any assistance from anyone else.

L to R: Jessie, Sven, Skipper, Patty, Baby Bear, Mama Bear, Sarah Mac. The haircuts may not have been hip, but the hearts were right on track.

I was lucky enough to be brought up in a community that was the complete opposite of that. Mama Bear and Mister Elwood were a good mom and dad. But Baby Bear and I had others as well: Della and Sven who showed up at our high school graduations, art shows, school plays, family funerals, and now are at almost every Sarah Mac Band show that we play in town; Skipper who would indulge us by walking down to our house and paying 10¢ to watch us put on a circus on our back porch with our stuffed animals, and took off work to help us bury our dog, Berford; Bob who helped us type out our school reports (in an age before people commonly had home computers) and took us to school when we missed the bus; Patty who hugs us and still tells us that she’s proud of us in a way that really makes sense and rings true.

 Last night at the bonfire, I looked around at the multi-generational crowd and saw with great satisfaction that Baby Bear’s and my twenty- and thirty-something year old friends were seamlessly interwoven with our fifty- and sixty-something parents and the rest of the village. It was so beautiful to see our present everyday uniting with our rich past, all singing along with Mister Elwood as he played old hippy songs on the guitar (sprinkled with the occasional dirty song—after all, some people do call it “My Dad Sings Dirty Songs Night!!”). I waited until the quiet between songs and said something along the lines of, “Guys, it’s so wonderful to be here and be reminded of how I grew up doing this on the weekends and of how counter cultural it might really be. Who else has a family that’s this big and not-related? Who else’s family gets up on Saturday morning and sits out on their backporch and sings songs together?”

 …And then Baby Bear said, “Maybe you shouldn’t have anything else to drink tonight but water…”

After thinking about it for a while, I’m pretty confident that part of the reason that I love music so much and stuck with it was that in my history, music has been a medium for gathering, togetherness, and community. Beyond that, when I expressed an unusually focused interest in music and pursuing it as a lifestyle and career, I had people who didn’t laugh at me or try to turn me away, they encouraged me and showed up at my concerts—sometimes were the only people that showed up. They cut out the articles about me in the paper and hang them up on their refrigerators, just as proud as if they were my parents. They send me emails when they discover a new artist that they think that I would like.  They brag about me when they introduce me to people and beam when I play a new song for them.

 If I wasn’t yet sure of it last night when I made my grand (not-tipsy, thank you very much Baby Bear) announcement, I am sure now. All the little pieces and people that were a part of my path were instrumental in getting me to this place. Maybe my place isn’t quite as cool and influential as Bill Clinton’s. Honestly, I can’t imagine that it ever will be. But if my music career never gets very far beyond where it is today, I can still say that I’m happy with it and I’m pleased with what it has come to so far. And I owe almost all of that to my village.

My beloved village-- all grown up and now with an additional generation. Here's to many more to come-- all raised up the same way!

 It’s not a dirty song, but it’s in there. Here’s one of the songs that Mister Elwood played last night around the bonfire.

 I Would Not Be Here by John Hartford

 Well, I would not be here if I hadn’t been there

And I wouldn’t ‘a been there if I hadn’t just turned

On Wednesday the third in the late afternoon

Got to talking with George who works out in the back

And only because he was getting off early

To go see a man at a Baker Street bookstore

With a rare first edition of Steamboats and Cotton

A book he would never have sought in the first place

Had he not been inspired

By a fifth grade replacement school teacher inKirkwood

Who was picked just at random

By some man on a school board that couldn’t care less

And she wouldn’t a been a-working if not for her husband

Who moved two months prior

To work in the office of a man he had met while he served in the army

And only because they were in the same barracks

An accident caused by a poorly-made roster

Mixed up on the desk of a sergeant fromDenver

Who wouldn’t been in but for being in back

In a car he was riding before he enlisted

That hit a cement truck and killed both his buddies

But a back seat flew up there and spared him from dying
And only because of the fault of a workman

Who forgot to turn screws on a line up inDetroit

‘Cause he hollered at Sam who was hateful that morning
Hung over from drinking alone at a tavern
Because of a woman who he wished he’d not married
He’d met long ago at a Jewish Bar Mitzvah
For the son of man who had moved there from Jersey
Who managed the drug store that sold the prescription
That cured up the illness he caught way last summer.

He wouldn’t have caught

Except for some kid all contagious with fever who sat in his lap

Was the son of a man who sold him insurance…

Jury duty is going to kill me…

On Sunday, the Sarah Mac Band was in attendance at the wedding event of the century. No, these were not the nuptials of William and Kate, nor those of Edward and Bella (in theaters near you on November 18^th), but rather, those of some vital members of Team Sarah Mac Band: Kyle and Becca. Kyle and Becca have been our advocates, encouragement, merchandise salespeople, bouncers, and road crew over the years, as well as always providing a non-performer perspective for our 3AM post-gig debriefs as many a What-A-Burger (also a good veg fast food option between the hours of 11PM and 11AM).

See how nice we clean up? Seriously, who wouldn’t want us at their wedding? Currently available for hire if you need a low-level local celebrity appearance at your event.

One of the coolest things about being in a face-melting rock band (or the Sarah Mac Band) is the opportunity it affords us to meet people and be a part of their life. And it’s cool to be able to support Kyle and Becca and revel in their moment of glory after so many years of them doing the same for us.

The bad side to having a team Sarah Mac Band wedding is that it completely conflicted with a party that Housemate was having at our house. I totally promised to be there and help with the food before I realized that I’m a flake and had double booked (Claire keeps us all in line with the Sarah Mac Band schedule, but sometimes I’m not the sharpest with keeping my personal schedule). Parties come and go, but you only get married once (ideally), so I chose to go to the wedding and left Housemate home alone to face the party—which totally got me two steps closer to getting traded in for a newer, better model. I guess that the Universe sided with Housemate because after I bailed on the party at home, I was up early this morning serving my penance. At 7:25 AM, I found myself weaving through traffic to arrive at the courthouse, wearing too-tight dress pants that I haven’t even looked at since I wore them to a funeral this summer and crammed into a teensy room, watching CNN cycle the same three stories over and over again with 100 of my closest friends (that I’ve never met before) as we all awaited jury selection.

Although I’ve done jury duty before, I’ve never really paid attention. My observations are these:

1)      I’m pretty confident that they wouldn’t let me do this anyway, but past that, I’m not sure that there’s a way to do it ethically and still keep it a secret from the participants, but I would love to do some kind of social psychology study to see how all of these people crammed together behave in different circumstances. Already at 8:45, we had one lady crying, one kind of mean guy yell at another guy (like for real yell), and the emergence of a  middle-aged attention seeking class clown. And that’s just left to our own devices. Imagine what kinds of things an experimenter could insight if they were to introduce some sort of funky stimuli (or at least perception of one)?!? I wonder what far reaches of the realms of acceptable behavior we might reach or surpass.

True words from Sarah Mac: “Jury duty is dirty business. Please for the sake of yourself and others cover your mouth when you cough and always ‘hanitize.’”

2)      That place is dirty. All of these people crammed into a tiny room full of plastic chairs with their forearms touching in the armrests, sneezing, breathing, burping and I’m sure that the cleaning people don’t Lysol the chairs at the end of the day. This is just a yucky way to spread germs and breed disease. It’s bad enough that the flu season is in full swing, but imagine if we were in the midst of an epidemic of “the Supreme Death Causing Yuck,” the cost of your civic duty to keep society from crumbling to chaos and anarchy would be much higher. Who knows maybe I was already exposed to patient zero this morning and the outbreak has begun. Even if that’s not the case, I sat next to a guy that I’m pretty sure is secretly a serial killer, so either way, my jury duty is going to kill me.

3)      Because I was chatting up Kenny Killer in the aforementioned disease breeding ground all morning, and not in my home or car, I was not listening to the radio and missed the Sarah Mac Band on NPR. I knew that it was happening because my phone was blowing up! If you were not one of the ones that called me to say that you heard it, and it just so happens that you missed it, please feel free to listen here, by clicking this link.

If you can’t listen to it because you’re secretly reading this blog at work and don’t want the guy in the next cubicle to know that you’re taking a little break from spreadsheets, here’s the gist of the NPR story.

The Sarah Mac Band is recording a live album comprised exclusively of cover songs. This album will be recorded in front of a ticketed live audience. You are invited to be a part of the event, although you can’t come the first night because it sold out in four days. We’ve added another day, for which there are a few (and I really mean a super scant few) tickets left. You can buy yours here.

And now, the final tidbit for you, our fine readers, is a reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday, October 25^th) ends the Sarah Mac Band’s October residency at the Mockingbird Café. This is your last chance (at least in the near future) to be a part of a great night of food, drinks, and friends at Tallahassee’s only listening room (or at least our best attempt at a listening room). In fact, although I don’t have Claire here to confirm my vague recollection of the Sarah Mac Band schedule, I think that it might be your last opportunity to see us in Tallahassee before we finish out our traveling Christmas show in mid-December.

We hope to see you there—At the Mockingbird, at the live covers recording in a few weeks, in December at the Christmas show, at many more Team Sarah Mac Band weddings, but hopefully (for you) not at jury duty. If you do get called up, make sure that you:

1) Wash your hands frequently.

2) Keep rocking steady.

Things that I have learned from being in a touring band

Things that I have learned from being in a midlevel touring band (the lower end of the midlevel spectrum, of course):

1. How to gauge the cleanliness and usability of a rest station, restaurant, or gas station rest room before I have even entered the facility.
2. How to cleverly (and with kindness and gentleness) evade really invasive personal questions, inappropriate touching, and weird requests from total strangers. For example, “I know you’re not supposed to say this to a woman, but…. (fill-in-the-blank-with-the-worst-you-can-imagine-and-I’ve-probably-gotten-it)”
3. It is always a good thing to check to make sure that your van does not run out of oil.
4. Interestingly enough, Chick-Fil-A has proven to be the best fast food restaurant for vegetarian options. Too bad it’s closed on Sundays and late nights.
5. How to completely change your wardrobe in a publicly parked car while keeping all of your private parts private.
6. That I can sleep any time day or night, sitting up, with loud noises all around me, as long as I’m in a moving vehicle.
7. All of the intimate details, contours, and nuances of Interstate 75.
8. How to pack a week’s worth of clothes, shoes, hair dryer, towel, books, makeup, toiletries, and flannel jammies into one small bag (Hmmm… maybe it would count more as medium sized? It is smaller than most airplane carry-on bags, though.)
9. If you stop at a gas station anytime after 2 AM to get coffee to fuel the rest of your all-night drive, it will inevitably take you at least 20 minutes to get your purchases because the attendant will be super-excited to have someone to talk to. And unless you’re just rude, you’ll probably have a hard time getting out of there in any reasonable amount of time (see #2 above).
10. How to laugh at myself, Claire and Charlie, and enjoy every minute of it!

Where in the world is the Sarah Mac Band?: A Photo Blog

“Hi, I’m Sarah. I’ll be your guide for this journey. Please pay attention to the following instructions.”

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Sarah Mac Band Travel Minivan Tour 50 (fi’ty) with multi-stop service to face-melting rock shows all over creation. Please turn your attention to the van attendant nearest you for our safety demonstration. Please follow along with the safety card located in the seat pocket in front of you.

What Charlie does at 3:00 AM after almost 23 consecutive hours in the van..

As Captain Charlie is often a reckless driver, please make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened at this time. To fasten, insert the loose metal buckle into the holder. Tighten so it fits firmly around your waist. To fasten, pull the loose belt. Also, make sure all carry-on items are stored in the overhead bins, or under the seat in front of you.

There are 5 emergency exits on this 200 Honda Odyssey minivan; 2 in the front, 1 in the back, and 1 sliding door located on each side. Each exit is equipped with a safety slide that can be detached and used as a flotation device. Please take this time to locate your nearest exit. Keep in mind that it may be behind you. If cabin visibility is reduced, lighted strips along the floor of the cabin will lead you to the nearest exit. Remember, red lights mark and exit. Also please remember that upon your exit to grab at least one piece of equipment and take it with you to reduce the recoup cost later.

In case there is a loss in cabin pressure (or too many beans for lunch), yellow oxygen masks will deploy from the ceiling compartment located above you. To secure, pull the mask towards you, secure the elastic strap to your head, and fasten it so it covers your mouth and nose. Breath normally. Even if the bag does not inflate, please keep in mind that oxygen is flowing. Please make sure to secure your own mask before assisting others.

Crossing the Ohio River from Kentucky into Cincinnati

In case of a water landing, first please secure all amplifiers and guitars with provided tarps, using duct tape to close the seals. Then, quickly put on the life jackets located under your seat. To fasten, place the vest over your head and secure both straps around your waste. To inflate, pull the red handle, or manually inflate by blowing into the red tube. Remember, NEVER inflate the vest inside of the minivan. Also, a beacon light will activate upon entering water.

Please make sure you have read the safety card and itinerary for this tour. As we come through the cabin to perform our final safety checks, please make sure your seatbelt is fastened, you seat back and tray tables are in their full upright and lock position, and all carry on items are stored properly.

Thank you for your attention, and we wish you a good journey with Sarah Mac Band Travel Minivan Tours.

Sarah and Charlie show off the Sixthman swag they were gifted by our friend, percussionist Chardy McEwan in Atlanta, GA.

Main Street in Canton, NC.

Claire exploring the remnants of downtown Canton, NC.

Ryan (who recorded and produced Awakening) just opened a new studio outside of Asheville, NC: Lumen Audio.

The Lumen Audio toilet.

While everyone talked equipment, Sarah played with a funny, handmade South American guitarish instrument. It had a weird center of gravity, so she started balancing it on her fingers to the delight of everyone else. She then became the afternoon’s entertainment.

Asheville’s 98.1 The River: “Different is good.”

Free afternoon, enjoying the mountains.

Tunneling through a mountain between North Carolina and Tennessee.

Welcome to Knoxville, TN: Sarah at the Knoxville Visitor’s Center.

The Sarah Mac Band on the Blue Plate Special Radio Show, WDVX in Knoxville.

We caught an in-store acoustic performance by Dawes at Disc Exchange in Knoxville during our free afternoon.

The Disc Exchange not only offered free New Belgium beer (they don’t sell it in Florida), but also sold Michelle Obama action figures. Michelle is one of Sarah’s idols, so Claire bought her a little gift to commemorate the Knoxville trip.

 

Then we walked the streets in beautiful downtown Knoxville.

While Claire and Sarah perused the goods at Yee Haw Industries, Charlie hit up the candy store across the street to stock up on the Sarah Mac Band’s signature treat.

Smarties Stasher: Claire makes good use of her tiny pocket.

Remedy Coffee, Knoxville: Tim Hughes’s Flying V acoustic Takamine guitar.

Headed North on I-75.

Horse country in Kentucky.

The Monastery: Cincinnati, OH.

Overall Assessment of the trip: “Charlie was killing it!” (In a good way, of course!)

And in other news, you can listen to the new Indigo Girls album here before it’s released on October 4th. Seriously, this might be my new favorite IG album. Not kidding. Pre-order it. Go ahead and make plans to see the tour that will support this album. It’s THAT good, folks!

So I was going to post and then…

When I start a blog, it’s never really a haphazard thing. The thought to blog and the idea of what to do has been twisting around in my head, reinventing itself for at least two days before it hits the interwebs– sometimes a week , even. When on Sunday  night, I got a text message informing me that an abundance of fresh produce was coming my way via the kind farmers at The Strawberry Patch in Meansville, GA, I got excited. Not just free food, a delightful usherance into autumn with pumpkins and winter squash, but another well-planned blog entry as well!

Of course, as it often happens with me (because the universe has a sense of humor and maybe figures that I can take a joke??), even my well thought out plans with crossed Ts and dotted Is, and all of the contingencies accounted for failed miserably!!!

When all of the produce came home, I emptied my bags out onto the kitchen floor and admired each piece. Then I made them into a lovely centerpiece on the dining room table, because my shelf in the community house pantry is far to small to accommodate such bounty. I went upstairs to the little attic apartment to find my camera so that I could take a photo to support all of the sweet things that I would write in my blog posting about enjoying the simple things and how grateful I am to so frequently be the recipient of such generosity and thoughtfulness. But alas, my camera is  somewhere else… I’m thinking that it’s probably sitting somewhere in Port St. Joe on the grounds of the PojoLive Music Festival that we played last weekend.

There was a brief moment when I thought about borrowing Housemate’s camera to document the gift. Housemate keeps a blog which is peppered with photos, links,  and funny stories, chronicling all of the adventures of the community house. Unfortunately, as I looked at the fancy camera sitting on the counter, I wasn’t sure:

1) How to turn it on

2) How to get the pictures off of it once I got them on it

So, for now, at least until I can figure out how to use these newfangled contraptions that require more than just point and click, I’ll have to use a different photo of another instance when I was totally blessed by someone’s thoughtfulness.

One day I arrived at the studio to find a bag of Dave's fresh picked tomatoes waiting for me. Goodness abounds in the form of fresh marinara sauce and clown noses.

There’s a part of me that thinks that if you only live grateful when things are good, that it invalidates the whole concept. That being said, I still think it’s totally okay to delight in the good times and relish them– besides, you’ll need something to remember when the bad times come and help you realign your focus. So, thanks guys for all that you do in big ways and small ways to keep me, and the Sarah Mac Band as a whole, focused on the big picture and seeing all of the good that we’re swimming in!

This is totally a picture that I pulled off of the interwebs-- remember that I can't find my camera? But I figured that otherwise, you might not know what a flying saucer squash is!

The Sarah Mac Band is hitting the road in a few hours for a little string of out of town dates. I’ve only gotten through one acorn squash from my most recent gifting of produce, so let’s hope that it holds until I get home because I found a great veg recipe for stuffed flying saucer squash!

See you on the flip side! Keep it real. Let’s hope that Claire is generous this weekend with her fancy internet telephone that takes pretty pictures.