Hey everyone,
What a tour!
A new record, a new baby, a wedding, an engagement, a hurricane and a historic election (4 more
years!! ;-))
I could go on but I’d say that’s enough…
Well, we’re in Portland and it’s our very last show of the Bear Creek fall tour! It’s been such a great experience, one of the best tours yet. We got to play at some of the most beautiful theatres across the country. We even went back the Orpheum Theatre in LA where we filmed the video for “The Story” all those years ago. I remember looking out at the empty theatre, thinking how special it would be to eventually play to an audience that big, so it was a dream come true to me! The audiences have been amazing as always and we are still so humbled that you all show up each night to watch us play. It is such a privilege, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who came out to see us on this tour.
We had the best time with Blitzen Trapper who schooled us every night and blew my mind. Thanks to Tim, we’ve been pretty diehard fans for a while now and I was completely star struck when we first met them in Bend. If you don’t know this band please seek them out. They are on Subpop (of course because they’re cool), their record is called “American Goldwing” and they are working on their next project… I also love Furr, which is one of their earlier releases, amazing!
I also wanted to take a moment to thank WhyHunger, the Looking Out Foundation partnered with them to launch our Looking Out For The Hungry Campaign this fall. As part of our outreach on tour, in every city we invited the local food banks and effective community-based organizations fighting hunger and poverty to have an info booth at our shows. The response and generosity from our fans was overwhelming and we managed to raise thousands of dollars and awareness for these incredible organizations fighting the completely solvable problem of hunger in 2012. So thank you to all the volunteers, street teamers and kind hearts who made this campaign the success that is was.
My prayers are with all the people in the Northeast US, Haiti, and Cuba who are working to rebuild their lives in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. We promise to return to the Beacon Theatre and play the shows that were canceled because of the hurricane. It’s tough to reschedule two NYC shows at such a special venue because it’s booked so far in advance and the demand is so massive! But we’ll definitely be back early next year. The five days I spent riding out the storm in my NYC hotel room were really transformative, as I got to experience that “thing” everyone is talking about when they say that New Yorkers know how to come together in a crisis. I was sent out of two restaurants with bags full of food I didn’t pay for, people handing out water to perfect strangers, doors being opened and folks offering a meal and a shower to perfect strangers without power…I won’t forget that.
As you may or may not know, we’ve got three very special shows coming up with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall in our hometown of Seattle, which we’re really excited about. We also have a few Christmas shows in December and we’re going to see in the New Year in Minneapolis. Get ready for a party Minnie; we’re going to rock your faces off!
I can’t wait to get home and get to experience a semi-normal married life finally! But this tour, as it was, will only happen once. Next time Jo will be bigger and have hair, Tim and Hannah will be married and we’ll have new songs and new ideas.
There’s always a bittersweet feeling to the end of one of these projects, we’ve been playing this show for six months, so next time we’re all together it will be a new chapter.
Tomorrow, I’ll wake up in Maple Valley and have that strange and familiar feeling of separation from my bunk and our bus, the road family and the thousands of friends we’ve made along the way, singing with us and showing up in the most profound way… Sometimes you leave home when you get home.
See you soon…
xobc
