The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

It was the first date on the road with John Mayer, and we arrived at the venue in Jacksonville. I feel like I maybe played here before, with Tori Amos and Alanis Morrissette or something. Took showers and ate a remarkably good lunch. The guy in charge of catering is called “Mitch” and he looks like the missing Demain brother. John Mayer’s band sounds great and he has Robbie McIntosh on guitar, who was in the Pretenders and McCartney’s band and I can’t really tell what he’s doing. He’s very subtle. Getting our soundcheck accomplished was stressful, and getting on and off stage during our set was difficult too…I have to streamline my setup tomorrow. Kenda and Rami were there and they yelled my name from about the 10th row during a break between songs. That was sweet. Everybody sang along on “Love Vibration”. After the show we had another great meal and I was bored so I volunteered my services to the catering but they didn’t want me underfoot. sigh. Watched some of John Mayer’s set and it sounded very good. There’s definitely an anti-climatic sort of feeling that goes along with being the opening act. You sort of walk on and off to a smattering of applause. Did some emailing and went to bed.

Woke up in a shopping center in Carborro. Then Ryan and his girlfriend Anna took me to a nice Mexican place for lunch. Then took a taxi to the Holiday Inn and had a great shower and a nap and watched “Law and Order” and that’s my new favorite show. Back to the venue (The Cat’s Cradle) and as far as I could tell, the sound was the best of the tour so far. Went to a place called Milltown for dinner and had Moules et Frites and a glass of chardonnay. Delicious! My opening set went better. Sold all the CDs I had left: (3). I played the Roger Cook song “I Believe In You” instead of the Louis Armstrong. Josh’s show was really fun, and like I thought, the sound was excellent on stage. He was happy, and we hung around for a while after the show. Back to Milltown for some nightcaps, and I was in bed by 3.

Woke early and finished packing. C. Moon picked me up and we went to Nettwerk and met the bus there- It’s bright red. In the coffee shop below Nettwerk was an old high school girlfriend: Pia Scarborough. Hadn’t seen her in probably 15 years. Bus is comfortable. Took a short nap en route to Asheville. Arrived and loaded in about 4.”The Grey Eagle”. A friendly guy called Jeff is one of the owners. The kitchen is from New Orleans. After sound check I had Jumbalaya and split a bottle of chardonnay with Ryan. The opening set went well, but I didn’t sell any CDs. “Maybe you just didn’t connect with people.” said Paz. Josh’s show went well, but still having some feedback issues with the Byrdland. After the show, back on the bus, and we watched the Concert for Bangledesh. Wow. What amazing sound. Both Hags and I were flipping out over Klaus Voorman’s bass playing. I want to cover “Beware of Darkness.” The only part I didn’t see was the end when they were showing all the starving people and I went to bed.

Cool and overcast, 48 at 8am. Sleepy, but walked early to the library with the dogs. Went home and had a tub and took Posh to the pet store- She loves it there, and of course she’s a big star when she goes there. ($84) Then I went to Target and I wanted to get some new headphones, but they were out of the ones Lex told me to get. Went to Hopkins for dinner and took Posh’s bed and food over there. Went for a walk after dinner, and then had a sort of emotional goodbye with my dog, she put her head on my lap as if she sort of was trying to console me. But then I told myself to buck up and get on with it because I still hadn’t packed. Back to Belmont, talked to my roomate for a minute, we watched some of that sitcom with the girl from Seinfeld and it was pretty funny. I like network TV (now that I don’t have cable). Did as much packing as I could, and I’ve determined I have more bags on this tour than any previous trip: 21.

Light rain at dawn, good sleeping weather. But I was thinking about Posh, so I woke up about 10. Made some tea. Took a tub and went to Frothy Monkey with Liz and an attractive girl who worked there said she was at the Belcourt and enjoyed it. Came home and had to take a nap, so I called and asked if I could just pick Posh up later and my dad said that was fine. Grimey called and we were both hungry so we decided to meet at El Mariachi early, at 4:30 instead of 5. Lots of people came. Jen Masseli and Mark and John Deaderick, Marna Taylor, Kat and Bill, Kristy West, Kate and Jeff Boswell, Jason and Heather Lehning. I had the Bob Bradley special and several beers which made me tired. I tried to stay for the whole Patriots/ Colts game, but I left at half-time and went to Hopkins and picked up Posh. Grimey was saying the guy from “How I Became the Bomb” had $1200 on the Colts, and I was thinking: “Damn! That’s Stupid! The Pats will win for sure!” Well, turns out I was wrong. Nice going, guy.

Cloudy, overcast, but not raining. Got up about 11. Went to Wild Oats for lunch with Liz and saw Jody Spence there. He said he jost got some kind of new Sony HD camera and had an office now and he’s started working for a new video production company. It was nice to see him. I had a breakfast burrito from the deli which was pretty good, and a delicious carrot/giner/apple juice ($8). Came home and took a tub and did some ironing. It seems kind of hard to find clean socks lately. I think I might need to get some new socks, but where? Maybe that 24 hours place “Bloke”. Went to Hopkins and talked to everybody for an hour. My mom had her laptop set up in the kitchen and they were making a demo in Garage Band. Went home and took a short nap, then went to the Exit In. Nobody was there but me and Marc so we went to Cafe Coco. Then everyone got there and we loaded in and soundchecked and it sounded way better than the night before. They built a new deck in Exit In and it looks better in there. Then we went to “Ombi” and it was fantastic! The crawfish cakes were excellent and we had a bottle of Australian wine and some mussells with curry coconut sauce. ($50) It was kind of decadant, but it was an excellent meal. We just shared a lot of appetizers. That’s a good way to do kind of pricier restaurants I think. The bartender was a Josh Rouse fan and very nice. Then I had an espresso with a twist of lemon and it didn’t bother my stomach at all. There was this couple and they started to tell me about what songs to tell Josh to play. I tried to tell them he plays what he wants but they wanted me to tell him anyway. Ryan was watching the Carolina game and I left and called John Deaderick from the dressing room and he told me the lyrics to Roger Cook’s “I Believe In You”, which I performed for my opening set. My set went pretty well, and there were some Bees fans there, so I did “Love is A Holiday” and it was over pretty fast. Then Josh’s set was lots of fun, and I could see some people that I knew. Also Sandra and Andy and Leslie came backstage, and that was nice. They played M. Ward on the PA and damn that guitar playing is good. I decided that i’m not going to drink beer on stage while performing. I just think it looks sort of churlish. I will have to drink more surreptitiously. Either after, or before, and just drink water on stage.

Sunny and cold, 38 degrees at 8:30. Got up and took a tub and really had to force myself to get moving. Lots of things to do- Transfer everything into road cases, pack, etc. Liz came in and she’s sick. She thinks she has the flu. I was trying to wait on her while keeping my distance. Poor thing. Finally got on the road around 12:30 and it was a 12 passenger van instead of a 15, so we were packed in there like sardines. Ahh, the indie-rock world. I can’t imagine the Bees doing this, but somehow, we do. Josh drove the whole way, and we found the club, and after loading in, I went across the street to Barley’s and had a great grilled chicken sandwich. Maybe the best ever. ($8). The band Auto Vaughn was soundchecking and they’re from Nashville, so I went and introduced myself and they sort of remembered me. My opening set was okay, people pretty much ignored me, but that’s the way it goes in show business. One day yer hot, the next day yer not. But it was fun anyway and I actually ended up selling 5 cds. Had a good time playing Josh’s sets but the house engineer and his friend were kind of garoulous. They were talking about “hotties” and “honies”:….”see, the honeys were all up in the dressing room….” It was crazy to listen to them. But they were nice guys and then we came back to Nashville about 4am and I took Ryan to the Best Western and went home but I couldn’t sleep so I read my diaries book that my brother got me.

Warmer, but windy. Took Posh to Hopkins and she was so excited. Did laundry and tidied up and went to the Belcourt at 1. Micheal Bracy was there and it was good to see him. Also met our front-of-house engineer for the tour, Ryan. He’s from North Carolina, and has that nice Carolinian drawl. They were taking a while to get the lines run, so Hags and I went to that new Italian place, and I had an excellent latte, but my sandwich was okay.($10) Saw Mike Whitty in there, and he was moving some things for his dad. He said he had a new girlfriend he really liked. Then I went to Cotton Music and got some picks and a swanky new string winder ($38). I’ve been spending money like water and it has to stop but now I think I have to buy this guitar that I really want. Heard Warren Zevon on the radio, damn he was good. “Lawyers Guns and Money!” Soundcheck went well, then I went home and took a short nap and tried to figure out what songs to play. I copied some lyrics out of the computer and took my music stand and I didn’t eat anything because I was kind of nervous. Went to Bosco’s about 7:30 and had a shot of Patron ($8) and Keri Pisapia was there and we talked for a while and she’s so nice. I really like her. Then I played my opening set and it really went better than I expected it would. The people really listened to me and if I had CD’s to sell, I would have made a killing. Josh’s set was really fun, and i’m just playing what I feel this time, not sticking to what I played before, or what the record does. Also, I sing whenever I feel like it, which Josh doesn’t seem to mind. After the show to Jackson’s for a hamburger, which I devoured like it was my last, and talked to Rick Wetzel and Grimey and there was a beautiful girl in the bar that I wanted to talk to, but I just didn’t have the energy so I went home.

Cold day, overcast. 28 degrees at 8 AM. Went to see if anybody at Hopkins wanted to walk but nobody was around, so I went home and took a hot bath. Posh was disappointed. Fed her at 9:30, then took her back to Hopkins and left her there and went to Guitar Center and met Hags there. He introduced me to Adam (?) and he is the new “artist representative”. He helps out professional musicians by lowering the prices in the computer for them. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s fantastic! So I got two roadcases and some cables and they would have cost me about $450 but I got them for $325, which still isn’t cheap, but those cases are so damn expensive, and you just have to have them. Went to Baja burrito for lunch, and Josh was there. Went to east Nashville to rehearse, and we worked until about 6, then I went home and John called and we met for dinner at Benkay. (Now Sonobona or something?) I had chicken Teriyaki then went home. Talked to Liz for a while. Went to bed, but woke in the night, my hands were swollen from all the salt!

“Have omitted my diary for two or three days, I lost heart to make it up, and left it unfilled for many a month and day. During this period, nothing has happened worth particular notice. The same occupations, the same amusements, the same occasional alterations of spirits, gay or depressed, the same absence of all sensible or rational cause for one or the other- I half grieve to take up my pen, and doubt if it is worth while to record such an infinite quantity of nothing. But hang it! I hate to be beat, so here goes for better behavior.”

-Sir Walter Scott