Touring The Ivories II - Coast to Coast

Are you interested in following our adventures for our 2013 Summer Tour from Coast to Coast??? You can do that here: www.touringtheivories.tumblr.com

Thanks for checking in!! Michele & Scott

One Week in One Post = The Recap

Where did the time go? And where did we leave off?? It seems so long since we blogged last, it’s hard to keep it all straight. Who knew that sleep deficiency on this tour would get in the way so severely?? Note to self… next tour… allow time to sleep!! Ok, so here goes… WEDNESDAY 6/20: After the Redwoods, we travelled North up into Oregon, along the Oregon coastline, on our way to Eugene. The Oregon coastline is gorgeous!! Our Eugene concert was so much fun. We played in a church, but had a small enough crowd that we pulled all the chairs up around the piano on stage and made it feel more like a house concert… way cool! We had the pleasure of playing with the uber talented Neil Patton on this concert, and the icing on the cake included David Nevue and his wife Julie in the audience! THURSDAY 6/21: After Eugene we played in Florence, Oregon at the home of our good friend, Kathy Parsons. We had a small but very enthusiastic crowd at this show and it was a lot of fun. A huge THANK YOU to Kathy for opening up her home to us and providing such a great concert experience. FRIDAY 6/22: More driving along the Oregon coastline to get to Portland the following night. The Portland show was also a lot of fun, and we played on a very beefy 9’ Schimmel which ended up being a perfect piano for Scott’s “Master Of Puppets”. The crowd was wowed for sure! This crowd also included many friends and family from my days living in Portland, it was nice to see everyone. SATURDAY 6/23: We said goodbye to Oregon and pressed on to Olympia, Washington where we played an incredible house concert. Another huge THANK YOU to Paul and Marcia for opening their home to us for this show…. this was one of our favorite shows of the tour. A great venue, a great crowd, and super gracious hosts. Happiness abounds. SUNDAY 6/24: The following morning we had to wake up at 5am to drive to Kenmore, where we could borrow a friend’s digital piano, so that we could make the 11am ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. This day was exhausting, but we made it and the ferry ride was beautiful. Not nearly as beautiful as the actual island and home that we played at that night though. The view from their house was fantastic, and the only part about the entire night that wasn’t fantastic was the digital piano. I guess being piano snobs has its drawbacks :) With an hour ferry ride too, we had nothing to do but enjoy the scenery and take pictures of ourselves LOL MONDAY 6/25: Back to Seattle the next day, we spent the evening with fellow musician friends, Joe Bongiorno, Amy Janelle, Gary Girouard, Doug Hammer, and Joe Yamada. It is always a blast hanging out with our pianist friends and we had several laughs throughout the evening. Here’s a pic of us all trying to whistle with our hands. Silly pianists. TUESDAY 6/26: This officially ended the “West Coast” part of our tour. From here we drove back to Utah to finish out the tour with two concerts at my house in SLC. But first, we stopped by Jennifer Thomas’ house to visit on our way out of town. If you haven’t heard her music yet, go check it out www.jenniferthomasmusic.com She has a new album release that will blow you away! WEDNESDAY 6/27: It was our goal to drive straight from Seattle to Salt Lake City, but that didn’t happen. With a late start getting out of town, we made it to Burley, Idaho before deciding not to brave the deer infested mountain passes in the pitch darkness of night. We finally made it to my house on Wednesday afternoon. It was really nice to be home and have a little bit of time to relax before our next shows. We also made it through the entire 3000+ mile trip without any car issues, until we got to my house. Somewhere nearby we drove over two nails and had a flat tire. Good thing there is a tire shop right by my house!! THURSDAY 6/28: Our first show in SLC… SOLD OUT! A great crowd, Scott wowed them all and ended up selling a record amount of CDs, not only on the tour, but also a Cozy Corner first!! FRIDAY 6/29: Our finale show in SLC was also sold out!! Another great crowd, this one a lot more rowdy, made the finale show one of the favorites of the tour. My good friend Pashaa took photos for us during this show and they turned out amazing! SATURDAY 6/30: The last official day of the tour before Scott left for home in California. We spent the day exploring the mountains near SLC, eating delicious food, playing piano, lounging around the house and just enjoying our last day together. Even though this is goodbye for now, this was definitely not goodbye for good…. we’re already planning tour #2 which will happen in the Spring of 2013, and many more after that. We tour really well together… we had a ton of fun… we giggled, laughed, played incredible music, met amazing people, and had an unforgettable adventure. Touring The Ivories was hugely successful and I can’t wait for the next one. Until then… :)

Sleep Deficiency = No Blogging

We have so much to share with you… and we will in due time. We’re running on empty (late nights, early mornings, and a very busy schedule) and now we’re on a long haul back to Utah before our last two shows Thursday and Friday. We will post tomorrow and share our adventures and pictures with you from this last week. Stay tuned!!! :)

Walking Among Giants

We explored the mighty Redwood National Forest today in Crescent City, CA. I’ve never seen trees so majestic before, and they were simply magical. It felt like a mystical fairy land… where Tom Cruise should appear and help save a unicorn. I loved my time here and could have spent many more hours exploring its wonders. Gotta love the pano app :) Something creepy is emerging from this tree! Scott found a ray of light in an otherwise shadowy land. And then it burned him alive! I think he blends in really well here… don’t you think? You almost can’t see him. This tree is in the way, let’s move it. This knotty formation reminds me of the Disney movie “Pete’s Dragon”. The clover here is so beautiful! Not sure climbing a Redwood is the easiest thing to accomplish, but Scott pulled it off! We found a mythical creature! We left California today, and said hello to Oregon. The first half of our tour was in California and it was beyond incredible. I am so happy to be touring here, with one of my favorite people, and we are having an absolute blast. Can’t wait to see what Oregon, Washington and Utah has in store for us. Could the Oregon coastline be any more beautiful?? Stopped for the night in Coos Bay, Oregon, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a surf shop diner called Shark Bites. Tonight we play in Eugene with the amazing Neil Patton. Super excited for this show. Stay tuned!!

Groovin' in the Grove

What can I say about Stout Grove in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods Sate Park? ”Wow” is about all that comes to mind. So I’ll back up my inarticulateness with some photos… Michele enjoying a circle of sunlight in a land shaded by giant redwoods I had to take this photo myself, since there was no one else with me inside this fallen redwood tree trunk. Posing as a sea stack, I’m such a poser. The Southern Oregon coastline made it hard to get anywhere, since we had to stop every other mile to take in views like this. The photo doesn’t even come close to capturing it.

Chico and the Redwoods

Before we left for Chico on Sunday, we ate Thai food at one of Scott’s favorite Thai restaurants in Sacramento. It was delicious and we ordered way too much food. One of the dishes was so garlicky that we opted to send it back and the restaurant owner was not happy. He had his wife come out and scold Scott… it was super funny. Bad Scott! Bad! :) We played an incredibly energetic house concert/dinner party on Saturday night. It was, by far, one of the funnest house concert experiences I’ve ever had. The people were so nice, so fun, and the energy was unlike anything else. At one point, Scott was playing “Sweet Child Of Mine” and the entire crowd was dancing and singing along. Afterward we sat around while one of the house guests played guitar and had a massive sing-a-long. So much fun. I had no idea that the temperatures in this area could get so hot!! Thankful for being in an air conditioned car for this leg of the journey. The Chico concert was really great. We played on an old Hamburg Steinway that sounded great in the big church chapel. The people loved the concert and we were met with smiling faces and a standing ovation at the end of the show. Our house hosts were so incredibly gracious as well and we had a really nice time hanging out with them. Their daughter is a huge fan of my music and is learning to play several of my pieces. I played a couple of songs for her on their piano when we got back to the house and it made me think… how cool would it have been, when I was 14 years old, if my favorite pianist had come to my home, stayed the night at my house, and played piano just for me on my piano. I can only imagine, but the feeling it gives me as the musician in this scenario is so incredibly grateful for the blessings I have in my life. This is one of the reasons I love being a musician and sharing my music with the world. Since Scott doesn’t ever take any pictures of me, I have to resort to taking them of myself :) While driving through Redding we saw this cool “Sundial Bridge” and stopped to take some pictures… We ate lunch at the grossest Denny’s in the history of mankind. We felt like we needed to shower afterward. It was the only option on the road and sometimes you have to settle for what you can get. We found a cute little motel in Crescent City on our way to see the Redwood National Forest. This is the view just up the road… Apparently this hotel has a pool that fits inside a door. I had no idea that was even possible… must be a pretty big door. And what is a Jacuzzie? I’ve never seen one of those before. I wonder if it’s like a Jacuzzi only more fun? Today we explore the Redwood Forest and then head up into Oregon along the coastline. Stay tuned… :)

Sweet Singalong

The most amazing thing happened last night. We performed for a small, private house concert not open to the public. Our smallest audience of the tour, 14 people. And yet, the most energetic audience of the tour. They were lively, they were interactive, and very supportive. For the first time, the entire audience sang along to “Sweet Child O Mine,” they knew all the words and sang from beginning to end. I LOVE that! After the concert, everyone stuck around to drink wine and sing around the “campfire” until one in the morning. Never has such a small audience seemed so big. Amazing.

Best Concert in the History of the Universe...

…at least, that’s what it felt like last night. The planets and stars aligned perfectly for this concert. The piano, the mighty Steinway D, whispered, sang, growled, roared; all effortlessly at our command. It’s visual presence dominated the space. The room just felt like something amazing would happen at any moment, even before anything did. Even the decorative tapestry backdrop radiated colorful inspiration into the atmosphere. The entire experience felt like a dream, and yet as real as it gets. The concert felt big, yet small enough to connect personally with everyone who attended. Truly the best of both worlds. I love to meet happy, excited fans… …and then scare them. This piano plays like a dream… …so was that real, or did I dream it? Michele’s melodies seemed even more infectious than usual coming from this amazing piano… …which made me jealous, so I couldn’t let her have that beautiful instrument all to herself. The resulting improv was great though! Friendly banter from the stage. 12 days on the road together and we’re still friends; I’d say we’re doing quite well! Room full of “horns.” My plot to take over the world in the name of rock is going according to plan, mwahahahahaaaaa! The CD table is so busy you can’t even see the CD table. Good problem to have!

Cable TV, Throwing Horns, and Standing Ovations

On Thursday we were on a cable access show called “John Wants Answers”. Before the show we walked around the neighborhoods of San Jose and goofed off. Later that night we drove to Vacaville and stayed in another dive motel. This one was nicer than the Motel 6 we previously stayed in, but not by much. Economy travel does not equal luxury accommodations. Our show in Sacramento last night was incredible. We had a very enthusiastic crowd of 53. We played on a pristine 9’ Steinway that had an incredible action on it. The lighting system made the room feel magical. Scott had the audience throwing horns after Master of Puppets. And we received a standing ovation at the end of the show. We were on performance high after that and didn’t make it to bed until after 2am. Love these shows!! Tonight we play a private show in El Dorado Hills, and then it’s off to Chico for a show on Father’s Day. Stay tuned.

Jellyfish and Fantastic New Friends

We started the morning at Monterrey Bay Aquarium. I’ve heard from so many people that this particular aquarium is a must see, and it was on my list of “must do” things for this tour. We were very limited on time, so we had a sort of “speed seeing” adventure through the aquarium. They had the most impressive jellyfish exhibit I’ve ever seen. So many different kinds of jellyfish, some I didn’t even know existed. Later that night we had our fourth show, at the home of Whisperings artist, Craig Burdette. What an incredible host! So accommodating, so friendly and kind, really nice people! Craig was supposed to perform with us, but he decided he’d rather just host this show and turned the show over to Scott and I. Scott’s lighting system really made this room glow, and from the outside, it looked like the house was on fire! LOL Oh, and this was our first sold out show… a fantastic and appreciative crowd complete with giggly kids that made the atmosphere even more special. Tonight we are on a cable access show in the evening, and tomorrow is our big show in Sacramento. Stay tuned!!

Emerged From The Deep To Set The House On Fire

Awoke in misty Monterey, California to take a plunge into the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our evening concert in Vallejo demanded that we complete the three hour tour in just two hours. The aquatic “speed dating” adventure mesmerized me so much, that if I’d had more time I probably would have become clingy and never wanted to leave. Words are completely inadequate to tell the story, and even the photos barely break the surface of such a deep experience. Excited fans filled the the Vallejo, Calif. house to capacity. Craig Burdette generously allowed us to turn his beautiful living room and grand piano into a concert hall, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. I took the “stage,” stepping into a spotlight provided by the sunset. The opening riff of “Sweet Child O Mine” sang out clearly and beautifully, then built into my best performance of the tour thus far. The “spotlight” slowly faded away leaving the glow sheer curtains painted brilliant slowly changing color of the LED I’m toting with me. The audience and the neighbors described the performance as “fiery,” and at times it even look from the outside as if the house was actually on fire. That is so rock n roll!!

The Squirrel And The Ocean

The Squirrel and the Ocean I wish I had Jesse’s squirrel; where can I find a rodent like that? Julia Pfeiffer Burns… …You’re stunningly beautiful. When you go to Nepenthe to eat……it’s the view you’re really hungry for. «THAT’s Michele taking ^^THIS picture. Yup, she’s gettin’ all panoramic on yo ass. To the Disco room!! Monterey, shine a light down on me. Words cannot describe this day… …but pictures at least begin to tell the story.

Serene, Beautiful, Picturesque, Incredible

Today we drove up the central California coastline from Pismo Beach to Monterey. I have never been in this area of the world before and I’m so glad I got to see it because it was breathtakingly beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Ireland, and it is by far some of my favorite scenery in the world. Being goofy in the car… Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park… One of my favorite photos of the day… We stopped at a restaurant called Nepenthe and this was our view from our table… Look at this gorgeous foliage… the colors are amazing!! My favorite overlook of the day… I could have spent hours here watching the ocean and all the beauty. Doesn’t Scott seem like he’s pondering life’s mysteries out there? Love this shot… the photo Scott is taking is of us. It’s a cool perspective. This place was incredible. We tried to wait for sunset but it was taking too long. Tomorrow we explore the aquarium and then make our way to Vallejo for our concert tomorrow night with Craig Burdette. Stay tuned!!

My Car Tried To Run Away

As I drove onto the Santa Barbara Pier, my car officially lost it’s wooden pier virginity. It was seduced by, and tried to run off with, a much more pier-experienced motorcycle. Cars these days just don’t understand what real commitment is.

Crab Fest and Other Ocean Wonders

Saturday was our last concert of the first leg of this tour. Our next concert isn’t until Wednesday in Vallejo, and that leaves us with several days to explore the coastline. We spent a couple of days with my cousins in Altadena right after our Santa Monica show and loved it so much, it was so relaxing and a nice way to chill after the first leg. I got to see downtown LA for the first time. The view from my cousin’s yard… nice! The breakfast they cooked us the following morning… YUMMY!! This morning we drove to Santa Barbara and had lunch on the pier. It was cool because we actually drove on this old wooden pier to get out to the restaurant. Santa Barbara is a very pretty place. Doesn’t Scott know it’s not safe to text and drive??? Afterward we drove to Pismo Beach and played in the ocean. Scott found a swingset and had some fun flying high. The ocean mystifies me and I was in heaven walking in the water and playing on the beach. One of my favorite foods is crab… I LOVE IT!! We found a great place called “The Cracked Crab” for dinner, where they dump a bucket of crab on the table and you just dig in. Almost three pounds of crab in our bellies and a little taste of THE BEST key lime pie in the universe… we are happy. This isn’t our photo, because we were in too much of a hurry to eat, we forgot to take our own pic… lame. My favorite pic of the day!!! We’re staying the night in a dive motel (gotta keep the costs down!!) and we’re in a non-smoking room that reeks of cigarette smoke, and it has an ashtray in the room with a no-smoking sticker on it. Too funny!! Isn’t this bedspread lovely? Tomorrow we head north to Monterrey to explore and have more fun. Stay tuned!!!

The First Six

It’s the morning of Touring the Ivories, Day 6; for the first time, I slept in, and awoke to a breathtaking view of El Prieto Canyon, after an evening of stargazing and sipping wine while soaking in the hot tub with new friends. First show: Thursday night at my house was amazing; we had a full house of mostly new people who’ve never been to a concert of either Michele or I. Even the songs I’ve played a thousand times before felt new to me, because it was new to them and I could feel the energy of the crowd. My favorite part was sipping some wine and chatting with everyone after the show. Second show: Friday night’s concert proved how each show is different. A private house concert in San Diego, 30 people in the audience and at least 20 of them were metal heads. The piano stood in the center of a large wooden room, and was absolutely perfect to play on except for one flaw. In spite of being tuned just hours before, one note sounded so out of tune that it was actually a different note! My performance of Master of Puppets was speeding down the track at 120 MPH when it slammed into the one flawed piano key, and at that speed, the song derailed into a massive train wreck. But “rock ain’t about playin’ things perfect” and the crowd erupted into massive cheering and applause that made 30 sound like 300. It may have been my worst performance of MoP, and yet my favorite. Metal rulz!! 2pm Saturday in Santa Monica. Roth Herrlinger joined Michele and I for this one. Being at a traditionally classical recital hall, the piano was perfect (all 88 notes this time). One girl, a long time Michele McLaughlin fan, and a brand new fan of my music, had emailed several requests of which of our songs she’d most like to hear, and her requests became our set lists. She displayed so much passion and appreciation for our performances after the show, that her enthusiasm alone would have made it worth the trip, and yet, there were 40 other people lined up at the CD table who couldn’t wait to talk to us and have us scribble on their new CDs with our silver Sharpie pens. I love music so much I would still keep doing it even if no one listened. But to see people respond in this way… it’s unbelievable. I can’t believe this is my job. I’ll never take it for granted.

Late Nights and Early Mornings

It was our intention to post here every day. With promotion, travel, shows each evening, late nights and early mornings… this has proven much more difficult than we imagined. We are having a blast though, exhaustion aside, and our first three shows were swimmingly successful. The first show, in Oceanside at Scott’s house, was a great kick-off to the tour. A fantastic crowd of 25 people, incredible lighting, high energy from the crowd, and music that made everyone happy… we had so much fun. Here are some pics of our first night… The next night, on 6/8 we had a private concert in San Diego. We had some eager fans who recorded audio of our entire show… very cool so stay tuned for clips from that. Scott totally rocked that show… he had the crowd eating out of his hands… they were cheering, hollering, rocking out. Our improv that night was really fantastic too. We didn’t take any pics that night, but we do have some fun ones from the morning. On 6/9 we begin our adventure north. We had a show in Santa Monica at 2pm with Roth Herrlinger, so we loaded up the car with our merchandise, luggage, essentials, etc. and made our way north up the coastline. We played at Keyboard Concepts and the room was really nice with a fantastic Yamaha C6Xa on stage. We had a great crowd and the energy at this show was really fun. Here’s some pics… From here we will make our way up the California coastline to our next show in Vallejo this coming Wednesday. Much fun to be had these next coming days… stay tuned!!

Day Two: Just Chillin'

We were scheduled to play a concert tonight, in Chula Vista. We ended up having to cancel that show, which left us with a down day to relax and just hang out. We chilled mostly at Radville, but we did take a trip to the beach and walked along the longest wooden pier in California. So much happening there… surfers, swimmers, beach goers, fishers, kids, lovers walking, cool birds, sparkly sand, and flocks of pelicans flying overhead. Tomorrow is our first concert and there is much to do to prepare. The beautiful ocean… A very cool bird, everyone was admiring it, some people were saying that it was rare to see one so close… At the end of the pier, the vast ocean all around, beautiful… Isn’t this the greatest room for performance??? The lighting, the extremely tall ceilings, the vintage piano, the fantastic artwork painted by Scott D. Davis himself!!! It’s incredible… Our first concert is tomorrow!!! Stay tuned :)

Radville

It’s a rough life here at Radville… When you cook breakfast at Radville, Jack from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” shows up in your eggs… Have you ever heard of an AHAMAY piano?? This one has a cool personality…

The Adventure Begins!!!

Our 25 day tour began today!!! Some snippets from our first day of fun :) Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway from Orange County to Oceanside: *Scott’s car gets 60 mpg!!! It’s pretty slick. Nuclear boobs hanging on the coastline: Scott playing an improvisation on his awesome old piano:

One More Week!!

Only one more week to go before this tour officially starts and we are SO EXCITED!! Not only do we get to play piano in 15 shows up the beautiful West Coast, we get to explore the countryside, meet new fans, go on an epic road trip, hang with music lovers, and just have an all out blast. We are so looking forward to this… to performing for you… to meeting you… to the adventure. Come out and join us, come hear our songs, come watch us perform, we promise… you’ll love it!! Bring your friends too. We’ll see you on the road!! ~Michele & Scott