That is totally bitchin' :) You're going to have such an awesome time! I really want to see them play at the Purple Fiddle - and I hear Thomas is great!
I wish I could go, but there's no holiday furloughing for me... :)
About a month ago, the Purple Fiddle said they still had 4 spaces in the hostile. Affordable, but single beds. My wife and I are staying at the Ladybug B and B, but they want a two night commitment. I know there is another place called the Stone Garden B and B and Douglas Falls B and B. Davis, WV has some accommodations also.
Purple Fiddle hasn't called back but the recorded message said they are only open Fri-Sun this time of year, so that makes sense. Lodging may end up being a little further south than Davis.
It will work out. Don't think there is much chance we'd bail on a NYE show.
Jeff, are you coming to Richmond and Harrisonburg?
I think something will be available lodging wise in the area.
My relatives are coming from Florida that week. Richmond is a definite no. Harrisonburg is a small possibility, but I think the relatives will still be around. Not sure if Gray and tapernate will be at these shows since they go to these venues regularly. I'll send you notes from my experiences at Clementines and the Purple Fiddle. Both great venues.
This will be our fifth show co-taping: 9/17/10 Bristol, 10/23/10 Landhaven, 12/3/10 Ashland, and 12/4/10 The Southern. Not a bad run of Yarn shows.
you are blessed hopped! Merry Yarnmas and what a great way to kick off the New Year - safe travels and I can't wait to hear the shows from you and Jeff
Great three hour set tonight. I got there later than I should have. Thought the balcony where the soundboard was located was too far back. Didn't notice the delay speakers up there. Didn't see the other taper up there, but we met after the show. His tape and two cam video will probably smoke. Blake even suggested I go up there, but I'm stupid.
Again, it was a great show. Tight playing and jamming. Big crowd for Clementine. I'd guess 200+.
Purple Fiddle is sold out tonight and I think I read it holds 300. The guys are in fine form and the crowds have been really into the shows. It is awesome to behold.
Opted for water in lieu of beer last night. And got a full 8 hours of sleep. I imagine I'll need the strength about 12 hours from now.
Wow, that's so cool. Why do they ever play up my way?.....we're so musically fucking stupid. There wasn't three hundred people at the last 4 yarn shows I've seen. Kudos Yarn and go GET "EM TONIGHT!!!
What luck we've had. From the dread of having an hour plus drive for a place to stay to sharing the hostel with our friends. What a special New Years this will be. Be safe all. As long as we can walk up the stairs after the show we'll be just fine.
Well, fellas.....??? How was your evening at the Purple Fiddle?! Saw the post about the room at the hostel - main thing stopping us was the NYE party we were throwing! I decided to invite 25 people over to the house to help me forget that I wasn't in Thomas, WV!
Happy New Year, 5Gs! New year's resolution: more Yarn!!! :)
Me: "No more late night drunken requests, I promise." Blake: "Shit, why not?"
Rolled in to Richmond and made the requisite stop at Legend Brewing. Always something good on tap here. Using the handy dandy Find Craft Beer app on my iPhone, we find out there is a new brewery in Richmond. So we head over to Hardywood Park Brewery for some pretty amazing Gingerbread Stout. Tasty, but 9.2% ABV packs a wallop. We met some nice locals. We were running short on time so we headed over to check in to our swanky downtown hotel. I don't stay in nice places much. Those bed linens do make a difference. I slept like a log. We walked the one mile to The Camel and arrived to hear Yarn soundchecking "Maneater" by Hall & Oates. Odd. Then "You're Making My Dreams Come True". Okay, now we're getting an idea of what the midnight NYE cover set would be. I waited around a while for the local taper to show up so I could follow his lead. He was a no-show so I clamped to the soundboard cage and grabbed a board feed. Sound guy was cool. I threw a third rig on-stage for coverage. The band sounded mighty fine and the room wasn't bad as all. About 200 people, I'd guess. The boys roared through most of the usual suspects, nothing crazy in the set list. Christopher Street was pretty smoking. The crowd was way into it and I believe the merch sales were decent. Stayed pretty sober.
Friday, December 30,2011:
We took our time getting out of Richmond and checked out a couple of local spots. Found a great little spot called Commercial Taphouse & Grill. Brouche and I ate at a mediocre Thai spot, but Mrs. Brouche made the right call and grabbed a sandwich at Commercial Taphouse. Everything fresh and from scratch every day and really nice owner. Check it out if you make it to Richmond. We made our way over to Harrisonburg and checked in to the hotel. A little nap turned into a big nap and the next thing you know we need to get downtown. We ate at a Greek place next to the venue where I highly recommend the Greek pork chops. We make it over to Clementine and it is crowded. The boys are ready to soundcheck so I throw the on-stage rig together. "She's Gone" sound check confirms the suspicions of Hall & Oates set for NYE. I look at the balcony and it was way back, so I decided not to set up there. I didn't see the delay speakers that made it sound tits up there. There was a taper up there with a Soundfield rig and two cameras. His recording will smoke mine. Hope he puts it up soon. The bartenders wanted to ignore me, so this was my very first completely stone sober Yarn show. The boys played around three hours without a set break. The crowd was probably around 250 or so if I had to estimate. They danced and danced.. Covers were "Brokedown Palace" and "Ramble On Rose". Trevor was in the line-up tonight. The sound was great. Minus the bartenders, this is a really nice place to see a show.
Saturday December 31, 2011:
Ricky B: "2012 baby, this is the year of Ricky B"
The drive from Harrisonburg to Thomas WV was absolutely beautiful, albeit on slow, twisting mountain roads. Mrs. Brouche called The Purple Fiddle to ask about cancellations and they said they'd call us if they had any during the day. Not long after we pulled out of Harrisonburg, we were without signal on our phones. Right at the intersection where we had to decide whether to head over to the nearest hotels in Elkins or push on to Thomas, telephones started beeping with voicemail tones. We had signals and after a brief game of phone tag, a room above the venue. Bam. We headed toward Thomas and stopped at Blackwater Brewing in Davis. Beers were drinkable, but new owner/brewer was there and said his first batch was in the tanks, so there is hope for this place. We then took the two minute drive over to Blackwater Falls and it was quite impressive. We then went to Thomas and checked in to our room. I bought my wife and daughter hand made scarves at the local general store. We went back for dinner at Purple Fiddle and empty_pockets showed up. We finagled a clamping spot. empty secured a board feed. We went back upstairs to relax and play a couple of games of pool. The show started around 9:15. Another night of the boys in fine form, but Blake's voice started to go in the first set. There were some real characters in the audience, but this is rural WV, after all. Again, there was lots of dancing and revelry. I felt really tired at one point and went upstairs to lie down for a few minutes. I missed the toast and H & O set, but I'll listen later. The show was over around 1:10. After the show, several people wanted to find another bar. I was sober and offered to drive, but all the bars were closed. We chatted a bit before drifting off to sleep. Breakfast with the boys at Flying Pigs gave us the energy for the 6 hour drive back, which is the only part of this whole trip that sucked.
Happy New Year! The Purple Fiddle was a venue to welcome 2012. The boys played two sets around an hour and a half each with Yarn classics,Hall and Oates, and covering Going Down the Road Feeling Bad>We Bid You Good Night as the Grateful Dead did. My wife and I stayed in Thomas an extra day and returning home this afternoon. It's currently snowing here.Both the audience and soundboards came out well. I should be able to post in a few days. Yesterday, I made my first matrix with the soundboard and audience. It sounds good. I'll probably post the matrix and one of the other sources (audience or soundboard). Nice seeing you again hoppedup!
Yarn December 31, 2011 New Year's Eve Purple Fiddle Thomas, WV
AKG 463 90 degrees coincidence>pointed at left speaker>8 feet high>Sound Devices Mixpre>Zoom H4n Audacity (normalize to -3 dB, tracking, Flac conversion level 8)
01. Intro 02. Desperate Amy 03. Dear Mama, I'm so Sorry 04. Let Us Pray 05. Can't Slow Down 06. The Dirt Road 07. Abilene 08. Roadhouse 09. I Wanted to Get High 10. Tennessee 11. Down on Your Luck 12. Lies I've Told 13. Christopher Street 14. That's Just Fine 15. Alone on the Weekend 16. Almost Home 17. NYC Found 18. Music's Only Outlaw> 19. For What It's Worth>Music's Only Outlaw 20. Turn the Light Off 21. New Year's Countdown 22. She's Gone* 23. Maneater* 24. You Make My Dreams Come True* 25. Bad Bad Man 26. Salt Creek> 27. Woman on the Interstate 28. Don't Break My Heart Again 29. Going Down the Road Feeling Bad+> 30. And We Bid You Goodnight+
*= Hall and Oates Covers += traditional songs performed as the Grateful Dead covered
Sounds real nice, Jeff. I'll probably post Blake solo and the other two shows before I get around to this one. This one was a lot of fun, even with the Wild, Wonderful crowd.
Thanks Jeff....just got to listen here at work. Love that the boys fill your halls down there but man the fucking talking would drive me NUTZ! Recording sounds great though~
....and as long as I'm risking being a naysayer, there are some really bad Hall & Oats songs. I know Blake and John are buds so no offense intended and I hope John's noteriety transfers to Blake but I can't say I'm too stoked about those covers.
I don't get the feeling you'll see those songs in set lists too often. I think the comment I heard most from the band was "that was weird". I thought "She's Gone" was awesome and would love to see that pop in a set from time to time.
01. Empty Pockets 02. Can't Slow Down 03. Annie 04. Almost Home 05. New York City Found 06. Strikes And Gutters 07. Nuthin' But Time To Give 08. Down On Your Luck 09. No Future Together 10. Salt Creek> Jam> 11. Woman On The Interstate 12. Turn The Light Off 13. Abilene 14. Ramble On Rose 15. Music's Only Outlaw 16. Fussin' And Fightin' 17. That's Just Fine 18. Ain't That A Sin 19. Brokedown Palace 20. Tennessee 21. Don't Break My Heart Again 22. Five Guitars 23. It's All Over Now
Yarn is:
Blake Christiana - acoustic guitar, vocals Trevor MacArthur - acoustic guitar, backing vocals Andrew Hendryx - mandolin, electric mandolin, harmonica Rod Hohl - electric guitar, backing vocals Rick Bugel - upright bass Bobby Bonhomme - drums
Go see Yarn and buy their merch. Support taper-friendly bands.