What you don't know about that Ebenezers video...& Kim and me on the radio! (By Rebecca)

Hey, gang. Rebecca here. I've been absent from the blog a bit, I know. My shyness isn't restricted to pictures, as Kim will tell you. And she's been doing such a great job, I didn't want to cramp her style. But I thought it was time I added a little post. So here goes! :)

First, a fun fact: Kim very sweetly described the last video in her previous entry as "some footage of me singing and Rebecca playing mandolin at Ebenezer's." But you should know, there was more going on there.... Perhaps you noticed me re-tuning my mando at the beginning of the song, but what you probably didn't know is that my strap also came untied towards the end. However, like true performers, we carried on! Strap shmap. That's showbiz!

Anyway, I just wanted to add a further detail for those of you keeping up with the blog. If you look closely, you can see me trying my best to hold up my little Indiana B-M5 ("Indy" for short), and keep playing by the end. (Now you know what really goes on on stage. Hee.) :)

Also, I want to let you know, you can catch Kim and me on the radio tomorrow (Friday) night!

Yes, tomorrow night around 9pm you can check out an interview we recorded with deejay Gene Godfrey for his show, Classic FM, on Burlington County College radio, Z889. You can stream the show live on your computer, from any where in the world, at http://www.z889.org. Pretty cool, right?

Anyway, it's off to bed for this little Katz. But I wanted to say "hi!" ("Hi!")

I hope you all enjoy the radio show if you're able to catch it, and thanks for following our adventures! (Thanks for keeping the masses informed, Kimmy!)


Sing OUT, sing loud,
Rebecca

Videos!

Okay, as a bonus for being such faithful readers (all three of you, LOL), I've uploaded some video files that we shot along the way. Actually, Rebecca shot the first two, and Amy shot the last one. So credit where credit is due.

This first piece is completely ridiculous--just me and Becks being silly in the car. We were crossing over this bridge on the first day, and the sun was setting, and just as I said, "It looks like something from 'Lord of the Rings' or something," a song from the soundtrack came on my iPod. We're laughing and talking so I don't know if you can get the full effect, but we did turn the music up and drive over the bridge rather majestically, because we could.




The second video is of Jake the dog, singing. See me walking out the door just before he starts? Yeah, that's me headed out on my 45-minute car-moving adventure...




And last, but certainly not least, is some footage of me singing and Rebecca playing mandolin at Ebenezer's. Enjoy!

Days Eight & Nine: The End of the Line (By Kim)

So here we are, the final post... We said goodbye to Baltimore on Saturday morning...

Goodbye, Peabody Court Hotel...


We headed for New Haven, where our original plan had been to busk at a festival they were having in town. Turns out that we had a bit more traveling to do than we realized to get there, and since the weather was crappy anyway, we just turned it into a travel day and left it at that. I got a little snap-happy on the road. I took this one at a stop light. I think it's a sports arena of some kind in downtown Baltimore. Don't I make a fabulous tour guide...


Okay, at this point Rebecca was driving, which made me even more snap-happy. I liked the whole drawbridge up thing. For a minute we headed toward it and Rebecca told me to slow down, but I said, "I'm gonna speeeeeed it uuuuuppppp..." Oh, wait... that was Keanu and Sandra... LOL.


Bridge shots.



I liked all these light fixtures in a clump like they are for some reason.


This one caught me because of the shape of the building next to whatever structures those are that mimic the same shape. Click!


And I like this version of it because of the contrast between the grass and sky. Not that I did anything intentional to make it happen. I am strictly a point-and-shoot-and-hope-for-the-best kind of gal!


Uh... I liked the blue tiles? Maybe? What can I say, I was tired!


Ah, yes... Rebecca brought this to my attention, and we both thought it was pretty funny. So... SNAP!


Our old pal the Vince Lombardi Service Area.


This I snapped because I am a huge "The Office" fan, and one of their fictional branches is in Stamford. So even though it's blurry, it made the blog!

Saturday was a long day on the road... about eight hours in the end. There was driving, and napping, and photo-taking, and in the end we wound up at a great little pub for dinner with Rebecca's friends Meredith, Woj, and Jane. We stayed with Meredith and Woj for the night, and then headed to Milford the next day for our final gig at Cafe Atlantique.

Poor Milford. Who could have foreseen when they named the town what colloquial terms might eventually become popular? I never would have thought of it if someone else hadn't said it--and if you haven't figured it out, I will not corrupt you--but I found it sad that even my 13-year-old cousin was like, "The name of the town is 'Milford?' Hahahahahahahhahahaha!" Innocence is a thing of the past.


Here is the best shot I could get of Cafe Atlantique in the fading light after our gig. There may be more in Rebecca's batch... we haven't done the final photo swap yet.

After this gig we drove home.

And there you have it! Boston to Baltimore (and back)! We had a great time, met some amazing people, made friends and fans, sold CDs, laughed, sang, bonded, and blogged. My first touring experience was fantastic thanks to Rebecca's careful planning, incredible organizational skills, and unlimited patience with someone older and crankier (that would be me) !

We'll be playing together locally in the upcoming months, and then who knows? Watch our websites for all the news that's fit to print! Thanks for taking the journey with us. We'll see you again soon!

Day Seven: Hotel Heaven (By Kim)

Friday morning we bid adieu to Amy and Jessica's place... doesn't it kind of look like the house on "Sesame Street?"


Before heading back to Baltimore for our show at Read Street Books, we met Amy for lunch and did a little last-minute sight-seeing.

The Folger Shakespeare Library as I walked quickly by on our way to meet Amy...


Here it is from the front...


We came across the Code Pink ladies on our way to a local Thai place... I love them. They are so fabulous in their pink garb--all activists should choose a color to represent themselves! It makes it so much easier to know who you're dealing with.


Here's something from the wall of the Thai place. The craftsy (as opposed to "crafty"--which I also am) person in me couldn't resist taking a shot so I could attempt my own version of this fabulous piece later in life. It's like quilted and embroidered and sequined and beaded all in one. Love it!


Amy, Becks and Me. The perspective of this shot, with the biggest person in front (hi!), makes Amy and Rebecca look like Hobbits next to me. It reminds me of the pic I had done with my cousin at the Lord Of The Rings exhibit when it was at The Museum of Science in Cambridge.


Approaching the Library of Congress...


Okay, there are probably 9000 views of the Capitol building just like this one, but it feels different when you're taking it yourself!


The flags outside the Library.



What I love about this one is that it's a total composite shot that I stitched together using the bottom of one wider angled shot, and the top (with the flag) of a longer angled shot. And you would never have known that if I hadn't told you. Ha!


And again with the Capitol...


So, Rob Laurens told me to just walk into the Library of Congress if I had limited sight-seeing time. He was right that it's magnificent. I totally want my house to look just like this... ;-)





Near...


Far... (and the second "Sesame Street" reference in this blog!)


The view from where I was standing in the near/far pictures.


Uh... what's on the roof?


The other view from where I was standing in the near/far pictures.


More words of wisdom...


The artistry of this place is just stunning.





Art may be long, but someday soon it's only going to read "ong" if they don't fix this one!



Not sure what this exhibit entailed (live performances of some sort?), but I liked the posters.





I'm a sucker for a theater. Rebecca and I hummed a few bars of "Home Again" while we were standing there. Great acoustics.


Paintings of musical instruments seemed worthy of snapping...




I shot this room because it looks like the press briefing room on "The West Wing." Another one for you, Kristen!



Finally the flags cooperated enough to be read...


Side of the Supreme Court building... we were running out of time!


Another view of the Folger Shakespeare Library on the way back to the car.


Capitol Hill, baby!


And Mass Ave. I don't care where we were, that's how you say it!


I thought it was cool that there was a Davidson decal on the car in front of us, so there ya go.


Back in Baltimore, our home for the night, the fabulous Read Street Books.



Our last dog of the tour... Miranda, who belonged to Lisette from Read St. Total sweeties--both dog and owner.

Self portrait: alone at Read Street, waiting for Rebecca and her mom to get back from the first drop of stuff at the hotel.

Huh?

Rebecca's mom flew in from Kentucky to surprise Rebecca; a secret I was in on and had almost revealed about 47 times that day alone as Rebecca referenced her mom in a variety of ways. It was very cool because Rebecca had NO IDEA, and also because Mrs. Katz had gotten a hotel room nearby (just when you were wondering what the blog title was all about!) and we both got to join her and have a luxurious night in real beds--our first since leaving Virginia. We were spoiled with excellent air mattresses all along the way, don't get me wrong--I slept DAMN WELL on this tour--but nothing beats a real bed. Also I finally got to have my crab cakes and they were YUM-MY!

Again, this is just SOME of our stuff...

Day Six: Yeah, I'm Outta Rhymes! (By Kim)

Okay, so on Day Six we had our second D.C. proper show, at a place called Ebenezer's Coffeehouse. What a fantastic venue! It's fairly new, and having music is VERY new, so our crowd was small, but MAN what a set-up! They had a whole listening room downstairs from the rest of the coffee shop, with a stage, and sound, and lights, and people to RUN these things. It was very fabulous indeed, and definitely my favorite performing space of the tour. If you are in the D.C. area or know people in D.C. SEND THEM TO EBENEZER'S! It's really a great place, and they deserve to prosper as a venue.


Here is the stage, and part of the room, with our stuff preset.


Becks and I showing off our merch table, which was manned by Amy all night--thanks, Amy!


My cousin Ray and his friend Dave came out to the show.


Me and Ray. Seriously I think the last time the two of us were in a picture together we looked like this:

I love how we're standing on the same sides as we were then!


Amy and Rebecca, with Ebenezer's awesome tech team, Steve and Daniel, in the background.


Rebecca sound-checking.


We decided that blurry was okay as long as it was "cool" blurry.


I love this one!

Okay, so as far as performance images go, thanks to Amy, and Ray's friend Dave, there are a TON! It was going to take far too long to upload them all here, so I made them into a slide show. What a great night we had!

Goodbye, Ebenezer's! What I love about this shot by Rebecca is the reflection of the sign for F Street in the center window.


And because meeting fabulous dogs was a recurring theme on our trip, here is the yellow lab owned by Amy's roommate Jessica. Isn't she a beauty?

Day Five: Are They Still Alive???? (By Kim)

Okay... between cranky internet and a busy end of tour, I got a little behind on the blog posting! Here is a recap of Day Five:

My life in luggage... Of course, this doesn't include the rest of the musical gear, which was in the car!


This is the outside of Kramer Books/Afterwords Cafe, which we checked out when we arrived in D.C. We found parking at a lot a block away that was only $16 for the entire day. Woo-hoo! We left the car and took the Metro to see the monuments.


Here is the view down the escalator into the Metro. Up until this point the steepest escalator I'd encountered was at the Porter Square T stop in Somerville, MA. This one was like being at Porter Square and the Museum of Science's Omni Theater all at the same time. I had a hard time deciding where to look so I wouldn't feel nauseous and trip down 9000 escalator stairs.


I was feeling a little artsy as a train passed ours while we were waiting to leave. Snapping this shot made a woman sitting near us scoff, "Newbies!" LOL.


The Lincoln Memorial as we approached.



Naturally I had to zoom in on Massachusetts!


Even though it was 9000 degrees out, we were not alone in visiting Linc.


The famous spot where MLK stood.


View of the Monument and reflecting pool from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.


I hate taking a bunch of pictures of inanimate objects and no people, so I made sure I had Becks grab a shot of me--also for scale!


Approaching the Vietnam Wall. It's massive.


Self-explanatory.


The theme of the day seemed to be "reflections." Here's a self-portrait in the shiny surface of the Wall.


Far too many names.

The Vietnam Wall is impressive. I've wanted to see it for a long time. I have to admit it loses a touch of its impact when you're crammed in amidst a bunch of school kids and whatnot, but it's an impressive design nonetheless. I'd always thought it was a free-standing wall, but it's not. It's built into the earth on a slope (like a grave, as Rebecca pointed out), and you walk into it, with the names reaching higher and higher until they are over your head and you're just surrounded by them. It's heart-breaking.


The Atlantic side of the WWII Memorial.


And the Pacific side.





The Monument from across the WWII memorial.




I have to say, no disrespect to the memorial or its honorees intended, but it was HARD to be surrounded by so much water on a day SO hot and sunny and not be able to touch it at all. We did sit for a few minutes and catch some spray when the wind blew the right way.


Here's one of the two of us... taken by the two of us! (We used a trick my sister has employed for years now.)


Aren't we cute? :)


This guy had a lot of balls... LMAO.


I took this picture so I'd remember what the building was, because I knew I'd never remember otherwise...


...it was the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building.


Not the best picture, but I wanted to document my first encounter with magnolia blossoms.


The pink arrow is pointing to the security guy on the roof, who could probably see me taking his picture. Luckily he didn't shoot me!


I was prepared for a deluge of protesters all around the White House, but there was only this one woman, quietly holding a peace vigil.


I was humming "The West Wing" theme the whole time I was snapping pics. I just couldn't help myself!


It's kind of hard to see, but there are a whole bunch of birds and squirrels huddled around this tree doing their thing. I couldn't help but think that the only thing missing was Snow White or someone, chatting it up with them.


Hm... where have I seen this guy before? Oh, yeah...


Ha!

So we had a long, hot, interesting day in the sun, and I was thrilled to see the monuments up close for the first time. We took a cab from the monuments back to where the Metro was because I was just SPENT. Then we took the Metro back up to Kramer Books, walked our stuff around the block, and loaded in.

Interesting venue. It's a bookstore downstairs, with a cafe on one side. UPSTAIRS overlooking the book store is a small seating area, which adjoins an even smaller performance area, overhanging the book store. It was kind of like playing the crow's nest of a ship.


View of the store from above, where we were playing.



The best part was that between the seating area and the performance area was a railing that separated the two. The only way into the performance area was to step over the railing (which you couldn't really do when people were sitting at the tables alongside it) or to slide under it.


I initially had to go with the slide-under option, and once I landed ever so gracefully, Rebecca just had to capture the moment. I would have done the same thing.



View of the performance area from the upper seating area. The speaker with our merch info on it to the right delineates the end of the performance area. So basically it was just big enough for the two of us and our instruments.


Rebecca getting into a song.






Love the way this blurred!


Becks and I are with John Campbell, from Independents Uncovered on WGMU--the station that had interviewed us on Monday night. What a sweetie he was to show up and support us live! We rewarded him with a t-shirt.



Aw...


The photo we never knew was taken... John snapped this as we walked away with our hostess for the evening, Rebecca's friend Amy, and her boyfriend Mark.

After the show we grabbed some grub at a nearby restaurant, and then Mark and I drove to Amy's, while Rebecca and Amy caught up in a taxi. (Mark and Amy had taken the Metro to the show, and with all our gear we couldn't fit the two of them in the car). We were jokingly racing each other across town, until about two blocks into the journey, when I realized we were right behind Rebecca and Amy's cab! We followed behind for most of the way, and then a red light spoiled all the fun. I watched the cab zip away and Mark navigated the rest of the way to Capitol Hill.

When we got settled in Amy's apartment, we noticed she had left gifts for each of us. Sweet, crazy girl! She was the one putting us up, letting us take over half her apartment, and she was buying us gifts.



And what a fabulous gift indeed! I love giant mugs--they are so good for so many things. And the bonus was that I had told myself I couldn't buy any souvenirs because it wasn't in the budget, and so it was extra perfect that Amy provided me with one! Amy, you rock!

P.S. Thanks to both Amy and John for taking pics of the show! :)

Day Four: First Show in Baltimore! (By Kim)

Okay, first let's just admit that after today I probably won't be able to keep up the rhyming title thing. I mean, unless tomorrow I have occasion to say something like, "Day Five: Kim Takes a Nosedive." And I REALLY hope I don't have occasion to say that!

Today we said goodbye to Virginia and headed off to Baltimore, driving through D.C. along the way. SO COOL! I can't wait to get out there tomorrow and see the monuments and stuff. It's very exciting.

Our gig tonight was at a place called Baltimore Chop. Apparently this is a baseball term of some sort. I don't know from baseball, so I'll take it on faith. The shop is a bookstore which specializes in baseball books, along with an assortment of other interesting topics. Here's a shot of the outside of the store, and a close-up of one of the front windows.

Becks has been bizarrely camera-shy, so I've had to be a little sneaky in getting some shots off. Here she is outside the shop, with our poster in-frame on the lamp-post. Very cool!


This sign was on the door when we arrived. We were greeted outside by Brad, one of the guys who works the weekly Bluegrass Jam. He was outside playing guitar and watching a package that had been dropped off by Fed-Ex. We chatted with him until Andy, the owner, arrived and let us in. Just in time as a thunderstorm was brewing and rumbling over our heads.

While we were starting to set up, Andy's friend Dan came in with his GINORMOUS dog, Jake. It's hard to really see it in the pictures, but the dog is HUGE. He's also completely adorable and friendly, and clearly a music-lover. He's definitely our biggest (and hairiest--as far as we know) fan.

Here's Dan and Jake.

And here's me and Jake. Such a cutie!

We ultimately decided to fly without sound equipment because the place was intimate with great acoustics. As we were prepping to bring some of our gear back out to the car, a spot opened up right in front of the shop. I went to get the car to repark it, and in driving around the block got COMPLETELY lost. I ended up on a 45-minute tour of Baltimore before I found my way back thanks to the maps Rebecca had in the car. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures at red lights:



I finally made it back and we got the gig under way. It was a total blast, with a nice-sized appreciative crowd. During our break the bluegrass jammers played some tunes, with Becks jumping in on mando.



When the gig was over, we went with Rebecca's friend Andrew and his friend Lena to have some chow at the Paper Moon diner. WHAT A COOL PLACE! Doc, you would go wild for this decor. And my sister, who has a Pez collection of her own, would definitely love to check out theirs. I took some pics just for her, and anyone else who is interested in Pez and other retro toys being used in a bizarre decorative fashion.

We arrived 15 minutes before they closed, and they were not happy with us, but we promised to order quickly. As we were being handed menus I jumped up to photograph the Pez display. Andrew was trying to convey to me the importance of sitting down and ordering fast. My response, "I would rather not eat than not take that picture." So there ya go, Kristen!

Ultimately I did not have to starve, and had instead a yummy breakfast quesadilla, with leftovers for tomorrow.

Here are the pics of Paper Moon:

My new boyfriend...




Tonight we are staying with Rebecca's friends Andrew and Edie's dad in Baltimore. He lives in a gated community--which is a first for both of us. Let's just say IT'S NICE.

Tomorrow we play Kramer Books in D.C., and also plan to check out the monuments and stuff--which I have never seen--during the day. So I guess I should get to bed now so I can handle all of that without passing out!