the_GoodByeHouse

Goodbyehome - Martyr's: June 16, 2009

Goodbyehome’s triumphant return to Martyr’s went off swimmingly.  Literally.

Seriously, Chicago.  What’s the deal with all the rain?

The night started off a bit damp, but the music was hot all night, starting with Super Secret Surprise Guests “Hurtin’ Kind”.  The Chicago Acoustic Underground portion of the evening was kicked off by Boston Singer-Songwriter Teresa Storch, who was joined by our beloved violinist, Christine.  Next up were L.A. duo Dan & Leland, who pretty much melted the faces off of everyone in the room.

The last time Goodbyehome played Martyrs was in February.  Last night, our set consisted of three songs that were performed at both shows.  We have been overflowing with new material over the past few months, and even found the time to debut a song called “Holding Cell”.  Excellent to dance to.  We here at Goodbyehome recommend doing The Robot.

Plenty of new songs.  A few new tricks.  And of course, my new double-necked beast of a guitar.  It was a good time, and a good night to rock.  After a week of fully acoustic sets, feeling the electricity through the amplifiers is like coming home.

Thank you to everyone who braved the rain and wind and monsoons to see us perform again.  Special thanks to Michael Teach and Ashley Wolf for bringing everything together.  And also to David Kav, a good friend, good musician, and my beloved orchestra tech!

See you at The Abbey in July!!!

The End. (that's what she said...)

Four shows. Five days. Hotel rooms. Hot tubs. Avocados. Metal bars. Highway turnarounds. Marshmellows. Plumbing malfunctions. Respect. Jasons everywhere! Missing cameras.  #1 fans.  Shuuuut Uuuuup!

Madison was a bittersweet end to the Goodbyehome June 2009 Tour.  We arrived, after a few battles with misplaced highway signage and a slight detour after being forced into a construction zone by someone who clearly forgot how traffic is supposed to merge.

Madison is a beautiful city, and was the first day since Friday that I remember seeing sun.  We like sun.  We like Madison.

The group wandered about State Street, and after some lunch, ended up back near The Frequency, where we were set to cap off the tour.  The Frequency is a cozy little place, nestled near the Capitol Building, and was the first venue to put up our posters.  Cool points abound.  Despite not being named Jason, their sound guy was pretty awesome, and was very helpful - even putting up with all of my finnicky shit.  Thank you, Justin!

The crowd was good, and had a nice mix of new friends and familiar faces.  Even Starbucks represented!  The last show went very well, and after the last band played, and the last Electric Slide was slid, we bid the city a farewell…

Now, we’re back to the real world.  But fear not, this is only the beginning!  There are more shows to be played!  More tours to be toured!  More friends and fans to be made!  More highways to get lost on!

Seriously.  GPS on the next tour.  Garmin?  How about a sponsorship?

Until then, thank you to everyone who came out and felt the magic.  Thank you to Zambricki for the music, the company, and the sandwiches.  Thank you to Charn, Andrew Thomas (I still love A.T.), and Ruckus & Fray!  And thank you to the rest of Goodbyehome for keeping the rock alive.

…especially in this economy.

St. Paul and etc.

Goodbyehome here - the tour is winding down.  We spent a well needed day off on Sunday wandering about the Twin Cities.  After a late start, the Goodbyehomemobile headed down to Grand Old Day over in St. Paul, MN.

This proved more difficult than we had anticipated.  Apparently, I-94 was closed, and nobody really bothered to tell the people on the highway, so we made a few detours, and arrived, well, eventually.  Fun times and music and alcohol were had by many.  We ran into our #1 Minnesota fan and future publicist Lindsay, and my old roommate Alix, and wandered about for a few hours.

Back at the hotel, we spent the remainder of the night making music and making friends.  This is truly what touring is all about.  It was a special night.

***

Monday, we were back at it again.  Owing to a plumbing malfunction in the hotel room — the cause of which will not be named here… for now — our touring partner in crime found himself in need of new pants.  After more navigation situations, and a bloodless coup of the driver’s seat, we found our way to the Mall of America.

Wandering around for a bit, enjoying Capital Consumerism at its best, we found new pants, and new batteries.  And the roller coaster.  A roller coaster in a mall.  Rock.

St. Paul was tonight - we performed at the Station 4, which to the band’s dismay (and my delight) is traditionally a heavy metal bar.  They rejected my proposal for an all Slayer cover set, and we opted for our original material, which was probably the better choice anyway.

Zambricki played a tight set with Christine and myself appearing sporadically, local singer-songwriter Andrew Thomas played, and Christine and I threw in a few original songs of our own for good measure.  Greg, through his super MacGyver skills, was able to get his guitar working again, and after a direct box issue, we were able to rock St. Paul what for.

Again, very special thanks to Jason, our sound guy.  This tour has been all about cool guys named Jason running sound.  Also, Andrew Thomas, for coming out and performing with us.

Madison tonight!  The end of the tour is near.  But for now, there is more music to be played - more fans to be won over - more highways to get lost on…

Goodbyehome: Let's Start a Riot!

Goodbyehome is in Minneapolis!  A very eventful night, indeed.  After a long day of driving in intermittent rain across Wisconsin, we arrived in Minneapolis.  A few of us explored the hotel hot tub, and the rest of us prepared for the show at the Terminal Bar.

The show had its share of technical mishaps.  Note to self: always bring batteries.  Lots of batteries.  All three guitars and the bass XLR connector ended up malfunctioning at one point during the set.  But we rock on nevertheless.

The set was a little shorter than last night, owing to a third local band headlining.  If you get the chance to catch “Charn”, do so.  Their self-proclaimed ‘worst show ever’ last night was still pretty excellent.  Also, they seem like solid guys.  Always a plus.

Afterward, during load-out, we were witness to the sound of yelling and screaming and breaking bottles.  Turns out, there was a giant bar fight being dragged into the street and surrounding neighborhood.  We here at Goodbyehome determined that it was time to leave when the kids started showing up with baseball bats.

Note: it is always a good time to leave when the baseball bats come out.

Now we can’t be certain, but we’re pretty sure that the cause of the commotion was related somehow to the crowd from our show telling the other bar patrons how they missed out on such an amazing night of rock.  This, of course, lead to violence.

Goodbyehome: inciting riots in a city near you!

Today is the day off in the Twin Cities.  Excellent.

Goodbyehome Tour June 2009

Greetings from the road!  We’re slowly but surely waking up (some a bit slower than others) in Milwaukee after a successful night at the Points East Pub.  The show went well - we made some new friends and new fans, sold some CD’s and shirts, and now we’re ready to do it all again tonight.

Special thanks to Jason, the sound engineer and the rest of the staff at the Points East.

More updates to follow.  We’ll be in Minneapolis tonight.  Come catch us at the Terminal Bar.  …or for the afterparty at the Comfort Inn!