Welcome Home

We managed to gear up for one touring venture this season before the great slowdown. I’ve got people in Erie Pa and Buffalo Ny, so I figured it’d be right to get up there to play and make the most of the love and attention of those I’m close to. If you’ve never had a chance to take your band home to play for your friends and family, I recommend it for a few big reasons. Being Greg and Chrissie’s very first tour, they were super excited. As long as I kept them warm and fed, they would pretty much go along with anything. But the big advantage of playing for your home team, especially if it requires considerable travel, is the welcome. And that was my favorite part. So many people who I love came out, in the dead of winter! Of course, it was their one chance in a season to catch up, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful to me. We played Howlers in Pittsburgh, The Edinboro Hotel Bar (the town I grew up in), and then Milkie’s On Elmwood in Buffalo. We were housed and fed by my sister in Erie, my brother in Buffalo, old show-mates in Pittsburgh. We were met with loving listeners who bought our shirts, cds and trinkets, hosted pregame and after show parties for us. They showed my Greg and Chrissie their towns, homes, and favorite drinks; they introduced my bandmates to the reasons why I myself have grown to love and care for them over the course of my life. We were shown the most caring, most humbling hospitality and appreciation, that I felt slightly uncomfortable - a receiving of so much, so fast, that one can’t help but feel indebted to the universe in a way that makes one doubt it can be repayed! So, there it is. Get your band booked in the town where you grew up, where your brother and your sisters live. Book yourself in adjacent towns too, because you have people there as well. If you don’t have a band, get started now. Or, of course, you can just pay it forward and go and catch up with the accordion songman you know and love who’s coming home to play in your town, and know how deeply you are making his day/month/year…

Play the clip/story from our show at Milkie’s below: