German tour December 2004
all shows acoustic duo with Rachel Harrington

December 27, Subrosa, Dortmund:
The Subrosa in Dortmund is a very cool songwriter venue with a
comfortable couch and sofa chair on stage. I was very happy with the
turnout and the general good vibe at our first show. The first time I
played there was in '99 to maybe a handful of guests. This time we
had a nice crowd.
Rach and I had a good time and were surprised that we still had a good
number of songs we could've played at the end of the night. I
tried out a few new songs and particularly enjoyed reclining in the easy
chair while Rachel played her solo numbers. The last encore was a
request for Townes van Zandt's song "Two Girls" that I
managed to remember the chords to halfway through the second verse.

December 28, Rickenbacker's Music Inn, Berlin:
Upon entering the bar after a five-hour drive, we were flabbergasted to
find a video shoot going on. A songwriter named Tom Cunningham was
filmed on stage and later on right in front of the door - which
made it difficult for people to get in as we were playing.
We played to an audience of maybe 25. It was ok, though, cause folks
seemed to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately, a bunch of friends who said
they'd come out did not show up. Next time, guys!

December 29, Rittersaal, Burg Stargard:
The getting there was the hard part. The only road leading from Berlin
to Burg Stargard - and it's really just a road, no Autobahn,
mind you - was blocked off so Rachel had to read German roadmaps
and give me directions. We did make it to this very beautiful castle,
set up in a hurry and still hadn't had a bite to eat when the
doors were opened at 7.30 pm. Immediately, people started rushing in to
get the best seats in the house. Almost a little bit of Beatlemania in
Burg Stargard. Almost.
Anyway, after a real quick cheese sandwich dinner, a great night was had
by all in a sold-out house. The local paper wrote an enthusiastic
review. Probably the best show on the tour.

December 30 & 31, Hotel Baltic, Usedom:
Two nights in the pub of a fancy hotel on the island of Usedom. We were
surprised by a couple who drove three hours just to see us - after
they'd seen us play the night before in Burg Stargard.
The first night, we played a regular show. The second night - New
Year's Eve - we fulfilled the hotel owner's request
for "more pep". I worked my way through most popular covers I'd
ever learned: songs by CCR, Dylan, Elvis, Johnny Cash & The
Stones. I made a point of starting the new year with "Hobo
Dream", though.
All in all, we had a very pleasant time at the hotel and enjoyed the
food, the fireworks, the swimming pool and the chance to relax (and the pay).

US shows January 2005

January 7, The Portal Café, Vancouver, WA. (with Rachel Harrington and Bobcat Bob Rice)
This was basically a warm-up show for me before the big gig in
Nashville. Rachel's guitarist Bobcat Bob Rice joined us for the
gig and it was fun to trade licks with him on Rachel's songs and
hear him improvise on my numbers.

January 11, Western Beat at the Exit/In, Nashville, TN. (with The Coalmen)
After just one rehearsal, The Coalmen from Nashville, Tennessee backed
me on this six-song set. Dave Coleman, Hitch and Dave Ray made me feel
very comfortable on stage and things rolled along very smoothly. Rachel
dueted with me on "Where Do We Go From Here". I had a great
time playing with these great guys at a wonderful venue on the same bill
with Walt Wilkins and Bob Delevante. My favorite set of the night,
though, was The Coalmen's own set.
But lemme tell ya, it doesn't get cooler than hanging backstage in
Nashville. Bob Delevante's bass player for the night, Paul Slivka,
remembered me from the 1999 Orange Blossom Special in Beverungen/Germany
that he played with Matthew Ryan way back when.
And I got to chat with Bryan Owings, Buddy Miller's timekeeper and
quite possibly the best drummer this side of Jim Keltner. What a night!
I felt great.

January 14, The Flying Lion, Seattle, WA. (with Rachel Harrington and Bobcat Bob)
The Flying Lion is something like Rachel's home turf in Seattle. I
was plagued by a very bad headache that night and only really got into
the show halfway through the night. I think we sounded ok but Rachel and
Bob definitely carried the show.

January 15, The Nightlight Lounge, Bellingham, WA. (with Rachel Harrington and Liz Elton)
Beautiful Bellingham was all covered in snow when we woke up from an
afternoon nap. We managed to navigate our way to the Nightlight Lounge,
probably the nicest venue I've ever had the pleasure of playing.
Geez, what a nice place with great sound and wonderful people running
the show.
We opened for Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter to a Saturday night crowd of maybe 400
people who seemed to really enjoy our 45-minute set. Rachel and I were
joined by Rachel's friend Liz Elton who sounded great on fiddle.
Bob got stuck in the snow on the way from Seattle to Bellingham. He
missed a really nice show.
Secret ambition: To headline a gig at the Nightlight Lounge in
Bellingham.

January 16, PennyCafé, Seattle, WA. (w/ Rachel Harrington and Bobcat Bob)
Back to Seattle in the morning for a low-key brunch gig with Bob. Bob
and I got to jamming on a bunch of songs we hadn't played before:
Elvis stuff, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Little Feat. A surprisingly fun
gig.

January 16, Conor Byrne Pub, Seattle, WA. w/ Rachel Harrington and Bobcat Bob)
Even though I had a splitting headache that made me miss sound check,
this turned out to be an extremely fun night. Rachel had warned me that
we might end up being no more than background noise in the pub but we
ended up with a very nice crowd of people listening, clapping, dancing,
playing hoola-hoop, and buying CDs. A very cool show and the last one
with Bobcat.

January 18, Songwriter Showcase at The Green Room, Portland, OR. (with Rachel Harrington)
Rach and I shared a 60-minute set at the Tuesday night Portland
songwriter showcase. It was extremely enjoyable hanging out with the
other songwriters. Laura Gibson and Kris Kirkman from Portland both
sounded very good - as did Rach and I, in my humble opinion. A
very fun gig.

January 19, Sam Bond's Garage, Eugene, OR. (w/ Rachel Harrington)
The last show of my stay in the Northwest and not quite the grand finale
I had envisioned. Not a big turnout on a Wednesday night but we got into
it in the second set when we realized that this would be our last show
together fore some time. The running gag of the night was Rach calling
me "Skippy" and me using it in various songs. "Where
do we go from here/ you've called me Skippy before"