MIDWEST TOUR 2009

ST LOUIS, PIZZA & THE DRIVE BACK HOME

I had an awesome time performing at The Hartford Coffee Company in St. Louis Sunday. Before I played I got to sit back and watch Abi Robbins play her set. Abi is an awesome musician, young, confident and pushing the gamu't with her writing and skills....and she tours like a mad woman..I'm so jealous! Of course, in true Wolfe fashion, by the time I got up to play half the crowd had left, but those who remained and I had a great time! Mike, Abi, Abi's boyfriend, Teresa, Marjorie, Franklin, Kate, Amanda, John and everyone else were incredibly cool and supportive. They were very receptive to everything but especially, SMALL MUSEUM, BEAUTIFUL BETHANY BARISTA GIRL, DO THE MATH, 97 & MOUNTAIN. Afterwards we all hung out for a few. People in the midwest are pretty cool...there's even a look that sometimes resonates differently than back here in the East-almost nostalgic. People seem generally a little more approachable and relaxed...its a nice vibe.

I must admit that sometimes my stomach speaks loudly and it often told me during the tour that at the end of the tour I was to go up to THE HILL (St. Louis Italian Section) to a restaurant I went to back in the Fall when I was returning from my 2008 Cross Country Tour - it was called Lou Boccaro's. Great pizza with a Sicilian sauce, Toasted Ravioli and a nice salad just rounded out the trip nicely...oh, and afterwards I headed over to Delmar and grabbed a couple of bubble teas for the road.

The drive back seems like a blur now. I pulled into downtown Louisville around 3 this morning, rode around a bit, got back on the highway and drove a little further before pulling over in a gas station for 2 hours of sleep. I awoke and continued on...around 7:30 am I decided to stop in Frankfort at a nice little cafe for a while. About an hour later I was back on the road and finally made it back to Bmore around 7pm. When I look back on it now it seems like a blur - I can hardly believe that I was on the road that long! I guess I am a bit sleep deprived.

Even though it was certainly a MINI TOUR (I think actually I'm now going to call it the EVERY DAY WAS A BAD HAIR DAY TOUR-did you see those pics?...Yikes!!), it was a great time. I covered so much ground in a short period of time and it went by like a blur, yet it was way cool to meet everyone that I did and see some familiar faces again! I felt a certain looseness in my performances this time that I didn't feel quite as much as back in the Fall...I'm not sure why -but overall the sets seemed to flow a bit better.

My thanks to all of you who've been following my travels via the blog and photos, and for staying in touch.

Damion



-w/Mike, Abi Robbins & Abis beau @ Hartford Coffee Co.-St. Louis, MO



-Abi's tongue and my usual clueless look @ Hartford Coffee Co-St. Louis, MO



-w/Kate & Franklin @ Hartford Coffee Co-St. Louis, MO



-the set list that I never really followed...

HAPPY PLACE

It was great meandering around downtown Cincinnati on Friday before heading down to Lexington. I got a couple of cool pics of the Ohio River from the Cinci side. After a somewhat disappointing show in Lexington I head off for Paducah. I'd never driven down through this part of country-very desolate but peaceful...its good to know that there is still so much open space left in our country...where subdivisions, condos and strip malls are still banished.

Last time I was in Paducah I didn't have much time to hang out and explore. This time I got to go downtown,walk around and see the rivers - Paducah is where the Tennessee and Ohio convene. It's a really special place...I hung out there for a while and played my guitar and took some pics. It was one of the most happiest moments of my trip.

When I arrived in Paducah I was a little depressed from a somewhat luke-warm and somewhat disorganized show the night before. Yet when I launched into my set I found that place and just had a great time. I also met some cool folks - T2, Humber, Jeremy and got to see Justin, Chris and Mike again (3/5 of the Paducah Brodeos). It was awesome and I'd like to thank everyone who hung out, contributed and bought cds.

Off to St. Louis to do a show with the mellifluous Abi Robins. I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to my first show in St. Louis.

Thanks for reading!
Damion Wolfe



JUSTIN, T SQUARED, CHRIS @ ETC COFFEE-PADUCAH, KY



5 GOOFS @ ETC COFFEE-PADUCAH, KY



DEEP CONTEMPLATION @ ETC COFFEE-PADUCAH, KY



-OHIO RIVER-CINCINNATI, OH



TN AND OH RIVERS CONVERGE-PADUCAH, KY

YIPPIE, IT'S CINCI!!

Dibbity Doo, Dibbity Da Da....here I am in South O-hi-a. Howdies and Salutations from Cincinnati. It's beautiful out here and Cinci seems like a cool town, yet the weather is about as schizophrenic as a couple of my ex-girlfriends - sweet and beautiful one day, and cold and scary the next! Although I've played the area before it was technically in the suburbs, so this is my first ever venture downtown.

As many of you know, I try to be honest and not sugar-coat my notes too much. To an extent this entry will be of those cases, but with a golden lining! I played at a cool venue last night called Sitwells - a nice eclectic venue over near the UC campus. The staff was nice enough and the area reminded me a little bit of my days at VCU in Richmond. The room was big but very long and narrow and I had to set up and play in the back which put me away from most people. When I played my first song (Itty Bitty) and NOBODY clapped I knew I was going to be in for a challenging night.

The great thing about these kind of shows (cafes, etc) is that I get to play all of my own music. The stressful part is that at a majority of them I do not get paid anything - I'm playing solely for tips and cd sales. So if I get tuned out at a bar, it's no big deal to an extent because I know I'm still getting paid. BUT when you get tuned out at a free gig it takes a certain amount of callousing to not turn into a basket case.

Fortunately, I was doing a decent job at numbing the pain and decided to just treat it as a practice session. After the second song (Freestyle) I started getting a few people clapping and that was good, yet overall the audience looked totally tuned out or distant for most of the set. To my benefit, though, there were a couple of people (Steffan, Steven and another girl who left) who kept the love going, which I am immensely grateful for. If they hadn't been there I would have probably been in an emergency session with my therapist after the gig (LOL!!)

At the end of the night a guy named Howard came in and brought some extra love with him. Howard purchased a cd and several other people did make contributions to the tip jar so I didn't leave totally broke....thank you thank you thank you! So overall the night ended up well...I sold a cd, made a lil bit of gas money, and met some cool people. After the show I got to hang out with Steffan, Steven and Howard (see pic below).

Steffan empathized...he was sharing his stories of being in an indie band and touring for years, sometimes playing to similar sort of crowds. Steven was a poet who was an avid music appreciator and Howard was incredibly supportive. All of them gave me some more venue suggestions for my next venture through.

One of the reasons I love touring is because I have the travel bug. I get to go out and perform my music around the country while at the same time getting the privilege of seeing different parts of the country, and meeting amazing people. For example last night it was just cool to hang out with the guys and ask questions about Cincinnati and Ohio - learning people's perspectives on their indigenous habitat is really interesting to me.

So today I'm off thru the rain for my first solo gig in Lexington, KY at Common Ground. I'm looking forward to the next adventure!

SET LIST LAST NIGHT:

ITTY BITTY
FREESTYLE
3 AGAIN
GET UP GET OVER
BESSIE
DO THE MATH
BEAUTIFUL BETHANY
SMALL MUSEUM
WRAP YOU UP
TREASURE

SET 2

97
BE YOUR MAN
CHOOSING MATTER
SOME MORE
MOUNTAIN

Thanks for reading,
Damion



w/Steffan, Howard, and Steven at Sitwells in Cincinnati, OH

FINDING THE GROOVE

As much as I love being on the road, I'll be honest in my disclosure that it can be a bit nerve-racking for the first couple of days. After being at home and in a routine for a few months since my last tour, you have to sometimes work to shake off the same ols and reset your mind for a new adventure - that also means getting used to things like brushing your teeth and changing clothes in the car, sometimes sleeping in the car, and the adventure and yet low-level anxiety that goes with playing a new venue and to new people almost every night.

Yet this is not a complaint! Just an admission of imperfection on my part (and a bit of my OCD too..ha!). I love it! And, one of the things I love is getting to see people you haven't seen in a while or that surprise you by showing up out of the blue. Last night at my first show in Wexford, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) my friends Lacey and Pat drove 2 hours down from Erie, PA just to hang out and see me. I hadn't seen them in probably almost two years! It was so great to see them....on a side note my song, SANDWICH MAN was based on a joke between Pat, Lacey and after a result of my silly gullibleness one night after a show in Philadelphia.

My buddy, Ryan Mergl, Esquire, also brought out a lot of his gang to hang out and they were all cool - Mike, Tara, Rob, Jay, Stephanie and the rest. All of their presence was greatly appreciated and also helped make me feel really comfortable. I couldn't have asked for more on my first show of the tour! Even sold a couple of CDs!! I really want to send shout outs to Mergl for setting this whole gig up for me at Walnut Grove and letting me crash with him and Penny (his lovely orange tabby cat)....I slept soundly to the cadence of Rob passed out and snoring across the room from me.

I'm leaving soon for Cincinnati and hope to be blogging more tomorrow. Please make sure you check out the pics I'm posting too.

Thanks for reading!
Damion


w/MERGL, PAT, LACEY, AND ROB @ WALNUT GROVE-WEXFORD, PA

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