Being away from our baby...

Is totally weird. I miss her like crazy, and have been calling my folks every couple ofhours to check up on her. But at the same time, there are moments, out here on the road, riding the bus, getting ready for the gig--well there are moments when things are so similar to the way they were before we had a baby, that it almost feels like Dave and I have traveled back in time, and are living in our pre-baby days.

Weird.

It's not a feeling I especially like, and I'll be beyond glad to get back to our regularly scheduled lives. It makes me realize how, as hard as bringing her out on the road is, it's so much better than the alternatives. I absolutely could not be out her without her. Not for very long at least.

I know by tommorrow afternoon, when the plane is landing in Austin, I'll be as irrational and jumpy as I've ever been. It's how I was on Wednesday when I flew into Austin. And as soon as I see our baby girl, a calm will descend upon me, and I'll feel normal again. Until then, I'll keep checking in, and checking in. And checking in some more.


-- Post From My iPhone

Travel the day after a holiday...

Sucks.



-- Post From My iPhone

Best Laid Plans...

We had it all figured out. Dave and I took the bus to Sioux City, Iowa and played a gig there. Mom and Dad were going to fly with Lisel to St. Louis today, rent a car, an meet us in Carbondale, Illinois where we're staying tonight (We're playing at the Festa Italiana in Herrin, IL. Mangia!) We'd all pile in the minivan and make our way to Kent, OH via Cincinnati and Cleveland. In Cincinnatti (or more accurately Covington, Kentucky, which is across the river from downtown Cincinatti) we'd stay at a Marriot that houses the world's largest indoor Gazebo! Then we'd show my parents the wonders of the the Hyatt 1890 Arcade in Cleveland, and this time, we'd hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After we played Kent, my folks would head back to Austin with Lisel, and Dave and I would continue to New York City on Friday, where we'd play our gig at the South Street Seaport, and fly home the next day.

They were to be good times.

And then, two days ago, my Dad's back went out.

They were still planning on coming.

Until he couldn't get out of bed this morning.

So at 5:50am this morning the plan had to change.

Because when a man can't get out of bed, he can't fly with a baby, rent a car, drive 2 hours, drive for two more days and then fly home with a baby.

It's just not going to happen.

So we've changed our plans. At 6am this morning, I booked some last minute flights. Tommorrow I head back to Austin and Thursday I fly into Cleveland. (There's just no way I'm staying out here. I need to see my baby!) Then we'll do two more gigs and fly home (as planned) on Saturday.

Flexibilty man. It's highly necessary for the trip that we're on.

I'm most bummed about not seeing the worlds largest indoor Gazebo. I mean, how big is this thing? Does it dwarf normal sized human beings? And why, why, why build a world record holding Gazebo? I was so looking forward to blogging about it.

And now, mostly for my benefit, I'm posting a pic of the world's most adorable and lovable child.



Because we all agree, she's totally worth it.

Let Me Update Ya

Dude!

It has been quite a week. I'll you the quick recap via the tweet I sent yesterday.

EMQI'm lying in bed with my daughter, waking up, thinking about the traveling we've done since Sunday.

EMQMaine to Miami to Austin. One day off. And then yesterday, just before we're about to go to Dallas, the Baby Bus has a break down brake wise

EMQTraveling in a mini van to Dallas flashed me back to my early Firebrand days. The hot spicy chubby rides again!

EMQIt occurs to me that Dave and I might actually be certifiably crazy.

Yes, we've covered some serious ground this week.

The big news is that Lisel took her first rides on the band bus and went on her first flights with the rest of the band. I was understandably nervous about this, as she's just an itty bitty thing whose moods can be somewhat ephemeral. The idea of having a screaming baby on a bus and/or plane full of my male bandmates was...worrisome. And I don't think I was the only one who was thinking twice about this situation. I may be being oversensitive, but I thought there was a bit of a nervous vibe in the organization.

I'm happy to report that Lisel is proving to be a particularly flexible and good natured traveler. There were no fits, mostly smiles and sleeping. A little fussiness, but it was expected (she is after all, a baby) and relaltively short lived. No one was more suprised or delighted than Dave and I.

The reason we were straying from the normal separate traveling accomadations was the crazy routing issue I've been talking about in previous posts and in the twitter above. We were going from Maine to Miami to Austin over the course of 4 days. My parents left us in Bearsville, NY, right before the Maine gig, because Bearsville is like 5 hours closer to Philadephia, where we needed to return the minivan. It was either that, or pay the exorbinant fees they charge you to drop off a rental vehichle at someplace other than where you picked it up.

So we decided to hitch a ride witht the band to Brownfield, Maine, where we met up with one of my favorite people Meredith Goldstein and played the Stone Mountain Arts Center.

Auntie Meredith and her neice

I seriously love this gig. Not only is it run by the coolest club owner in the world Carol Noonan (who as a former traveling musician herself has set up the downstairs/artist lounge as a road musician's heaven) but we had an amazing childcare experience. I had set up a sitter through Carol, a woman named Maggie who watched Lisel during the show. I was afraid that our little bean would cry all evening, but then, something amazing happened. Another wonderful woman, Therlise (I think this is how we spell her name) came down and in the words of Meredith, "performed some kind of baby magic/juju." It was a hold that she had perfected with her own sons, and it put our little bean right to sleep.

She slept for an hour.

No mommy neccesary.

Amazing!

The next day we we rode the bus to Newark, the took a plane to Miami. Easy Peasy. It was only during the cab ride to the hotel that Lisel had a bit of a breakdown. But dude, I almost started wailing myself. We had an *insane* cab driver who was racing through the streets of Miami during a torrential downpour.

Scary.

The next day we got up and played a gig at noon-thirty for 4000 people at the International Pow-Wow, which I gathered was some kind of conference for event planners/travel agents. We were the musical part of a luncheon celebrating the wonders of Texas. I actually dug being part of the pitch to being people to our state. After all, I'm a fan. Texas is rad. I've seen a lot of this great land of ours, and there are very few places as culturally rich as where we live.

The backstage hang was fun. Lisel got to hang with her band uncles.

Uncle Jason and his amazing hat!

Uncle Finney and his lovely mirror

Dave's cousins Larry and Lynn Buckner came in from near West Palm Beach to watch Lisel. Of course, we had forgotten a bottle in our quest to pack as efficiently as possible for our Miami run. And of course, Lisel got hungry when we were gone and engaged in some marathon screaming while Dave and I were on stage. I thought I had fed her enough! I promise!

Thank you, Thank you, Larry and Lynn.

After the gig, it was right to the airport, and then home to Austin. The flight went well. We got home, we had a blessed day off, and then we were off to Dallas on Thursday.

Our good friend and former monitor man for Asleep at the Wheel, Mike Mercer, had graciously agreed to accompany us to Dallas to watch Lisel. Him and Lisel have a bond. She's not so much for men sometimes, but Mike has always been a favorite of hers.

Through a lucky series of happenings, Lisel and I were meeting Dave at Mike's workplace. We were in our minivan, Dave was in the baby bus. I say lucky, because between our house and Mike's place of employment, the baby bus broke down.

The brakes went out.

Yeah dude, totally scary. Luckly they stopped working when Dave was on a access road, as oppossed to say, the interstate. And Luckily he was able to pull over and park. And Luckily I was in a vehicle that we could all fit it and get to the gig in. Because this all happened at 3pm, and the gig started at 7:30pm. In Dallas.

Yeah dude, totally scary.

As far as I'm concerned, the fact that Dave is safe, and that we made it to the gig on time is all due to the kindness of the universe. We really had very little control over events, and things could have ended up very differently, and by differently I mean badly. So thank you universe. Thank you very, very much.

We're still not sure what's wrong with the van. Neither are the guys at Freightliner repair shop. It looks like there's motor oil in the brake line, which is kinda freaky as we don't know how it got there.

We made it to the gig alright. Lisel and Mike made it through the gig alright. She cried a bit, but thankfully we took a break in the middle, and we were able to calm her down.

Chillin'

And then she fell asleep next to Mike.

Which is like, the second time she's fallen asleep at a gig with someone other than me around!

Is it too soon to say we might be turning some kind of corner?

And then yesterday the whole fam took the bus up to Sillsby, Texas (near Beaumont) to play a gig in a honky tonk. Ray's girlfriend Michelle Valles, or Tia Mitch as she's known to Lisel came along for a sweet hang and some little bean watching. Lisel and Tia Mitch definitely have a connection. They've been hanging out since Lisel was just a itty bitty back from the hospital. The truly enjoy each other's company.

Like I said, they have a connection

Once again, Lisel was awesome! (I'm not sure how we got so lucky) She hung with Mom and Dad and Tia Mitch and Uncle Ray all day on the ride up. Then she conked out an hour before the gig, and didn't wake up until we got home.

Like I said, we got lucky.

So that was our insane week

And we're about to do it again.

Lisel is napping next to me. I have things to do before we leave for another week, but I'm being very selfish with my baby time right now. That's because I'll be away from our sweetness for 2 whole days! I've been typing while feeling her sleeping baby warmness cuddled up beside me. Soon we'll take her to Nana and Grandpappys's and drop her off. Dave and I will take the big bus to Sioux City, Iowa, where we play tommorrow, and my folks will meet us with the baby in Herrin, IL two days after that.

I'll miss my little bean, but the trip to Sioux City is just too long. And she deserves some time not spent in a moving vehicle.

It's kind of a crazy life. And sometimes I think we're kinda crazy for attempting this. But we're doing the only thing we can, which is taking each adventure as it comes.

The baby is just now waking up. I need to feed her and then finish packing for the week. It's time to get back on the road.

Mini-van-tastic!

I have been a long time lover of the minivan. It's the perfect working muscian vehichle What it lacks in coolness, it makes up for in roomy utilityness. With some strategic seat removal and a little creative packing, you can fit a four piece band, all your gear *and* a small P.A. I know. I've done it many times.

For a while, Dave and I were a two mini-van family. We convinced ourselves that such massive unhippness actually made us hip.

This trip, we had to leave the baby bus at home, due to the fact that the routing got a little *insane*. The East Coast part of the tour ends in Maine. Then we have one day and a gig in Miami the next day. Another day off, and then we're in Dallas.

We could have brought the baby bus out, but there was no way to get it back without killing ourselves. So we opted to rent a vehicle to follow the bus in.

At first we thought mini-van. But then we thought about saving money, so we booked a full size car.

I don't know what were thinking. That. Would. Have. Been. A. Disaster. The thought of my mother and I trying to catch some z's scrunched up in the backseat with a baby seat between us...that just would have been bad.

But the travel Gods were watching after us and Avis booked us a mini-van instead. There must have been some kind of Internet mix-up that worked in our favor!

And it so much better. I'm convinced that the key to long drives is room. Room to stretch out, room to be separate from others. And the minivan provided just enough room to make our four days together pleasant as opposed to, well, hellacious.

In the true spirit of being on the road, I took no pictures of the mini-van that made our lives so good. Instead I offer you a Sanger McQueen family portrait.










-- Post From My iPhone

The Lilacs were in Bloom...

Last night we played the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY. When I read that we were playing a Lilac Festival...well, I've really never heard of such a thing, so I had no idea what was we were in for.

It turns out, that about a 110 years ago, some rich folks donated some of their plants to a park in Rochester. There were a lot of Lilacs. People would come and admire them. And then 10 years later, they started a festival. So this festival is over 100 years old. (I realize now I should have snagged one of the brochures as I'm sorely lacking hard facts.)

Anyway, it's a hundred year old festival, and by golly! That place was lousy with Lilacs!



The smell from the stage was pretty rad, a mixture of like, 27 different breeds of Lilac mixed in with delicious scents of fair foods. Kettle corn and Funnel cakes with a flowery touch.




My only regret is that we left the baby in the hotel. The place was also lousy with babies getting photographed among the Lilacs, much like Texas babies and bluebonnets. But weather had been really iffy that day. In fact, before we left Buffalo we had taken my folks to Niagra Falls and forced them to actually view one of the wondered of the world. I say forced because at the time it was raining and the winds were blowing at like 40 mph.
Look how happy they seem!




Rochester is only an hour away from Buffalo, and it had been rainy and blustery all day. Of course, an hour after Dave and I hit the festival, the day transformed into perfection.

'Tis always the way.

Today we're back in Pennsylvania to play at the Sellersville Theater. We've been traveling around in Minivan for this tour. I intend to blog about that next.



-- Post From My iPhone

Last night...

In was going to write a post about out gig last night...but instead I'll present what I twittered last night:

Playing in Buffalo tonight at the Sportsman Lounge. It's in kind of a rough part of town.

We just saw a guy hop off his BMX bike so he could beat up another dude walking down the street with his pizzas. No one was doing anything.

I called 911. According to the operator there was another fight on the same street. Kids, not grown men. Dude. Rough.

Good times at the Sportsmans Lounge. Bad part of town. Great show. Great crowd. Go, Go Buffalo!

That about says it all!

I love the concise, poem-like nature of twitter!

Tweet!

Mommy's Girl

Right now, Lisel is going through a bit of a mommy phase. As a result, I've found that I have some pretty amazing powers. We've taken to calling these powers "Mommy Magic." I have miracle calming abilities, owing to my smell and the ample milk supply I carry around with me at all times. I can help Lisel go from screaming to smiling in a matter of minutes . It's awesome...for me anyway.

Not so awesome for other folks, especially babysitters who are trying to get our daughter to sleep. Our gig time just happens to coincide with Lisel's bedtime. She's become accustomed to falling asleep lying next to me, nursing herself to sleep. It's a sweet and easy descent into dreamtime. And having someone try to get her to sleep with a bottle, well she just hates it.

Hates it.

And she is very vocal about it.

Very.

Like Kathleen and Carol found out in Philadelphia.

And Leslie found out in Ann Arbor.

Leslie is the sister of a good friend of ours, and she graciously offered to watch Lisel during our show at the Ark. Lisel pretty much cried the entire time. Luckily for her, her neice Jenny showed up with her month old baby Jacob. They had one calm baby and one screaming baby. It was like baby Yin and Yang. Balance.






A brief moment of calmness.

We're trying to figure out a way to get Lisel acclimated to babysitters. I fear that means that we'll have to get her used to falling asleep with a bottle. I fear that our sweet nighttime ritual will have to go the way of the Dodo.

I'm not really sure if that will work. One thing we're learning is that even though she's only four months old, she's her own person. We can try and get her to do what we want her to do, but in the end, it's up to her.

We'll see how the experiment goes.


-- Post From My iPhone

We used to travel light

Now this is how we roll:





-- Post From My iPhone

Cleveland Rocks!

We had a day between Philadelphia and Ann Arbor. Our plan was to make it halfway or more. So we set our GPS's sights on a city I've only been to once before. Lovely Cleveland, OH.

We through caution to the wind and Pricelined a hotel downtown for a ridiculously low price. Dave was convinced we'd get stuck in some fleabaggy type joint. Luckily (for me, who insisted we at least try to get a. Hotel downtown) the gods of travel smiled upon us, and placed us at a Hyatt that had once been the first indoor mall in America. Built in 1890. Built to be Small scale replica of the Galleria in Milan.


When the bellhop first told us this I assumed I had heard him wrong. I mean he said "first mall" and "1890" and I was like, whatevs dude. I thought maybe he meant the first indoor mall in *Cleveland* that had built in *1967* or something. I was working on 8 hours of sleep over two days and just wanted to get to the room.

It was awfully pretty, and European train station looking. And the rooms did have mega high ceilings and looked like they could have been shops. I just figured our room had been a former Bath and Body works rather than a House of Corsets and Other Ladies Finery.




Priceline baby!

Had I left the room at all yesterday, I might have come upon the plaque that Dave found that gave the lowdown on the history of the building. (It was 1st on the Ohio registry of Historic Buildings, and 9th on the U.S registry). But I didn't. I left it up to Lisel and Dave who both intrepidly explored not only the hotel, but also Downtown Cleveland yesterday. They even went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not me. It was all about the bedsheets baby.

I like Cleveland. It had a nice Midwestern city vibe to it. And a huge Free stamp near our hotel.




Cleveland by car.

Today I'm feeling refreshed and ready for Ann Arbor.

(Pictures to be posted soon!)

-- Post From My iPhone

Flying solo (with a baby)

I learned a little lesson on Mother's Day. I flew from Austin to Philadelphia with Lisel. Technically, since my baby was with me, I didn't fly alone. But as I as the only adult in our traveling party...hell, I'll just say it. I flew alone with a baby for the first time.

Now, there's kind of a lot to necogiate when you fly with a wee one. Even though i hsve leatned to only bting he bare neccesities, still, there's a lot. There's the car seat, stroller, diaper bag, baby, and the inevitable snackage needed to make it from one coast to the other. It's a veru doable load for one. Until you have to break it all down for security. And put it all back together again. And break it all down again for the gate check. And then put it all together again when you reach Newark. And then break it down when you leave Newark. And put it all together when you get to Philly.

It's the fact on it only having to hands that really gummed up my works.

And like I said, I learned a lesson. I didn't know it before, but there is a sisterhood of mothers and mother's to be out there. And they want to help. Everytime I found myself in the kind of jam where my best option seemed to be just laying Lisel on the ground while I gathered an assembled everything, a member of the sisterhood would step in and lend a hand.

"I know," she'd say. "I have two at home."

Again and again this happened. It was rad, and gave me a new appreciation for Mother's Day. It's not just about kids giving props to their Moms. It's also being a member of the tribe of mothers. Awesome.

Lisel flew exceptionally well. She slept. She woke up. She played. She fed. She fussed a tiny tad, but not much. She was generally fabulous. In fact, this is what most of my day was like.

To my right:


To my left:



A most precious way to spend mother's day. Snuggling with my baby.

The car ride from the airport to my friend Laura's house was a different story. The little bean does not like being alone in a backwards facing carseat. How do I know? The inconsolable screaming, that's how! Coupled with me navigating a city I'm unfamiliar with...one word...stressin'.

Laura is one of it oldest friends. We were two of four members of the VPC. She's a scholar, a doctor (of the Phd variety) and as it turns out a baby wrangler. Check out this happy baby!


We hung out at her house during the afternoon, and she watched Lisel for half of the gig, along with her Aunt Kathleen and Chuggie Carol. Laura had to leaven halfway through the show, so Kathleen and Carol took over.




Laura and Lisel on the streets of Philadelphia

And this is where I send out my boundless thanks to both Kathleen and Carol. Lisel screamed the entirety of their post-Laura watching time. I know how nerve wracking inconsolable baby screaming can be. And Dave and I thank you deepply, from the very bottom of our parental hearts, for helping us out last night. You both could have just as easily not offered to pick up the babysitting slack. But your generous offer of your Sunday night really got us out of a jam. Thank you, thank you, thank you!


Laura, Lisel and Carol

Today we drive halfway to Ann Arbor in a rented mini van. I'm so tired, I can barely type straight. Hotel bed somewhere between Philly and Ann Arbor, here we come.

Cute Baby Alert!!!

We're packing for the tour, but I wanted to let you all know that there is a cute baby alert in effect right now in our house!

Be warned that this cuteness may cause extended periods of happiness, inspire rampant procrastination and enhance an already severe case of mommy brain

Tour, what tour?

Cute Baby!

What We Do When We're Home

I have discovered the secret to a truly happy baby.

Outdoor swim time.

This


Leads to this

We're going to try and get our swim on every day this week. The perfect pre-tour activity!

The complicated logic puzzel that has become our life

We're days away from the third long tour with the baby. The last two runs were relatively straight forward. Drive to a region of the United States. Play gigs in that region. Drive home.

This tours coming up, not so much.

This next tour started out looking pretty sweet. It was a short, week and a half jaunt to the East Coast. sure the last date was in Maine, but we had plenty of time to get home. We figure on a leisurely drive back. Maybe we'd visit some relatives! Maybe we'd camp!

And then a date in Miami got added two days after the Maine gig.

We thought and thought about how we would work this. And we came up with a solution that worked. Quite frankly, I don't remember what hat was because...

Then a date in Dallas got added two days after that.

So we thought and thought about how we would work this and we came up with a solution that worked, which again, I don't remember because...

A date in Philly got added two days before the first date of the tour.

Which made us go back to the proverbial drawing board.

I keep on telling people that figuring out how we're going to work the tour is like that logic puzzle that they give you when you're a kid. "A fox, a cat and a goose are on one side of the river and need to get to the other side. there is only one boat and it will only hold two animals at a time. But the fox and the goose can't ride alone, because the fox wants to eat the goose. and oh yeah, there's another date added at the last minute in Cheyenne Wyoming, and our little animal friends are in Stowe Vermont."

I think we've figured it out. I won't bore you with the details of the routing, but sufficeth to say that one this tour there will be:

1. No baby bus. We just can't get it home without killing ourselves, or hiring someone to drive it home at great expense to all involved.

2. Which means here will be plane rides and rented cars involved.

3. My folks will be there sometimes, and sometimes we'll have sitters at the gig.

4.Four adults and a baby on an adventure

Speaking of the little bean, she just woke up from her nap. I had just enough time to pound this out. But before I go, let me just say that this tour is child's play compared to our June tour.

Dude.

Been a long time since I blog and rolled

Yes, being home has again put a damper on my bloggin. Out there on the road I had a strict at-least-one-post-a-day policy. But at home...It's more like one every couple of weeks. So we're instituting the once a day rule. Just because, really, I don't have a lot to do here in town and I actually miss the blogosphere.

Though I hear through the digital grapevine that blogging is near dead, and that twitter is the way to roll now. Dammit quick moving cultural movements. Give a momma a chance! I'm a little hesitant about the twitter. It's not the twittering, it's the keeping up with other people's twiters that it tough for me. So much data...

So today's entry is about the latest craze that it sweeping the nation...swine flu! That's right folks. Right now we're keeping the bean away from crowds and upping our handwashing to phenomenal amounts. But we're aupposed to leave for a three week tour in a week...the way it all susses out involves some air travel, which , if this global pandemic reaches new scary heights could be, um, really scary. We're trying to figure out how to work around H1N1, coming up with contingency plans and doing our own version of monitoring.

So what about you? How has the swine flu affected your life?

Before we go, check out the cuteness! Lisel is wearing her awesome Freedom Records onesie, with a handcrafted headband by Andee Knutson.