Dawn Xiana Moon: Melodic folk pop infused with passion and honesty. From Chicago.

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Saturday, November 27, 2004

Adventures in Northern Michigan, Part I

Last weekend felt momentous--little was actually different, but it felt different, like I was stepping into the next phase of my musical career. It was the first time I've taken a couple of days to play in cities both reasonably far from my home base, one right after another; with one more stop, I could have called it a Northern Michigan tour. As it was, the trip wasn't quite a tour--I know, I sound like I'm making a big deal out of two days--but it was filled with adventures ("Um, where's the road?"), crises (almost an hour after we were supposed to have left town: "Where's Steph?"), and interesting characters ("Alex got shown up by a one-handed guitar player!").

Crisis #1 began on Friday afternoon. Alex was coming on the trip to sing and play keys and Steph was coming to sell merch and make the weekend that much more fun. But at 2:55pm she was nowhere to be found… and we'd planned to leave Ann Arbor at 3:00pm at the very latest. We called her cell phone but she wasn't answering--odd for her, but I was running late gathering musical equipment from various sources anyway (it's a challenge gigging regularly without your own functioning guitar and sound system). Alex called Godiva to see if Steph was still at work for some reason, but she'd already left so we figured she'd be home in a few minutes. Along came 3:30pm. And 3:40pm. Still no Steph, and she wasn't answering her phone. At that point we had to leave because we were running the risk of being late for the show that night.

Crises #2 and #3 began an hour later. Probably half of my guitar songs require a capo and I suddenly realized that I'd forgotten mine. And between myself and Alex, we'd forgotten/made incorrect assumptions and he didn't have music. Fortunately, Crisis #2 only lasted four minutes and 20 seconds thanks to Alex's phone, his friend James, and James's computer, who located the nearest Guitar Center. When we got to Saginaw, we took a short detour--a half hour roundtrip--and were set. Crisis #3 was resolved dictating chords to Alex as I drove along the freeway, a frustrating process hoping that I was telling him the correct ones since for me piano and guitar parts are all muscle memory, not chord names or progressions.

Adventure #1 revolved around Guitar Center in Saginaw. After a five-mile detour--not so bad, in light of later mishaps--we found the store in a strip mall, next to Best Buy. When I walked through the glass doors, I was greeted by a friendly employee; when I told him I needed a capo, he started pulling one of each available type from behind the counter so I could take a look at the various brands. I realized what he was doing and I pointed to the specific one I wanted so he wouldn't have to pull any more off--I was in a time crunch, remember--and told him I also needed medium nylon picks. At that he realized that I play the guitar and we started talking about music, trading website info for our respective projects. Alex said something about not being able to play and Don, my new friend, quipped, "Everyone can play guitar--I've got one hand and I can play!" He went on to explain that he plays a left-handed guitar upside down and holds the pick with the stub of his other arm. I was impressed, and Alex felt silly.

Adventure #2 involved missing our exit--and not seeing another one for eight miles (I was tempted to turn around at one of the gravel medians that the police use--there were two--but it was so dark that I couldn't see them until I was right on top of them, and that's illegal anyway). That little mistake took around 10 minutes and 16 miles.

Adventure #3 involved another unintentional detour, this time totaling 26 miles. Our directions from Yahoo Maps were slightly off--they instructed us to head toward Gaylord (which I found out later that night is pronounced "GAY-lerd") but Petoskey and the show were in the opposite direction. We figured that out when we stopped at a gas station/general store strangely reminiscent of Florence, Ontario--perhaps all small towns have similar places?--and asked if we were going the right way. Interestingly enough, during this adventure we passed a Caution: BUMP sign twice (once heading the correct direction, once not) and never saw or felt the mysterious bump. However, at that point it was nearly 8pm and the woman at the counter told Alex that it was an hour and a half drive to Petoskey. Trouble: the show was supposed to start at 9pm. Which brought us to Crisis #4.

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