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Band on the Diaper Run

February 2007 - Posts

  • Home At Last!

     

    We're home!

    Here's our advice for any parent in a band considering bringing a small child on tour:

    1. Stay in hotels near the club.
    2. Put diapers, peanut butter and bread on the rider.
    3. Get some good, junior-sized headphones for hearing protection. They're available at gun shops, not music stores (wtf?).
    4. Put the car seat in the first van row of seats. (We used to think our little girl never got car sick, too).
    5. Bringing Grandma might actually be a great idea, even though you are embarking on a rock and roll adventure. (She'll let you sleep in.)
    6. Get a DVD player for the car — yes, those ones you hate seeing in SUVs.
    7. Stop for a few days in kid-friendly cities (San Francisco, Chicago), and anywhere with a beach.
    8. Don't schedule drives for more than a few hours between shows unless you have a day off.
    9. Let your child be a part of what you do. I never knew what my dad did at the office. Magnolia knows how to set up a drum kit. And she writes songs for us!
    10. Don't let anyone tell you that it's not right to do what you are doing to your child. Trust me, we've had everything from someone telling us the music is not good for her little heart to someone waving the "tsk-tsk" finger at us for having her up too late. (We were still on New York time in Amsterdam and she was hungry, so we were out feeding her.)
    11. Enjoy spending more time with your child than most people get to.

    "Band on the (Diaper) Run" will now take a short hiatus. Thanks — and get some sleep — Kori, Jason and Magnolia! 

     

    See this post in its original format here.


  • Homeward Bound

     

    Dallas, Texas

    Sons of Herman Hall is haunted. So was Tucson's Hotel Congress and the shower of that English sea town we stayed in, but those ghosts were nice. Here, I think I pissed off the ghosts because we stole their fake campfire to use as a stage prop. Our car got broken into while we played. Luckily, the alarm was set, so the only damage done was a broken window. Nothing was stolen. I wasn't even really in a bad mood while I swept all the glass out of the van at three a.m. We rode on the highway with a cardboard window the next day. Because of the snow storm, our T-shirt shipment didn't make it to us in time. We make our money from merch sales. After realizing that using a sharpie pen to design some new shirts to sell wouldn't quite cut it, we just shrugged our shoulders one more time and said, "And so it goes on the road." (Big Star) That was the soundtrack to the load-out tonight.

    Austin Texas Airport

    There's a TV in the background showing a choir of girls ooohing the song "Silent Night." There's something about the first time I hear Christmas carols every year that warms my heart. I could cry, but I'm suffering from exhaustion and almost anything makes me cry these days. It's the end of tour. A long year of tour. Magnolia's been home for a week. I won't do that again -- be away from her for so long. She had to go home because tour got too hard for her . . . the long drives, the adult world, the constant motion and unpredictablility. All I can think about is getting home to her and being Mom again. Silent night, I can't wait. We decided she can sleep in our bed tonight. Even if she moves around, flailing arms and all, she is welcome next to us.

     

    See this post in its original format here.

     


  • Lubbock Or Leave It

     

    Lubbock, Texas

    A girl came up to me tonight after we played and asked if she could touch my nose. Weird. I let her. But then she traced the length of my nose to the point where I realized she had a nose fetish. I watched her do the same thing to Jason. The crowd in Lubbock is the kind that cheers after organ solos in the middle of songs.

     

    We called Magnolia tonight, as we do every night. She asked if I was gonna bring her anything. When I told her about the Native American necklace and coyote book I bought her, she said, "What else are you gonna bring me, Mommy?" This continued for ten minutes. I miss her. I will buy her more gas station treasures.

     

    The roads from New Mexico (where we played last night) and Lubbock are closed. There was a blizzard and a twenty car-semi-truck pile-up on the highway. Asobi Seksu was behind it and they sat on the highway for nine hours, stopped. We told them to find a hotel and meet us at the next show. The next show was canceled because the storm reached Oklahoma. We were stuck in Lubbock for an extra night.

     

    Suzi (nanny/tour manager/stylist/lifestyle consultant) and I went to the only store in town and bought new wardrobes. At Old Navy, one of the workers had been to the show, so she gave us a discount. If only there was an H&M.

     

    At the hotel, there was a jacuzzi right next to the bed. There was also a bathtub in the bathroom, but they wanted to make it a bridal suite or something and just installed the jacuzzi right next to the king-size bed. More people should play in Lubbock.

     


     

    See this post in its original format here.

     


  • Insane Clown Posse

     

    Phoenix, AZ

    The best thing that happened tonight was James from Asobi Seksu agreeing to be pied in the face with the cake in the green room. We ate half of it first, and then Jason smashed it in his face. That's one of those clown tricks that is actually hilarious in real life. We tried to stage a big fight between the bands on camera, but we were having way too much fun with the cake-in-the-face idea. Early on in the day we stopped at Jimmy Eat World's studio and recorded some backing vocals for one of their new songs. They are super nice guys and even though we are so not pro in the studio, Jim was patient with us while we sang a bunch of oooohs. Twas cool. We talked about our kids with them. It's always nice to find people doing this music thing with kids. I want to start some sort of petition to insist on rock clubs making accommodations for family bands. Like, a little clean play space, a breastpumping area or a free, background-checked babysitter. That would be so rock and roll.

     

    See this post in its original format here.



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About the Blogger

Mates of State

Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel

Kori Gardner is the organ-playing half of the band Mates of State; her husband, Jason Hammel, plays drums. Known for their vocal harmonies and euphoric melodies, Mates of State has been described by critics as "unabashed joy", "honesty at its best", a "two piece with balls", and "a band that you must see live." Their daughter, Magnolia, was born in 2004 and started touring with the band at 10 weeks. Hear their latest album, Bring it Back, at www.matesofstate.com

About the Blogger

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