Snow, people, snow-
LA folks! I will be doing some shows at The Trepany House at the Steve Allen Theater! These are what I call ramble, flounder and wrestle shows. I need to find some new material and the way I do it is by splaying myself open in front of a room full of strangers as I try to figure it out. The shows are 8 dollars and all proceeds go the benefit the theater. You can get tickets here.
I didn’t tell you that I was going but I was in St. Paul, Minnesota for the night last Friday. I went there to appear on Wits, the radio show with John Moe. It was Minnesota in February so it was fucking cold and there was snow on the ground. No problem. Living in LA after living in wintery places for most of my life leaves me with a bit of craving for a taste of the white stuff. I was happy to be there and cold. Appearing on the show with me was Jason Isbell and his wife Amanda Shires. Many of you were telling me that I should interview him. I had no idea who he was. Then my friend told me he was in the Drive-By Truckers who I like and I was curious. Turns out the Truckers albums that I was familiar with were the ones Jason was on. This compelled me to bring my recording equipment with me. When I got to St. Paul I immediately downloaded all of Jason’s solo work, listened, loved them. Then I asked him on Twitter if he wanted to do the show. He said yes.
Everything was fine at the show. We did the sound check, we all ate, we rehearsed, we started the show and the first act went great. I went back in my dressing room at intermission to find that my iPhone and charger had been stolen from the DRESSING ROOM. IN MINNESOTA. This killed my last bit of belief in people being good. I was livid. That feeling when you lose your phone is one thing but knowing someone had all of me that was in that phone, it was like someone cut me open and stole an organ. I only had a few minutes to freak out, go to the Apple phone tracker to see if it was nearby (wasn’t). Then I emailed my mac guy who did his magic and had the phone locked down and killed from space. I was amazed that I went out for the second act of the show and didn’t ruin it for everyone. I had a great time actually. I did some singing and guitar playing. I let it go. I had done all I could about the phone. I called Moon and changed my password on Twitter. Those seemed most important. Then I went back to the hotel and Jason Isbell and me had a chat. He was a trooper. He was going on two hours sleep and had to be up at five to hit the road. Real deal. Good talk. We even recorded a song Alan Lomax style in the room. The Wits show made it right by buying me a phone the next morning. I had all my info delivered from space and was ready to go.
Got on a plane and as soon as I did it started snowing. If there is one thing I love about Minnesota is that they are not afraid of snow, they work with it, they fly in it. I loved the fact that we were held up briefly but there was never a question that we would leave. That is a big city problem. In Minnesota, they fly in the snow.
This week one of the most respected hard working comics around, Billy Gardell, is on the show. On Thursday the amazing comedian and writer for Conan O'Brien, Laurie Kilmartin, joins me in the garage. Great talks. Real deal people. Dig.
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron
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