The last hoorah

We pull up in the Funkwagen to the last neighborhood bar in Jefferson City, Missouri – an oasis called Paddy Malone’s – and walk into a living room sized and classically decorated Irish Pub. There’s a table in the back of the room with a sign: “Reserved for Moxie 8:00 from Houston TX,” which is to be the stage once we are done eating. I know it is going to be a perfect finish for the tour – a tiny, awkward stage but an incredibly fun time with tons of people and positive feedback. And I am correct.



The owner, Allen, is the life of the bar. He’s as jovial as the come and we love him. It would be hard to explain how great and friendly he is, and how much he loved us as well. Plus he gives all of us (the band, Jane, Megan, and Jim) free food and unlimited drinks all night long. He gives us a wonderful introduction, “Moxie, an incredible band like nothing around here, is playing the last show of their national tour tonight! And for some reason they chose here.”



Everyone just had an amazing time and it was my favorite show. We played everything we could possibly play and more (a couple impromptu jam songs), we sounded awesome, people loved us, Allen was great, my girlfriend was there dancing and singing along with all of the songs, and in general I feel like everyone had an incredible time. Allen wrote "Where are our heroes, and where are our foes?" on chalkboard behind the bar - he loved our lyrics and we ended up getting into a great drunken discussion about life at the end of the night when everyone else had been kicked out of the bar.



Keep checking back for updates - there are a lot of great stories, pictures, videos, music and characters I want to share with all of you. The tour is officially over, we're all officially impoverished, and we're all officially incredibly sad to be leaving each other and going our separate ways. We'll miss Jamie and Andy and sometimes cry unofficially at night in their absence.

in entirety (flat tire pt. 2)

the continuation from the previous post . . . the AAA guy could not lift dear old Funkwagen high enough to get off the tire. "I just need about three or four more inches man," he tells us at about 5AM. "Do you have any 2x4s?" he skeptically asks.

"... no ... but let me check that trash pile over there and see what I can find ..." the anabatingly sanguine Jordan proposes while the rest of the Moxie crew laughs bitterly. Why would there be wood in a pile of trash?

Serendipity smiles upon her most trusting son yet again, and he manages to uncover a three to four inch block of wood! Yet Moxie's troubles are not yet over. Each pump that thrusts the jack higher is accompanied by a splintering sound and a slight compression. The jack reaches its end and there is just enough room to remove the old tire . . . but the spare simply won't make it. It needs literally millimeters.

It's 5:30AM and we're at wits end. Our friend Reshon the AAA man is out on the morning of the 4th of July and he's ready to head home; he's certainly not very hopefull. "It's just not gonna cut it." He says. But then he pauses, and off-handedly mutters, "you said you don't have a jack, right?"

"No, but do you have one in your car?" Jordan proposes bouyantly. Reshon responds, "I think so ... I guess we can try it."

This jack does the trick! But we have to let out a dangerous amount of air to get the spare on - we're only at 55 psi and we should be around 80. This tire also supports all the weight of our equipment. Plus, Reshon can't tighten the lugnuts enough to make Funkwagen safe enough to drive. "You need to take this thing to a tire shop first thing, 'fore you head anywhere else," he admonishes before he heads out.



So that's what we do. We drive her (slowly) to the closest place, park her, and walk to Julie's, finally arriving at 7AM. Everyone passes out, and at 1PM Evan and Jordan get up and take care of business. Luckily, this tire place is open on the 4th of July and we're able to get everything in order to head to Cincinnati to rest and celebrate. And that's the entire story. Time to retire.

Two Shows

In the past couple days we had two AWESOME shows in Delaware and Long Island. There is something inexplicable about playing for a crowd of utterly unfamiliar faces. On the one hand, I feel like restricted by the desire to prove that we're an incredible band, but on the other hand I feel even more free to play and act however I want. It's also incredibly rewarding to create an enrapt audience out of strangers who might just want to relax and drink at a bar for the night.



I love playing at the small bars because I love meeting the people afterwards. We also get to see some good shows- tonight's bands were badass and "Code Anchor" reminded me of my favorite groupo Sevillano "O'Funk'illo." This evening people also starting spontaneously dancing to our music, which has always been one of my favorite things about playing live. Just knowing other people dig what we do gets me so pumped up.

I'll try to post some footage that Priya took at the show (Yeah Priya and Laura came with us and it was sweet!) but right now the camera is destroying tapes so I have to take it to anger management class. In the mean time, enjoy this video of our take on "Idioteque."



I also want to thank you all for continuously voting for us on Lollapalooza's "Last Band Standing." As I make this post, we have had 565 votes, which is amazing. Keep up the good work! I think we can make it to the top 100 by the end of the month, but we need all the help we can get. Tell your friends, make a Facebook Event, etc. Andy and I were just talking about how we'd sort of be technically opening for Pearl Jam...

Also, keep making those small changes and inviting others to join you, and post some of your thoughts on this blog in the comments section. In fact, please make more comments in general. I love feedback and interaction, so post away.

multimedia

I love playing live music. It makes me really happy.


Our lovely Funkwagen is still not yet road ready so we rented another Enterprise cargo van. It's pretty funny because there are only two seats so every time we pass a toll booth or a cop the two people in the back with the equipment have to hide somewhere so we don't get ticketed. Thus far we've gotten away with it. Anyway in case you never saw on the photobucket account, this is what happened to Funkwagen:

Also, I uploaded some new photos. Unfortunately my camera was out of battery for the entirety of our time in D.C., but there are some fun ones from Mississippi.

“Hold on there’s a band staying in my house”
-Evan's sister to someone on the phone

Another sunrise

How often do you see the sun rise? This is probably my fifth or sixth in the past two weeks. Aparently Evan's grandma was amazed at our schedule - she must have forgotten that we're in a band.



Tonight's show was fantastic, and I find New York fascinating. We went to Times Square afterwards and the giant M&M's enthralled me. I'm so pumped about D.C. later today. So anyway the show - the four of us are definitely getting in the groove together. Andy is finding his footing on bass and Jamie actually knows the names to our songs now!

Ah yes you're probably wondering how we even made it to New York without Funkwagen. We ended up renting a van from Enterprise. It's navigational capabilities are significantly more sick-nasty, but the comfort level has dropped. There are only two seats, so when we brake sometimes massive bass amps slam into the small of my back. Speaking of slamming into things, I forgot to mention that the night before Funkwagen's transmission decided to cross the river Styx and never look back we were in another accident.

So I'm casually driving in Atlanta, Georgia, around 11PM on a Saturday night. Suddenly a white Jeep crosses FOUR LANES on the highway, apparently intending to plow into the side of our lovely lady Ms Tahtkraft. Jamie is screams and I yell unimaginable profanities. I can't switch into the other lane because I'm in a massive airport shuttle and I don't want to pwn another car chilling in my blindspot, so I brake and swerve as much as a can. The jeep clips the front end and teeters madly off into the distance ahead of us. Still cursing, I try to speed up and see who the guy is but of course Funkwagen is wounded and in no shape for a high speed pursuit. A copper passes us but doesn't turn his lights on. Aparently he didn't notice the hit and run.

I pull off to the side of the road, and miraculously our only damage is a dent and a missing brake light. We still have the headlight, the bumper and hood are unscathed, etc. Before it sped off Jamie noticed that Jeep got pretty beat up, while our hardy and courageous Funkwagen sustained only minor injuries. A fitting vehicle for a band dubbed Moxie indeed.

New Orleans by nightfall, Houston by sunrise

You know you’re on tour when:

You only eat one meal a day
You shower once every three days
You sleep in a closet that doubles as a band practice room
You sleep entirely on other people’s couches
You introduce yourself by your web address
Your schedule consists of only four things: driving, performing, sleeping, and booking
You think that this sort of lifestyle is “living the dream”

Our talented trio has intrepidly overcome the first wave of paucity and unprepared ness and has now settled in a lush River Oaks pool house to lick their wounds and ready them for the rest of the daunting summer that beckons so innocently. To ready our trusty steed for the challenges that await us on the treacherous thousands of miles of uncharted pavement, we must install a new radiator and battery. To bring the glory of Moxie to all the tribes of the north, we must exchange hours of radiant sunlight for the dim glow of our laptops to book the stages of our conquest and alert the people of our eminent arrival. And to give to the deep night the conversation and laughter it so thoroughly deserves we had to celebrate. Playing games of skill, swimming, imbibing, cooking, and finally dreaming as the sun slipped unexpectedly through the shutters of the Lexington house to tickle Evan’s eyelashes.

Check out our videos on photobucket. There are some funny clips, like this one of Gabe singing.



Quote of the week:
(My aunt, with sarcasm, in response to the fact that we did not have a place to stay in New Orleans)
“I’m sure there are plenty of unoccupied houses you could sleep at”