http://annacoogan.com/blog.html Anna Coogan: Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:23:23 -0800 http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/november_2010_interview_with_ed_muitjens I did this interview with Ed Mutjiens, a music writer from the Netherlands. Great questions that really delved the depths of "The Nocturnal Among Us", so I thought I would post it. I've got a new 2011 interview for "The Wasted Ocean", so I will post that soon as well,

Question:

Anna, the release of “The Nocturnal Amongst Us” is as remarkable as your biography. A singer/songwriter who studied opera in Salzburg at the age of 19 is something very special, to say the least. Why was opera at that time so appealing for you?

Answer:

Opera was one of those funny things that just seemed to happen to me. It often seemed that the more I tried to get away from it, the deeper I got into it. I auditioned for and was accepted into the Mozarteum on a whim, and was only planning to attend the “Preparatory School” (2 years). Somehow I ended up in the normal program (8 years of study!!) My first few months were bordering on hilarious: I did not speak German yet (I do now!) and I often had no idea what class I was in. I took piano lessons and told the teacher that I was a beginner. He said “No problem, why don’t you play me some Bach?” I had to explain that I really, really did not play the piano. He was shocked. Like most things in my life, I stumbled through it, learned German in the trial-by-fire way, sung my heart out, learned how to back-country ski, and decided the life of an ex-pat opera singer was not for me. I swore off music forever in my typical, 20 year old all-or-nothing-way, moved back to the States, and was miserable until I re-discovered folk music a few years later. Thank goodness I did, because I was feeling pretty lost for a while there.

Question:

Due to the fact that you studied opera I have to ask you which music and artists, in general, inspired you.

Answer:

I grew up on my dad’s old record collection, which was a pretty eclectic mix by the time I got to it. I spend hours of my childhood and young-adulthood in our basement kitchen listening to these records. My top favorites were Phil Ochs “Pleasures of the Harbor” and Paul Simon’s “There Goes Rhymin Simon”. There was also Pete Seeger, Simon and Garfunkel, some old tattered Beatles records (I later fell madly in love with Paul in my teenage years), The Kingston Trio, Gordon Bok, and lots more. Basically the whole gamut of folk music.
We also were avid fans of a local group called “Schooner Fare”, who sung Maritime music of New England and Nova Scotia. I am just re-discovering their music and teaching myself the sea shanties, which has been a complete joy. We also had a big classical collection, and of course, Opera. My dad had a habit of playing them as loud as they could go early Sunday morning, and we could not convince him to turn it down, ever. My favorites to this day are La Boheme, Turandot and West Side Story, which I firmly believe is an opera. (Many of my Mozarteum counterparts did not agree with me on this.)
To this day I love all that music and so much more, but when I get a little tired of my genre (Americana, alt.country, what ever it’s called), I do love to decompress with some super-auto-tuned pop music: Beyonce, Lady Gaga, FloRida, etc.

Question:

The lyrics on “The Nocturnal Amongst Us” are generally sad. When I listened to the record I did get the strong feeling that you wrote the songs in order to get something behind you. What’s your own opinion on this?

Answer:
A lot of “The Nocturnal” is written about a complex and tragic event that I was involved with in my childhood, which I have spent years trying to understand. I was heavily involved in a sports team (whitewater kayaking) growing up. The coach was somewhat of tyrant and ruled our lives with an iron fist, but I still loved him and respected him and felt very much shaped by his influence. I first learned to swear on the kayak team, an unfortunate trait that I have yet to shake. I learned to break the ice off of rivers in order to paddle them in the spring, how to stay upside-down in a boat when every logical bone in my body wanted out, and how to push myself beyond my comfort zone and physical limits. I loved everything about this team: the teenage boys, the colorful boats, the ridiculous hours we kept, living in tents on the river
bank in summer.

To make an extremely long story short, it came out years later that this coach had been systematically grooming and then molesting the young boys and men on the team. These were my friends, my teammates. I had been through everything with them. They came out with it one by one. One of them lost his life. The pain of what he had gone through was too much. I dedicated the album to his memory and to the rest of the now-grown kids who are still struggling to understand what happened. This tragedy really tore the small town that I am from apart, and to this day there are people who can’t talk about this.

After I put out this record, I actually made a few phone calls and talked to some of the victims. I used to dream about it, almost every night, but those dreams are getting fewer and farther between. So I guess it has been pretty therapeutic for me. I’m learning how to talk about it even though others still cannot.
Not all of the record is about this, though. Crooked Sea is just a good-old break-up song, as is “Take the Sky and Run”. “Holy Ghosts” is a re-make of a song from an earlier record, and “Dreaming My Life Away” is just about being a musician! Halfway Gone” is a love song. I think I’ve gotten “the big sad” off my chest, and I am finally writing some happy songs for the next record.

Question:

The cover, a drawing of a woman who’s climbing up a tree, implicates a certain concept as well. Is that climbing up a tree perhaps a metaphor for growing up or growing older or does it have another meaning?

Answer:
My answer for this question goes together with your next question. “The Nocturnal Among Us” is the title of a poem that was written by my cousin, Caitlin Walsh. Caitlin was an incredible poet and scholar and died in her early twenties. Her passing shook my world to the core and has tinged my music ever since. Her sister, Alison Walsh, is a visual artist living in Brooklyn. She painted the cover art for the record, and the title of the painting was “The Nocturnal Among Us” after Caitlin’s poem. I loved the sound of these words, and feel they fit in well with the records themes. I am very honored to use them as the album title. In a small way, we can keep Caitlin’s artistic visions alive .As far as the actual image, I see it as this incredibly stark and powerful image of a child being chased by something scary—whether that’s adulthood, inner demons, or just the world we live in. I don’t know much about art but when I saw this picture I knew it was right for this project.



Question:

The titlesong ends with the lines “and you’re tired of trying to climb to the top of the mess that you made / you don’t have nothing without your good name.”
Is it important for you, in the context of that last line, what other people think of you and if it does: don’t you find it difficult as an artist to show so much of yourself via your music?

Answer:

This is a tough question. The song you are referring to “The Nocturnal Among Us”, was named after the paining/poem/title/etc. It was a song that I hadn’t planned on recording, but it came together in the last few days and we all really liked the way it came out. A lot of this song is about myself and the struggles of being an artist (and an insomniac!). I am an independent artist, and I do all my own work—I am my own manager, booker, groupie, driver, sound man, etc. There is a lot of rejection in this business, and a lot of competition.
It is hard not to get lost in a maze of online profiles and booking emails, or to think that every song and every gig is your last, and it is harder still to learn not to compare yourself and your career with others. When I sing “All the pretty voices singing, you can’t hear your own voice ringing out loud” I pretty much mean just that. You really have to learn to tune things out and to have a hard-headed belief in yourself and what you do. You have to battle the green-eyed monster while still learning from, listening to, and loving the other artists out there. No one likes to admit it, but that’s sort of part of the game. It’s a hell of a learning curve. And yes, it is difficult to show so much in songs. That’s why most of my songs are only partly autobiographical. The other part is pretty words and stories that have nothing to do with me.

Question:

In the impressive song “So Long Summertime” you’re singing about an old friend who died at a young age. There’s a lot of affection and forgiveness in the lyrics.
But isn’t it true that the last lines “when you call me I swear I’ll be home / when you call me I’ll pick up the phone / this time, so long, summertime” reveal a certain feeling of guilt?

Answer:

Oh yes, lot’s of guilt on this one. This is another song about the molestation that happened in my town (refer to previous answer). I think everyone who is involved wonders the same thing, which is “how the hell could this have happened right under our noses?” Literally, in the next tent over from me at some kayak race? And, if we could turn back time, don’t we all wish we could stop it, could reach out and help these boys, could pick up that phone? There’s a lot of raw emotion in this song—it’s me trying to let go.

Question:

In a reaction on the review of “The Nocturnal Amongst Us” somebody on the site stated that your voice and Kris Delmhorst’s show certain similarities. Particularly the remark that both of you have a certain sob in your voice and can stretch words in a way that just a hoarse flow of air remains illustrates his point. How do you look at this remark?

Answer:

It’s a big honor to be compared to Kris. I really enjoy her music and see her career as a great example of living as a musician while maintaining artist control and integrity. She also recorded her most recent record at the same studio we recorded “The Nocturnal”, The Great North Sound Society in Maine.

Question:

How did the collaboration with JD Foster started, what was it like working with him and in what way did he contribute to the fact that the album sounds so balanced?

Answer:

We got hooked up with JD through a son of a friend of mine who plays with Laura Cantrell. (JD produced her record “Humming By The Flowered Vine”) He is the first producer I have ever worked with, and I was pretty nervous when I approached him about working on the record. He’s a great guy with none of the pretense that seems so rampant in the music business, and he made us feel completely at ease from the first time we talked to him. I’ve spent a fair amount of time feeling lost in the music industry (or what’s left of it), and he really helped us find a good comfort zone.
Actually recording with a producer was a lot of fun. I was able to focus a little more on the singing and playing, because someone else was at the helm. JD spent most of his time at the studio pacing around with headphones or lying on the couch in the control room, lost in intense concentration. What he does is so subtle, but it really pulls everything together. He also laid a bunch of the guitar tracks (as did our engineer, Geoff Hazelrigg). The nice thing about recording in Maine was that no one went home until the project was done, so we had a lot of time to talk over wine/coffee/mosquitoes/bb guns.
JD also mixed the record with us, and that was a totally different experience. I’ve never seen anyone able to focus for that long. He would sit at that control booth for 14 hours at a time, tweeking one song. It actually looked like we were going to run out of days to mix because he took so much care with each song, but somehow we squeezed it all in.

Question:

Anna, you played in England last month. How were your gigs over there and what are you’re expectations for the future?

Answer:

The gigs were great, and the people I met went from strangers to family in a matter of hours. Driving by myself in a rent-a-car on the left side of the road (trying to read an old fashioned road map) was pretty difficult. But the gigs generally confirmed what I have heard, that in Europe people still come out to hear music just for the sake of hearing music, that people buy CD’s, that people will sit and listen. I’m not sure what the future holds—my idea of the future seems to change by the hour—but I anticipate doing a lot more work in Europe over the coming years. At this point in my career, I really just want to be a working artist, and these days, that means being on the road, wherever the road may lead. I am very much looking forward to a short tour of the Netherlands this winter!]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/november_2010_interview_with_ed_muitjens Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:23:22 -0800 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/please_pass_the_sperm_or_youve_got_to_learn_the_gender_of_the_words
It is dinnertime, in a lovely hotel deep in the heart of Europe. The bread is slightly stale, and it needs butter. The butter is at the far end of the small table. I am tired, somewhat desperate to speak American English and to have a moment alone, but it’s not an option for now. I arranged my face into what I imagined to be a pleasant expression, looked at the butter, and said, in my tablemates native language, “Please pass the butter.”

His face froze, then fell, then looked frantically around the room in what can only be described as pure panic. Could there possibly be someone we knew in the room? A room where no one spoke either of our two languages? No. And what the hell was the problem with asking for the butter? I was only trying to fight the natural American in me and not reach across the table.

“What did I just say?” I ask, full of caution, as things appeared to be escalating into a full-blown language catastrophe. He looked embarrassed. He looked away. He looked back at me. He tried. In English, he choked out:

“It’s like”¦.if I”¦.it’s like”¦a man”¦.(unrecognizable hand gestures) it’s like when a man”¦..if you”¦.if”¦..a man”¦..just don’t say it. It’s like”¦.(pause, switch back into native language) . Butter is masculine! You have got to learn the gender of the words! It’s, like, REALLY important!”

I’ve been trying, this whole tour, to learn the gender of words. In German. In Italian. In French. Very occasionally, in Dutch. And I never seem to get it right. Usually, it merely invokes an eye roll or a gentle correction. Occasionally, it gets me in, as we say in American English, “deep sh*t”.

The butter has still not been passed. Wild gesticulation continues. People are starting to stare. It’s a small room, and I will be playing to all of them very soon. There are no secrets here. They are curious. Finally, in despair, my tablemate pulls out his phone, types the word into his online translator, and shoves it towards me.

I have asked for Sperm. I have asked him, quiet pleasantly, and with a decent accent, if he will please pass the sperm to me. Butter is masculine. Sperm is feminine. No wonder I cannot get this straight, it makes no sense at all! The butter is tossed in my direction. I butter my bread, face blazing. I am, after all, a married woman, and I am mortified.

****


This is not the first time I have made a mistake of this caliber. Once, years ago, while I was living in Austria, I mixed the word “too bad” with the word “Sh*t”. I figured this would be a new, extremely handy German word for “that sh*t is too bad”. Instead, I got the same incredulous looks, the same shock and despair and head wagging. My best friend at the time, an Austrian Turk with Muslim heritage, shook her head and pointed to her lap, daintily. My new word was actually an old word for the female anatomy. I never forgot that I word, despite the fact that I never once used it again.

Learning a new language is like this, if you are willing to try. People will shake their heads, people will laugh, people will be mortified for themselves and for you—but someday, you will learn their language. And you will never ask for sperm at dinner again.]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/please_pass_the_sperm_or_youve_got_to_learn_the_gender_of_the_words Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:58:57 -0800 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/uk_tour_bucket_list
1) Closest I've come to the "other side": pulling out of Edinburgh Airport after 18 hours of flying and having to Navigate to Edinburgh City Center while shifting with my left hand and trying to read a map, all the while trying to stay on the left side of the road.

2)Happiest I've ever been to see anybody: Ian Parks at the Belladrum Festival in Inverness, Scotland. We were both a long way from home!

3)Coolest self-made venue: The Wombwell Wheelhouse in Wombwell, England. The guy has got a bar built in!

4)Most Roundabouts per square mile: between Wombwell and Sheffield. I counted 11 roundabouts on what was otherwise a perfectly straight road. Look kids: it's Big Ben! And Parliment!

5) Most well funded radio system in the world: The BBC. All I can say is "wow".

6) Most helpful device ever invented: The "SatNav" that my wonderful host Hedley forced me to buy. She laughs, she cries, and she can get you where you need to go. Except for in a big city, when she sort of lost her way. "Turn left, then turn right. Turn left. turn right...." until I gave up and used a map.

7 ) Worst Choice I've Ever Made: The Cheese, Mayo and Red Onion sandwich at the Shell Station between Perth and Glasgow. Really, Anna. Think before you buy. I had the taste of extra-creamy mayo and red onion in my mouth for weeks.

8) Coolest thing ever: The Falkirk Wheel. I can't even explain how this thing works , so look it up. Basically a big Ferris wheel that carries boats up 50 feet to a higher canal. Like a lock, only cooler.

9) Food I wanted most that I got to eat: An incredibly curry fest on the Isle of Bute.

10) Food I wanted most that I did not get to eat: A High Tea. Next time.

11) I have a lot of thank you notes to write to all the incredible people who were involved in helping me survive and make this tour a success. I am sure there will be many lists to come...]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/uk_tour_bucket_list Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:55:17 -0700 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/about_the_nocturnalthe_long_and_short_of_it About “The Nocturnal Among Us”

Making “The Nocturnal”

“The Nocturnal” is a collection of songs that I wrote over the last 3 years. It is my first record as a solo artist (I have put out two records with my former band, north19). It is also the first time I have worked with a producer (JD Foster, who has worked with Calexico, Richard Buckner, Patty Griffin and many others) and recorded in a studio outside of Seattle.

To date, making “The Nocturnal” is the most fun I have ever had playing music—it was hotter than hell, humid, sticky, and we were up in Maine in a big old farmhouse with no internet or cell phone reception. We drank too much and had a lot of coffee and went into town everyday to get huge ice cream cones. Maine has some incredible ice cream. It is the first time I have felt such a synergy: 5 people in a house with nothing to do but make music. We tracked 14 songs in 6 days. Later, we had the honor of being joined on 3 songs by Austin Nevins, the guitar player for Josh Ritter and many other artists.

We finished the tracking in mid-August, and the next week I got married to my long time love, so it was a pretty magical time all around. In October of 2009 we met up with JD again in Portland, OR, and spent a very intense week mixing. During that week, the trees turned gold and fall rushed in. We got the final product in our hands at Christmas, and released it in the US in March 2010.

About the themes of the record

“The Nocturnal Among Us”, while a complete joy to make, is a somewhat somber album. A lot of it is written about a complex and tragic event that I was involved with in my childhood, which I have spent years trying to understand. I’ve never been able to properly articulate what happened, but I think it is time.

I was heavily involved in a sports team (whitewater kayaking) growing up. The coach was somewhat of tyrant and ruled our lives with an iron fist, but I still loved him and respected him and felt very much shaped by his influence. I first learned to swear on the kayak team, an unfortunate trait that I have yet to shake. I also developed a love for long drives in hot vans and an incurable thing for the ever-present Outdoorsy Bad Boy. (Whom luckily, I did not marry.)

To make an extremely long story short, it came out years later that this coach had been systematically grooming and then molesting the young boys and men on the team. These were my friends, my teammates. I had been through everything with them. They came out with it one by one. One of them lost his life. The pain of what he had gone through was too much. I dedicated the album to his memory and to the rest of the now-grown kids who are still struggling to understand what happened.

The song “So Long, Summertime” is my tribute to these boys, and to my own sullied memories of the experience. It is my attempt to move on and forgive, although probably I will never forget. When I sing “when I call you, I swear I’ll be home, when I call you I’ll pick up the phone this time.” I mean it. I wish to god I had known what was happening and could have helped before it was too late for my friend.

So that is the overarching theme that makes this record feel sad. Not all the songs are about this incident, in fact a lot of them are about love, broken cars, happy ghosts, birds, and things that have nothing to do with sad things like molestation.

About the title

“The Nocturnal Among Us” is the title of a poem that was written by my cousin, Caitlin Walsh. Caitlin was an incredible poet and scholar and died in her early twenties. Her passing shook my world to the core and has tinged my music ever since. Her sister, Alison Walsh, is a visual artist living in Brooklyn. She painted the cover art for the record, and the title of the painting was “The Nocturnal Among Us” after Caitlin’s poem. I loved the sound of these words, and feel they fit in well with the records themes. I am very honored to use them as the album title. In a small way, we can keep Caitlin’s artistic visions alive.


About the subjects in the songs (part II)

I try not the censor my writing—although it is hard because I have a VERY loud inner critic who has a lot to say on the subject. I generally just write about whatever comes out. Sometimes, it is love, and more often it is lost love. (I predict I will write the “wedding album” with lots of happy love songs next”¦)

I had a few songs on this record, in particular “Dreaming My Life Away”, about the day to day frustration of being a musician: cars that never seem to work, never having enough money, eating rejection for breakfast, and the general feeling that I am, well, dreaming my life away.

I also write a fair amount about insomnia- something that I have struggled with for the last few years. Songs like “The Nocturnal Among Us” and “Crooked Sea” were at least partially born in that hazy dream state I get into in the dark of night when sleep just won’t come.

On the songs chosen for the record

When we went to Great North Sound Society, we recorded 14 songs, which was pretty much every song I had waiting in the wings of my head. That would have made for a very long record, so Eric (my longtime drummer) and JD (Foster, our producer) helped us narrow it down to 11 songs for the main record. We put 3 more out on “The Nocturnal EP”, which is a little EP I sell at shows. 1 of the songs didn’t quite make the cut, and went back to the drawing board. It may appear on the next record, or it may just go away. Forever.

On the response so far

Releasing one’s own CD is a roller coaster ride. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not so good, and it’s always an adventure. I pretty much dedicated the last two years of my life to making this CD and releasing it properly in the US and now in Europe. It is often hard to know where to turn to, and what the next step is, and I felt like giving up on many, many rainy mornings. I spent a lot of money that I didn’t have. CD’s are hard things to sell in this day and age.

But building a fan base on a grassroots level is an incredibly intimate and powerful experience. I’ve had people drive hundreds of miles to a show just because they liked a song they heard on my website. I played in a women’s detention center in Rochester, Minnesota, and the women cried their eyes out and asked my to play “Crooked Sea” twice. I sold out a show in Chicago even though I’d never stepped foot in that town. And now, I’m working on building a base in Europe, which is incredibly exciting.


Any information that might be worth knowing

For one, I am not nearly as serious as my promo pictures would suggest. Nor am I as sad, although this record did scour through some of the more unfortunate incidents in my past. It’s hard to get a good record picture unless you are staring out into the distance. I’ve heard the same is true about hat modeling.

I also work as a fisheries biologist, and spent many hours on motor boats in all kinds of weather. I have worked in Bristol Bay, Alaska, cutting open dead salmon and avoiding bears. I am now (slowly) leaving that world to dedicate myself full time to music, but part of me will probably always be cruising across some lake somewhere at full throttle.

I started off as an opera singer, and even went so far as to live in Salzburg, Austria and attend the Mozarteum. I had to take a crash course in German and often had no idea what class I was attending. After I left the Mozarteum, I swore off music forever. And then I heard Alison Krauss.

Yes, I blame her for taking me down this lonely road of country-folk, for de-railing my career as a biologist, and for leaving me eternally in need of cash. I don’t remember any particular song, just her voice and the way it talked to me. It was pretty much downhill from there.]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/about_the_nocturnalthe_long_and_short_of_it Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:56:08 -0700 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/thoughts_from_the_new_york_thruway 2) New York and PA: they look big, but they are bigger than they look.
3) Toll roads: not always very well maintained.
4) The Northeast: does it ever stop raining here? Or perhaps I carry the rain with me?
5) New York City: SO cool. Really. It lives up to the Hype.
6) Touring solo= not as fun as being in a big van filled with Italians, husbands, drummer, and one small dog. Still generally more appealing than most other jobs.
7) The 2008 Subaru is more reliable than the 1984 VW van.
8) I am going to become an auto mechanic before my next tour.
9) I better get back on the road, gotta get to Rochester.

XOXO

Anna]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/thoughts_from_the_new_york_thruway Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:35:06 -0700 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_blog_part_deux
1) Most biblical event: the rain that fell in Providence and literally swallowed Rhode Island whole. That was us, driving through it, in the van! That was me, sitting pretty in Providence, waiting for an ark!
2) Second most biblical event: the big, big cross outside of Amarillo, TX.
3) Closest call: getting off the road in MA, looking for a McDonalds bathroom (which I never found, go figure), and getting involved with a seriously swollen river. Thank god I made it to the Dunkin Donuts.
4) Best coffee, leg 2 of the trip: Dunkin' Donuts, of course! America run's on it! Anna loves it! It's just really, freakin' good.
5) Most times coffee spilled in the van: 5 (I basically lost count).
6) By who? Me.
7) Favorite new song: everything Katie Todd. Love, love, love her.
8) Favorite new city: Chicago.
9) Coolest new club: Radio Radio (Indianapolis. Thanks, Nightjar! Go Butler! Or, is that over??)
10) Best guitar player ever/fastest learner/most charming person ever: Daniele Fiaschi. You seriously want this guy in your band.
11) Best Husband: Brooks Miner. We are still married. Yes.
12) Biggest herd of family ever: Milwaukee. Nice work, Martin-Miners.
13) Best food, possibly ever: Cheese curd and gravy covered fries in Madison.
14) Most isolated town in the whole wide world: Ithaca, NY. Don't go there if you are in a hurry to be somewhere else.
15) Biggest adventure dog: Juno Bear-Sterns.
16) Still best drummer ever: Eric Hastings.
17) Not very good at blogging yet: me. Blogs are most interesting when shit hit's the fan, but when shit hit's the fan I am too freaked out to blog. Example: Interesting photos from ice storm in TX: there are none, because we were too busy trying to survive.

Don't worry Bob-- I'm still gonna blog about Roseburg! I love Roseburg!! I just have to do it justice...]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_blog_part_deux Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:43:02 -0700 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_day_15_the_list__part_1
We limped into Iowa at 3 AM, having finally escaped the treacherous and icy Great Plains, and it's been easier going since then. Milwaukee, our current home city, is cold and windy-- I miss LA. (Even though in LA I couldn't stop complaining about how damn hot it was!)

There is so much to say about this tour I don't even know where to start-- so many great towns and people- so I'll start with the list. I learned this trick from Laura Veirs, who always has great tour blogs. It will probably take me a while to get the hang of this. I guess I will start with the basics.

1)Longest drive between gigs: 1900 miles. (Never, ever again.)
2)Best Breakfast: The Breakfast Club, Lake City, Washington. (Second place is the waffle shaped like Texas)
3)Scariest moment: When the power supply in the van died and the Italian lost his shit in the backseat: "This is a big F***ing problem for us..."
4)Van breakdowns: Throttle cable, Speedometer, Power Steering, battery (only once, in New Mexico). Engine: still truckin'!
5) Most hilarious not-funny moment: When the border patrol stopped us in New Mexico (I just have a tough time with this state!)and said, in response to our band name, "Can't say I've ever heard of you...." (He must have believed us though-we were not searched!)
6)Best Coffee: Cafe Paradiso, Fairfield, Iowa. Creamy, creamy cappuccino!
7) Most meditation per square mile: Fairfield, Iowa.
8) Most drivers that speed up in response to a pedestrian in the roadway: Madison, WI ( I am very surprised at you, Madison drivers! Maybe living in Seattle for 10 years has made me soft. And weak)
9) Most PBR drunk in an evening: Madison, WI. (The end result was buying gravy and cheese curd covered fries.)
10) Scariest hotel: The Economy Lodge in Brownfield, TX. No lightbulbs in the lamps. Smelled of doom. No dogs allowed. Juno smuggled in in pillow case.
11) Best times: All the amazing hosts. Nick,Bob, Ian, Steve, Bonnie, Heather, Lauryn and DJ, Gretchen and Craig, Shelby, I LOVE you guys. You make this all possible.
12) Favorite place to wake up: it's a big toss up, but I'm gonna have to go with the state campground at Pismo Beach. Amazing oceanfront camping, and California style vegi juice.

Be back soon!]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_day_15_the_list__part_1 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:40:44 -0700 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_day_1
This is the first real tour I've gone on in over 5 years-- the last one (with my former band, north19) ended in a life-changing bout of insomnia that I still have yet to fully shake. (Hence the titles of the last 2 records of mine: Sleepwalker and The Nocturnal Among Us. Being an insomniac has shaped me more than I would have liked...)Here's hoping that this tour is more restful and less life-altering than my tour-de-southwest 2005.

We had a nice show in Portland- in an old Funeral home (seriously, our gear got stored in the coffin elevator. I shit you not.)The staff told us that while the main part of the venue was not haunted, the upstairs most definitely was, and woah to whoever was the last to close up. This was one of the first shows I can honestly say we had some ghosts in attendance, although they did not pay the cover charge, sadly.

This was the last show with the full five piece band, and now it's a trio for a few weeks before we meet up again with Eric (drummer) in Madison, WI. I still have yet to fathom how far we are driving-- so far, the van is holding up well, and Brooks almost got a speeding ticket!!! That's right, a 1984 vanagon with trailer, speeding. The hee-larity was almost, although not quite, worth the ticket. Luckily, Brooks is charming and I guess the cop thought it was pretty funny.

Off now, once these lazy bones wake up, to Roseburg OR. Let the good times (and good sleep??Please, god??) roll!!]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/tour_day_1 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:33:53 -0800 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/i_am_a_bad_blogger_but_take_a_look_at_my_sisters_blog
So, I will take this minute to direct you to a REALLY GOOD BLOG: my sister's "The Wilder Coast." SHE put's her whole life out there for all to see. And it is heeee-larious. And sometimes sad. And always interesting.

http://www.thewildercoast.com]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/i_am_a_bad_blogger_but_take_a_look_at_my_sisters_blog Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:06:08 -0800 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/lake_city
We headed out to check out the new hood, and here is what we found: 2 strip clubs, both within walking distance, and a topless coffee bar. ( Are these everywhere, or only in Seattle? ) I feel like everywhere I look there is a little stand with some semi-raunchy name, like "knaughy koffee" and "kowgirls kold drinks", with signs outside that say-- I kid you not--"no video." So if we want boobs, we got that settled. No more lonely nights in front of the TV for these big-city dwellers. We can also get a variety of used cars, car loans, and happy meals.

Some places, you got to look a little closer. When we looked harder, we found: A drug store, a hardware store, 2 breakfast joints, a post office (much needed for musicians), a model train store (I LOVE model trains), a sushi place, "Thai One On", a couple of large and well-stocked grocery stores, at least indie coffee shop, and (forgive me, Seattle, I do like this place) a Starbucks. In the other direction is a community pool (YES!!!) and one of the very best bars in all of the world, The Fiddlers Inn.

So the next year will find me swimming, drinking, eating breakfast, enjoying in the many topless events within walking distance, perhaps taking out a car loan or two, and mailing many CD's out to you wonderful people. Right??

Happy 2010!!! XOXO]]> http://annacoogan.com/blog.html/lake_city Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:36:29 -0800 Roots and Urban Americana - Anna Coogan - Blog