Ellery Stimulus

Tasha made this great sign for our keyboard, with the valuable clarification (in parentheses) that it’s the piano you can take home, not her. Right.

Technical difficulty action-and-adventure, in the middle of the song “Pieces.” Dig it.

We spent the evening on Easter recording simple demos of the new songs for Malcolm - one mic with Tasha singing and playing.

So.  We took off this morning from Hurley NY, where we had a beautiful stay at The Hurley Stone House.  It had been a dark and rainy day, a return to February by all appearances, so when we finally arrived it was a gift to be greeted by Mila, a tabby cat who was as friendly as his masters and quickly stole our hearts.  (Not that such a thing is difficult.)

We’ve been anxious for our visit ever since I stumbled upon the Stone House website a month or so ago and immediately fell in love with the architecture, decor, and general vibe of the place.  We quickly decided we needed to stay there for a few nights this Summer while we’re recording in next-door Kingston NY… And we’ve included a stay at The Stone House as one of the “prizes” in the Ellery Stimulus campaign.  (You can come to the studio for the afternoon, meet our producer, listen in, etc… And then head back for a restful night and an amazing breakfast.  See ellerystimulus.com for details!)

We were disappointed that the weather wasn’t better; The house sits on a hill overlooking the Esopus Creek, and it’s right around the corner from an amazing walking/bike path.  But the inside was fabulous to explore, and we were treated to a fantastic tour by Sam, one of our hosts.  The place is vibrating with its history…  Until a few decades ago, it was kept within the same family that built it in the early 1700’s.  The folks who owned the home before Sam & Nadia (our hosts) were gardeners for the last descendant of the original builders, and they inherited it from her.  (Isn’t that awesome?)
Sam & Nadia, who opened The Stone House Bed & Breakfast in Fall 08, purchased it from them and have been restoring and finishing portions of the house, with a deep respect for its history (which you can sense when you talk with them; it’s lovely) and with fabulous style.  The Goldens (that’s us) love simple decor, clean lines, deep rich woods, natural light…  And this home had all of that and more than we could take in.

We were fed an amazing breakfast this morning, and a couple danish pastries are wrapped up in our van awaiting a moment when we finally feel like we can eat again.

The drive today was dreary again, although we were accompanied by (big surprise) Peter Sagal & Carl Kasell… And Ira Glass.  We have an evening to visit with family in NJ before heading to Philadelphia tomorrow.

We drove in a steady rain this morning from Nyack to Kingston NY, where we were meeting with Malcolm Burn, who will be producing the album we’re recording this summer.
It’s curious to drive into a town for the first time, knowing it will be home for a month or so later on.  So we were wide-eyed, trying to catch what all the town might hold for us.

We drove up to the studio, just up the hill from the river, where we greeted Malcolm and got the quick tour.  His studio is a warm and inviting space… And since by now you all know we’re suckers for vibe, it’s worth pointing out that there was plenty of it.  The gear & instrument selection was as great as we expected, but I was justly reeled in by the old Steinway upright in the control room.  I love uprights: that wash of sound and all its warmth and lack-of-polish.
(But I should clarify; I’m not one to play any piano, even a beautiful Steinway upright, just because it’s there.  I’m happy to look and imagine that it would be nice on the occasions when I felt like playing it.  It’s only fair for me to tell you, since this characteristic of mine makes Justin crazy.  He plays them in my place.  Which can be… interesting.  But sometimes it’s absolutely lovely.  One never knows with that guy.)

I did play a couple verses of a new tune on the piano, and it sang under the voice in that way you always hope, gentle and warm.

But blah blah blah, gear & instruments, the nicest part about the visit was the chance to talk about music-making and songs.  Malcolm has a love for songs and songwriting, which is what drew us to him in the first place.  He loves (and listens for) the arc of a song’s story, the nuances of how the voice is telling it, how to use a song and its recording to effectively communicate that original live, stripped down idea.  It was affirming and delicious to talk these sorts of things out, get an idea for how the recording process will go for us, etc.  Left us both so glad to have made this decision.

Malcolm sent us off with a lunch recommendation for Lucy’s Taco, downtown, an eccentric little place with amazing food.  (Our only complaint was that it disappeared too soon.)

We wandered around Kingston for a bit afterwards, cataloguing sites for future reference– So good to visit before we land back here in June.

Given our questionable vehicle-luck on the tour so far, we were a little intimidated by the downpour that accompanied us from Newburgh NY to Natick MA yesterday.  It was a steady, driving rain - The kind that occasionally engulfs the road ahead so that you have to drive under 40mph on the interstate if you want to see clearly.
But our quickly-diminishing collection of podcasts was good company, offering a bit of peace & distraction (the positive kind)… And even through that Corridor of Immense Traffic in Connecticut, all was refreshingly Well.

Miraculously, the rain stopped as soon as we pulled into The Center for Arts Natick, and we loaded our gear into the building sans soaking and said hello to some of the kindest folks around.

The Center for Arts Natick (”tCAN”) is a beautiful converted firehouse… It’s full of historic vibe, and the sound is amazing in the performance room.  Lucy sound-checked with Billy Joel’s “Goodnight My Angel” (which I hadn’t heard in years and is as beautiful as I remembered,) and we took the time to settle in after the drive.  We let our jaws drop at the amazing paintings newly-installed on the walls of the performance space, which were done by local high school students from Walnut Hill Art School.  These are these stunning, deeply-emotional portraits that left us in disbelief about the young talent… And grateful for the art, which seemed ideal for the night’s music.

And we couldn’t have asked for a lovelier experience: A nearly sold-out show, the opportunity to play a beautiful (and beautifully-tuned) grand piano, a fabulous audience, and a fine artist to open for.  So many thanks to tCAN and the crowd tonight– We loved loved loved connecting with you.

The winding roads of Massachusetts have always enthralled us.  The scenery is charming and mysterious in this altogether New England way, and we can’t help ourselves.  It often feels magical.  One of these dark and tree-lined, spotted-with-lovely-cape-cods routes led us to our hotel last night.
And we may be easily-pleased these days, but we’ve found ourselves tonight in a lovely, clean, and safe place nestled against a couple rolling hills, and wow, that front desk guy was such a human being - absolutely kind.  We’re laying our heads down tonight with some deep breaths.

It’s our first tour since the Stimulus began, and we’re racking up our share of adventures –

The Early-April Tour So Far:

• Day Minus-One: Tasha loses her voice.  (Come on!)  New bag of cough drops saves the day.  (Leaves me smelling like medicine @ our shows, but — singing.)
• Off to Akron.
• Day One: Stranded north of Columbus because ignition won’t turn.  AAA guy saves the day, which gets us to Akron, where Justin’s cousin-the-awesome-mechanic REALLY saves the day.
  

  Singing for our van repair. No, really.

• Off to the University.
• Day Two: Flat tire for no identifiable reason.  Fix-a-Flat and nearby tire&lube place (and new tire) saves the day.
• Off to Pittsburgh.
• Day Three: Leave early from Pittsburgh for Penn Tech in Williamsport.  Spend 80 minutes getting out of the city; now running VERY late.  Construction on every state hwy and interstate, ALL the way to Williamsport.  (No really: every highway & interstate.  And we hear this is typical of Pennsylvania; anyone want to verify this rumor?)  So: Oh the angst!  Arrival time: 15 minutes after showtime.  In this case, the incredible patience of the college staff (and our kind listeners) saves the day.
• Off to Newburgh NY for the night.
• Day Three (later): Check into name-brand hotel that is inexplicably skanky.  We are disturbed upon entry… Then the toxic cleaner-fumes give us crazy headaches & sore throats.  Disturbing—>Scary!  Check out (with grace from a kind front-desk clerk), and drive down the road.
• Day Three (evening): Explore Algonquin Park in Newburgh.


Algonquin Park

• Breathe fresh air, take pictures, watch the sunset.  Are totally wrong about what we think all those old stone buildings are.


Algonquin Park

• Go to the PetsMart across the street & de-stress by staring at adoptable cats.  Go back to cower in our room for a while.  In short: Slowly perk up.  (Chocolate and those “veggie chips” from Whole Foods certainly help.)  (And Colbert.)
• Currently: Justin’s playing guitar along to some music on his laptop, but he’s wearing headphones & I can’t hear anything but the (not-plugged-in) electric.  Sounds cool.  And hilarious.
• I’m turning my phone off with a delight reserved for the most hermit-ish of hotel dwellers.  “Ha,” I say.  “If you call, I can’t hear it.”  (I mean this with love.)

Speaking of love, oh, has it been good to connect with kind audiences.  With these eventful days we’ve been arriving at shows in a rather ragged and desperate state…  Only to find the loveliest of people waiting for us.  So, our many thanks to U of A, Howler’s, and PennTech for welcoming us–

• Tomorrow: The drive to Massachusetts: always beautiful.  And we’ll collide with Lucy Kaplansky’s tour again at the lovely Center for Arts Natick–