Leila’s first week-long vacation with dad

Nathalie gave Leila and I a ride to the airport. Leila loves airplanes, and often asks me when we're going to go up into the sky in one, so she was thrilled we were going to the airport to do just that.

On previous trips Leila developed the technique of climbing aboard my wheeled suitcase and holding on, and it works great. Our flight was delayed, so they put us on another flight to Dallas, making our trip quite a bit longer than it would have been by going via Cincinnati, our original plan.

On the plane to Dallas we sat next to a nice woman from Pakistan. Leila charmed everybody on the plane as usual, in her frequent ramblings about the cabin, especially the first class area, where there's a bit more room to maneuver. She was into looking out the window quite a bit, but most of the time had it closed because she thought it was too bright out there above the clouds during the day (I agree).

Dallas was hot and muggy, which was evident even in the airport, but moreso when we left the airport, which we did because we got stranded there. We could have possibly gotten on a very delayed flight that might have gotten us into Hartford at 2 am, but I made the executive decision that we'd be better off staying at a hotel in Dallas and getting the rest of the way the next day.

We got the "distressed passenger rate" at the Arlington Sheraton. We first took a shuttle to the wrong Sheraton, then a cab to the right one, but Leila didn't care, she was having a blast the whole time. There was water at the Sheraton, fountains and pools to look at and such, and really plush chairs to jump off of, and tables to climb onto while we were waiting for a cab to take us to the right Sheraton, so it was all good.

The cab driver was a very nice father of two from India. We talked about kids, music and the dismal state of the US economy on the 20-mile drive to the right Sheraton, which was far from the airport. Our room was on the ninth floor with quite a view of nothing much. Leila was thrilled with the hotel room, and stayed up til midnight, chirpy as ever, as she did every night of our trip.

Our luggage was trapped at the airport, so we didn't have any overnight stuff, including diapers. Apparently this isn't unusual, because the little store at the hotel (they have little stores at the Sheraton hotels, I found out) sold diapers.

Leila explored every crevice of the room, especially the closet. She's very fond of closets, and doors she can open and close. Of course she had to try out the bathtub, which was nothing special. (The Sheraton does not have jets in their tubs, at least not in that one.) We ignored the very widescreen TV, but we watched a little Curious George on my laptop, read the two books I had with me several times (Maurice Sendak and Leo Leonni), sang some songs, had some conversations and eventually went to bed.

Leila awoke with great excitement at 6:20 or so and wanted to eat breakfast. We went downstairs and Leila shrieked with delight at the sight of the breakfast buffet. Then she started making that "I want it now" noise, commenting on her own noise with the words, "I'm crying a little." She wasn't crying, but what she meant was clear. I managed to get all the food on a plate with her clamoring to watch and be in my arms at the same time (not particularly feasible, so she had to settle for looking up from the floor most of the time).

All the cooks and staff were very nice guys from Mexico, except for one woman who was a refugee from New Orleans, longing to return home. It was so nice to hear her soft New Orleans accent, and it made me wonder if I were traveling with friends from England or someplace, whether they would have understood her. She was very taken with Leila, and talked quite a bit with her, and gave her crayons, paper, and a toy ladybug.

We went back to our room and Leila went to sleep. I did some email and such, and woke Leila up around 10 to go take the shuttle to the airport. On the plane from Dallas we sat next to a nice man who was reading a Bible (which I initially mistook for a dictionary). Leila slept through much of the flight in my arms, and enjoyed the flight the rest of the time.

In Hartford Earl met us and gave us a ride to Granny Annie's house. Leila was awake and enjoying the scenery the whole time, at times wondering when we were going to get out of the car, but otherwise fine.

Anne greeted us in her cast. Leila was a little shy for about 30 seconds. Then when Anne was making her way from the kitchen to the couch by walking on her knees, Leila immediately got onto her knees and followed suit, and wasn't shy anymore. Anne sat down on the couch, and Leila immediately plopped a book onto Anne's lap which she had found conspicuously placed on the coffee table in front of the couch.

From then on they were reading books for hours. Leila liked many of them, but far and away her favorite was Everyone Poops, which Anne read with enthusiasm dozens of times. At one point she wanted to read it on her own. When Anne asked her if she wanted to read a book, Leila handed Anne a book to read, and then she picked up a book for her to read herself, and they sat next to each other, each reading a different children's book.

That night there was a thunderstorm, very unusual on the west coast, so a particularly exciting development. Leila and I went outside and watched the lightning, felt the thunder, and got a bit wet. That night we lost our last pacifier, but Granny Annie saved the day, having stockpiled a couple of them for just such an occasion. She thinks of everything.

The next day the three of us went to the Audubon Center and hung out with the animals. The python put on a particularly good show for us, dancing around and such, and Leila bent over and kissed it (through the glass). She tried to get into the little indoor swamp with the turtles, but we discouraged this.

Leila, Jeanne and I took a walk to the pond (Anne can't walk in her cast, and stayed home). Various dogs joined us, and Leila enjoyed them mostly, pretty well having gotten past her fear of dogs, which she seems to have developed from being pinned down and slurped on by Krishna when she was a little baby.

Once we got down the trail Leila announced, "I'm all wet." The diapers I had gotten at the Sheraton weren't very good, and one end of it had come undone, and so Leila peed all over her pants. We left her clothes by the side of the trail and she walked naked through the woods the rest of the time, quite happily. She seemed intent on peeing as often as the dogs were peeing, and in as many different locations.

She thought the pond was a bit cold. She enjoyed being in and around the water a bit, but didn't seem excited about the idea of actually trying to hang out and swim in there. She also thought the schools of fish nibbling at our feet were intriguing, but not very welcoming.

Jeanne said Leila acted like she had no expectation that anyone was going to criticize her. She said she wasn't sure if she had ever seen a child like that. Hearing such specific and explicit praise from someone slightly more objective than Leila's own parents was very gratifying.

When Jeanne took leave of Granny Annie's house she asked Leila if she could kiss her hand. As if she were accustomed to this sort of thing, Leila raised one of her hands just like the queen would, a bit limply, with the back of her hand towards the ceiling, and Jeanne's lips. "May I kiss your other hand?" Jeanne asked, and Leila raised up her other hand the same way.

Grandpa Howard, Grandma Christina, Lua, Lorenzo and Rosie came up to Cornwall to pick up Leila and I. We hung out in the living room together a bit, and Leila immediately bonded with all the kids, who hadn't seen each other for well over a year. Together we went to Kent Falls and had a seriously good time climbing the rocks and wading in the cold water. For many years there were signs up saying don't climb on the rocks, but there were none to be seen, and no one telling us not to do it, so we did, and had lots of fun.

Life at Howard and Christina's place this time of year is centered around the wonderful pool in the backyard, beside the house, on a sloping, tree-filled hillside. The pool has a couple of ladders, a shallow area and a deep area, a diving board and a slide, and every bit of it is being used much of the time by at least several children.

As long as I was in the water, or occasionally another adult, Leila would fall headlong into the water from the edge of the pool, from the diving board, and from the slide. She'd often tell me to go further away in the water from her, and then she'd fall into the water, sometimes yelling "timber," as she had learned from her cousins. She'd go under, come up most of the way for air, smiling the whole time, holding her breath. After a few seconds I'd take her out and she'd sputter and smile and swim towards the ladder to do it all again, and again and again.

Much of the time Leila was very engaged with the other kids, fascinated with their every move, and even playing games with them, chasing, reading, talking -- and lots of "let's pick up the baby and carry her around," which Leila was fairly tolerant of. But in the water, Leila was focused mainly on teaching herself to swim, jumping in, coming up, and trying to make it to the ladder with as little help from me as possible (but always making sure I was in the water first before she jumped in).

Farrah was doing amazing stunts off the diving board, flipping around forwards and backwards, but only now and then. I thought she was only doing it occasionally to avoid upstaging everyone else, because she is clearly the gymnast among them. All of them were wildly flinging themselves (or occasionally being flung) into the water from all different directions.

I often offered Leila floaty things, but she generally got tired of them very quickly and went back to sinking, attempting to swim, almost keeping her face above water, and having me periodically bring her up for air. After quite a while she eventually announced, "I wanna get dry," and she climbed out of the pool, got a towel wrapped around her, and sat in the sun for a time, until she was ready for another round of swimming, or we moved on to do other things.

Leila often referred to the pool as a hot tub, since that's the body of water with which she is most familiar, aside from a bathtub. At Terry's place, Leila was enjoying dinner with Terry, Gwen, Rob, and Jennifer when I mentioned that Terry had a hot tub behind the house, and then Leila was beside herself, excitedly saying, "I want to go in the hot tub," with that very clear enunciation that she gets from her mother, until I eventually got things together to go outside with her, which probably took about two minutes, and must have felt fairly eternal to Leila.

Leila could barely contain herself to keep it together to successfully get her clothes off, but she managed it, and carefully descended the staircase to the hot tub below. With each new person who joined soon thereafter, she shouted their name with glee. Once all five of us were in there, she'd roam from person to person, hanging out in different places, splashing around, occasionally submerging and coming out for air.

She eventually wanted to get out of the hot tub so she could have a good look at the moon, which was hidden behind a tree if you were in the hot tub. On the deck, the moon could be viewed in it's full glory. We looked at it for quite a while, then started looking at all the shadows the moon was making, such as ours. I gave Leila a flashlight to trip out on for a while. Then she wanted to get back into the hot tub and warm up again.

That night Leila went to bed in the main room in the house, while Terry and I lay on the bed with her, talking. Terry and I talking and laying next to her was her lullaby, and it seemed to do fine. She fell asleep, woke up to chirp about the birds chirping at 6 and went back to sleep until 10.

At Howard and Christina's place we slept in the middle of the living room by Leila's request. She liked that better than us going off to our own room. All the other kids apparently like "camping out" like that, too. Each night we'd be hanging out with other folks, all of whom would eventually go to bed by 10 or so, leaving Leila and I to hang out and party til midnight, when she'd be ready to pass out.

One late night venture involved wandering around the basement and discovering the little trampoline, which we then brought back into our camping area and jumped on quite a bit. Another night involved being outside looking at the moon and the moonlit clouds. Every night involved a few lullabies.

Christina read many stories to many children, and children read stories to each other. The most amazing moment came in the half hour before Howard took Leila and I to the airport, when Erin came by with Rosie. We all ate the muffins they brought and the delicious almond cereal Howard and Christina had made, and then Rosie and Leila went off into the living room, at which point Rosie started reading a book to Leila. Rosie's only three and hasn't really learned to read yet, but that's what she was doing. Peering quietly at them from around the corner, Howard, Bonnie and Christina were all taking videos and snapshots of this event. (I probably would have been, too, if I hadn't left my camera in Portland.)

Over the course of our record one week away from mommy, I had been explaining to Leila that we would be seeing mommy on Monday, which was generally "in a few days" from whenever it was. Leila internalized that phrase and spoke it now and then, "well see mommy in a few days," which seemed to be acceptable. When seeing mommy was two days away, this seemed to make sense to her, and on the morning we were going to the airport, she knew what was up then, too. So although she was enjoying storytime with Rosie quite a bit, when I said it was time to go to the airport, there was no hesitation, she grabbed my leg and was ready to go.

Westchester airport has gotten too busy for it's size, and it was a mess in there, but Leila enjoyed meeting other kids in the line and romping around the place, weighing herself on the scales, with people regularly wondering whose kid it was, presumably because nobody was stopping her from doing all these terribly naughty things, since I don't actually care whether she's on the scales or behind the counter, she's clearly not hijacker material.

We got on the plane just in time for us to be stuck on the tarmac for one hour and ten minutes. By the time we got Chicago we had missed our connection. We were sent by United to a different terminal in order to wait an hour in a line for Delta in order to be told to go wait in line with United in order to get a ticket to get onto a flight that was then delayed by five hours. So we spent three hours waiting in lines and five hours waiting at the gate for the plane to take off at 10:15 pm.

We had fun, though, eating fruit, running around, playing with the scales and carts, and eventually taking a nap and then running down several different moving walkways about five hundred times in both directions. I had a couple of beers, which made going down five hundred moving walkways much more enjoyable. We met a nice young woman from Wisconsin who drew pictures with Leila, to Leila's delight. As with other people, Leila started commanding Jessica on what to draw next. "Draw an ant!", "Draw a spider!", etc.

Leila slept through the flight from Chicago to Portland. I slept too, and talked with our neighbor, a young Chicago Pole, about Polish history, the Chicago Polish school system, and graphic design.

Near the baggage carousel in Portland there was a family from somewhere in eastern Europe. A mother with a small baby in arms, and two raucous but good-natured little kids, a boy and a girl. The girl really wanted Leila to play tag with her, but didn't understand that Leila was too young to quite know the rules. She had fun playing with her anyway, and Leila was bemused by her, too.

Nathalie watched, unnoticed, very nearby, until eventually Leila realized it was her there, and she smiled broadly and went to greet her. On the escalator towards the parking garage she was very intent on holding onto each of our hands, Nathalie's and mine. We drove towards Nathalie's house, Nathalie in the back seat beside Leila, who regaled Nathalie with stories from the road about swimming, diving boards, turtles, grandparents and cousins.

2:21 PM - 5 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Western US tour to build for the DNC and RNC

August 9th through September 10th or so: I'll be touring by car from Portland down through southern Oregon and California, then east towards the Democratic National Convention in Denver via Arizona, New Mexico, maybe Utah, then towards Minneapolis/St. Paul for the Republican National Convention via Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, then west back towards Portland via the Dakotas, Montana and Washington.

The idea is to do what I can to build for the protests in Denver and the Twin Cities, and to have a tour and hopefully do some good gigs while I'm at it, both in terms of getting the word out as well as making some money, 'cause I'm broke. By car I'll be getting to some out-of-the-way parts that I never make it to by plane, such as, for example, Humboldt County, California, or the state of Montana. Touring by car is much more fun than touring by flying around anyway, and I have free time for touring then anyway...

So if anybody's up for organizing a gig on this tour please let me know, and thank you for considering the idea! (For those of you who are in a geographically appropriate area of the world and may in fact be doing that...)

Here's a tentative itinerary:

August 8:  leave Portland
9:  Takilma (southern Oregon)
10-15:  California (north to south)
16-20:  Arizona and New Mexico
21-28:  Colorado (and the DNC)
29-31:  Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa
September 1-4:  Minnesota (and the RNC)
5-10:  The Dakotas, Montana, eastern Washington, and back home to Portland

12:42 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Seeking singer

I'm looking for someone who sings and perhaps plays an instrument, probably female, who'd like to do shows for kids with me in the Portland area. If you'd like to participate in the logistics of booking shows in schools, libraries and festivals with me this would be a big plus. If you have the flexibility in your schedule to do frequent gigs in the area, and to travel outside of the area regularly, this would also be a big plus.

To get the idea of the kind of musical material we're talking about, go to www.davidrovics.com/kids and check out the "song chest"... I'd also love to do shows for grownups, too, with another singer, but what I'm focusing on more these days is the kids' thing.

People of color are especially encouraged to apply. (If the term "apply" is really applicable for such a nebulous job description...)

1:43 PM - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Dinner at the Chaos Cafe

From the land of Portland, Oregon
So hip and lush and green
From the land of plenty
Balkan jazz and espresso beans
Comes this plaintive posting
To complain about my fate
I've been living here a year now
And I cannot find a date

The trees are full of birds
Chirping all the day
The parks are full of children
Happily at play
Spring has sprung in Portland
And I think that's great
But in my house the flowers are dying
'Cause I just can't find a date

Once I lived a life of ease
Traveling all around
I went so many places
I barely hit the ground
I met folks from every country
Each province, every state
But now I'm here in Portland
And I cannot find a date

Probably it would help
If I ever went out at night
But usually I'm too tired
Once the sun is out of sight
'Cause I get up each day at 6
And play from morn til late
Happy as a full-time dad
But cannot find a date

I really do enjoy
All our time spent in the park
Watching the scampering squirrels
Hearing the doggies bark
But in the evening when she falls asleep
I'm longing for a mate
Someone at least half my age
But I cannot find a date

Someone I could meet for dinner
At least every now and then
Someone who likes me
And perhaps even other men
Someone who is poly
Who thinks hot tubs are first rate
'Cause it'd be nice to spend some time in one
If I ever find a date

Someone who thinks kids are fun would be nice
Who doesn't think they're scary
Someone who likes to sing a song
With a mouth full of blueberries
And someone who has some desires
That I might help to satiate
That could be very nice for both of us
If I ever find a date

It'd be a plus if you like mountains
And hiking on the trails
Taking trips to pretty places
Riding on the rails
If you like to kiss behind the barricades
And protest the G8
Then we might just hit it off
But first I'd have to find a date

I don't mind if you're shy or outgoing
I like all kinds of folks
Though if you are female that'd be good
'Cause I just don't go for blokes
If you have an evening free
Why not take the bait?
But this is probably a lame sexual strategy
And I still won't find a date

11:32 PM - 10 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Doing gigs in Portland

OK, well for those of you who live in or near Portland, Oregon I want to spell something out in case I haven’t made it sufficiently clear... I live in Portland now and I’m happy to play for good causes for free, if it’s in or near Portland and of course if I’m in town. Mostly I’m out of town during the weekends and in town during the weekdays.

4:07 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Songs for Mahmud re-release and other tidbits

[Just posted this as a bulletin...]

Hi folks,

Well, a few things that seem worth mentioning...

Songs for Mahmud CD re-release

The first 3,000 copies of Songs for Mahmud are all gone, and Ever Reviled Records has done a re-pressing of it, this time in digipack format. If you have a radio show or know anyone who does, all they need to do to request a free copy is email info@everreviledrecords.com, and ask them to send a copy to the address they specify. The label will also be happy to send multiple copies upon request for use in fund drives for community and college radio stations and other such entities...

Songwriter's Notebook blog re-organized

With the help of my friend Reinhard I re-organized my Songwriter's Notebook blog, which contains essays about raising kids, a critique of the music business, stories from the road in Europe, North America, Japan, Mexico and the Middle East, and lots more... It used to be formatted so you had to scroll through an entire essay to get to the next one, but now it's organized so you can just see the titles and the first paragraph or so and click to see the whole essay. You can find the blog directly at http://www.songwritersnotebook.blogspot.com or by following the appropriate link at http://www.davidrovics.com. In light of the court decision a few days ago in California and the ongoing battle over the rights of homeschoolers in the US, my most recent essay, Raising Leila, has particular relevance.

Upcoming tour plans

The rest of March and April are looking good -- gigs in the northwestern US and Japan through the end of March, visits to eastern Washington, the southeastern US, and the midwestern US in April. (Details at http://www.davidrovics.com as always.) As is often the case, I know what I'm doing for the next couple of months but after that it's all up in the air... So if anybody is inclined to organize something, especially if you might know a good leftwing philanthropist or a student activist group or some other such organization with a budget for flying performers around, I'd love to hear from you and hopefully have a gig or two come May... I also have a couple dates free for other possible gigs in the midwest, when I'll already be there for other gigs (so no plane ticket needed -- and of course I don't need a plane ticket to do gigs in the Pacific Northwest either).

Later in the summer I'll have a bigger block of time to tour, and I'm considering the possibility of visits to Europe and/or Japan, but these possible plans depend entirely on paying gigs that may or may not materialize... (What I know for sure in terms of late summer/early fall is I'll be in Colorado and Minnesota to protest the DNC and the RNC, and at the end of 2008 the tour of Australia and New Zealand with Alistair Hulett is going to be great.)

Other upcoming plans

I've been rehearsing with a band in Portland, and my (long-awaited, by some anyway) children's CD will hopefully be recorded and otherwise finished by sometime in May... I'll let you know when it's actually done... In April I'll be "officially" starting to do children's concerts. Got one lined up in Tennessee, and one most Tuesday afternoons at the daycare cooperative in Portland I'm joining... Also coming up sometime in the relatively near future on PM Press will be my DIY Guide to Writing Songs, Playing Music and Booking Your Own Gigs, currently in the editing stages...

No more AOL account

I've finally completely phased out my AOL account, and no longer check it at all. So please use drovics@gmail.com and delete any other email addresses for me from your records!

Songs on the web

Since my good friend John uploaded all the tracks from my most recent CD to my main site for MP3's, http://www.soundclick.com/davidrovics, the site has passed the 700,000 downloads mark. In addition to the new songs up there, John is also now once again varying the music up at http://www.myspace.com/davidrovics to suit the news of the week. If you go to YouTube you will also find newly-uploaded footage from recent concerts as well as an abridged version of a lengthy interview I did last weekend in Rhode Island with some great video activists there.

Next weekend, a protest near you

Do we really need another antiwar protest? Yes, lots of them, and mass civil disobedience too. Please go to http://www.unitedforpeace.org or http://www.nowarnowarming.org and find out about the protest nearest you! (I'll be singing at the one in Portland -- http://www.pdxpeace.org.)

Support Briana Waters and other Green Scare defendants

Briana Waters is the latest beautiful person to be handed an outrageously long prison sentence for her "crimes" of property destruction in defense of our beautiful planet. Her case is particularly painful because the US government has seen fit to take her away from her small child. I am deeply saddened to have a growing number of friends behind bars for the "crime" of "eco-terrorism." I'm doing as many benefit concerts as people are willing to organize, and donating as much of my earnings to the cause as I can. I hope you will do the same. Please visit http://www.greenscare.org to learn more about this ongoing situation. You can also read my essay, Pivotal Moment in the Green Scare, written last summer, which you can find on my Songwriter's Notebook blog. The trial of "eco-terrorist" Tre Arrow is coming right up in Portland as well.

Camper van, anyone...?

OK, it's a long shot, but in case anybody out there has a well-functioning camper van or similar kind of vehicle they want to sell or give away, I'm theoretically in the market. I could use one, anyway... I've gone quite a while without a vehicle, but that's gonna have to change, hopefully sometime in the next few months... If anybody wants to assist in this effort by pre-purchasing a house concert that I'll do at your place when I eventually get said camper van and come through your area, this is also most welcome. More info by clicking on "support the arts" at http://www.davidrovics.com.

OK, I'll sign off for now... Hope to see you on the road and in the streets!

--David

10:13 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Lots of new stuff online for free

[Just sent this to my bulletin list...]

Hi folks,

"Pirate Song" animation now online

Bjorn-Magne Stuestol has recently finished a fantastic animation for "The Pirate Song." You can check it out at http://www.davidrovics.com/kids. If you like it, please feel free to tell folks about it... Eventually it'll be part of my children's CD/DVD project, which will include a band, and more animations. If you want to support this project please go to http://www.davidrovics.com and click on "support the arts." To see more of Bjorn-Magne's excellent work, including his stellar animation of Dana Lyons' song, "Cows With Guns," go to http://www.shagrat.net.

All songs from The Commons now online

All 17 songs from my live CD, The Commons, recorded at Club Passim with Allie Rosenblatt and Eric Royer, is now online for free download at http://www.soundclick.com/davidrovics. Click on "music" and it's all right there on that page, along with every other CD I've recorded in the past ten years, plus a few web-only releases. Think it's cool that all that stuff is up there? Then I'd just ask that you tell people about it. And if you want to buy the CD in physical form that's fine, too -- just follow the "buy stuff" link at http://www.davidrovics.com.

Upcoming gigs

OK, all of you know about my upcoming visit to the midwestern US whether you wanted to hear about it or not... I'll also be doing singing at an anti-RNC organizing event at Reed College in Portland at the end of the month. March will include a show in Rhode Island, a protest in Portland, and shows in Olympia, Seattle, and Tokyo. April will include a show at a regional conference in eastern Washington and a visit to the southeastern US that'll include shows and a protest in Tennessee, and probable visits to the Carolinas, Kentucky and Indiana. Later in the month will take me to Chicago and Wisconsin. I have free dates for shows in all of these regions if anybody has any ideas... Details on most of these shows are up now at http://www.davidrovics.com right on the main page...

Are you coming to Denver and Minneapolis?

I just want to plug some upcoming events... There will be an antiwar protest somewhere near you around the time of the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, in mid-March. And if you're thinking about where to take a vacation this summer, consider the lovely states of Colorado and Minnessota! From August 24-28 in Denver will be the protests around the Democratic National Convention. Very soon thereafter, from September 1-4 comes the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Links to some of the folks organizing protests and other events can be found on my website if you scroll down to summer... These events are sure to be very festive, and an important place to send vital messages to the powers that be. I hope to see lots of you there!

--David

http://www.davidrovics.com
DRovics@gmail.com
(503) 863-1177

6:25 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Upcoming tour plans

Hey folks on MySpace,

I know a lot of you aren't on my normal email list, so I'll just send out a little post here to let you know that later this week I'll be doing shows in Columbia and St. Louis, Missouri, as well as Bryan, Texas. Next weekend I'm playing in Albuquerque and Las Vegas, New Mexico. At the end of February I'll be heading to the northeast for a concert in Providence, Rhode Island, and hopefully elsewhere in the New England/New York area. In early March I'll be doing shows on the weekends around the northwest (Oregon and Washington -- including an antiwar protest in Portland on March 15th) and then I'll be spending the last half of March in Japan.

Especially if you live in the northeastern or northwestern US, or in Japan, I'd love to hear from anyone who might be inclined to organize something in your neck of the woods for March. And whoever you may be, I hope to see you on the road and in the streets! To see where I'm playing, please go to http://www.davidrovics.com and it's all right there. (My MySpace page is not usually up to date on the latest gigs, sorry.) If you want to be on my normal email list, which I have divided by region, you can sign up for that there, too.

All for now...

--David

DRovics@gmail.com
http://www.davidrovics.com
(503) 863-1177

3:04 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Once again looking for a flatmate

Here's what I'm about to post on Portland Craig's List and perhaps elsewhere... Feel free to spread wherever seems appropriate...


OK, so I guess my cousin isn't moving in after all and now I'm looking for a flatmate... Folks, I know it's tough finding a room, I've been there, but I'm gonna tell you something about me and the place here, and then if it sounds good to you, please write me back something substantial – not just a couple lines, like, "I'm a student and I'm nice." I need more to go on than that, otherwise you probably won't hear back from me, but it's nothing personal...

So here's my deal... My name is David, I'm a professional musician and occasional journalist (more on all that at www.davidrovics.com). I'm white, male, straight, poly, age 40. I have a young daughter, she's almost 2. We spend most of our time together, quite a bit of it in my flat. (Most of the rest of the time she spends with her mom, who also lives in Portland, attending medical school.) I'm politically on the far left, and I think George Bush and Hillary Clinton should both spend the rest of their lives behind bars for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I smoke tobacco a bit but only outside. I smoke pot regularly. I spend a fair bit of time playing around with musical instruments in the living room. Don't have and don't want a TV, and I don't even like having music on in the background most of the time, just a little, now and then. I'm trying to learn how to cook. My daughter and I eat organic food. We're not vegetarians but we don't eat meat much. We usually get up early and go to bed pretty early. Sometimes I'm away for a weekend to do gigs out of town, or sometimes I'm away for longer to do a tour, but otherwise I'm in town, and often home.

The place is a 2-bedroom. If you go to www.ctlmanagement.com (that's the management company that runs the complex, they're nice enough folks) and look for Francis Park Apartments, you can see pictures, room measurements and all that. Rent is $320 per bedroom, plus half of the electric bill (everything is electric). Water, sewage, and garbage expenses are covered. If we decide to live together, you need to pass a criminal background check (CTL requires it) and that costs $30. Small pets are allowed, but you have to pay a pet deposit of some kind to CTL. For better or for worse, there's wall-to-wall carpeting, so I tend not to be too thrilled about the idea of a pet, though me and my kid love (nice) animals, so I could be convinced...

Anyway, who are you? Please tell me about yourself if you think this sounds like a good living situation for you. I'd be particularly excited to live with someone who:

· enjoys life but isn't addicted to hard drugs or alcohol
· appreciates someone playing ukelele in the living room regularly, and is perhaps a musician themselves
· appreciates silence and doesn't need constant background music coming from a box
· likes to listen to BBC and Democracy Now! regularly (or doesn't mind that I do)
· cares about life on Earth and is doing something to try to save it, likes to discuss these things now and then, but isn't preachy
· likes children and perhaps has one themselves
· really likes children, including when they act like children do, and wake you up when you're napping, walk in on you when you're in the bathroom, want you to play with them, etc.
· generally cleans up after themselves but isn't gonna freak out if I leave dishes in the sink now and then
· otherwise feels comfortable with everything else that's in here

I don't care about your age, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation if you don't care about mine (though feel free to include this kind of information and anything else that seems appropriate). If you are from another country and/or speak English as a second language, that's a big plus for me.

Oh, I'd like to fill the room by sometime in January (and adjust January's rent depending on when in the month the room is filled), but February 1st at the latest. Earlier is preferable, but I'm in no rush, I want to find somebody who's a really good fit.

3:49 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

The Carolinas, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand

[What I just posted as a bulletin:]

Howdy folks,

For those of you in North or South Carolina, I'm playing in Chapel Hill, Boone and Columbia this coming weekend. Details at the top of www.davidrovics.com. Please come and bring all your friends!

Same for folks in Denmark and hopefully Sweden for a bit later in the month. I'll definitely be playing in Roskilde and Silkeborg, Denmark, and I'll likely also be doing a gig at Christiania (Copenhagen) and Stockholm, Sweden. Details are on www.davidrovics.com, or will be soon in some cases...

And for those of you in Australia and New Zealand, or if you know anybody on that side of the world, I'm going to be doing my first tour of those countries near the end of 2008, from mid-November until the beginning of January 2009. The tour will be a joint thing with Scotland's Alistair Hulett, a great musician who lived in Australia for many years and was in a band there called Roaring Jack.

Alistair and I would most definitely welcome anyone's efforts to organize or promote our shows in Australia and New Zealand, and we're also open to ideas for where we should take time off, 'cause we'll probably have a couple weeks with no gigs, looking to hang out somewhere fun where we can stay for free...

That's it for now... Please spread the word about any of this if you see fit!

--David

www.davidrovics.com

9:33 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment