My last blog entry I wrote to you FROM the above show - what a pleasure it was to arrive early at such a cool venue, have time to eat, relax, meet some of my fellow performers (we had a call time at 5 pm even though the show started at 7:30.) Here's a picture of me and the girl who was host of the show that night:
We set up our merchandise side by side:
Here's a video of her performing:
Here's a link to my live performance on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy0xsbJJuKw
One of the guys in the audience came up to me and said "I've bought a drink for all the other artists; now it's your turn!" I told him that what I really wanted was food, so we went on a search for mozzarella sticks and ended up in the upstairs cafe listening to this band:
It turned out that the only food available was desert! So, I settled for creme brûlée:
All in all it was a very fun night. I want to thank my friend Boy Wonder and The Hype for having me perform that night.
Funny story: I left the show and was driving back to the DC area (I figured it was easier to get the drive done and avoid traffic the next day) when I realized that I had left my t-shirts there, under the merch table! Argh.. I turned around and reached the venue before it closed (good thing too, because those shirts are expensive) adding an entire hour to my trip. Oh well. As some of my merch says, "Life Just Happens to You."
Saturday August 29, 2015 St. Elmo's Coffeehouse in Alexandria, VA:
I had a very nice Ethiopian dinner with my new uncle-in-law and his family. They live in Maryland and it was so nice of them to make the trek to see me.
Life lessons: when in the DC area, HAVE ETHIOPIAN FOOD. It's so good..
The boys got tired after my first set so I sent them off with hugs:
I had been staying with my friend Kelly for a few nights and she offered to help me with my merch table that day:
Big thanks to Kelly and Johan for hosting me in Virginia! And congratulations, for they are recently engaged and just got an adorable puppy.
I had a very special person show up to my show that night, and on her birthday. I used to sing with a group called Village Harmony and most of the people were older than me. There are lots of them who just thought I was a squirt, and then a bunch who were super nice. Melissa was my older sister's friend from high school who now lives in Northern VA. We had delicious frozen custard and sat outside watching the nightlife after my show. Thanks for sharing your birthday with me Melissa!
Monday August 31, 2015 Fellini's in Charlottesville, VA:
This was my last show of the summer. I arrived in Charlottesville with plenty of time to wander around.
Then went back to the restaurant where I was playing and had the most delicious calamari I've ever had:
I know it seems like a weird comparison, but it reminded me of a lot of the food I ate in Vietnam back in 2009. When they cook food they don't disguise it and so it still looks like the actual animal that it is. Look above..
All in all, I've had a fabulous summer. June and August were incredibly busy and in the middle of it all I got married! I'm looking forward to an even more efficient tour schedule next year. What does that mean? It means shorter drives between shows, 5-7 shows per week, three week segments of tours where I get to take a week off at home in between, and more of the unknown, because that is a constant in my line of work.
Before I end this blog - and thank you so much for following my summer adventures this year - I'd like to share with you my first attempt at musical activism. I care a lot about our country and the people in it, and so I wrote this song for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy0xsbJJuKw
Onward and upward.. here's to next year!
love,
Elle
