Chubby’s Tacos, right near Duke University. Great, affordable, LARGE mexican food. And, all their dishes are biodegradable: their spoons are made of potatoes.

Cook Out: burger place, but they cook the meat like it’s grilled on a BBQ. Ate there 3 times. Also, chili fries. Also, good shakes. Also, I pretty much wish there was one by my house.

Bojangles: chicken n stuff. Ate breakfast there: sausage, biscuits n gravy. Pretty much delicious.

I was live-looping, and it seemed to go over well with the crowd: they responded well, and didn’t seem to mind that it was just one guy providing all the parts to the songs.

Held each August in Ogden, UT, A Cappellastock brings in big-name a cappella acts, and the audience is treated to a show full of variety. This year, in addition to the hosts performing, I sang, they were treated to the emcee skills and frenetic vocal percussion/scratching sounds of Paul Sperrazza, the pre-show music featured several great high school groups and some local semi-pro talent, as well as Southern Gospel quartet Mountain Blue, and the whole show was wrapped up by headliners Blue Jupiter from NYC.

Seriously great show.

Three years ago I came into Ogden for A Cappellastock and saw a place on the main drag called the Utah Noodle Parlor. I love me some oriental noodles, and I was disappointed that they were closed the day I was there. This past Friday I saw that they were open, and that I needed lunch, and 3 years of anticipation came to a head as I eagerly ordered some pan-fried beef noodles and took it back to my hotel.

I’m sure whoever cooked this was someone’s beloved child, so I won’t go into detail, but this was without a doubt one of the five worst restaurant meals I’ve ever eaten.

It was just bad. Bland, soggy, the beef tasted like sawdust… It was a major, major disappointment.

Just goes to show what blind anticipation will get you some times!

Oh, and best part of the show: Jared from T Minus 5 falling on and breaking a lava lamp. It wouldn’t have been funny if he had been hurt, but he wasn’t (at least he didn’t show it!).

Thurs Jan 29 fly back to Vegas.

Fri Jan 30 drive to Las Angeles late after watching a concert by Face, from Boulder, in Las Vegas.

Sat Jan 31 Las Angeles A Cappella Festival.  Drive home late after the show.

Sun Feb 1 after church, drive to Utah with the whole family crammed in the car.

Mon Feb 2 relax?

Tues Feb 3 fly to Reno again, more shows with Toxic Audio.

Mon Feb 9 fly to Salt Lake, pick up the family, start the drive back to Reno.  Weather: snow.  Driving: bleh.  Stop in Elko for the night.

Tues Feb 10 drive the rest of the way back to Reno.

Fun?

The longer I sing, the more equipment I use… except for a guitar, I’m lugging as much equipment these days as any band.  That’s just for my solo show – full sound, all crammed into the back of my mini-van.

Last summer I went to a street festival to sing my stuff.  I unloaded everything, plugged it all in, got signal, and was preparing to perform.  I use Ableton Live, software running on my mac, to do my looping and live song editing.  After all my preparation, about an hour of set-up, I realized with HORROR that I didn’t bring my computer power cable.  I was at about 15% battery life, which meant I had… maybe? … 5 minutes of music before pzzzzt.

I would have given almost anything for that one cable.  I furiously looked for a local music store, another artist with a spare cable – nothing.  For the want of one cable, I was forced to pack all my gear back into the van and slink back home.

Since then I have configured a live set that relies only on one small loop pedal, in case the computer goes down or a I forget a cable.

Tonight I was trying to attach a new piece of gear to a rack shelf for my rolling/portable gear rack that I’ve been hauling around to schools.  Everything in one place, easy set-up.  

The screws on the unit, intended to attach it to the rack, are too short.  By fractions of a millimeter.  The thickness of the rack makes is so the screws just can’t reach the holes.  Who’s brilliant design idea was that?  A screw just a hair longer would work.  A rack just a hair thinner would work.  With neither, I’m left with an expensive piece of equipment that I can’t use because I can’t safely secure it where it needs to go.

Dumb.

I’ve collected tactics to make my flying space sleepable.  I always go for a window seat.  I immediately close the windows to make it as dark as possible.  The window seat also makes it possible to lean against the wall.  I used to carry a pillow – the big pillow from my bed at home – because it made flight sleep way more comfortable; it was just a pain to carry the pillow around the rest of the time.  I had a wrap-around-the-neck flight pillow, but I kept forgetting it at home, and then I lost it on a trip.  Earplugs: a must.

All of these?  Important, but not the most important.

What turns the fitful slumber of a passenger plane to the blissful, genuine sleep of kings is: the tuque (pronunciation: ‘toook’).  Canadian for: hat.

A hat.  A knit cap, winter style.  I plop it on my head just before entrance to the plane – folds up high so it’s not too warm, and oh so suave – and as soon as I get to my seat: in go the earplugs, off come my glasses, down comes the hat over the eyes, on most flights I’m asleep before takeoff and don’t wake up until we land.  I miss out on those amazing airline peanuts, but the sleep!  The sleeeeeeep!!!

Anyway, when I was in NC for SoJam last month, I met FORK! from Finland – amazing all-vocal rock act.  Great people.  I helped them with an intro to a song, and they gave me… that’s right, an amazing FORK! tuque.  Big, stylish (with a FORK! logo!  Come on!  Yea!), and best of all, dense… makes it very dark when pulled over the eyes.

On the return flight… I dreamt of Finland, and their women varied as the seasons, and their men hunting elk with an axe and bare chests.  

(you had to be there, I guess)