on tour in Iowa: last day with tonsils
Greetings from the land of corn and presidential candidates,
Played last night in Decorah, IA, a town where I spent my illustrious one semester of college. A classmate of mine from those old days is back in town and hosted a fantastic house concert for me at her place. A great crowd of listeners came out to the gig, and it was one of those ideal experiences for a performer: cool environment, super-attentive crowd, nice little PA, and an in-the-zone musical evening. Highlights for me included the song "Rivertown" played in the very town from the lyrics, a singalong request for "Beige Slacks," and an encore of "Meeting Nixon" which was very well received due to the airplay that song has been receiving on the local alterna-rock radio station. It's not too often that I get radio airplay, so whenever I do, it's a very exciting thing!
The drive from Decorah to Ames is deceptively far, and there's no convenient way to drive it. I hit the road around 11PM and zig zagged through the cornfields 'til I burned out around 12:30AM and got a hotel in Waverly. Heard tons of good tunes on my shuffling iPod, though, and that made the drive quite enjoyable. Had the rare chance to surf the cable TV channels in the hotel room (no cable TV at our house), so I enjoyed the snarky and gossipy comedy talk show "Chelsea Lately" on the E network (I think). Who is this Chelsea, the host? She's crass, but pretty funny.
Got up early and zipped Westbound across central Iowa in time to be the musical guest at St. Andrew's Lutheran in Ames this morning. I played Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changing" for the offertory song, and it fit perfectly with the lectionary texts for the day. Thanks Zimmy!
Today I'm hanging out with my great pals Dan and Becky (and new baby Max), and in a few hours it's back to Ames for the evening concert. Here's the important fact about the show tonight: It'll be the last time I ever play a concert with my tonsils.
That's right, after two decades of toxicity and oral harassment, tomorrow afternoon I'm having my tonsils removed. Thank the Lord, let the surgery begin. Yup, tomorrow it's off to the hospital and those foul and rotten glands will get lasered out of the back of my mouth. The doc tells me that there's a chance that my voice could change (imagine that!), so if you want to hear me sound like the Jonathan you know and love, tonight's show in Ames is your last shot. And after tomorrow I have strict orders: no singing for a month! So I won't know for a while how this surgery will affect my career as a singer. Stay tuned for updates, and say a prayer for me tomorrow as I go under the knife (or laser, or samurai sword, or whatever).
Played last night in Decorah, IA, a town where I spent my illustrious one semester of college. A classmate of mine from those old days is back in town and hosted a fantastic house concert for me at her place. A great crowd of listeners came out to the gig, and it was one of those ideal experiences for a performer: cool environment, super-attentive crowd, nice little PA, and an in-the-zone musical evening. Highlights for me included the song "Rivertown" played in the very town from the lyrics, a singalong request for "Beige Slacks," and an encore of "Meeting Nixon" which was very well received due to the airplay that song has been receiving on the local alterna-rock radio station. It's not too often that I get radio airplay, so whenever I do, it's a very exciting thing!
The drive from Decorah to Ames is deceptively far, and there's no convenient way to drive it. I hit the road around 11PM and zig zagged through the cornfields 'til I burned out around 12:30AM and got a hotel in Waverly. Heard tons of good tunes on my shuffling iPod, though, and that made the drive quite enjoyable. Had the rare chance to surf the cable TV channels in the hotel room (no cable TV at our house), so I enjoyed the snarky and gossipy comedy talk show "Chelsea Lately" on the E network (I think). Who is this Chelsea, the host? She's crass, but pretty funny.
Got up early and zipped Westbound across central Iowa in time to be the musical guest at St. Andrew's Lutheran in Ames this morning. I played Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A'Changing" for the offertory song, and it fit perfectly with the lectionary texts for the day. Thanks Zimmy!
Today I'm hanging out with my great pals Dan and Becky (and new baby Max), and in a few hours it's back to Ames for the evening concert. Here's the important fact about the show tonight: It'll be the last time I ever play a concert with my tonsils.
That's right, after two decades of toxicity and oral harassment, tomorrow afternoon I'm having my tonsils removed. Thank the Lord, let the surgery begin. Yup, tomorrow it's off to the hospital and those foul and rotten glands will get lasered out of the back of my mouth. The doc tells me that there's a chance that my voice could change (imagine that!), so if you want to hear me sound like the Jonathan you know and love, tonight's show in Ames is your last shot. And after tomorrow I have strict orders: no singing for a month! So I won't know for a while how this surgery will affect my career as a singer. Stay tuned for updates, and say a prayer for me tomorrow as I go under the knife (or laser, or samurai sword, or whatever).
Comments
Stein Auf!
Bridget