Homeless. . . by choice.

It's official. We have recently moved out of our apartment and will be hitting the road in a few short weeks!  In October and November we’ll be heading to Europe for our second overseas tour. Check out the tour schedule on the website and please relay the info to all your European friends/family/ancestors. When we return from Europe in December we’ll move into a refurbished Previa van and start our year-long tour of the US.

Starting in the Southeast, we are planning to spend approximately 2 months in and around several major cities, including Atlanta, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle. The idea is to get to know the music scene in each region of the country, while playing at as many venues as possible and meeting as many musicians and music-lovers as we can.

Here’s where you come in. We hope to see all of your smiling faces on this trip, but before we even set out we must plan financially and logistically. How can you get involved? Well I’m glad you asked. Here are a few options:

1.     Donate.  Any amount is helpful. Just click the paypal "donate" button

2.     Stay in touch.  During our travels, we’ll be keeping extensive blog postings, videos, photo journals, etc. Some of it will be available to everyone via Facebook and the website (www.joshharty.com). But if you want the real behind-the-scenes look at life on the road (if you’ve ever wanted to be a roadie for your favorite band and have all the best stories to tell friends at the next cookout) consider membership in the new “Josh Harty Sub-Continental Road Club” at one of these levels:

a.     $15/month (or save 10% & get 6 months for $81):

-Free hand printed poster when you sign up(while supplies last)

-Weekly email with videos, photos and updates

-Access to our Podcast featuring stories from the road, live songs

            and more!

b.     $20/month (or save 15% & get 6 months for $102):

-EVERYTHING from the previous level plus

-Monthly digital mixed tapes featuring music from our friends and    favorites

-2 free tickets to any show around the country

c.      $25/month (or save 20% & get 6 months for $120):

-EVERYTHING from the previous 2 levels plus

-Free t-shirt when you sign up

-Bi-weekly postcards from the road

d.     Name Your Own Price:

-We’re open to suggestions!

 (check out the Membership page to sign up!)

3.     Host a house concert. In the last year, these have become our favorite types of show to play because they’re intimate, always fun and we get to meet new people. So if you have at least 15-20 friends who like music, and a space big enough to accommodate them, we can put on a great show and make you the coolest kid on the block! Not sure you’re house concert material? Trust me, it’s easier than you think. Basically a pot-luck party with music. If you’re curious, here’s a great resource on house concert basics: http://www.concertsinyourhome.com/

4.     Host a couple of professional road-weary travelers. That’s us! We’ll be looking for places to stay all over the country.  So if you have an extra bed, couch, beach house, loft apartment in Manhattan. . . we’d love to stay for as long as you’ll have us. And in exchange we’ll cook for you!

Hope to see you on the road!

take care,

Josh

A Hard Days Night

You guessed it, Liverpool. Thursday was Grateful Fred’s in Formby, Liverpool, just a bit north of the city center. Fred’s is an acoustic music club, quite usual in this part of the world, and a good one. Last night was their first night in a new venue which was the Formby British Legion Hall.  Complete with velvet curtains, embossed velvet chairs, and Vegas carpet Grateful Fred’s was cool as sh*#.

First, we should start with the night before in Dublin. If you’re in Dublin anytime soon, by all means, avoid the Citi Hostel.  It’s sketchy, it sounds like gunshots next door, there’s a cagey French lady (I think she lives there), and they don’t have a boiling pot for tea or coffee in the room. Also, you may want to avoid the ferry to Holyhead, Whales. When I informed Colin, the founder of Grateful Fred’s, that I’d be taking the ferry he sounded a bit pensive….now I know why. As we were leaving they said they were deploying the stabilizers to make for a more comfortable voyage. I didn’t know what they meant until we were in a 3-meter sea and I was wishing they hadn’t lied about putting out aforementioned stabilizers.  This made it obvious why there were folks at the bar, on the ferry, at 9 a.m., drinking….a lot. We then were fortunate enough to ride one of Mr. Richard Branson’s Virgin trains to Chester. It was fully stocked with about 25% percent more people than should have been on the train,  including a stubborn Welsh women obviously and outwardly annoyed with the lack of chivalry and common courtesy left in today’s youth, plus a bathroom door that wouldn’t close properly (directly leading to our amusement for the duration of the ride….you see, we were sitting on our suitcases in the hallway connecting the train cars due to the  over selling of the train)…we headed to Liverpool.

Once in Liverpool we made our way to Colin’s house which was an early 19^th century English home not far from the Legion. He set us up with a room, we had a quick bite (Colin didn’t, he headed back to get things set for the show…good man),and then went to the show. First up Colin and his band played a few great tunes to warm everyone up and handed things off to the Good Intentions. There was a a bit of trouble with the sound, but since Phil had just finished doing sound for Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler over the weekend I assumed things would be just fine. The Good Intentions did play an unexpected acoustic set but did it fantastically and sounded killer. By the time it came up to me, the sound was running and the crowd was great. Can’t wait to be back at Grateful Fred’s.  

the Good Intentions

photos by Ron Davies

Berwick-Upon-Tweed....the gig.

Last night was in a great venue in Berwick. Now, to say it properly you musn't pronounce the W....much like not using the L when you say Milwaukee. If you do use the W, you will be corrected. The venue was in the lower level of a pub called the Barrels Ale House and was very much like a rathskeller kind of place. The crowd was great and believe it or not they were drinking ales and scotch. I should mention that Berwick is located 1 mile south of the Scottish border and has been fought over for hundreds of years over whether is was an English or Scottish town. Currently the English are maintaining control.

After the show I was invited to Dave's house (Dave is originally from Mississippi) which was across the street from the hostel where we stayed. He used Laphroaig 10 year and a 1935 Gibson Advanced Jumbo. I bit on both

Two things about this guitar other than the fact that it was amazing. First, it's worth somewhere in the ballpark of $50,000. Second, the last dude to play it was Mark Knopfler. That's right, Mark Knopfler. Apparently Mark was in the market for a new acoustic guitar but decided the Advanced Jumbo he already had was enough. As you can imagine....it was awesome...see photos.

Now, we're in Edinburgh and about to head out. I'll keep you posted.