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

Moonshine & Thunderstorms

Went "down south" this weekend to a part of the country I really hadn't spent much time in- Oklahoma and Missouri. Turns out, we had pretty bad timing. During the entire drive from St. Louis to Tulsa it rained so much I could barely see the road ahead. Then when we finally arrived in Tulsa, the sky was an eerie yellow color and we were told that we were under tornado warnings for the next two days. Of course, this is tornado alley. . .
After a house concert in Tulsa, we headed back through Missouri and had the privilege to play at a wonderful place- the Copper Run Moonshine Distillery. Well, they don't just make moonshine. . . they also make their own rum, vodka and aged whiskey. Delicious. Their Sunday afternoon shows are apparently very popular, being one of the only bars in the area open on Sunday (Bible Belt). The unrelenting rain made a nice backdrop to the music, and the bbq ribs being smoked outside filled the whole place with delicious scents. Luckily, after the show the rain finally ceased and our gracious host, Jim, made a bonfire. We enjoyed some of their fine cocktails (my favorites were the fresh mint mojito and the moonshine margarita) before turning in.
Of course, the next morning as we prepared to drive home to Wisconsin, the sun finally came out.

 getting a tour of the distillery

Northeast Re-cap

Well, another tour has come and gone. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it always slips my mind when I'm on the road. . .
We spent the last 2 weeks in the Northeast part of the country- mostly Massachusetts and New York. Starting off the tour was a show at the Nelson Odeon just outside of Syracuse.  I had the luck to play there last fall with Peter Mulvey and was very excited to headline a show there this time. The Odeon was created from a refurbished old country grange hall. It's got more character and charm than just about any venue in the country, and the owners, Jeff and Linda are incredibly hospitable!

Next we cruised through Massachusetts, stopping for a night in Northampton, and settled in Boston. Unfortunately, a show fell through in Connecticut at the last minute, but fortunately we had some extra time in Boston. The weather was fantastic so we spent a lot of time walking around the city, and even got some beach time on Cape Cod!

Boston Common

Cape Cod
Our final stop was NYC.. . the big apple. . . the city that never sleeps. . .well, you know.

We spent 5 nights with friends in Brooklyn. . . Bushwick to be exact. It's an "up and coming" neighborhood. I ended up playing 3 shows in the city, including a very fun house concert and a last minute gig in Prospect Heights with my old friend, Jon Ladeau. On the last night, we met up with Katie Powderly from Madison and played a gig at the Living Room in Manhattan.

All-in-all it was a great tour and I got to catch up with a lot of old friends. My only regret is that we stopped for lunch in Newark on our way out of NYC . . . got pulled over and issued 3 tickets by a very grumpy, uncompromising cop! Oh well, something had to go wrong.

take care,

Josh

Liverpool:The City

The day after Grateful Fred’s we wandered around Liverpool. Colin brought us to the train station to leave our bags, which was the first time since the tour began that I’d left my guitar out of sight…well, since the flight over where it was handed to a flight attendant on the plane and still ended up getting in a scrape somehow. But this time, the baggage attendant I handed it to looked like a former rugby player with a keen eye for an instrument and remarked that by the looks of the case, it didn’t need to be tossed around anymore. He then cleared a spot by his desk and left it there. I was sure nobody would mess with him or consequently, the guitar.

I got my watch fixed, and we had the local dish called scouse which is also what you’re called(Scouse) if you’re from Liverpool. It’s much like goulash topped with red beets or red cabbage. It was amazing but I’m having a tough time deciding which I like better, it or a jacket potato. After a bit more rain and a trip through the Tate Modern at the Albert Docks we headed to the Cavern Club.

Yes, the Cavern Club. Well, it’s actually a remake in the same location. The original was demolished in 1973 to make way for an Underground ventilation tube, which was never built, but the new has been built exactly like the original. I didn’t really think too much about it as I was walking down the steps since I’d heard anyone who wants to can pay to play there these days. However, as soon as I saw the stage with the Vox amps and the Ludwig drum kit, I caught the Beetle bug a bit.  Really, it looks just like the black and white photos…but in color.

We stayed with Peter and Gabi, of the Good Intentions, that night and had a great meal with them.  We stayed up late talking about music, recording, traveling, and even Toby Keith. I’m sure you can assume the direction of conversation related to the latter.  There may have been wine involved but I can neither confirm nor deconfirm that. 

The following morning Peter informed me that we should take a drive. We piled into the car, drove a few blocks and pulled over at Paul’s house. MaCartney that is. 

 Drove a bit further to Penny Lane.

Made a stop at John’s place.

 Quick stop at the church hall where the previously mentioned dudes met, and then saw Eleanor Rigby’s grave. 

Oh, and a place you may have heard of called Strawberry Fields.

 Yes, a real tour and very cool. Thanks so much Peter and Gabi.

Here's a video of me hanging out with Jim and Sarah on Leith FM in Edinburgh, Scotland a couple weeks ago.

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

Still raining.

Tonight is the last night in Ireland. It happens to be a night off and it happens to be in Dublin. I'm sitting in the kitchen of the hostel where a few folks with nothing in common, other than be being broke enough to be staying in a hostel, are all making dinner. Everyone is just getting started but the room is already filled with the smells of three distinctly different parts of the world.
We came in today from just a bit south of here in a town called Kilcullen. It's near Ballymore Eustace where the bank holiday prevented a show at Ballymore Acoustic from happening but, will not prevent the show on the next tour. I did, however, get to sit by the fire place in a place called Bardons with Roy, who runs Ballymore Acoustic, and play songs with him for a few hours.

hanging out with Roy in Kilcullen

The night before was in Cobh which is a seaside town next to Cork in the south of Ireland. Cobh is pronounce Cove. Cobh is also the last place the Titanic stopped to pick up passengers and also the resting place of several of the Lusatania passengers. When we got to Cobh we looked for a hotel online and found one in a good location near music for 60 Euro. We went inside where the owner insisted it was 80 so we went out to the car in front of the hotel, stole their WiFi and booked it online for 60. When we went inside to check in she said "you'd like to check in? Great, that will be 80 Euro"....to which Jess replied, "actually we booked it online for 60." As you can imagine this was not necessarily a welcome response and was met with a bit of scorn and a thorough review of our confirmation receipt. Once allowed to check in we drank all the complimentary coffee and tea and promptly stuffed our bags with the provided  shampoo, mending kit, and shoe shine supplies.
This morning marked another trip to the Dublin airport to return the Fiesta, a failed mission to find the Delta counter, and take another double-decker bus ride through town.

the lovely seaside town of Cobh

Now, some dinner and perhaps some amateur comedy next door or a poetry open mic at the Shebeen Chic down the street.....to be continued.

Trains, Ferrys, and Buses...oh my

Well. We've retired the Panda for a while and gone to bigger transit. First, we took the high speed train to Edinburgh. Have you ever heard of such a thing? You get onto a train, it begins to move very smoothly and soon you're traveling at 80 mph past loads and loads of traffic that is stuck in grid lock. Then, almost as though you're on an airplane, an attendant comes by with a cart of coffee, soda, tea, snacks, and even a beer if you'd like for a reasonable price. Then, if you need to use the restroom, you get up...take a walk, stretch your legs, and use one. All this while taking in the countryside, reading, getting some work done, or surfing the web as they also provide free WiFi. Those of you from Wisconsin know where I'm going with this. 

Edinburgh, or Leith rather, was great. I played on Jim Welsh's radio show, which you can listen to online Sundays at 2pm local time....or 8 a.m CST. Then we continued on to Glasgow for two shows, a great tour of the city by Mr. Eric Young, and then back to Leith to play at the Leith Folk Club Tuesday night.

That was where the charter coach came in and we headed to Ireland. We had a great trip to western Scotland where the ferry was waiting. It turned out to be a floating hotel of sorts with a restaurant, coffee bar, sports bar, and internet lounge(kind of) and all of this while listening to a BMW's car alarm going off....for 3 1/2 hours.

Here's to Belfast and a quick jaunt to Dublin tonight to play at the Swan. Until next time....

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.