D Kav visits and plays at the Open Mic at The Edge Coffeehouse (www.theedgecoffeehouse.com) on Sunday, April 18, 2010. In the process, D Kav captures some of the local talent while promoting WTR: Memphis 2 via St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) Mike Dees (the Open Mic host and singer/songwriter,) performs his song, “Bring It On Down.” www.mikedeesmusic.com
D Kav captures his visit to Olive Branch, Mississippi via Rich Varnon while crashing the recording session for/of Traffic Jam (the band.)
D Kav gets all of the members on the FlipCam and grabs clips of some of TJ’s repertoire to include:
“My Sharona,” “Drive My Car,” and Hendrix’s “Fire.”
For more info: www.trafficjamband.webs.com
D Kav is picked up from Otherlands Coffee Bar (kick-ass vibes, cool place) in Memphis, TN by Rich Varnon. D Kav knew that Rich was recording with his band that afternoon and was offered to tag along or to go home and crash. Two things D Kav didn’t know. 1) Rich has a new band (2 months old) called Traffic Jam 2) The band was recording in Olive Branch, Mississippi. With the second tidbit revealed, D Kav geeked out within a second. It was a “no-brainer.”
You may have noticed…
Day 6 of WTR: Memphis 2
You may have noticed that it’s taken a while for any postings to get onto this site. The truth of the matter is: I’ve been trying to post All of the voluminous videos in chronological order. However, with all of the editing required (and due to the lightning speed of events during the past few days,) I’ve not been able to keep up so well. I sincerely apologize for all delays.
I’m about to finish up with packing and get set to take the train out of Memphis to head back to Chicago. As you may or may not have seen with the videos thus far, it has been an Ah-Ma-Zing tour! I couldn’t be happier with the glorious results. WTR is constantly making forward progress: For me, for the team and for the cause that WTR may represent.
In short, to include the cash, check donations, made possible with the kickstart of the puppet sales from Tortoise and Panda, along with the 20 CDs that D Kav donated to staff, volunteers, parents and patients of St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Writing The Rails: Memphis 2 raised a total of $550!
I can’t thank all of YOU enough for your never-ending support. MUST thank Joanna Quargnali-Linsley and Nancy Dunbar-McGovern (they make up Tortoise and Panda,) Rich and Suzanne Varnon for their wonderful hospitality and generosity while staying in Memphis (once again,) Leslie Jo and the entire Cornell family in Mattoon, IL for letting me stay at their place last Friday night. MANY thanks to Aaron Wilson, Beau Tatum and the crew at The Local Motive Hour on 89.9 FM The Max Alternative in Mattoon for having me on the air the day of the Common Grounds show. I also want to thank the boss of Common Grounds for letting the show happen on Friday, April 16, 2010. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the incredible talent that showed up last Friday night to the Common Grounds Massive Jam (to include:) Jenna Jackley, Taylor Wagner, Jeremy McConnaha (& Ethan backing him up on the cajon,) AJ Schubert, and to everyone else I may have forgotten at CG; Many thanks to Lissette and the crew at Aroma Cafe for (once again) providing WTR with an awesome venue to kick off Writing The Rails during the Boneyard Arts Festival last week. I have to truly thank Justin Rondon for agreeing to open the show for me last Thursday as well (Justin, you have a lot of promise. Keep jamming!) Thanks to the folks at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Carbondale for letting me live there for a few hours and for “Crashing their Wi-Fi” while I uploaded videos (I had no place to go. It meant a LOT to me!) Many thanks to Mike from Mike’s Music in Carbondale for your hospitality, advice and help. Want to thank Jessica at the Carbondale Amtrak station for the time you took to speak to me LATE LATE at night, for listening to me ramble about WTR and for not thinking me (too) creepy. ;) I wanna congratulate and thank the folks at The Edge Coffeehouse Open Mic: Mike Dees, Emily Barnhart, David Hawkins, Robert Moore, along with the incredibly talented Josh Pruitt (dude, “Burn It Down” rocked my face!!!)
Last, but not least, I have to ESPECIALLY thank the awesome musicians that came in from Chicago Solely for the Sun Studios recording. You folks, Kat Fitzgerald and Rev. Billy Simmons, along with Rich Varnon and his Memphis-fried/Kenny Wayne Sheperd sound, added JUST the right flavor to the songs (and it has to take an Incredibly talented crew to lay down 3 solid songs in just 2 hours! Folks, you WILL hear about these tracks soon! Stay tuned!) My eternal thanks to James Lott from Sun Studios for letting us all record that night and to Matt, our extremely talented engineer, for knowing how to handle us in those two hours. We ALL had such a blast!!! (Look for video footage within the next week, folks. Yep. It’s gonna get hairier for me as soon as I get back to Chicago.)
Ok. Train is tentatively scheduled to leave in 90+ minutes. However, still a LOT to get done. Rich and Suzanne, and the rest of Memphis, you will be missed, once again. However, it won’t be long until I see all of you again in August (that’s right. More to come on that tour.)
Next tour scheduled for Boston in late June 2010. I was about to release the information. However, I need to finalize details. Stay tuned.
Until next time, Memphis (and my eternal thanks and gratitude to you once again,)
Peace, love, music, laughter and life,
D Kav
p.s Much MUCH more videos to come (haven’t even Started on the FB page: www.facebook.com/writingtherailstour. For FB, I’ll probably upload one video a day. I’ll attempt to, anyway.) Thanks. :)
D Kav is granted a miracle. He left one of his bags on the corner of Poplar and Third Street in Memphis on a Sunday morning. He didn’t realize it until he was a mile away on the bus. After getting off and running to the corner, he ran to find it still there - 15 to 20 minutes later. “Don’t Tell me I’m not supposed to be here.”
D Kav reminisces on past trips to Memphis (WTR: Memphis2 would make it D Kav’s 4th Time in the city) and is compelled to capture the peaceful, early morning views on Main Street.
D Kav arrives earlier than expected into Memphis, TN (about 45 minutes or so) and is “collecting himself,” per se. Final destination hit (or is it?)
D Kav closes out Day 3 with an update: Day was spent…uploading videos. The WTR Mascot “Monkey-In-A-Bear-Suit” makes an appearance along with his g/f, Beth Ann, via Bluetooth (does she say anything? Not on camera…but still…)
D Kav goes back to the spot where a pic was taken from the Inaugural Writing The Rails: Memphis tour. D Kav reflects on the significance of the tours, talks about Crystal Bowersox, and the magnitude of the amazing experiences of this Grassroots effort thus far that make up Writing The Rails. (NOTE: This video, obviously dated since the tour has passed, still holds relevance to future tours. Give because you’re moved to. Please - don’t let us guilt you into giving. D Kav and Writing The Rails tours the way we do because we are Moved to do so. Thanks for your support and love - always. D Kav)
