BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet

Date: March 31, 2009 11:26 AM Topic: Santa Fe We got here to the Hotel Santa Fe safely last night. It was cold! After checking in we ate at Tomasito's, which is across the street. Very good Southwestern food. I may go there for lunch. There was talk about doing a radio show today, but I haven't heard from the station yet. If I don't hear from them, then all we have to look forward to is the show at the Santa Fe Brewery. Off to walk around this wonderful place.

Date: March 30, 2009 8:05 AM Topic: eTown, Boulder, CO Yesterday was our performance at eTown, with Nick and Helen Forster. I knew it was going to be a long hard day, but we all did well. We loaded in at 3 and proceeded to sound check. The finale song was a CCR tune whose name I cannot remember right now. "It was long ago.....I know...." Oh yeah, something about the rain: "Who'll Stop the Rain" That's how tired I am now at 7am! I got to play a little 30 second interlude with Nick, which was fun. He had Michael's Loar mandolin and I had a 1920's L-5. We did "Billy in the Lowground." After the show, everyone was invited to a reception at a restaurant called Centro here in Boulder. The food was very good, as was the beer. Being so tired and sleepy, I came back to the hotel at 10:30 and was asleep by 11:30. We're departing the hotel at 1:30 for the drive to DIA/DEN. Our SW flight's at 4:45. I would imagine we'll ...

Arrived late to Denver but the can driver waited for us. It took a long time to get all the baggage. At the Boulderado now and getting ready for sound check. Starting to get hungry.

Early day today, early flights. The West Coast tour begins today. I never thought Sunday mornings at the airport could be so busy! Thank God I'm an Elite traveler; otherwise, I'd still be in either the check in line or in the security line. Off to board the first flight of my day, to Houston.

Date: March 22, 2009 10:31 AM Topic: McGee's Landing After all that SXSW intensity, it was great to play at McGee's Landing in Henderson. David Alleman has done an incredible job repairing the place after Hurricane Gustav. And the food is better than ever. The band played really well last night, kind of like a blow out. We finished around 10:45, and I was on the road by 11:30 and back home by 1:45. Long day but lots of fun.

Yesterday was a long one. I brought over the D-1 to Giebitz and picked up the OM-1. We talked a long time about Schetlers. Then we had lunch at Artz and ran into Ray Benson and Peter Schasrtz. After that we went to the Convention Center to sign in for SXSW. Then we left the hotel at 5:30 to load in at the Continental Club. You could tell that action was starting to happen: Hot Club of Cowtown was wrapping up a hot set. Then we all piled up in one van and headed to Ranch 616 to have dinner with John Locgen, Rosebud's treat. That done, we got back to the club and waited to set up and play. The show went on as scheduled, and we played a hot 40 minute set. Afterwards I talked to Steve McCraary from Collings, Alex Rawls from Offbeat, Geoff Himes from the Washington Post, and Dave Hurshland from Bug Music. We got back to the hotel at 12:30. It's 9:47 now and should be in Lafayette by 4pm Long couple of days.

Date: March 19, 2009 12:26 AM Topic: Austin: SXSW We arrived at the hotel around 8pm. Cindy Cashdollar suggested Evita's Botanita Restaurant for supper, and it was good! It's not Tex-Mex; rather, it's real Mexican, which is quite different. After dinner, we passed by Bill Giebitz's house to drop off 2 of my guitars. He said he'd have them done fairly quickly, so I'll drop off the dreadnaught tomorrow. I Twittered the entire way here, and I'm still try to figure it out. I got Facebook with no problem, and I did overcome the problems with Blogging. I'm just not sure what the hell Twitter is. I've been Tweeting left and right; I just haven't figured out what can be done with it. Oh, well, I'm tired. I'm glad we came in the night before. I'm sure we would have been extremely tired if we had done the trip in one day.

Heading to Austin to play a showcase at the Continental Club tomorrow night. It's a long way to go and expensive, but we will eat well. I'm hoping to get my guitars tweaked. They need it. I left NOLA at 8:50 and was at Bill's at 10:15. Then we high-tailed it to LFT. We got the vans, loaded them up, and went to have lunch at Country Kitchen on N University. It was good! We just passed Beaumont.

Date: March 16, 2009 10:21 AM Topic: CC's Lafayette Yesterday the band did an 'in-store' at the CC's River Ranch location in Lafayette. It was not a pretty day, but that didn't stop people from packing the 2000 sq ft business. We performed the new CD and I think we sold some, too. We were also filmed for KATC for the 10pm news (which I didn't get to see), and a film student recorded our set for her PhD dissertation. The drive back to NOLA was a pain because of the rain, but I did get home! Next band thing is the SXSW appearance at the Continental Club in Austin. We're departing Wednesday and will be back home Friday.

Date: March 12, 2009 9:17 AM Topic: Promotional appearances Redux Pillot's got us doing so many promotional appearances that it's becoming way too confusing to keep up. Bill didn't know that Austin was a freebee: he called to say the club wasn't providing congas. Well, duh...they're not providing jack shit, so to speak. So we're spending close to $3k on transportation and lodging for a YepRoc showcase. I guess the rest of the guys ought to know this, too. The 'West Coast' trip is coming together. I call it that because we end up on the west coast, though we start in Colorado. I've implemented TripIt.com into our itineraries. It's a handy web- based application that I can put together all of our travel information into one place. Now the group can access all of the travel info, so they don't have to ask me questions. Also, it's proven to be really handy for me when I book rooms: I can see if I've made any mistakes. I do...

Date: March 11, 2009 3:10 PM Topic: Home Again; Working on upcoming shows Got a busy calendar for March, though not making much money. In-store appearance at a CC's Coffee House in Lafayette on Sunday. A SXSW appearance at the Continental Club in Austin on Thursday night. A show at McGee's Landing in Henderson on Saturday. Leaving for the 'West Coast Tour' on the 29th. I'm still working out the details for all of the above. It just isn't easy to coordinate all of our dates with the promotional dates and vice versa. I'll manage.

Tour is done, officially over. The Lyric Theatre was a nice venue, well attended. Scott Fore was there and showed us the DPA mics he's been raving about since the NAMM show in January. We ate at a nice vegetarian restaurant and ran into fans, as well as Arlo Gutherie's daughter Sara. We left the hotel at 9:30 this morning. No one was late! It was a beautiful drive over the mountains from Blacksburg to Greensboro. It took 2.5 hours. We were at the GSO AP right at 12:30. After checking in, the band had lunch and beers at the airport. All flights today seem to be ontime. Now looking forward to the promotional appearances and then the West Coast trip at the end of the month.

After a semi day off, we played well at Wolf Trap. The Barns were sold out, and there were lots of dancers on the floor. After the show we made our usual stop at the Amphora, better than usual, I think. Today's a long drive to Blacksburg, about 4.5 hrs. We just had lunch at an Iranian restaurant. It was good, and I enjoyed hearing Farsi for the first time. Scott Fore is bringing over some new DPA mics for us to try out tonght. He's also going to work on my guitar.

Date: March 5, 2009 7:34 AM Topic: Back at the Vienna Wolf Trap Hotel It's good to be back in Vienna. Two dates left on the tour, and we're all ready to get home on Saturday. The drive down the New Jersey Turnpike was uneventful, but we did hit some traffic near DC on our way to the Peking Duck Restaurant in Alexandria, VA. The food was superb! I also think everyone was happy to have eaten there yesterday rather than for lunch today; I don't think anyone would have had the energy to play music tonight! What an experience. The weather is moderating, though it's 22 degrees now. I think the high today will be in the 50s. Enough of the cold. I'm starting to work up the West Coast tour at the end of the month. Lots of logistics involved.

WNYC was good. Afterwards we had lunch at Roswell's: lamb rolls w/ saag and rice. Joe's Pub was ok though it was an ordeal as usual. We were joined by Ros & Jim Weider, and it was a good show. Pilott was happy, everyone was happy, and I was glad when it was all over; finger was hurting really badlly. Today's travel today: Vienna, VA, to Wolf Trap. Two gigs left. So far so good, along the NJ Turnpike. Lots of cars as usual. Might have Peking Duck tonight.

Got lost on the backroads! Now almost to I-78. Haven't heard about status of radio show but looking dimmer as the minutes tick by. Moderate to heavy snow, and heading right into more.

Date: March 1, 2009 7:51 AM Topic: Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, NY Last night's show was a double-bill with Marcia Ball. We had guests: Roswell Rudd and Andy Stein. Those guys are awesome! Roswell's going to be with us on Monday in the studio, and he and his wife Verna have invited us over to there house after the show. Today we're driving to Sellersville, PA in 'wintry' conditions. It's either going to snow or it's going to ice. I'll send updates.