Fiddy Cent and the Pumpkin Patch
Jennifer O’Connor Tour Diary, Entry #1
Wed, Oct 18, 2006
Jennifer O’Connor
Hello People! Welcome to the Jennifer O’Connor Tour Diary written by me, Jennifer O’Connor.
I just put out a new album a couple of months ago on Matador Records called Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars and I’m in the midst of some major full-band tour action — in September I was with Mason Jennings, right now I’m with Portastatic, and soon I’ll join Mountain Goats.
This afternoon itinerary included a radio interview/performance at George Washington University, a lounge session at a nearby park and a purchase of a discounted 50 Cent biography at a going-out-of-business Tower Records. I’m currently sitting backstage at the Black Cat in DC where we await soundcheck, dinner, and the eventual show.
This will be our seventh show in eight days with Portastatic, but it feels like the tour is just beginning. I think it’s because the first five shows were so close to NYC (where we’re based). It should be noted that I am completely alone right now. This is a very rare thing for a person on tour. Everyone in my band is out walking around, or eating, or scoring drugs. Just kidding about the drugs… I think.
Jon (my drummer) and I both got new cameras to document our activities over the next few weeks. Here’s a photo of us trying to figure out how to use them:
Last night we played in Charlottesville VA. It rained a lot, again. It’s been raining a lot during this tour come to think of it. But Portastatic totally brought the rock as they tend to do on a nightly basis. Here’s some proof of that:
Lastly, I will leave you with a photo of some pumpkins we saw today in Virginia:
More soon,
-JO’C
Comments
jennifer! have some ideas for you…
for covers: pretenders ‘up the neck’, x ‘adult books’, american music club ‘big night’, and tom petty ‘here comes my girl’.
for halloween: the who, the germs, superchunk, abba.
good luck on the road! xo samhain
Comment by samhain from nyc — October 20, 2006 @ 10:32 am
Jennifer,
I first saw you guys open for Jeff Tweedy in Raleigh so i was excited when I saw you were playing in Mt. Pleasant. Great show last night. As for Halloween ideas..you can never go wrong with KISS.
Comment by Gomez from Charleston,SC — October 21, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
Oh yeah I added one of your songs on my blog. Hope that’s okay.
http://cobrakaineverdies.blogspot.com/
Comment by Gomez from Charleston, SC — October 21, 2006 @ 8:30 pm
you kicked my arse in durham on thursday. unbelievable show all around. me and my friend were zoning in on your guitar player and he was on fire, like a man possessed. does he have out of body experiences on a nightly basis? if so, do you have room in your van so i can witness this?
seriously, your band (plus margaret white) were awesome. and then portastatic rocked my face off. i’m sorry that the durham/chapel hill/ triangle crowd was so lame. for all the great bands we have here, we have some of the worst audiences. even though i am in debt and hadn’t heard a single note of your music before the show, i now will go out and buy your discography.
i just have a few questions. if i were to bring a minidisc recorder to your show in Greensboro, can i get a line out of the soundboard (if i promise never to sell the recording and i show proof that i bought all of your albums)? will you have the same guitarist for the show in greensboro? will ms. white be with you in greensboro? and finally, can you play “the thought of you” in greensboro?
that’s a lot to ask, i know. i apologize for my embarrasing amount of enthusiasm.
Comment by cotafloata from chapel thrill — October 22, 2006 @ 9:10 am
ok, scratch that last question section. i just noticed you cancelled greensboro. that ruins my year. enter new question:
when’s the next time you’ll be playing in NC?
Comment by cotafloata — October 22, 2006 @ 9:26 am
jennifer, i love your music. i had a sister who fell ill a year ago and your music definitely connects with all the feelings i felt. thank you for sharing!
question for you: with you writing on the Portastatic blog, the Matador blog and now this…do you wanna be a writer some day? (i mean, you are already obviously…but you know what i mean.)
Comment by hot_cakes from chicago — October 26, 2006 @ 2:36 pm