On tour with Death Cab for Cutie
When Magnolia walked into her first arena venue she did not want to talk to anyone. We tried our best to get her to say hi to the band and crew but she got shy. We were a little overwhelmed too. This place was meant for hockey games. And here we are with Death Cab, a band we've know for seven years. We watched them play at Bottom of the Hill to 300 people. We went on tour with them three years ago on their first bus tour. We were eating sushi one night with Ben and his girlfriend when we first announced we were pregnant. We watched them go from being this respected indie band to superstars. And you know what? They are still the best band ever. They know how to treat an opening band and they know how to put on a show in an arena. Magnolia had to take her naps in the dressing rooms backstage, so we brought a little mattress for her and put a "shhh, Magnolia is sleeping" sign on the door. The Death Cab crew gave her her own dressing room after a few nights. By the end of tour, Magnolia started pounding it out with the boys. Every rock kid should know how to give knuckles.
On tour with the Starlight Mints
We're heading out for a three-week tour with Starlight Mints. Magnolia can't wait to do sound check and play Daddy's drums. She also loves Ryan, our sound guy, and has informed us she will be playing hide-and-seek
with him every night. The best part is: the Mints have a daughter, Penny, who is two. We love that they will have playdates on tour. Sound check used to mark the most annoying hour of time each day. Now, it's Magnolia's time to perform. Mags likes the drums the best, but only if she can sing into a microphone at the same time. She loves sound check. She also loves Penny.
Highlights from the Starlight Mints tour (Boston-Montreal-Ann Arbor-Minneapolis-Philly-Lancaster-New York and a bunch more places in between)
1. Magnolia making best friends with Penny, Marion and Andy's daughter. Gotta love the tour kids.
2. Penny and Magnolia chasing each other for hours, sound-checking with the parents and hiding in the gear cases.
3. Watching Marion dance while the Mints played every night. I have no idea where she gets her energy.
4. Deciding that Lancaster, PA, is eerie. People have a glaze in their eyes there. Not too far from Three Mile Island. Of course, the people at the show were all completely sane and an amazing crowd. But our suspicions about creepy Lancaster were confirmed the next day when that horrible shooting at the Amish school happened. We felt the sadness in the air before anything even happened.
5. Sold out Irving Plaza in NYC for the first time. After playing the Big Apple twenty times in our lifetime as a band, we were stoked.
6. Dancing on stage for that "Woo-hoo" song by the Mints.
7. Okay, this sounds absurd for a highlight but . . . Magnolia threw up for the first time on this tour. Motion sickness in the mountains while driving. Even though it was heartbreaking, it was a lifetime first — a milestone, if you will. We moved her car seat up a row in the car and told her not to watch the trees out the window anymore. Right after she ralphed she said, "I really didn't like that." Smart girl.
8. Jam session in the old rectory-turned-band-housing at the Parish in Pittsburgh. We used the piano and some old, out-of-tune hand drums and world instruments. It ruled.
9. Playing Mafia with everyone on tour. Mafia is our favorite parlor game. You try your best to lie to your friends. You learn a lot about your friends' dark sides.
10. Playing a modified version of Mafia with just Jason and Suzi. We lied to each other and tried to see if we could detect any subtle face movements. You know those people who can detect liars 99% of the time? We're working on that skill. We just took turns lying to each other over and over as Magnolia slept ten feet away.
11. Ryan from the Mints coming on stage during "Running Out" and pretending to play bass. He "plugged-in" to a suitcase.
Minneapolis!
Jason has wanted to play here at First Avenue since he was a young skater boy discovering punk rock and early indie bands. His entire family showed up tonight. Magnolia gets to stay at Grandma and Grandpa
Hammel's house for a few days and play with her cousins. We like staying there too, of course. At the show, I mentioned something about dancing. Before we knew it, thirty-plus people climbed on stage to dance. It was chaos. Just amazing. Those moments playing live are the ones you remember. When people just want to join you, to be a part of it. And even though I worry about chords getting unplugged, and even though I wouldn't welcome it every night, tonight it felt so right.