Archive for November 2003
Collapsed, Exhausted
Ten minutes after dropping my bags in my Hell’s Kitchen home, cold Saporo in hand, I collapsed on the hardwood floor, exhausted. I am home from my mom’s in suburban Philadelphia. I am home for 72 hours before hitting the road again. Last night’s Livingroom Tour stop was extra-special. My mom accompanied on piano me…
Read MoreOn Mounting Joy (And Misery)
You, dear reader, will recall that I grew up in suburban Philadelphia (the Iowa mythology not withstanding). Valley Forge National Park is just down the hill. As a teenager, it was just a place to get stoned and make out. Now it is refuge from all that is loud, fast, and shallow. I’ve just returned…
Read MoreGiving Thanks
When I was a kid, we used to have this burlap cornucopia banner that came out for Thanksgiving. We would make whatever it was we were thankful for out of felt, construction paper, paste and stuff, and pin it to the banner. Since the internet is the new burlap, I thought I’d do here… I…
Read MoreChapel Hill “Livingroom Tour” Report
Seven nights, seven states, many beers and one corn dog later, the Southern leg of The 2003 Livingroom Tour is complete. No almost about it; I am actually home. I left Lisa’s Chapel Hill apartment at 6 am. It’s 6:22 pm. I just got home. What happens in the car? In those 604 miles? What…
Read MoreRaleigh “Livingroom Tour” Report
A weather front turned the warm summer breeze that has graced this tour to cold last night sometime around my Raleigh performance of ‘Summer’s Gone.’ But the sky is clear and blue this morning, the sun is out, and I’m heading home tomorrow. All is well and right with my world. I’m sitting at Jyl’s…
Read MoreRichmond “Livingroom Tour” Report
I am in the sun-bathed, bay-windowed alcove of 1720 Grove Street in Richmond, Virginia. There is a fifty-foot statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee just a few blocks away. I am well below the Mason-Dixon Line. I am well into the South. The Livingroom Tour is hitting stride. I am finally rested, and hydrated,…
Read MoreWashington, D.C. “Livingroom Tour” Report
I’m on my friends’ Heather and Joe’s back porch in Takoma Park, MD, just a few blocks from the DC border. It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m about half-way through the first leg of the Livingroom Tour. And I can’t even begin to know where to start… I left NYC at dusk on Thursday, still significantly…
Read MoreNew York “Livingroom Tour” Report
The 2003 Benjamin Wagner Livingroom Tour has begun. I will be the Johnny Appleseed of acoustic pop, rockin’ the folk from coast to coast. As long as I end up back here, back home with you. If last night is any indication, I’m in for three weeks of mad fun, followed by three weeks of…
Read MoreT-Minus Forty-Eight
I got 1000 glorious copies of Almost Home in the mail today. So what’d I do to celebrate? Why, head over Control One studios to record three new tunes, of course. Kevin and I bagged three new ones in two hours: “The Rest of My Life,” “Whirlwind,” and “Wishes.” Kev was on fire with a…
Read MoreI Still Love You, New York
I dunno’ if I ever said so outright, but I’d given up on The Music for a minute there. But I’m here to tell you — he said, genuflecting — I believe again. I believe. Yeah, last year was tough. I’d been striving towards a record deal so long, and in such proximity to that…
Read More