Upstate NY: Tour Day 1

Yesterday we woke at The Moon and River Cafe. It is a cozy, artsy restaurant and music venue in the Historic Section of Schenectady. I asked Richard, the owner of the cafe, what the name meant and he said “It means skin, neck and titty” and we laughed and then he said, “just kidding, It means, ‘beautiful place on the other side of the pine forests’ in Mohawk”. I had wondered what it meant since we rolled into town yesterday and thought that I could never live in a place that didn’t have a cute name, which was kind of a bummer because it seems pretty quaint and friendly here. Guess that’s how it goes sometimes...

The name of our car is "The Peace-mobile" because it has a big blue peace-sign magnet that we purchased after our show last night at Moon and River.

It was so much fun to play in Schenectady..Great crowd, awesome musical line-up, yummy veg food. Opening the night was local guitarist/songwriter Tom Mercoglan who performed a stirring version of Eddie Vedder's "Society". Tom was accompanied by Leen on the Irish Bodhran. We also enjoyed playing with Anna Dagmar who I (Liah) had met a couple months ago at the ASCAP songwriting EXPO in Los Angeles. She is a wonderful piano player and songwriter and we jammed on a couple tunes with her. Hope to play with her again soon.

Hightlights from Tour Day 1:
-walking around the river in the Historic section of town, doing yoga with Kelly and petting dogs.
-Visiting the YWCA and learning about the challenges facing the women of the community here. We want to organize a show for the shelter. More on that in a future blog.
-rockin out and meeting new friends:)

Can't wait to see what else is in store..next stop: Rochester, NY



Here are some movies that Richard "the owner of moon and river" reccomended we all see:

-Dog Fight (1991) Winner of Sundance Film Festival. Set in 1963, America distilled into two people... A young marine recruit meets a young woman who thinks folk music can change the world.

-Rocket Science (2007) About a kid who stutters and his struggles with life and love.