Flashback photos: April 20th, 2007 in Oklahoma City

In April of 2007 I was on a tour through the south (by southwest), which included shows in IA, MO, AR, TX, OK, and KS.  Exactly four years ago today, I was in OKC...

spent the morning driving up from Texas, and I must have been amused by the back of this semi-trailer 

 Oklahoma State Capitol

The Blue Moon on Paseo closed shortly after I played there, but it was a pretty cool venue on the second floor of this building. 

The Paseo, a cool little artsy district in OK City. 

shared the show that night with Judson Layne, a really great songwriter from OKC.  Check him out at his myspace page.

And yes, it was 4/20, stupid stoner's holiday, then too (obvs.).  I remember crashing that night at some house somehow associated with the venue, and trying to sleep while people in the next room giggled and satisfied their munchies.  Thanks for the memories, OKC.

Oh yea, and I think there may have been, like, five people in the audience at this show.  Still, a fun night.

Album Released For Digital Download

I am pleased to announce that the new album, Ghost Towns, is now available for digital download at johnstatz.bandcamp.com for $10, or $1 per individual track. Along with the download, you will receive all artwork, and can read all of the lyrics and track information at the bandcamp site.

The physical album is currently available at the shows I am playing in Alaska right now, and will be available at the CD Release Show in Madison on August 12th and for order online at that time as well.

Also, I'm giving you two great reasons to keep checking this blog in the coming weeks. First of all, I am currently touring Alaska (in Fairbanks at the moment), and will be posting pictures and commentary as I travel along, as I have for past tours. In addition, I am going to try and post a little bit about every song on the new album, giving you some insight into my inspiration and providing the lyrics.

Thank you for your continued support and interest, these are exciting times!

John

Planning Alaska

In a little over a month, I will be headed back to Alaska for a tour and a wedding, with twice the amount of shows that I played last year. I spent my afternoon today sending out posters to the venues, contacting the Alaskan press, and planning my travel arrangements, which, I must say, are pretty crazy. Now if you've followed this blog in the past, you'll know that I have had some pretty crazy travel connections, especially when training and busing it all over Europe, but I think that this trip will take the cake.

For your amusement, my itinerary:

Wed., July 21st -

Drive four hours from Madison, WI to Minneapolis, MN to fly out from there. Why not just fly from Madison, or closer cities such as Milwaukee or Chicago? Well I was using frequent flyer miles, and for some reason it was way cheaper and affordable totally using miles when flying out of Minneapolis.

That day's flight schedule: Minneapolis -> Detroit -> Anchorage -> Fairbanks

Thurs., July 22nd - performing at the College Coffeehouse in Fairbanks

Fri., July 23rd - playing a House Concert in Fairbanks

Sat., July 24th -

catching the 8am train from Fairbanks to Denali Nat'l Park, where I am opening a show that night at the Denali Salmon Bake, an Alaskan institution. Here I am also meeting up with some friends who I will travel back to Anchorage with.

Sun., July 25th - driving down to Eagle River (outside of Anchorage) for a 3pm matinee show at the Alaska Fine Arts Academy, and then down to Girdwood (south of Anchorage) for an evening show at the Silvertip Bar & Grill.

Monday-Wednesday morning - hanging out in and around Anchorage with my friends

Wed., July 28th - flying down to Juneau from Anchorage (Ted Stevens Int'l Airport), meeting my friend Chris for a drink, and then catching a midnight ferry to Haines...

Thurs., July 29th - hopping off the ferry bright and early in Haines, hopefully crashing for a couple of hours, and then performing at the Southeast Alaska State Fair at 2pm. After enjoying the fair for a few hours, I have to hope another high-speed ferry around 7pm to Skagway, where I am performing that night at the Skagway Brewing Co.

*As a sidenote, the State Fair folks said that there might be room on the VIP plane which is flying festival headliners from Juneau to Haines. I am greatly hoping for this option, as it will not mean a sleepless night on the ferry.

Fri., July 30th - getting back on an early morning ferry to Juneau for...

Friday and Saturday - Wedding Festivities!!!

My good friend from high school, Chris, is marrying a lovely gal from Juneau, and I am one of the groomsmen in the wedding. So once I step off the ferry, Friday will be spent doing the rehearsal dinner and such, and then Saturday will be the wedding. I'm really looking forward to what I am positive will be a beautiful wedding and night to remember.

Sun., August 1st - hanging out in Juneau, and then playing that night in town at the Alaskan Hotel, the last show of my Alaskan tour.

Mon., August 2nd - a 6am flight home... Juneau -> Seattle -> Minneapolis, and then a 4 hour drive home.

So lets recap on the modes of transportation on this trip:

Car -> Plane -> Train -> Care -> Plane -> Ferry -> Plane -> Car

Crazy, awesome, fun-ness. I will sleep for a week afterwards, but it will be well worth it.

Alaska Tour '10 - Dates Posted

picture from last year's Alaska Tour, May 2009

Dates have been officially posted to www.johnstatz.com and www.reverbnation.com/johnstatz for the summer Alaska tour, but for your convenience, I'll post them here as well:

July 22nd - College Coffeehouse, Fairbanks, AK @ 8pm ($5)

July 23rd - House Concert, Fairbanks, AK

July 24th - Denali Salmon Bake, Denali Nat'l Park, AK @ 9pm ($5) *opening for The Cooks + Salmon Bake's 26th Anniversary Party*

July 25th - Alaska Fine Arts Academy, Eagle River, AK @ 3pm ($10)

July 29th - Southeast Alaska State Fair, Haines, AK @ TBA

August 1st - Alaskan Hotel & Bar, Juneau, AK @ 9pm


In between those tour dates, I'll be vising my good buddy Matthew in Anchorage and standing up in a wedding in Juneau for an old friend. This tour will involve some crazy combinations of transportation, including planes, cars, and even a ferry or two. Can't wait!

Tour Opener: Ljubljana, Slovenia

The family is all back in the U.S. and the tour has begun.  Here are some pictures from my first tour stop in Ljubljana, Slovenia.



I arrived at Ljubljana right after/during a major blizzard, so this was the scene outside my hostel.  Notice the graffiti filled wall.  There is a lot of graffiti all over Ljubljana, and this is one of the things I love most about this city.  There isn't so much to see here in the way of history or major landmarks, but the town is very pleasant looking and the graffiti everywhere is awesome.


An abandoned bicycle factory, called Rog, where I played later that night.  People actually live here, and they are called squatters because they refuse to leave even though it is illegal for them to be there.  They have created a recording studio, music venue, art space, and many living quarters inside this old factory.


Ljubljana's main town square.  See what I mean?  Very charming!


Town square at night!


This one is daytime.  Just kidding.

Euro Tour 2010

So I am currently working on my second European Tour, which I will be embarking on in January of 2010. Just like last time (Jan./Feb. '09), it will be just me, my guitar, and my backpack, riding the rails and buses of Europe. Unlike last time, this will be more business than pleasure, and I will probably spend a shorter amount of time in each city. Cities that I know I will hit for sure are Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Ljubljana, and Parma, all cities that I played the last time through. I also plan to hit Germany this time, as well as hopefully Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, and I already know that I will be starting in Rome, so I will be trying to get a gig there and in other Italian cities along the way.

If you are currently living in any of these parts of Europe, have lived there in the past, or have close friends or family there, I would appeal to you for any help you can give in the way of finding gigs. Booking shows in foreign countries is a daunting task for this folksinger, as language barriers and a lack of experience over there often get in the way. By help, I mean that if you have any information on venues that I should play, please send them my way, and if you have any interest in hosting a house concert in your home let me know. I played a wonderful house concert in Prague last time, and would love to do more. Just send me an email to johnstatz@johnstatz.com and I can give you more information on house concerts.

Also in the works for 2010: A tour to the west/southwest in March, for sure including stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and everywhere in between, as well as a tour to Alaska in July.

Now back to work for me!

Slacking on Tour Posts

Alright, wow, I haven't updated this thing since Vermont, and I am now in... Indiana. I suck, sorry about that guys. I forgot the cable that connects my camera to my computer, so I haven't been able to upload any new photos. I thought that I would give you a quick update as to some of the highlights of the tour since Vermont, as we've been a lot of places since.

Highlight Reel:

Becket, MA - The Dreamaway Lodge is a sweet old speakeasy lodge in backwoods Berkshires, great listening crowd, until some kids started banging on drums and tambourines, but still fun. Nice bunkhouse out back, a very relaxing stop on the tour.

Cambridge, MA - turned out to be a competitive open mic at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Jeremiah won! He is now the King of Boston.

New York, NY - Spent 4 lovely days and nights in the big apple, one night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in New Jersey (NOT ideal), best show was at An Beal Bocht Cafe in the Bronx, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, drank too much whiskey.

Asbury Park, NJ - spent 2 days playing in Bruce Springsteen's hometown, nice boardwalk, tasty clams, spent one night with my friend Sarah Donner and her awesome husband, wonderful hosts! played a gig with Shania Twain's guitarist. camped the second night in the middle of nowhere New Jersey (didn't know such places existed) in the Pine Barrens, simply beautiful.

Wilmington, DE - played at Mojo 13, crazy clown joint, my mom's awesome cousin Jeff drove all the way from North Carolina and picked up his daughter Heather to see the show! amazing! crashed with my awesome songwriter buddy Kyle Swartzwelder, a hit machine.

Pittsburgh, PA - played at "Pittsburgh's No. 1 Polish Party House" and ate pierogies, Bruce "The Man", couchsurfer extraordinaire put us up last minute and was a most gracious host. Jeremiah ran into a guy who's guitar he tried to drunkenly play years ago in Winona.

Thomas, WV - beautiful West Virginia, so nice, so many waterfalls. played to a full room at the Purple Fiddle, amazing listening crowd, easily one of the best shows of the tour. drank some mountain moonshine, yum!

Cleveland, OH - played one of my favorite venues, chatted with one of my favorite venue owners, Martin the Man! Martin's daughter Jenna is a super sweet heart, and decorated our tip jar all swell. drove to Columbus, OH afterwards for some "nightlife"

and now we are in Terre Haute, IN! Only two more shows left and then home! I'll get some pics posted soon after I get home, until then, stay rad bloggo-world,

John

Ottawa

We take a two-lane highway from Toronto to Ottawa rather than the big "interstate-like" one, and it was a beautiful drive. It felt very much like driving through northern Wisconsin. We pulled over at this rest area next to a lake and I snapped a few photos to show how much it looks like any northwoods lake.

Our gig in Ottawa was pretty good, and pretty uneventful. We played at a Soviet-enthusiast bar owned by a Russian expatriate called the Avant-Garde Bar. It was pretty standard as far as Tuesday nights go, which usually means quiet and laid back. Our couchsurfing host Rene couldn't have been more fun and welcoming, and hung out before, during and after our gig. He has a fine knowledge of Quebec beers!

Parliament! We had to see the "capitol" of Canada before moving on. A truly magnificent building.

THE tour photo. Conquerors of Canada! Evaders of the Border Patrol! Criminals.

Mounty!

Ottawa lies on the banks of the Ottawa River (go figure), which separates Ontario from Quebec. Across the river in Quebec is the city of Gatineau. This is looking upstream at more of Ottawa.

August Tour - Chicago, Michigan, and the Border Crossing

Our first gig of the tour was in Chicago at Uncommon Ground. Jeremiah is pictured tearing up the guitar and harmonica. Not pictured: the melting faces of the audience.

On our way to Canada we played a stop in Hastings, Michigan. We found this tumble-down shack in a state park just outside of town.

The bridge we went over to get to Canada, and were sent back over...

Here comes the fun part of the story. Our entry, or rather, attempted entry into Canada at Port Huron, MI. See, as a musician, you technically need a work visa to perform in Canada. This costs $150 a person and takes a buttload of paperwork, and you can still be denied a visa if the Canadian government deems you "not big enough." Therefore, Jeremiah and I decided to simply cross the border pretending to be tourists with minimal gear. We thought it would be a breeze. It wasn't.

The lady at the entry gate did not believe our story, which included visiting friends in Toronto and road-tripping through on our way to Maine (which is actually true, just half-true). She sent us over to customs who proceeded to thoroughly search my mini-van. I'm pretty sure they were searching for drugs, which we did not have. What they did find was all of our merchandise and a poster with all of our tour dates listed on it, which we had stupidly left in the van. That paved the way for a visit with immigration, who slapped a sheet of paper in front of us informing us that if we continued to mis-represent we could be fined up to $100,000 and banned from Canada. Needless to say, our story stopped there and we fessed up. We were allowed to withdraw our application to enter Canada, and were sent back across the bridge to the U.S. Ironically, though American border guards are usually thought of as hard-asses, they were far nicer than the Canadians. When we showed them the paper saying we had been denied entry, they inquired, and upon learning it was simply due to trying to play some gigs in Canada, their responses were simple, "wow, thats it? sorry dudes."

Now I don't blame Canadian border guards for doing their job, and I know that we were trying to break the rules. It is a bit ridiculous, however, that two d.i.y musicians attempting to play 5 small shows in Canada should be intimidated and made to feel like criminals. We were not trying to smuggle drugs into the country, only music. We would probably only be making a couple of hundred Canadian dollars, and spend most of it in Canada.

There seems to be something wrong with a policy that does not allow the easy exchange of culture between two neighboring countries that get along so well. I understand that the law is the result of Canadian musicians' unions lobbying due to the American side making it harder on them first. I can totally understand that if Canadians have a hard time playing in the states, which is pretty much a necessity for their careers, they wouldn't want us Americans to be able to easily take their jobs up in Canada. Can't we do something on both sides of the border to make the exchange of musical ideas a bit easier? I am convinced that multi-national corporations get into Canada easier than musicians.

Anyways, keep reading, because there is a silver lining!

After the failure to cross in Port Huron we drove down to Detroit hopping to get some help at the Canadian consulate there and perhaps get in legally this time. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and the consulate was closed, so we had a night to kill in Detroit before attempting the next day. This also meant that we had to cancel the first gig in Canada, at Mitzi's Sister that night in Toronto.

We got a hotel room so that we could feel like humans again after the day's shitty turn of events. Amazingly, you can get a 3 and a half star hotel room in Detroit for $50. Damn that city is hurting. We were able to drink some beers on the roof of our hotel and soon loosened up.

Our last gig in Canada was to be the International Folk Festival in Quebec City, and that was our most official, coveted date. We enlisted their aid the next morning and they were able to get us the paperwork to file for a work visa. The paperwork was faxed to our hotel, and was entirely in French, so I could only understand a small part of it. We headed down to the Canadian consulate only to find that it was closed due to a Canadian "civic holiday". Application in hand we decided, what the hell, lets give this a shot.

Driving through the tunnel under the river and into Canada I was sure we would be turned away again. I was sure that our passports were blacklisted and we would be swiftly denied entry, once again. As we talked to the initial border guard in the booth, she asked us why we had both been denied the day before, and once again sent us to customs. This is where our fortune changed, the guards at Windsor were much more helpful and friendly.

The customs officer asked to search the vehicle, and Jeremiah immediately showed him the cd's, accounting for all 300 of them and providing information on how much we sell them for. Though they can easily charge a tax on merchandise like that, the customs officer simply said we were fine and waved us on to immigration. I handed our visa application to the lady at the immigration counter, and informed her that it was all in French so I wasn't too sure what it all meant. She said that she could not read French either, and did not even look at it. She inquired briefly about our incident the day before, and then simply stamped our customs sheet and ok'd our entry into Canada. Jeremiah and I were both stunned, as we were sure we would not get in and would have to cancel all of our shows. Luck was with us, and we celebrated heavily as we left Windsor behind us and hit the road to Toronto...

Tour Starts Tomorrow

Playing one last show in Madison tonight (8pm @ the Brink Lounge) and then I will be off, spending 24 hours a day, every day for 3 and a half weeks with THIS guy, fellow Madison songwriter and best bud Jeremiah Nelson. Stay tuned.

Press Release for the US/Canada Tour

Here is the press release as it was sent to the media:

John Statz + Jeremiah Nelson Canadian/US Tour Announcement

Wisconsin songwriters John Statz and Jeremiah Nelson will be kicking off their co-billed 3 week Canadian and Eastern US tour this month including a stop at The International Folk Festival in Quebec, as well as Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, NYC and pile of other shows (see schedule at links below). Back in January John hopped the pond to play some shows around eastern Europe and recorded a batch of new tunes in Budapest with local players. The results are stellar new sound... (Hungarian Americana?). He's offering a free download of "Jackson Hole". Jeremiah has been assembling a catalog of new tunes and gigging constantly the last year. He'll be breaking in some of the new material on the road as well as promoting "Take Me Down the Interstate", his 2008 release. Download "Spaceships" free.

links/downloads:

http://myspace.com/johnstatz
http://myspace.com/jeremiahnelsonmusic

New Album - Recording Tomorrow Night in Madison

For you Madison folks/Wisconsin folks/anyone else that felt like making a road trip this Friday, the live recording, full band show that was scheduled this Friday for the Cafe Montmartre is now being held at the Brink Lounge due to the unfortunate closing of the previous venue. The show will start at 9pm, and will be recorded for the new album, "John Statz & the Cheap Shots" , which will feature almost entirely new material. The cover charge is $8, and also playing are Chicago's fantastic Cameron McGill & What Army, and my good pal Jeremiah Nelson with his band, the Shifty Switches. Hope you can make it out!

Thanks to Rich Albertoni for the great article in the July 10th, 2009 edition of the Isthmus! Here is an excerpt:

"Since returning to the Madison area in 2006, Statz has built one of the most rigorous tour schedules of any Madison musician. This year, he'll be on the road at out-of-state destinations for more than four months. Later this summer, he'll embark on a four-week tour of Canada and the northeastern United States.

A double major in music and history at UW-Oshkosh, Statz frequently uses historical themes in his songwriting. With song titles like "Best Girl of '16" and "Letters from Southeast Asia," Statz sometimes takes on the persona of a war soldier in his compositions."

Read the whole article and interview here.

Falling behind...

So I've been terrible at keeping this blog updated lately, shame on me.

I want to get the rest of the European travel pictures posted before I head to Alaska in early May so that I can live blog that tour. In an effort to do that, I am going to neglect actual posts about my tour out west in March, and just post links to the Facebook albums instead. For you viewing enjoyment:

Part 1
Part 2

And I promise that I will get the pictures from Italy up this week.

Ciao!

What I've Been Up To on the Road...

So I know that I still have a few more posts to finish up from the Europe Trip, but I thought that you might like to see what I've been up to on my month-long Spring Tour out west. I am currently in Los Angeles, and heading up to San Francisco today, but here are some pictures from where I've been so far...The first stop was Chicago, and I got to share a show with some good friends of mine, Flame Shark. We did a radio spot at WNUR before the show, and the picture above shows Justin Jahnke of FS and myself preparing to infiltrate the Chicago radio waves.

Driving through Kansas I decided it was time for a clean-up, so I shaved off most of my facial hair and got a haircut in Emporia, KS. It was the longest haircut of my life, the old guy used only scissors, but he did a bad-ass job.

Palo Duro Canyon outside of Amarillo, TX. I stopped for a bit of hiking on my way through, as my brother and I had enjoyed this canyon last summer on tour. I believe that it is the 2nd largest canyon in the U.S. after the Grand Canyon.

I spent a weekend playing shows in New Mexico: at a roadhouse in Madrid and then a house concert in Placitas. DeeDee (pictured above) and her mom were kind enough to put me up for the weekend as couchsurfing hosts, and they threw one hell of a house concert/party on Saturday night. Here is DeeDee modeling a Mexican wrestling mask AND a John Statz t-shirt. Yes, we both ended up with masks (see my Facebook profile picture).

The house concert in Placitas, NM. I really had a good time and met tons of fun people. Thanks DeeDee and Michelle!