PicoBlog

We’ve been driving a lot lately. Since I’ve last written here, I’ve turned 30 (christened with an incredible gathering thanks to Sima and Lia) - taken an airplane to LA- traveled up the coast and partially back down- eaten fresh jackfruit for the first time (certified delicious)- seen numerous beautiful mountains- driven underneath 3 rainbows arched low over the road- saw the spinal column of a deer (?) picked clean- and nearly finished the west coast portion of my March MS solo tour. It feels good and it feels like a lot! Treefort tonight and then we drive back to LA and fly to Chicago.

Touring always feels like a portal to me- I’ve been doing it for almost half of my life. I started touring in bands when I was 17, and it has been a lifelong journey towards figuring out how to make it physically and emotionally sustainable. I used to view touring as an aberration from my personal life, and for a while that worked! It was and is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of travel and meeting new people and seeing live music every single night. However, I felt myself getting more and more stretched thin, and the arbitrary lines I was drawing between life on tour and life at home became messy and unstable. As I took space from it and as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that tour should be less of a departure, and more of a continuation of my own life. If I don’t take care of my self and my relationships and my life in a way similar to how I would if I were home, I will inevitably burn out in a very short period of time. This realization has been huge for me, and pushed me towards caring for myself and therefore those around me more on the road. It is still hard to achieve but at least now I know what to strive for. I love tour, and I also love being home. Holding these two things at the same time feels contradictory in my brain, but because they are both true, it means I need to take care of myself in a way that enables them to continue existing in whatever I am doing.

Content alert below for BONES !!!!

Watching Lia’s set every night has been really inspiring. It is so powerful to witness Lia harness patience and intention with the sounds and collages that she creates. It helped me to feel empowered in my own set, and it made me feel eager and excited to explore those pathways in my own sounds. Space is good. Space is necessary.

I don’t have any recommendations this time- been a bit too deep in logistics and planning and life! I’ll have some stuff for you in my next post, I promise :)

Got some fun projects and shows coming up: here’s what I got for the next few months. Bolding some new ones that I haven’t mentioned here yet. (and more to come that I will announce soon!)

3.28 - Chicago, IL - Fundraiser for Brandon Johnson at Empty Bottle (Brandon for Mayor!!) tickets are sliding scale
3.30 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light for Big Ears Fest (FREE SHOW!)
3.31 - Knoxville, TN - playing violin with Makaya McCraven at Big Ears
4.1 - Knoxville, TN - playing keys/violin/voice with The Weather Station at Big Ears
4.8 - Chicago, IL - Constellation 10 year anniversary
4.30 - Chicago, IL - Hungry brain - 2nd set quartet with Tim Daisy, Josh Berman, and Erez Dessel
6.1 - Chicago, IL - Harris Theater - Superbloom (A collaborative piece between Finom, The Seldoms, and Jackie Kazarian)

And then I head back out to Europe with Kevin Morby :)

Thank you as always for reading. I really like writing in Substack- it feels both therapeutic and exciting and a more authentic way to share information this way. I love to share and I love to make.

-MS

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