Thoughts Going Into The Last Show

Greetings my people,

I write this from Pittsburgh where the last show of the tour is about to go down in a few hours.  I have some time and some random thoughts going through my head, so I figured I’d share them with you.

The last show of the tour is always a bittersweet end -  I’m always happy to return home, but I feel like we were just getting into the swing of things on tour with the live show and the hustle muscle was starting to get on swole.

Photo by Keo 101

I’m happy that my voice has held up through the entire tour.  As anyone will tell you I’m a pretty loud guy, and prolly even more so when I’m in the hands of a different sound guy I’m uncomfortable with.  For the most part, all the sound guys have been cool though, so that’s been a blessing.

As much as I sometimes feel alone in this world and on my journey doing something like a tour makes me see the interconnectedness of it all, so I gotta give some shouts.

Aaron Biggs, CEO of United States of Mind

For one, A. Biggs has been with me every step of the way, and we had some tough steps.  We crashed at a rest stop and it was like 5 degrees outside, but we eventually made it to destination even though we were frozen. lol.

All the artists that we have performed with on this tour have been dope (well for the most part, but I’m gonna focus on the positive. lol).  One of the benefits of being on the road is being exposed to how hip hop is doing in other areas.  We traded CD’s with many artists and it was their music that carried us from city to city.  I will try to do some more in depth posts on these artists in the upcoming months.

All the lonely bars and venues that were kind enough to have us out.  As we are still a relatively unknown act, a venue is taking a chance on us.  It is my hope that we did the work that was needed to build a market in your city.  You taking a risk on us was not in vain.

The people that put us up in each city.  In some places, we have people that have been holding us down since forever, but in other places it is somebody that is meeting us for the first time that is putting us up.  I write this from the comfort of a new friend’s place right now.  If these people only knew what shelter and a hot shower means to us when we’re on the road.

Nate Bentley, Director of Hip Hop Radio Promotion at Tinderbox Music

Nate over at Tinderbox Music.  He has been working our record and we found out that we just debuted at #13 on the CMJ charts for hip hop.  As we often feel like that tree in the unpopulated forest, it is like Nate has been meeting with some developers and they might start building a condo there or something.  We might fall, but at least someone will hear the sound. lol.

Of course, the biggest shout goes to the people.  Yeah that means you.  If you came out to a show, bought a cd or shirt, or let somebody know about us words can’t describe the appreciation.  Some of you crowds were harder to turn than others but I hope you know I gave it my all every night.  I hope we can continue to build in the future.  If you wanna contact me directly the email is hiphopismysoul (at) gmail so never hesitate.  In a minute my people.

April 23, 2011
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Field Trip Journal: Just Warming Up

Hello all,

D. Allie here. My apologies as it’s been along time…I shouldn’t of left you….without a strong blog to step to.  Meant to write you sooner but the days have been long and I haven’t been on the net long enough to write one.  I don’t have a lot of time now so I’ll give you guys the broad strokes.  If you want any specifics just hit the comments and I’ll chime in.

The tour has been a great experience so far.  There have been ups and downs as with anything but me and the homie A. Biggs have persevered and adapted to the change ups well.  It seems as if something has gone wrong on the technical side in every other city, but I’m starting to think it becomes a better show as we improvise around the bumps in the road.  For instance, in Chi on Sat the microphones went out, but the space had great acoustics so I gathered everyone in a circle and performed my set from the middle of the circle with no microphone.  My voice is still recovering but the energy was great.

For the first leg of the tour we had Doc Illingsworth along for the ride.  He was a great travel mate and was able to open up every show with a live PA set where he showcased his beats (which you need to hear if you haven’t).  This always provided a great base and got people in the mood to hear my music.  He stopped off in the Chi so he will be missed as we embark on the rest of the tour.  Here’s Doc doing his thing below.

Doc doing his thing at the Artist Central Exchange in Chi

 

The artists we have performed with in each city have been dope for the most part and I look forward to building with them in the future.  Last night in River Falls was a great time as all the artists on the bill were on different tours and each of us were going to different towns the next night.  Mad shouts go out to Duece Ellis and DJ Tiger.  The stage show put on by these dudes is phenomenal, and they are on their heavy grind.

Shouts go out to Phrym8.  Besides being dope in his own right he was the man who brought so many dope artists together last night.  Check for him on the battle circuit as well.  Believe he has a grindtime battle coming up in Denver soon.

Also rocked with Pseudo Slang.  I’ve always heard a lot about these two gentlemen and it was a pleasure seeing them grace the stage.  I get why I hear so much about them now.

Props to Ecid who I was thoroughly impressed by as well on the stage tip and after finding out he produces his own ish as well I was even more impressed.

I gotta get to the venue in Milwaukee and handle set up, sound check, etc.  I will try to keep you updated as we travel more.  I’m trying to stay up on my twitter game so feel free to follow in real time @dallie.  Until next time.

April 15, 2011
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