Post by woolymammoth on Jan 1, 2013 11:32:23 GMT -5
pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9020-guest-list-best-of-2012/2/
Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum
Top Things Done While on Tour (in order, best to less best)
1. Russian Turkish Baths in NYC
The best part of any tour. I love this place and I love the feeling of walking down the street afterward in the late afternoon, still steaming, getting a coffee and sitting and watching the world from the post-sauna perspective, removed and sharp. I have literally planned tours around their schedule.
2. All the swimming we did in 2012
For a while there it was every day, finding out of the way rivers and lakes and holes. Swimmingholes.org is an antique website that came in handy. (sub-list, top swim spots of 2012 (excluding Anacortes): 1. "Clark's Hole" on the north fork of the American River in CA, 2. un-named spot at a bend in the Clark Fork river outside Superior, Montana, 3. un-named spot on a small unknown stream outside Black Mountain, NC, 4. Barton Springs in Austin, TX, 5. Krause Springs in Spicewood, TX, 6. under the railroad trestle on the White River near Bethel, VT, 7. Lake Champlain right in Burlington, VT, 8. cold final dip of the year in the Trinity River near Burnt Ranch in northern CA)
3. Making our own coffee
We travel with some very fine coffee from Olympia Coffee Roasters, plus a hand grinder and a shatterproof french press. Making some excellent joe at a gas station in the Dakotas is a total subversion of the old realities.
4. Everyone having a special mug in the cup holders in the van
Not just for the excellent coffee but also for grapefruit juice, whiskey, weird soup, a place to keep coins, cell phones, water… a talisman of "domestic leisure" while roaming the world in that busy alien mindset that only touring brings.
5. Not listening to music
Music is only good sometimes. Some good alternatives are: "prattling" for as long as possible on any given subject, listening to the audio from Xavier: Renegade Angel or the Big Lebowski, podcasts (Throwing Shade, On Cinema, and My Brother My Brother And Me are some good ones.), ice cold silence.
6. Playing the game "Rate 5 Things"
Someone comes up with 5 unrelated things and everyone has to place them into a hierarchy. It is poetry. Is "wetsuit bootie" better or worse than "3:15 pm"?
7. Shooting a bb gun at cans out behind the dumpster
Having a bb gun on tour is pretty great, except if you have to cross any borders.
8. Record
It has happened a few times that I've found myself in a surprise mid-tour recording session. Recently I got to record for the morning with an artist I admire in a huge way, Tori Kudo of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, in Matsuyama, Japan. Unplanned and chaotic. Recording and touring are totally separate universes for me and it's strange and refreshing when they invade each other momentarily.
9. Superplex Cinema day
Occasionally in bad weather if the drive is short a good thing to do is go to the mall at like 11am and go to the movies for 4 or 5 hours, just wandering around watching previews and snippets from each horrible movie.
10. Eating a fancy meal from time to time
After many days of grocery store food, sitting down for a deliberate, slow, expensive eating time can be the best. You deserve it girl.
Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum
Top Things Done While on Tour (in order, best to less best)
1. Russian Turkish Baths in NYC
The best part of any tour. I love this place and I love the feeling of walking down the street afterward in the late afternoon, still steaming, getting a coffee and sitting and watching the world from the post-sauna perspective, removed and sharp. I have literally planned tours around their schedule.
2. All the swimming we did in 2012
For a while there it was every day, finding out of the way rivers and lakes and holes. Swimmingholes.org is an antique website that came in handy. (sub-list, top swim spots of 2012 (excluding Anacortes): 1. "Clark's Hole" on the north fork of the American River in CA, 2. un-named spot at a bend in the Clark Fork river outside Superior, Montana, 3. un-named spot on a small unknown stream outside Black Mountain, NC, 4. Barton Springs in Austin, TX, 5. Krause Springs in Spicewood, TX, 6. under the railroad trestle on the White River near Bethel, VT, 7. Lake Champlain right in Burlington, VT, 8. cold final dip of the year in the Trinity River near Burnt Ranch in northern CA)
3. Making our own coffee
We travel with some very fine coffee from Olympia Coffee Roasters, plus a hand grinder and a shatterproof french press. Making some excellent joe at a gas station in the Dakotas is a total subversion of the old realities.
4. Everyone having a special mug in the cup holders in the van
Not just for the excellent coffee but also for grapefruit juice, whiskey, weird soup, a place to keep coins, cell phones, water… a talisman of "domestic leisure" while roaming the world in that busy alien mindset that only touring brings.
5. Not listening to music
Music is only good sometimes. Some good alternatives are: "prattling" for as long as possible on any given subject, listening to the audio from Xavier: Renegade Angel or the Big Lebowski, podcasts (Throwing Shade, On Cinema, and My Brother My Brother And Me are some good ones.), ice cold silence.
6. Playing the game "Rate 5 Things"
Someone comes up with 5 unrelated things and everyone has to place them into a hierarchy. It is poetry. Is "wetsuit bootie" better or worse than "3:15 pm"?
7. Shooting a bb gun at cans out behind the dumpster
Having a bb gun on tour is pretty great, except if you have to cross any borders.
8. Record
It has happened a few times that I've found myself in a surprise mid-tour recording session. Recently I got to record for the morning with an artist I admire in a huge way, Tori Kudo of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, in Matsuyama, Japan. Unplanned and chaotic. Recording and touring are totally separate universes for me and it's strange and refreshing when they invade each other momentarily.
9. Superplex Cinema day
Occasionally in bad weather if the drive is short a good thing to do is go to the mall at like 11am and go to the movies for 4 or 5 hours, just wandering around watching previews and snippets from each horrible movie.
10. Eating a fancy meal from time to time
After many days of grocery store food, sitting down for a deliberate, slow, expensive eating time can be the best. You deserve it girl.