Road Notes 2002

Ho ho ho, Four Shadow shadowers! The gifts are wrapped, the Chex mix is made, and we're done for the rest of 2002. That means vacation! We're scattering across the country this holiday season, from Bakersfield to Buckfield, and points in between.

Kevin's headin out to Californy to spend time with his family and dote on his two little nieces. Marty's spending time with his family in Wisconsin, cooling his heels from his first three months with the group (probably wondering what he's got himself into... we love ya, Mart-dawg). Drew's goin to see the rest of the Tullar clan down in Iowa, for a Christmas full of family cheer and random acts of construction. And Stacy (he says, speaking about himself in third person for no apparent reason) will also be heading down to the Hawkeye state for Christmas, then out to Maine for New Years. I'd tell you who I'm spending New Years with, but I don't want anyone to get jealous, so I won't even mention Amy's name. It's safer that way.

Once 2003 is here, not only will we be writing the wrong year on our checks for a month and a half, but we'll also start working on a brand new album!! That's right! Brand new!! And I even wrote it in bold type!! And I underlined it!! As you can tell, we're fairly excited. We haven't decided on a name for it yet, but stay tuned for details.

From all of us to all of you, have a corker of a Christmas, and a nifty New Year!

So, I suppose there are those of you out there wondering how the group is doing since Marty started doing shows with us. I'm happy to say that things are going well. He's learning the music, of course, but more importantly he's connecting with the audience and having a good time.

We're preparing for another tour out east - one we're greatly anticipating because we get to see great fans and friends in Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine. And it couldn't be a better time of year to visit; the trees are changing, leaving the countryside bathed in the warm shades of autumn. It's my favorite time of year.

If you're a member of the fanclub you should have received your fall newsletter. We hope you enjoyed learning all about our newest member, Marty, reading Stacy's hilariously inspired Top 5, and my own blathering about the summer wrap-up. If you're not a member of the fan club and you want all that great stuff and more, you can sign up right here online.

That's about it for now. Thanks to all of you who visit the site, keep tabs on us, listen to our music, and come to our shows!

Hey all,

This has been one heck of a summer, no?

It has culminated in some of the most fun gigs we have had in a long time. First of all, we must give a huge shout out to the people who saw us at the Minnesota State Fair. That was an awesome engagement. The sound was great, the stage was great, the days were great. Even the weather held off for our shows, which was something of a feat. Many members of Four Shadow's family came to see us, including Drew's, Stacy's, Karl's and my families. Some fun was had by all of them, so that was great.

More recently, we went up to New York Mills for a cool show up there, with Blue Jupiter opening for us. That was a treat... they have really come a long way in a short time, and we are excited for them! Thanks to them, and to all the fine people who came out to support Minnesota a cappella.

Now we are rehearsing with Marty daily, and those sessions are going incredibly well. For anyone out there wondering about our new sound... do not fear, Marty's here! And he's got a pretty voice that you won't want to miss. And have you checked out those biceps? Whoo! Oh LAWD! So, although we will miss Karl in more ways than one, I truly believe that the best is yet to come for Four Shadow.

So check our calendar, see when we're coming to town, and make a date to see the last dates of Karl's tenure, or try to see us with the new line-up. We'll have some fun!

kevin

Last night we did two shows at the Ogemaw County Fair in central MI. Wanna know where in the state that is? Do it how the locals do: hold up your left hand (palm away from you, or right hand palm facing you) and point to the first knuckle of your index finger. That's where we are.

The shows were lots of fun, and the crowd was great. I'll admit I had my doubts going in there - any time our gigs start with "your show is over there in the livestock pavillion" I worry a bit. But this time at least there were no animals actually present for the show. (Ask me about that fair in TX we did in the livestock arena in '95. Wow.) Anyhow, last night was cool.

Now we're driving through dense fog to Ann Arbor to run some errands on our way to Indy for the IN state fair this weekend. New guy Marty is along on this trip, learning the ropes and watching the shows and manning the sales table and carrying our luggage and stuff like that. What a great guy.

That's the latest. See you on the road.

We're in the middle of our stay at the Porter Co. fair in Valparaiso, IN. It's a great county fair; one that would rival some state fairs. We began our 5 day run here by helping out with the Porter Co. fair queen contest, playing the role of MC for the everning and it was a lot of fun. We always enjoy helping out with those. I wonder, maybe it's the joy of being on stage, or perhaps it's the knowledge that we're doing something to help, or could it be all the pretty girls? Hmmmm, we may never know.

Last night's headline performance at the grandstand was none other than the world famous Village People - no kidding. It's great that they're still getting work. What's better is that they stayed in our hotel (apparently there's no YMCA in Valpo). Stacy came back to the room last night and said, "I just rode in the elevator with the Village Pelple." They must've come right from their show because he said they were still in uniform. How great is that!? I wish I'd been there.

So stay tuned for more exciting Four Shadow advetures, and perhaps more village people sightings - although Karl and I saw them checking out of the hotel this morning while we were having breakfast, so I wouldn't hold your breath. Take care.

Drew

We drove across South Dakota. ALL THE WAY across South Dakota. And believe you me, there is a lot of South Dakota to drive across. The gig in Rapid City, SD, was in fact an indoor gig, but along the way at various gas stations and fast food joints, when necessity compelled us to actually leave the air-conditioned van, we would find ourselves sprinting across blistering tarmac through an oppressive, lung-scorching, shoe-melting, eyeball-boiling heat, the likes of which mortal beings have never known. Heat that curls the ends of your hair, heat that burns your thoughts, heat that settles on your chest like a flaming tabbycat. People living on the surface of the sun looked down that day and said, "Wow, sure is hot in South Dakota."

So we go to Independence, Iowa, for the Fourth of July. It's the Midwest, the farming center of the country, where food is grown in vast quantities. Surely, surely, the weather has to be a little more hospitable there, right? But no, it's hot there too. How can you grow food in that kind of heat? Great googly moogly, I'm FROM Iowa and I don't know how they do it.

And you think we can get any kind of break from summer at home? Minnesota is supposed to be a frigid tundra, a snowy wasteland, a year-long battle against the elements with temperatures averaging in the low negative hundreds (mostly windchill). BUT NO!! It's hot here too!!

Please write your local congressional representative and ask them to do something about this heat. And don't think they can't do it, either. They're powerful, powerful people, in touch with the spirits of the earth and sky. They know how to make it cooler. But Big Air Conditioning has some strong lobbyists in Washington. So the struggle goes on.

I think I should go lie down.

We're on our way to Atlanta today for a corporate show - they are flying us down, so that saves us a few days' drive. It could only be nicer if there was a limo waiting and a little sign with our name on it. Oh well.

It's been a busy couple weeks and only gets busier from here on out. Last week we did our annual summer show in Sister Bay, WI - always a favorite of ours. Though the weather forced us inside (first time in something like 7 years), lots of folks came to see us and packed the place to the rafters. Speaking of rafters, the next day I headed to CO for a friend's wedding and also had my first whitewater rafting trip. What a blast!

The day I got back from CO we hit the road again, back to Rushville, IN for the county fair. Hopefully the fair queen(s) will come through and send us some pictures for us to share with you. A fun show and good crowd, plus good food too. Who could ask for anything more?

And then a few hours at home before we headed out for Atlanta. There, now you're up to speed on our week.

In case you're ever in the Atlanta airport, check out the giant fire ants scurrying through the ceiling by baggage claim number 3. Pretty creepy!

Stay tuned for more frequent road notes. No, seriously. We mean it this time...

hey all,

this is kevin checking in from the road, letting you know that life is good, and we are happy to be singing again after some time off in the studio, getting the live album finished, and some other fun stuff done.

Tonight we sang at the Ripowam-Cisqua fundraiser preview, and we had a blast. the theme was King Arthur's Court, and the atmosphere was very medieval, and very fun. What with the food on a stick, i was very at home.

I also want to give a strong shout out to the great folks at Blue Mountain School district in Schuylkill Haven, PA, where we spent the better part of this week singing for kids there.

Of all the school residencies i have ever been involved with , this was far an away the best organized, most energetically received, and most fun. I have never seen a school district take to the arts with such a passion as the Blue Mountain School district did. At the Elementary school, we saw hallways dressed up as store fronts, celebrating the decades that we were singing about in our show. There were dress-up days at the elementary and middle schools, and there was even a book compiled about Four Shadow, so that teachers had background on us, and could taylor their week's lesson plans to the theme of our Trip Through Time.

In my humble opinion, teachers who "get" how important arts are in the schools are real winners. Blue Mountain has this philosophy well in hand, and with the help of fantastic administrators, cool teachers, and great kids, there was no shortage of fun all week long.

Special thanks to the whole team of volunteers at the Blue Mountain Arts organization who brought us in, treated us so nicely, and were just generally very cool. We love you all, and can't wait to see you again in the fall!

peace.

Karl has informed me that it's my turn to write up a road notes. I'm sure, like many of the rest of you, he noticed that we aren't technically on the road for, like, over three weeks. This makes it a little harder to write an actual Road Notes. So I've had to be a little creative. Therefore I dub this installment theFour Shadow HOME NOTES! Somehow that just doesn't sound as impressive. But here we are just the same right? So go with me on this. It'll be a lot easier for all of us...and I'll find a way to repay Karl for this taxing assignment.

Being at home is much like being on the road except for a few things. If I leave my apartment for a little while, it isn't magically cleaned when I return. Fresh towels? I don't think so. And don't even get me started on the lack of a decent continental breakfast.

If I look out the window of the van while we're driving to the next gig at, say, 10 AM and then look again at , oh I don't know 10:07, there's a good chance the view will change. If I look out the front window of my apartment at 10 and again at 10:07, well you get my point. Obviously there's the whole "not going anywhere" thing, but once you get over this and a few other small details it's really rather nice.

Now that we're home for a few days we have time to get some work done. Kevin took the tracks we selected for the live album in to be mastered today. Karl and I took some things to our graphic artist yesterday so they can begin the CD and album cover design. And in just a few short minutes we'll be having one of our bi-monthly business meetings where we discuss real grown-up sounding things like budget, upcoming projects, business goals, and heavy stuff like that. So wish me luck, I'm going to motion that we hire a new 5th member. Someone who can clean, wash towels, and cook a mean continental breakfast. I'll let you know how that turns out.

I hope you've enjoyed the first ever epistle of the Four Shadow HOME NOTES!I'll work on the title. And remember, we may not be touring but just because I'm not coming to sing for you, doesn't mean you can't come to my house and sing for me. Actually, why don't you visit Karl instead. I can tell you where he lives.

What a week!

First, you have to put yourself at the end of Stacy's last (awesome) road notes, in which you found us workin' for a livin' up in Little Falls.

Now fast forward to the drive home, then the beautiful crash into bed, and then the horrifying alarm - three hours later - at 4 AM! That's when I got up to set fires on the lawn. No, not set fire TO the lawn, fires ON the lawn. See, Sarah and I got a new doggie, and we had to build a fence for her. But the frozen Minnesota ground had made it impooossible to dig holes for the fence posts. In fact, it wasn't "ground" so much as fivr inches of Arctic Circle, Siberia-style Tundra/Perma-frost. So it was recommended that we pile charcoal on the ground, and set fires where we wanted the post holes to be!

So I did.

In the process of building this meisterwerk of carpentry, i also did two things to myself which have hindered my enjoyment of the dog, and life in general: 1)n gave myself the flu by standing outside for nine straight hours in sub freezing temperatures while working up a sweat without a jacket on, and 2) broke my wrist using the devil's own two-cycle power auger (for hole drilling).

So, over the course of the week, the flu started getting better while my wrist kept geteting worse, so I finally made a visit to the emergency room yesterday (my first since i was a kid, and sliced my hand open on the ski slopes in Upstate New York,) in order that the nice people at Abbot Northwestern could immobilize my right arm with a splint the size of Kansas.

Today i go to complete my week of incredible stupidity, by voluntarily having two perfectly good wisdom teeth pulled, kicking and screaming from my head. It just goes to show ya, give a poor guy health coverage, and watch his decision making go down the toilet. Ah, well, at least the flu's gone.

Happy health, everyone.

ps i just typed this whole thing with my left hand, so forgive any mistakes i may haave missed!

Howdy, all. And that means you. How have you been? How's the family? How's work goin?... ANSWER ME!! Oh wait, you're only reading this. I grin sheepishly.

So the life of a musician is an easy one, you say? Musicians don't work as much as regular people, you say? Gas is too expensive, you say? (Actually, that last one wasn't really relevant, but hey, say what you want, I guess... oh wait, you're only reading this...) Well, for the most part, you're right. Butlers bring us exquisitely-prepared food on silver platters, as we lounge poolside at our spacious three-hundred-bedroom mansion on the coast. UPS drops off sackfuls of money at our door, and servants dutifully haul them down to the vault.

Okay, that stuff I just typed at the end there? Lies, I tell you, all lies! It's hard work! All of it! Never a moment's rest!

Take last Friday. Our day started with a 7:00 a.m. drive (which meant, of course, that I had to be awake at 5:00 a.m., just to meet the guys uptown, because I live in Venezuela [the northern part]), and at nine in the morning, we arrived in Little Falls, MN.

First order of business: choir workshop. We spent a class period with the high school choir and a grateful stage crew, answering questions and singing songs (which, for all of us except Karl, is quite the chore at nine in the morning). After the workshop, we hopped back in the van and motored on out to the Little Falls radio station, KLTF, for a quick on-air appearance. Then back in the van, and back to the school, where we played our favorite game of all, Set-Up, or, as I like to call it, Let's Take All The Stuff Out Of The Trailer And Put It In This Big Building Over Here. (First one with a hernia wins!)

Then followed two shows, each a combination of performance and Q&A, for the elementary, middle school, and junior high kids of Little Falls. Two packed houses of cheering, enthusiastic school kids would have been a full day by itself, but it wasn't over yet. After a couple hours off (long enough to catch a movie in our dressing room, anyway), we grabbed some supper (or dinner, if you prefer) downtown at the Black and White Cafe. Then back to the school auditorium, where we did another quick soundcheck, and met our opening act, an awesome foursome of high school seniors called Soup de Jour.

Into our gig clothes and to the wings, where we listened to Soup de Jour rev up the crowd. Then onto the stage, for seventy-five minutes of brutal precision, impeccable harmonizing, and mind-blowing vocal pyrotechnics. Well, it was pretty darn good, at any rate. Run off the stage... run back on, 'cause they just won't stop clapping, sing some more, run off again, head out to the lobby, where we meet and greet and sign and, uh, shine (hey, it rhymed). Photos and thanks and congratulations and more thanks (from us too, it was a great crowd), then back into the auditorium for our second favorite game, Tear-Down, or, as we like to call it, Hey Remember When We Took All That Stuff From The Trailer And Put It All In This Big Building, That Was Awesome, Now Let's Put It All Back. It's fun, really, next time you see us, just ask and we'll let you play. :)

A final good-bye to our most excellent host, Shane, and our friends and fans, old and new, and then back into the van and homeward bound. We got back into the Cities a little after midnight, capping off what turned out to be a thoroughly exhausting (and fun) seventeen-hour workday.

So you see, sometimes we musicians work pretty darn hard. Remember that, when you start thinking that the musician's life is all easy and relaxing.

Of course, that was the only day we worked that week... but that's beside the point...

stacy

Happy new year, friends and fan-types. We were a bit cold singing the outdoor finale set in Columbia, MO for New Years Eve, but First Night Columbia was a blast again this year. And a whopping 9 degrees - that's 9 degrees warmer than last year, I guess we shouldn't complain.

Last week we showcased at the Wisconsin and Michigan Fairs conventions, so hopefully that will net us some pretty sweet county fair shows for the coming summer. We've already been invited back to some of our favorite fairs in Indiana in July, so keep your eye on the website calendar - I'll be adding lots of summer dates in the next month or so.

January in Minnesota has been warmer than usual - the snow only stays around for weeks instead of months - but that doesn't mean we are outside rolling around in it. In fact, we are heading south to Georgia next week to bask in the sun. (And since I love basking in the sun, I am taking a little side trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before Georgia. So Georgia may seem a bit chilly. Hee hee.)

So a happy and exciting new year to all of you from all of us here at Four Shadow. It will be a big year, let's have some fun. See you out on the road.