Pattern Is Movement

Last week, Pattern is Movement played the Brooklyn Bowl w/ The...

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:19:00 -0400

Last week, Pattern is Movement played the Brooklyn Bowl w/ The Roots. The universe saw it fit to bring both Questlove and myself into the same room and, to not stop there, had us play together on the same stage. The whole Roots band backed us up for both Beyonce’s Crazy in Love and D’Angelo’s How Does it Feel. It was quite a magical night. The proof is in my dropping 3 STICKS in the middle of the song. I was just so excited.

A hot sweaty mess in West Philly — this Friday.

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:41:23 -0400

A hot sweaty mess in West Philly — this Friday.

A very brief, but wonderful sounding, cover of Beyonce’s...

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:12:48 -0400

A very brief, but wonderful sounding, cover of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love while we in Quebec City last week.

Finish line.

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:59:32 -0400

As the sun came up, we loaded into the studio across the river from Philadelphia. A brutal week of show-and-go with sparse sleep wrapped up hours before at Union Hall. Before that, there were shows in Virginia and North Carolina and South Carolina and Jackson and before that, we said goodbye to St. Vincent..and just like that, a whole tour stretched behind us. A parade of friends and new faces and theaters and gas stations and trouble-shooting setting up tearing down that all felt so long and epic in the moment was secretly flying by. What an awesome, ferocious path with an awesome finish line.

Speaking personally, it was really an incredible pleasure and honor and learning experience to get to be on this tour, and it led me to quite a few new incredible friends and certainly opened my eyes to a touring element that I had not yet experienced. I’m going back to Tennessee tomorrow, bruised and sore and totally satisfied. Andrew and Chris are a pretty serious testament to hard work and focus. If you and your band work half as hard as they do, you will probably go crazy and quit and never speak again. Good thing PiM are such strong dudes. And to see such strong dudes get out-hustled every single day by our soundgirl, Alicia Blake (domino, to you)…wow. Tour Managing a set of people like that leaves very little extra work.

Thanks are also due, I think, to the invisible part of team PiM. Sara at HomeTapes and Christine Sanely and the people at Team Clermont and Andrew Skikne worked so hard for us, every single day, to make sure this tour was a huge success. And I think they succeeded with flying colors. I hope they agree and are proud of their effort.

Finally, I think we all especially want to thank Billy, Anthony, Evan, Daniel, and Annie for having us along on their trip around America. Touring with St.Vincent was fun and easy, and they always seemed so glad to have us there. Our friends are truly on their way and it was so nice to be right there to watch them do it. The crew was no less welcoming. Domino and I learned so much by watching Dana manage and do sound, and she was always so nice and eager to show us stuff.

So, that’s that. PiM stay here in Philadelphia for a bit. Domino and I fly out tomorrow, her to Seattle and myself to Knoxville. If you read this blog, thanks. I was really glad that they asked me to write it. Sorry if it lapsed from time to time, but I was usually finding unchilled bottled water for Andrew or finding Chris’s red bag. If you want more blog posts next time, take the password off of your wireless, Americans.

Domino, thanks for sleeping on the floor with me everywhere.

Chris, thanks for whipping my back and making me better at this stuff.

Andrew, thanks for reading us that werewolf erotica.

bearforce-1 has landed.

wil wright

p.s. Ace demands to be mentioned. There it was, bam.

St. Vincent performing, ‘Your Lips are Red’ with...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:39:07 -0400

St. Vincent performing, ‘Your Lips are Red’ with some PIM help at our last show of the tour in Austin, TX. Watch carefully! We miss Annie and the crew dearly.

Hate to see you go.

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:47:21 -0400

Well, that was awesome.

Last night, we said goodbye to our dear, dear friends in St. Vincent. Our final show with them was in Austin the night before, but last night, they were nice enough to invite us out to watch the taping of their Austin City Limits performance, and then a little viewing party afterwards. It was a perfect way to end an amazing journey. Of course, it felt too soon, but I suspect it would feel too soon no matter when it came to an end.

Our (and your) next chance to see them will be on June 24th, when they play some television show called “Letterman”.

Now, we’re in Mississippi for the first show of our week of touring home. This trip is running out of miles. It feels like a lifetime since we started, but also feels so very premature. We owe thanks to all of you who came and saw us and loved us and took care of us along the way. This has been the trip of a lifetime.

ww/pim

Andrew and his two oldest, in Athens (photo by Maura)

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:38:12 -0400

Andrew and his two oldest, in Athens (photo by Maura)

the wind up and where we wound up.

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:28:00 -0400

The decadently humid Southern states have finally smiled at us, giving us 2 absolutely incredible shows in a row. Last night, Birmingham really set the woods on fire for us, packing The Bottle Tree.

…speaking of which….attention American venues! If you plan to host touring bands at your club, and have them leave happier than they showed up, I advise that you make a holy journey to Birmingham and see the backstage at The Bottle Tree. The main room has food, chairs that massage your back, free classic arcade games, and decorations like somebody is throwing a hula-themed graduation party. Then, if you walk through a tunnel to the back, there is a tiny courtyard with pool furniture and GOLDEN GRAVEL. In that courtyard there are two tiny airline mobile homes! 1 PER BAND. OUR OWN LITTLE MOBILE HOME, SURROUNDED BY GOLD. Good luck, American venues. We are anxious to see what you have to challenge with.

We’re heading on to Hot Springs, Arkansas now. I have such a hard time believing that Hot Springs exists. Tomorrow, it’s Texas…the finish line. Only 2 more shows with Annie and the boys. My eyes get hot just THINKING about it.

L’sigh,

ww/pim

Our time in the south can best be illustrated by Andrew’s...

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:28:00 -0400

Our time in the south can best be illustrated by Andrew’s new friend, Waffle House waitress he called “K”. I bought 15 Waffle House themed songs on the jukebox while she told us stories of late-night perverts, asked us if our trip was a “post graduation soiree, and grimaced at a baby-lion figurine that somebody left her as a tip. True travel magic. (photo by Andrew)

That's when things really headed south..

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:18:18 -0400

I know, I know. A relapse in letting the blog lapse.

I remember a time when I couldn’t escape all of the wireless internet options, but somehow (perhaps the furious pace of this tour), I have found neither a wireless option when there was time to post, nor a time to post when there was a wireless option.

AMERICA: NO MORE WIRELESS PASSWORDS.

So, HELLO! We are in day three of our three days in Georgia. So far in Georgia, we have had two incredible shows, one at the 40watt in Athens and last night at The Early in the ATL. Today we are off, and it is already 1:30. Where does the time go?

Our dance through the south also included 2 days in my home state, TN. It was beautiful, it was weird, it was humid. Just like I left it. We took a night off of the St.V tour to drive from Nashville to Knoxville, where Pattern played with my band, Senryu (senryu.bandcamp.com). It was a sloppy, loud, awesome night. Knoxville truly loves Pattern, even when Bonnaroo steals most of the city away.

Tomorrow, we turn West (again) and continue our descent into summer heat and the deeper south. Here we come, B’ham.

ww/pim

"I looked at the stage and you were there. Then, when I looked again, you were gone. Then you were..."

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:55:28 -0400

“I looked at the stage and you were there. Then, when I looked again, you were gone. Then you were back. You’re a ninja drummer.”

- a pleased member of tonight’s audience in Lexington, Ky. Chris’s disappearing act (apparently) really brought the house to it’s knees.

there are crazy people everywhere.

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:52:00 -0400

Hello from some hotel.

The more we get our stride, in performance and in group chemistry, the more crazy shit that America seems to throw at us. Tonight, we played at the Southgate House in Newport, Ky (just across the river from Cincinnati). While manning the merch area, a ~~dumbass who yelled through both bands~~ slick looking dude (who I have never ever spoken to before) staggers up to me…touches his face a few times, and then lets this go:

“funny side-note…funny side-note……I’m a butler at the Playboy mansion in LA. Well, they have….there are these ice cubes….there are little lights inside the ice cubes. I was in Santa Monica partying with my friend….we were partying….anyways, I lied and said that I invented light-up ice….light-up ice cubes.”

I asked “did you sell any cubes?”

He looked very confused. “No, man. I was just lying to impress some girls. chicks. I was lying to chicks.”

it’s good to be back in the south,

“go on wit yo blind ass” said the lady at...

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:45:32 -0400

“go on wit yo blind ass” said the lady at Weiner’s Circle in Chicago to Chris. “What the fuck do you want, nerd?” said the lady to ww. Amazing. (photo by Andrew)

Somebody in Rock Island made a slight modification to our name.

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:43:22 -0400

Somebody in Rock Island made a slight modification to our name.

Pattern Is Movement plays “Peach Trees” at...

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:35:39 -0400

Pattern Is Movement plays “Peach Trees” at Denver’s Bluebird Theater. Enjoy the drums.

The breathtaking Pabst Theater (photo by Andrew)

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:30:10 -0400

The breathtaking Pabst Theater (photo by Andrew)

PiM drops the hammer during a live session on radioK at the...

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:26:00 -0400

PiM drops the hammer during a live session on radioK at the University of Minnesota. (photo by ww)

Domino was reunited with her lost daughter at a midwest gas...

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:25:08 -0400

Domino was reunited with her lost daughter at a midwest gas station. Andrew seems to be choking baby Domino. (photo by Andrew)

We run and run

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:21:22 -0400

hey y’all. We’re in Milwaukee.

Tonight, we were dumbstruck upon arriving at the Pabst Theater, here in sunshiney Wisconsin. We have played at some true palaces on this tour. I guess it was a shock, because obviously, my first thought of Pabst has very little to do with underground fun bunkers for bands or crystal chandaliers. When we arrived at the theater, I went downstairs just in time to see a truly fierce game of St. Vincent foozeball (it was, I believe, Anthony and Daniel vs. Evan and Annie). Later in the evening, I watched Dana (st.V’s unstoppable, fantastic tour manager) walk her slinky down one of the beautiful staircases. It was just that kind of night. Nothing but fun and beauty, for us and for our audience.

We had a fun stop in Omaha yesterday. The Slowdown is in the stripsterest of all hipmalls, wedged among the American Apparel store, the Urban Outfitter, etc. Because of so many options, Omaha was looking predictably hot.

We’re really racing now. Every day (even tomorrow’s off day) are a dawn to dusk, high-intensity endeavor, and we’re having the time of our lives.

see you when we get there.

ww/pim

The beardless half of the Bearforce (photo by Andrew)

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:22:32 -0400

The beardless half of the Bearforce (photo by Andrew)