baby baby baby baby
Hello from the early hours,
Last night I fell asleep at 5 pm and then again at 9 pm. I don’t have the exact stats due to Oura ring battery issues but I think it’s safe to assume I achieved double-digit-hour’s sleep when all was said and done. Having a night like that then waking in the wee hours of the morning and having about half a cup of coffee, that feeling is literally heaven on earth to me. If it was a drug, I’d be addicted. They should sell it as a supplement. I would advertise it on this blog. Anyways! I feel amazing and rested and clearheaded for the first time in weeks. A lot has happened since the last time I updated and I’m excited to recount the last 10 days or so.
Last week I attended Americanafest and it was a total blast. I was surrounded by most of my favorite people. I barely slept just because there was too many conversations that needed to be had. I ate at Audrey and Joyland. I saw Alynda sing “Buffalo” for the first time. I saw my bandmates + Brad play some of the Manning Fireworks hits with Jake at the Anti- showcase. We sang “Right Back to It” at the Ryman as a part of the awards ceremony and although we didn’t win our award, it was, as they say, an honor to be nominated. Highlights of the week include eating Cook Out at 2 am with the fam and attending a semi-fancy party at which Allison took out a ballpoint pen and gave everyone knuckle tattoos of her choosing. (Mine said “BRAD”, Ellie’s said “BASS” and “SLAY”, you get the idea). It reminded me of something she’d do when we were 19 and I, sober as a judge, absolutely loved it.
I flew from Nashville to Chicago where I was greeted by about 20 record flippers claiming to be huge fans who’d seemingly bought cheap airline tickets and tracked me down right at my gate. It was very scary and I’d love to remind my fans not to buy my signature on eBay. People often go to extreme and nefarious lengths to obtain something I’d love to just give you for free if I see you on the street. I know they did this to a lot of other artists performing at Riot Fest, too. It’s pretty exploitative to me and to you so please understand that if you do approach me with a stack of albums to sign, I’m really only able to sign one. That’s all I’ll say about that experience for now but it was very intense and scared the hell out of me.
Riot Fest was otherwise really fun. We ended up playing in Bright Eyes’ time slot which was a big task and also a bit of a letdown as I was really looking forward to their set. I dedicated “Right Back to It” to Conor and have been sending lots of good energy his way. I remember sending him “Lonestar Lake” when it was just a twinkle in my eye (demo) & got some encouragement from him. He really is one of the greats and I’ve been loving Five Dice, All Threes. We played at the exact same time as Pavement which was best case scenario music to hear in between our songs. I bid my band and crew farewell for what will be the longest stretch since the start of the year which is sad! We’ve had so much fun but I think everyone is welcoming a little breather.
I landed in New York Sunday night and went almost immediately to the Odeon with Liam and Shaad followed by a sports bar around the corner where I took a ramshackle stab at explaining the rules of American football to them. The next two nights I attended the Babies reunion shows which were nothing short of perfect. Those songs are very nostalgic of course, just in the way that anything 10+ years old is, but it was honestly so special to appreciate how singular and special they are/were. I’m famously attached to 25% of that band but what people may not know is that when the Babies were active I’d say Kev was the member I knew the least! We played 2 shows together (one in Utrecht, one in Brooklyn) and I once sold Swearin’ merch next to Kevin selling Babies merch and offered to sell a shirt for $10 to compete with him selling one for $15. It was December, 2012, Philadelphia, PA, and it was the moment I met Kevin Morby. It wouldn’t have happened without the Babies!
I could write 5 chapters in a book about Kevin but I think today I want to speak a little about Cassie Ramone because seeing her play this past week kicked up a lot of feelings I have about her as an artist and a cultural figure. I patiently await the Cassie renaissance and I believe it may be upon us with the release of her solo album a couple of months ago. When I was about 18 or 19, there was truly no one on earth I thought was cooler than Cassie. She was singing, playing, writing songs, dressing, acting in ways that were totally unique and hugely influential. The Vivian Girls caught an inordinate amount of misogynistic shrapnel by way of anonymous Brooklyn Vegan comments and Vice culture (someone make a doc about it!!) and I really hold them as these, like, Joan of Arc-type figures in early 00s/10s indie rock. They were idiosyncratic and punk but the whole thing was so nonchalant at the same time. Effortlessly cool. Lightning in a bottle. It was truly amazing to get to see Cassie getting to do that again, as someone who once totally idolized her and respects her impact so much. I could talk about it a lot more!! For now, though, go listen to Our House on the Hill or the s/t Vivian Girls album.
That’s really about it! I have a little bit of downtime and Intermezzo just showed up in the mail. 448 pages of new, unread Sally Rooney prose. I’m giddy at the thought. Shaad hipped me to my friend Bowen Yang’s New Yorker piece & there’s really not a word one could call it other than iconic. They don’t make profiles like that anymore, as Shaad said. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t yet.
That’s about all! Big updates! Love y’all. Here are some photos.
XOXO,
KC