Thor Tour: On the Road with Thor & Friends

A Tour Diary of Sorts…

Thor mini-tour itinerary

5-11-24: After wrapping up a steady stream of Texas gigs, I’m excited to be heading out on a mini-tour with Thor & Friends in the northeast. I’m coming at you, NYC, upstate NY, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. It will be nice to briefly escape the oncoming Texas heat, along with some other fringe benefits — a short catch-up with my family in Boston, collaborating with my old Black Before Red bandmate Kevin Schneider (not to mention the legendary Sara La Puerta), seeing old friends along the tour route, and playing great music, of course!

5-13-24: Following a 3.5-hour flight that turned into a 12-hour trek, I’m safe-and-sound in Boston. Well, safe, sick and sound, having picked up some bronchial bug in my travels, sigh (at least it’s not Covid). Resting up so that I might be well enough to take the train into NYC tomorrow for the first gig. Like most people, I HATE being sick and forced to slow down, though I suppose it could be way worse, with me being someplace where I didn’t have family members doting on me lovingly. The extra time with family is an unexpected gift, so I’ll choose to focus on that. This too shall pass.

5-14-24: Argh… traveling is not in the cards today. I sent my regrets to Thor and the team, who encouraged me to rest up and simply catch up whenever I’m well enough. So sorry to miss some awesome friends attending that show (hey Sadie Powers!), but I’ve got to get this cough under control, and avoid sharing it with my beloved musical peeps.

Worcester-bound!

5-15-24: Feeling quite a bit better today. Arguably well enough to make it to the Catskill show, but I decided one more day of rest would be wise. Napping away much of the day, taking plenty of hot showers to steam out the gunk, and gearing up to catch up with the tour in Worcester tomorrow.

5-16-24: Aside from a lingering cough, I’m pretty much back to 100%, or at least 90%. My nephew and niece dropped me off at the train station, and I began the journey out to Worcester. Meeting me at the Worcester platform was my old HS classmate and drummer, Jon Burton, with whom I enjoyed a nice catch-up meal at the charmingly old-school Wonder Bar. Jon then dropped me off at the venue, the aptly named Firehouse, a cool arts space housed within — you guessed it — an old fire house built in 1901. After loading in, Thor, Kevin, Gem and I enjoyed the Suspended Cymbals installation designed by Firehouse curator Caleb Chase.

Jon Burton sighting in the wild!

After grabbing a little falafel and catchup time with Thor & Kevin (the latter of whom I’d not seen since we played the Goldthwaite Music Festival back in 2018), we settled in for the show. Kicking things off was Yoona Kim, a cool duet performing on koras. This was followed by our tour mates, hour, whose gentle instrumentals remind me of what the Velvet Underground might have sounded like had John Cale won a fistfight with Lou Reed and wrested control of the outfit’s musical direction. Thor & Friends closed out the evening, and instead of moving Hour’s gear off the stage, we kept them in place and invited their lovely musicians to play along with us. The reactive interplay always present within T&F always takes interesting transformations whenever others are introduced to the mix. Hour brought a beautiful sheen to the entire set, and it was a treat to play with their beautiful musicians.

5-18-24: Still moving a little bit slowly, but I did NOT want to miss the final top on the tour: Keene New Hampshire’s Thing in the Spring. I’ve admired this annual festival from afar, and have been impressed with the roster of artists they the organization presents. This year’s bill would be headlined by drone metal legends Earth, and there was no way I was going to miss that!

As I rolled into Keene, I was struck by the fact that this would be my first performance there since I opened for the Lemonheads years ago at Keene State College, and that it would also be my first NH show since the early 00’s (my oh my. how the time flies). The pretty college town looked much the way I remembered it, and the memories came flooding back while I unloaded my gear for soundcheck.

Hanging with a few friends at the Thing in the Spring in Keene, NH

Once again, we’d be augmented by Hour (who would play just before us on the bill), and we’d be additionally fortified by our fantastic bill mates Jessica Pavone String Ensemble. When it came time to take the stage, the ensemble began with a slow simmer and built the energy until everyone was firing on all cylinders. It was agreed by everyone in Thor & Friends that it was our best performance of the tour, and a memorable one in the annals of Thor performance history. The crowd was beautifully receptive and attentive, and I was all the more happy that I made this long journey from home to be here.

5-19-24: A slow recuperation day back in Boston. I’m still moving a bit slowly and coughing out the remnants of my bronchial bout, slowly packing and getting in some final family time before flying back to the 1-2-3 punch of a Tetractys: Here Be Monsters world premiere, an Unwound Sound showcase featuring Anuj Bhutani (LA) and Albert Yeh (San Francisco), and then assistant conducting at Victoria Bach Festival.

The tour may be finished, but the work fun never ends!