Sarah Borges: Diary

Hey all. Rob here. Yes you know me. I’m the guy behind the drums. So
where are we here in this trip. We had a nice day off at our pal Chick’s
place in Charlotte. Did some laundry, ate some Bbq at the Bbq King, caught up
on a lot of logistical junk and had a relaxed, fun show at the Evening Muse. Non
SBBS highlight of the night was seeing the band Bryan Scary and the Shredding
Tears who played the late show there. Mind blowing stuff. They take elements
of Billy the Mountain and maybe some Mr. Bungle and push it even further.
Amazing.
The next morning we were off to Atlanta to play The Earl. Tag Team
opened. Really cool kinda punky kinda garagey stuff. It was great meeting
Matt, an old Bostonian, and talking about all the clubs there that no longer
exist. As usual, it was great to see old friends and make some new ones. (Hope
you didn’t get fired Kari)
Now we're headed back to Black Mountain NC to play the Town Pump.
Road observation: when stopping to get gas and go to the bathroom,
without fail, the next exit always has better stuff than the exit you stop
at.

Hey all. Rob here. Yes you know me. I’m the guy behind the drums. So
where are we here in this trip. We had a nice day off at our pal Chick’s
place in Charlotte. Did some laundry, ate some Bbq at the Bbq King, caught up
on a lot of logistical junk and had relaxed, fun show at the Evening Muse.
Non
SBBS highlight of the night was seeing the band Bryan Scary and the Shredding
Tears who played the late show there. Mind blowing stuff. They take elements
of Billy the Mountain and maybe some Mr. Bungle and push it even further.
Amazing.
The next morning we were off to Atlanta to play The Earl. Tag Team
opened. Really cool kinda punky kinda garagey stuff. It was great meeting
Matt, an old Bostonian, and talking about all the clubs there that no longer
exist. As usual, it was great to see old friends and make some new ones.
(Hope
you didn’t get fired Kari)
Road observation: when stopping to get gas and go to the bathroom,
without fail, the next exit always has better stuff than the exit you stop
at.

Binky here again...
Ahh. We wake to a beautiful day Mar. 2,spring not too far away now. We finally can leave our jackets in the van and soak up some sun. Stop back in to the Ashland for a little breakfast. The morning bagels are delish and the staff is so cool. Now we need to stop at Auto Zone for a quick windshield wiper change. Sarah challenges Rob and I to see who can change them the fastest. She assures us of a great prize. I win this round. Can’t wait to claim my riches. Now we are ready for our trip to Raleigh NC to play the Berkeley Café.

Although this is our 6th time in town, it’s our first show at the Berkeley. Also on the show is the Eilen Jewell Band, we’re happy to have them with us again. Marianne Taylor is promoting the show and as always makes the bands a great dinner that is always a road fave. The Berkeley is a great loud rock club with a rich blues history. The crowd is filled the a lot of old friends and new faces as well. Eilen & co. play another fantastic set. The more I see ‘em the more I love the songs. They do a great version of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” so you know they mean business. We get to visit with people after the show, which always fun. And for a Sunday night we had a great crowd. Thanks to all that came out to the show.

After saying our good byes to Eilen and band out on the sidewalk we head to our friend Mike V’s house to end the night with some music videos and beer. Life is so good. Well we wake up to another beautiful day in NC. And we’re off to Charlotte NC where we have the day off and time to visit with our friend Chick,who always makes Charlotte a blast. We are looking forward to our 2nd time to the Evening Muse. Hope to see you there. ‘Til next time –Love SBBS

In the morning it’s time to head to Ashland VA for our first time at Ashland Coffee & Tea. The Ashland is a good hang coffee shop in the front and music venue in the back. Since VA is one of my home states we are happy to have my Dad, step mom, sister, Uncle Jack and assorted friends there to cheer us on. All in all a great night, lots of great folks at the show. George and Kay have a cool thing going there. If you’re in the area check it out. xo-Binky

*I've decided it's high time the boys in the band let you know what their life on tour is all about, so you'll be seeing them on these pages from time to time --SB*

Hello all-This is Binky (bass). Time for the SBBS x-press to ride again after a short stop at home to record some songs we are on the road again. The first stop is Ocean City MD, where we stop in to WOCM to do some live songs on air. Cool station in a great location. DJ Batman was our host, and he said having us come to play was the most fun he had since judging the best body on the beach contest. Wow! (guess the best body of SBBS was a gimmie). We said our goodbyes and headed to Easton MD for tonight’s show. After a nice ride through the Md. countryside we arrive at the historic Avalon Theater and meet up with the Eilen Jewell Band who is also on the bill. The theater is beautiful and the staff is great. We all had dinner and traded stories aided by some fine refreshments provided by Johnny Sciascia from Eilen’s band.

They played a great set. So much fun, great band, cool people. Our set was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of nice people hanging around after the show. Then it was off to The Tidewater Inn for a little after party with Eilen and the band. After our in-room get together proved to be a little much for the other guests at the inn someone suggested that we may be more comfortable downstairs to the conference room. We agreed and had our party sitting around a 30 ft. conference table --that made the party very official. After some hours of fun we said goodnight, we will be with them again on Sunday in Raleigh NC but for now it’s goodbye. Leap day is fun because it doesn’t really count, so you can do what ever you want. It’s like a free day. Well we made is count this time.

We're en route to Maryland for the start of what we're calling the 'No Snow' tour '08. Seriously. We found every blizzard in America on the last tour. My footwear of choice is now LL Bean. Prepared for every emergency.

We're headed south now and hoping for some sun. We'll end up in Austin at South by Southwest at some point soon, and that's always fun - part band vacation, part 4 shows in three days (check the shows page). We always get to see friends we miss too.

Nothing much to report yet, the first show of this leg of tour is tomorrow at the Avalon Theater in Easton, MD. Our hometown pals Eilen Jewell and her band will be with us for two shows, so we're excited about that. Looking forward to it all.
SB

We're on Interstate 81, going from Pittsburgh to Woodstock, NY. I mentioned in my last diary entry that I'm a big Office fan, so drummer Rob had the great idea to stop and take a picture of the Scranton sign. I know this seems mundane, but there is really nothing else to do on driving days in the van (besides harass each other) so we're making it an event.

We played last night in Pittsburgh, and I guess there was a lunar eclipse while we're onstage. I've never seen one, and I'm bummed that no one mentioned it last night, when I could have done something about it. Everyone's all about it today, so I guess I just missed the boat on that one.

Much thanks to Mark, who tried valiantly to find me some George Dickel whiskey. I love that the Dickel is getting to be a thing, because I am so very fond of it, and there's none to be had in Boston. Thanks also to Melissa and Teresa and everyone at WYEP. I had a ball playing guest dj, and all their good listeners came out to the show.

This tour has been plagued by bad weather, which I guess has been a good distraction from the driving and the not-so-fun parts of tour. It's reassuring that people come out to shows, even in blizzards. I know the music industry is in flux right now, but I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the 100 or so of us who still buy records convened in a dark and dirty club on a Wedensday every so often to watch a live band. As long as that lives on, I feel ok about things.

We're in Milawaukee today, at the beautiful Pabst Theater. It's really a magnificent place, and we're happy to be sharing a bill with Carrie Rodriguez. What we're not happy about is the 14 degree Milwaukee temperature, especially when it's 44 whole degrees in Boston. I'm sure for those of you in the more temperate climes 44 doesn't sound like much, but it is, trust me. It's the difference between full foot freezing and just one toe.

Enough about the weather. I'm just saying.

We played last night in Chicago, Valentine's Day night. We had lots of lovely couples on date night, and we're glad they shared it with us. We tried out a new song, as promised, called 'Me and Your Ghost'. It went off pretty well, and I'll be darned if we wont try it here tonight.

Looking forward to spending time with friends here in Milwaukee, as is always the case in every city we have them in, and I'm still looking to try cheese curds, the Wisconsin delicacy. Someone please let me know how they are. I'm such a huge cheese fan that I don't want to be disappointed.

Off to soundcheck now. This dressing room is beautiful. They have a fruit platter. Sometimes all we get is mold on the walls. More of these please.
SB

The band left Boston yesterday in the snow and freezing rain for a two-legged tour that will take us to Wisconsin, Texas and everything in between. We're in the van en route to Chicago, where our first show is tonight. It's Valentine's Day, so most everyone here is missing someone at home, but luckily we've got cell phones, email and flower deliveries.

FitzGerald's tonight, a club we've played a bunch before. Looking forward to seeing some friends, and also to the amazing hot and sour soup at the Asian restaurant next door to the club. We have some new songs on the table, ones that we laid the groundwork for in practices last week, so we're going to utilize our soundcheck time to work them out and then put them in the set somewhere on these tours. We'll be demo-ing songs when we get back to Boston for a couple of days in a couple of weeks (yup, that's a weird sentence), and we can't wait. Then it's back on the road to Texas and South by Southwest, margaritas and every band in the world in one place. The best part is that by the time we get home at the end of March, it's possible that it could be somewhat spring-like. Or it could just rain Biblicly, as it did two years ago, after which my basement filled with water and Rob's drums nearly floated into the driveway.

I'm currently obsessed with the Office, the American tv show. (I know there's a big debate about which is better, the American or the British version, but I haven't seen the British one yet, so I'm not engaging in that conversation). I spent roughly 3 hours in the Red Roof Inn last night trying to stream the Season 3 finale online. It didn't work. Or, it worked up to The Most Crucial Moment and then it quit. So I feel a bit bummed about that today. Rob tells me that we'll be driving through Scranton next week, and I'm hoping to find some answers there.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. We hope you have someone to squeeze if you want someone, and if you don't, we hope you have a high tolerance for the super-annoying and tough-to-take commercial onslaught that comes along with this sweet holiday.
SB

Sorry I've so lax in updating the tour diary. You guys know how it is, you get into the holiday crazies, and then the post-holiday lazies, and then all of a sudden it's January 24!

We had a quick run of shows right before Christmas (Arlington VA, taping of a new XM radio show, Baltimore, and Philadelphia). It put us in a holiday frame of mind, seeing lots of festive folks and decorations, but also made us eager to get back home, which we did on Christmas Eve eve.

After a nice little break it was back to work the day after New Year's, making the first ever SBBS music video. 'Stop and Think it Over' will very soon be seen in video form! For now I've posted a slideshow on our home page of photos from the video shoot.

We also have a lot of tour dates for February and March planned, including a trip back to Texas, so while you're at it, check out the 'Shows' page too.

We just finished up a great weekend of TWO sold-out shows at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA, at which we premiered the video, and were treated to some great perfromance by our friends Blueheels (who came all the way from Madison, WI for the event), as well as Danielle Miraglia and the Teenage Prayers.

Like I said, keep checking back here for the finished version of the video, and for my part I promise (like I always do) to keep up this page more regularly. (really!)
SB

Diamonds in the Dark made it onto some year's best list, and we couldn't be more pleased. Take a look!

PUBLICATIONS:
The Boston Globe

Time Out New York

No Depression magazine ranks DITD at #48 in their "Our Critics Swear These Are The Top 50 Albums of 2007" list.

RADIO
Nationally syndicated show Acoustic Cafe counts 'Modern Trick' as one of their best in-studio performances of 2007.

WDIY, Pennsylvania Public Radio

WMVY (Massachusetts)

The Sound, North Carolina Public Radio

Pipeline!'s (WMBR, Cambridge, MA) Top Plays of 2007

The Americana Music Association ranks us at #16 formost spins of 2007

WEBZINES
Pop Matters

The Midpoint

BLOGS
My Five Year Plan

Hypothetical Bias

Blog Free Springfield

Rock and Roll Meandering Nonsense

Amber Waves of Twang

Teenage Kicks

Environmental Economics



Thank you all so much!
SBBS

Got another one? Email it to contact@sarahborges.com

We're in the van, on I-70 East, heading from Colorado Springs to Boston. It's the first time we've been headed east in 3 weeks, and I get a little excited feeling in my stomach when I think about going home. We're in Kansas City, MO now, and it'll be another 22 hours or so before we're done. Back in time for turkey though, I promised my family.

Last night was the Thirsty Parrot in Colorado Springs, with Jason Isbell from the Drive-By Truckers (thanks to all at KRCC for having us!) Really good ending to an overall great tour -- big stage, loud sound, fun crowd, happy band. It's a nice thought to have in our minds on the long highway home.

The night before was Kansas City, our second time at Knuckleheads. Our friends Gary and Joann came from St. Louis, they made it lots of fun. We seem to have fallen into a post-rehearsal dinner party for a wedding that was happening at the club, hopefully our songs about failed relationships and depressing love didn't put a damper on things:)

Omaha and Lincoln Nebraska were the shows prior to that. If I'm ever in doubt that anyone reads these tour diairies, I was set straight in Omaha. After mentioning my new appreciation for George Dickel whiskey in these pages, I was presented with a bottle at the show by Darryl and Nancy. Thank you! Omaha was one of the best shows of the first Diamonds in the Dark tour, and it was even better this time. Promoter Dean had us over for dinner on our day off after the show (again, we meet so many great people!). He brews beer for a living (go Nebraska Brewing Company!), we loved the taste-testing aspect of his job.

Lincoln was another fun time. As a lifelong Massachusetts-ian I had no idea about the wonders of Nebraska. In addition to the shows we lovd the thrift stores of NE. New show dresses were scored (I'm a sucker for vintage dresses. They make you look good even on bad days.) The boys lucked out too. SBBS is definitely better dressed than when we started this road trip 11/07.

Happy Thanksgiving all.