When we first conceived the idea of "Tales From the Road," my webmaster and I thought it would be fun to include a few comments from other James Taylor band members from time to time, and the lovely Kate Markowitz has been nice enough to agree to serve as our first "guest teller." It's fun for me to read somebody else in the band's feelings about what it's like for them and what they go through. Although life on the road is very similar for all of us, it's also different for everybody because it's a really personal experience. I'll keep my own comments brief, and I hope you enjoy Kate's "Tales" (below) as much as I did.

GOODBYE, COLUMBUS
Columbus, July 28
Grand Rapids, July 29
Cincinnati, July 31
Indianapolis, August 1

We did three shows in the state of Ohio, but not in a row. After Cleveland, we went to Pittsburgh, then back to Ohio -- Columbus this time -- then up to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and all the way back to Cincinnati, over the same road we'd traveled going there.

In Columbus, I had a chance to see my friend T.J. George, who is a really good songwriter and plays clubs. He came to the show with his girlfriend, and he gave me a tape of some of his new songs, which I really liked. They made me remember the songs that T.J. and I wrote together a long time ago, songs I hadn't thought of in a while, called "Heart That I Seek," "Point of View," and "Sense of Shame." We went to a club where a friend of his was playing, and T.J. got up and sang a couple of songs, which was great.

On the morning of the Grand Rapids show, I got up early and went shopping for a new suitcase. I was expecting a lot of family members at the show (not that that has anything to do with my suitcase, by the way), and the tour management had set up a special room for all of us with refreshments. My brother was there, and so were lots of my nieces and nephews, plus many high school friends. It was a really good show and a good audience. During the concert, I could see my family reacting, having a good time and rocking out, and that was really special to watch. It was great to see everyone, it was an extremely mellow evening, and I was very calm (for me).

CHICAGO, CHICAGO
Chicago, August 3 and 4
Milwaukee, August 10
Minneapolis, August 11

I wish I had more to say about Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, but at this point, the tour is kind of a blur of malls and hotel rooms and venues. It's all starting to run together. Plus, I got some kind of inner ear bug, and I felt kind of out of it for a few days.

I do remember enjoying my time in Chicago, which is such a nice city. I went to my favorite German restaurant there, a place called Berghoff's. My webmaster looked up Berghoff's online to see if we could find a photo of it to post. There didn't seem to be anything available, but she did unearth this factoid: Berghoff's received the first liquor license in Chicago at the end of Prohibition.

Our shows in Chicago, which were filmed for a Japanese video, were a little out of the ordinary because we had to wear the same outfits both nights, plus the lights were really, really bright for the cameras. James re-added "Whenever You're Ready," which we haven't sung since the early part of the tour, and I think we also re-added "A Junkie's Lament," which has also been MIA for a while. It's been replaced by "Up on the Roof," which seems to be such a crowd favorite, especially when the twinkly starlight effect comes up. That always gets a great reaction.

We had a short break after that, and I spent it with my nieces and nephews, just taking it easy. We hung out by the beach, saw Planet of the Apes and Jurassic Park 3, and did some other fun things. What made me the happiest, though, was just being with the kids and watching them enjoy our experiences.

July 2001

It’s hard to know what to write about on the road that would be of interest to the fans out there. I think that it’s hardly interesting to write about doing hand laundry in my room, or seeking out a better gym than the hotel has to offer, or programming local access numbers into my computer every day to check email. But sometimes, when you’re not onstage singing, these are the kinds of boring things that take up down time -- or at least mine.

Being on the road is a continual process of trying to stay a little bit ahead of our itinerary, whether it be reserving tickets for upcoming shows or deciding what to take off the bus that night or day that you arrive. Just keeping track of what you need to do, who you need to call, what friends you’ll be seeing, how much time off you’ll have, what time you have to be in the lobby the next day... these are the tasks at hand. And sometimes it’s just enough to try to catch up on sleep after two or three travel nights in a row when we arrive at an odd hour in the middle of the night or the early morning. There are times you can get incredibly homesick. And then when you do get home, you might catch yourself dialing nine for an outside line. It takes some adjustment, the wanderlust.

It’s nice to have a day off in some small town, to have lunch by myself in some little café and really get a feeling for what living there would be like. And looking out of the bus windows in the daytime at the rows of corn, the barns and silos, horses lazily grazing and the miles of green -- those are the nice moments. Just seeing the country fly by your window – I love that. And having time to read a book I’ve been meaning to read -- and not feeling guilty about my magazine addiction. I love that too.

The people really change from town to town, and the level of friendliness is a reminder of what part of the country we’re in. Certainly people in shops or restaurants in Manhattan are very different from those in, say, Birmingham, Alabama. But then, I tend to be more put off by the really sugary, overly polite and talkative folks. I guess I wonder what they’re really thinking behind those seemingly rote or prepared "training manual" phrases. I feel more at home with the in-your-face realness that you get in New York, or Chicago (as long as it’s not total abuse!). But it’s fascinating to be exposed to all the varying kinds of people we run into on the road. And maybe it’s my raging biological clock, but every day I seem to notice so many beautiful children when I’m traveling. I’ll see them in the hotels, in the pool with their moms, or in the elevators. And the little kids in the audiences are so much fun to watch, the way they react to music. If they’re close enough to see us smile or wave, they wave back and then hide their faces laughing. It’s so sweet.

Speaking of faces in the audience, being able to see them is often not such a good thing. Sometimes our show starts before dark, when there’s an early curfew at an outdoor venue, and we can see the audience WAY too well. Some people don’t seem to be able to put it together that when it’s light out, we can see them as well as they can see us. Lately it's been a common thing to see someone looking at me (or one of the other singers or players) through binoculars, usually just a few rows away. They'll slowly scan us from head to toe, and then lean over to their friends and whisper something, laughing. Or not laughing. So, now when I notice a pair of binoculars fixed upon me, I like to make mock binocular circles with my fingers over my eyes and look right back. Then I slowly pan up and down their face. That usually makes them stop. So, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, or in this case, the people in front of the curtain.

The humidity in this part of the country is just unbelievable. Being from Los Angeles, I never get used to it. And doing a show outside under the lights onstage is sometimes like going into a steam room and working out, only with my stage clothes on. But the audiences have been amazing. The other night, the crowd had these little lights to shine instead of lighters, and they all lit them during “Shed A Little Light.” It was really beautiful to see from the stage.

Early August 2001

We had some days off in Chicago, and it’s such a great city. My fiancé came out to visit me, and we went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. It was a tie game into the 9th inning. The place was packed and going completely nuts, and when the Cubs won, it was mass hysteria. I loved going to that old ball park. If you squint your eyes and don't look at people’s clothes, you'd look out to the old score board and really think you’d gone back in time. And you can see people sitting in chairs, drinking and carousing on their rooftops watching the game. It was so much fun! Good, clean American fun. Taking the subway there and back was great and exciting for an L.A. native like me. All these people just pack themselves into the subway, sweating profusely together, they don’t have to fight the traffic, and they don’t have to find a designated driver -- they just stand there obediently, waiting for their stop. Chicago is a real city, not like L.A., where you might as well pay rent for your car, you can spend so much time in it.

I also saw Chris, one of my oldest friends, in Chicago when she and her husband came to the show. I got so emotional during "Shed A Little Light" that I barely made it through the song. That was partly because she’s still a songwriter, but now she’s also a music teacher at Martin Luther King Magnet School, and partly just the sentiment of how far back we go -- and what we’ve seen each other go through. She is the friend who read for me something that I wrote about my father at his funeral -- that’s how close we are. It was so good to see her. That’s one of the sweeter things about traveling across the U.S. -- you get to see friends who’ve moved out of your hometown.

HOTEL LIFE

I know that I am one of the lucky ones to have a great job and to be in the position I'm in. And I realize that in the grand scheme of things, what I'm about to say may sound like small and petty complaining. I spent years working in service jobs before I became a singer, so I know how hard it can be -- I so believe in tipping well, and treating people with respect. But occasionally, it’s inevitable that you end up in a hotel where common sense or good service seems to be an afterthought. So, this list, based on my true life experiences from years on the road, has been brewing in my mind.

Sometimes it seems as if hotel employees must take workshops entitled “How To Annoy Our Guests” or “Room Service Particulars: How To Get Them Where it Really Hurts." These courses would include a set of special instructions, such as:

Always serve milk to drink in a pitcher.

Always serve milk to be poured on cereal in a tall glass.

When a guest orders cereal, be sure to include two small boxes of cereal, but only enough milk for one.

Act strangely confused at the concept of milk instead of cream or skim milk instead of whole, and deliver neither.

Never, ever give a guest five minutes grace period once the breakfast hour has changed to lunch, even if the guest is ordering only wheat toast. Make sure the guest knows how much you are breaking the rules, even though you have loaves of wheat bread for sandwiches and huge toasters available. And never, ever laugh when the guest inquires as to whether or not you have seen the movie Five Easy Pieces. A dull silence is the appropriate response.

If a guest orders dressing on the side, make sure to give them no more than a tablespoon full. If they order dressing on the salad, make sure the lettuce is virtually swimming in it. If they order lemon wedges, provide only thin tiny slices so as not to waste lemon juice.

Even when the Do Not Disturb sign is on the outside of the guest’s door, knock loudly at half-hour intervals and ask if they are checking out, or if they need their mini-bar stocked. And when you deliver room service, yell “Room Service” at the top of your lungs after pounding on the door, just in case your guests are suffering from any partial hearing loss.

If you know a large group will be staying at your hotel, pick that week to give most of your employees their vacation time, so as not to have loitering in the lobby. This especially applies to the room service staff -- it’s important to make sure the guest knows that there is only one waiter for the entire hotel.

Pronounce all names other than Smith or Jones as if you are speaking a foreign language, and ask the guest to slowly spell their last name three or four times.

Provide curtains in the guest rooms that come together enough for a two-inch gap of light where they meet. You don’t want your guests to stumble and fall in the morning.

In each guest room, wrap the soap in tightly sealed plastic wrap, making sure that it is extremely difficult to open without a sharp object. It will look much nicer that way.

And finally, be sure to ask every guest every time you see them if they are enjoying their stay.

Nashville was a blur of mosquito bites and lots of musician types backstage. James sang so great that night, the crowd was really crazy, and Steve Cropper, who co-wrote "Knock on Wood," sat in on guitar. It was very cool.

I spent time with my good buddy Alison Prestwood, bass player extraordinaire. We went to a vintage guitar show where I bought a Sears 1963 Silvertone acoustic guitar in its original cardboard case! I also went to see her play at one of her sessions. It was a really great band with a string quartet.

The thing I love about Nashville is hearing the players, who play live together in various combinations all the time, recording songwriter demos and new CDs. Sometimes it seems like there is so much music being churned out so fast, I wonder if the quality suffers, but most of the stuff that I’ve heard recently or worked on there has been really good. The song I heard that day was really different and very melodic.

I was inspired and started missing being in the studio. It seems when I'm on the road, I miss recording, I miss that studio thing, and I miss my friends. And then when I'm back home for a while, I miss the road. I even miss being on the bus with my road buddies, or people-watching in an airport. Such is the human condition. So I get back on the bus, daydream about my fiancé and my cat, and try to carpe diem.

Visit Kate Markowitz's official Web Site.

David's next report will be posted on September 24.

When we got to St. Louis, it was a beautiful, clear day, but just before sound check, the power at the venue went out, which was so bizarre because there was no "mighty storm." It turned out to have been caused by wires getting messed up due to a car accident. They got the power back on after about an hour, and the concert wasn't delayed.

My friend Burt Coleman, who performed in Hair and Godspell many years ago, came to see the show, and it was nice to see him. We talked about the renewed interest in Hair and the recent Los Angeles revival with Sam Harris and Steven Weber, which got good reviews. There is even talk of a national tour.

As it happens, Burt is a friend of my good friend Ula Hedwig, who I met when she and I did Hair. Burt met Ula when they did Godspell together. Both of them are friends with Marsha Malamet, another old friend with whom I've written a lot ("Change All of That," "Crazy Love," "This Time," and many others). Coincidentally, a friend of Marsha's, Michael Dunn, was also at the St. Louis show.

In Kansas City, I saw one more friend, Joe Schuld, who came to the show.

Our next stop was Memphis, home of Graceland and the R&B Hall of Fame/Museum, and "city of yet another friend." The ever-beautiful Myrna Smith (Sweet Inspirations), my great friend who sang background vocals for Elvis and on billions of other recordings, was in Memphis doing the annual Elvis Anniversary Celebration. The Celebration is a live show with Elvis' original band and singers, including Jerry Scheff, Elvis' original bass player, who is my friend Jason Scheff's father. Jason had told me recently that he'd seen the Celebration show in Los Angeles a few months ago, and he loved it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize Myrna was in town until the next day, and I was so upset that I'd missed her.

We left Memphis for Nashville, and when I got to my hotel room, I turned on the TV. The first channel I randomly clicked on turned out to be MTV, and who did I see but MYRNA in the Black Crows' "Soul Singing" video!

At the Nashville show, I FINALLY got to meet the legendary -- I repeat, legendary -- Donna Rhodes, who came to the show as my guest with her husband, Craig. Donna and I have spoken on the phone over the years, but I'd never met her.

Donna is a founding member of Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes, who sang background vocals on every Al Green, Ann Peebles, Denise LaSalle and Millie Jackson album and single and hundreds and hundreds of Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Nashville recordings from the late 1960s to the 1980s. They also toured as background vocalists under the name "The Joint Venture" and sang with artists like Elvis, Liza Minnelli and so many others. Donna had told me once in a phone conversation that she remembered sitting on Elvis' lap when she was a little girl and he was on her dad's TV show, "The Dusty Rhodes Show."

Besides being singers, Donna plays drums, her sister Sandy plays guitar, and Charlie (Chalmers), is an amazing horn player and arranger. Also, they recorded many albums that are now ultra-rare among R&B music collectors, especially Where's Your Love Been by Sandy Rhodes on Fantasy and the even more rare I See Love by Donna on Epic. Donna, Sandy and Charlie had overdubbed some tracks on my "One Fine Day" single (Philly Groove), according to Johnny Powers, who produced it. It was wonderful to finally meet such a legend as Donna.

In another of what seems to be such a long string of coincidences on this leg of the tour, Steve Cropper, who wrote "Knock On Wood," sat in to play it with us that night, and Donna has known him since she was a teenager. Steve's father was there, and he and Donna's father have known each other since they were eight years old! I also know Steve from my days as a songwriter at Rondor Music. I met him around the time I met Jason Scheff and Aaron Zigman, and the four of us used to work on each others' demos.

Also in the audience at the Nashville show were Dan Dugmore, who toured with James for years, and his family, and Tom Rhody, from the band we performed with some years ago at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

My apologies to so many friends in Nashville who wanted to get together and come to the show. There was a big shortage of tickets, and I still wasn't completely over my inner ear problem, but I feel bad that I couldn't see everyone who I really wanted to see, especially Mark Stacy and Essra Mohawk.

GOING FASTER THAN A ROLLERCOASTER
Birmingham, August 21
New Orleans, August 22
Houston, August 24
San Antonio, August 25
Dallas, August 27
Lubbock, August 28

My birthday, which fell on a day off, was a "twin city" affair because it began in Nashville and ended after we'd traveled to Birmingham. Arnold and Kate gave me some great gifts, and Val intercepted my dinner order by sending a bottle of my favorite wine and apple pie a la mode. With candle! A birthday package from my webmaster containing my favorite tea was waiting for me when I arrived at the Birmingham hotel. So was a birthday card from my niece with a book about Idlewild, Michigan, the summer resort near where I grew up that attracted lots of R&B and jazz entertainers like Della Reese, Jackie Wilson, Sarah Vaughn and Ruth Brown. It was also home of the Flamingo and Paradise Clubs.

At dinner the next night before the Birmingham show, I was shocked but touched when I was presented with two cakes (one chocolate, one vanilla) and a giant candle that Kate and Val brought to me to blow out. During the show, when James introduced me, he mentioned that it was my birthday, and it was sweet because the audience broke into a rendition of "Happy Birthday," after which James played a short bluesy version of it on his guitar.

Next was New Orleans, which went by in a blur, then Houston, which was super hot although the air conditioning system on stage really helped, and then San Antonio, our hottest show yet. And I am referring to the weather, not the quality. In Dallas, we were attacked by crickets and grasshoppers, and I was overcome with the giggles through one song because of the havoc they were wreaking among us singers. The Lubbock show was, fortunately, indoors. I'd never played in Lubbock before.

BY THE TIME I MAKE….
Albuquerque, August 30

For the Albuquerque concert, we stayed in Santa Fe, in cabins that were so rustic that we were warned not to leave our room service trays outside or we'd risk attracting bears. Bears, perhaps, would have been better than the bees that had taken up residence outside my door.

Jane Fonda, one of my favorite actresses, attended the show, and she was very nice. The weather was great that day, very cool for Albuquerque.

BREAK TIME
Denver, September 1 and 2

In Denver, I was very fortunate to have a visitor, my webmaster. Her account of her experience at the concert can be found below.

The Denver altitude, coming on the heels of two previous days in high altitudes, really took some adjustment, even for people without my inner ear problems. I was tired, and my ear thing made me feel as though every surface was uneven. The immense Red Rocks venue, with its oversize rocks everywhere (even in the dressing rooms!!) only intensified this feeling. I was really ready for the upcoming break.

Here is a poem I wrote in Colorado on September 2.

"RESTLESS HEART"

Whether I like it or not,
I got a restless heart
Whether I choose it to be
It's always your face that I see
Sayin', "Come on, let's live a little"
Sayin', "Come with me"

Whether I tell you the truth
Is not the big deal
Whether I hold your hand for the first time
We been here before, it is real

A face that says I knew you when
And a voice that speaks, "Begin again"
Whether I like it or not
I am starting over

Wheels down the mountain
Spin, spin
Cards in a game,
Say you'll
Win win
You and your flame
Burnin' thin (thin)
And real as can be in Colorado

I fall in love for the first time
Every time I look at you
I wonder if I'm strong enough
I wonder if I've long enough
Or is the old hurt gone enough
To heal my restless heart

Red Rocks, Colorado

The only thing better than a James Taylor concert is a James Taylor concert at Red Rocks outside Denver amid Colorado's astounding terrain. I've seen JT perform over the years, but never in a place as awesome as this venue. Sitting beneath the stars, under a full moon, surrounded by "doesn't-look-real" scenery created by nature, listening to James and his amazing band was pretty much, well, anywhere like heaven.

It was a beautiful, clear night, quite warm and windy, and as we sat on the surprisingly comfortable backless wooden benches, flanked on both sides by giant red-ish sandstone formations that change hues with the light, we could see Denver's twinkling lights in the distance through a break in the rocks. The 9,000+-seat venue was filled to capacity with people of all ages.

The concert began as band members and singers wandered out onto the wood-like set, which was dwarfed by the massive natural-formation boulders that stood in for the stage's back wall. JT himself strolled out soon afterward to a big ovation, and the first song, "Everyday," opened with a new instrumental intro. "That's Why I'm Here" and "Only One" (in which JT changed the "Kitty" lyric to "Kimmy") were next, followed by "Frozen Man." I've heard James tell the story again and again and again of how he wrote this song (saw the National Geographic article, looked only at the photos, archeologists unearthed the unfortunate victim from the perma frost, he looked great, as though he'd been dead 20 years tops, etc.), but no matter how many times I hear it, I still laugh. He's VERY funny.

Then came "Ananas," during which two audience members held up large Hawaiian party-style paper pineapples, which was funny, but not as funny as the four rubber ducks-in-a-row that someone left for JT at the beginning of "Sun on the Moon" (see below). I liked hearing the two new songs, which JT played next, "Fourth of July" and "Raised Up Family," particularly these lyrics from the former:

Unbelievable you, impossible me…

and

With a tear in your eye for the 4th of July
For the patriots, and the minutemen
And the things you believe they believed in then
Such as freedom, freedom's land
And the kingdom of God and the rights of man

I also really enjoyed "Raised Up Family's" soulful background vocals by David, Arnold McCuller, Kate Markowitz and Valerie Carter. It was nice to hear some new tunes, especially since the rest of the show contained familiar, often-performed JT songs.

By this time, it was dark, and the on-stage lighting effects and projections of various images (stars, colors, shapes, etc.) were fun to watch. One of the most spectacular effects was giant rotating sun-shaped images projected onto the massive five-story-high wall of rocks beside the seats. The performers had the best view of these, since most of the audience had to turn around to even notice them. We heard that at other venues, they project these particular images on the ceiling, so this was a special variation of that.

Percussionist Luis Conte did an extended solo prior to "Mexico," during which JT knelt down in front, watching him, appearing to be enjoying himself. I really noticed the sound of the horns (Lou Marini on sax and Walt Fowler on trumpet) during "Mexico," and it was cute how Kate and Arnold did a little tango at one point. "Shower the People," with Arnold's characteristically powerful solo, and the ever-present "Steamroller" closed out the first set. (Perhaps those folks who yell out requests for this song, prompting JT to think he must play it all the time, should be required to write a 10,000-word essay prior to being allowed inside the venue about WHY they want to hear it. But I digress.)

(They also played "Up on the Roof" at some point, but I can't remember when!)

The second set began with my all-time favorite JT song, "Carolina In My Mind," and the background singers' harmonies were gorgeous. During "Carolina" and the next song, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," there were projections of scenery on screens placed amid the frames of the set, but the wind soon forced the crew to eliminate this particular feature. I didn't mind, because I found the scenery slides interesting but distracting. There was already so much to look at onstage (JT, the band, the singers, the rocks behind the stage which were strikingly lit, and the video screen with close-ups of everything). In fact, sometimes it was hard to decide what to look at -- the close-ups on the video screen, which provided so much detail, or the "real thing." I found myself trying to watch a little of each.

The close-up video was particularly powerful during "Millworker," when Lou Marini played a pan flute, and the cameras captured him in a compelling shot, with the wind blowing his hair and clothes, matching the haunting beauty of the music and lyrics. Guitarist extraordinaire Bob Mann switched to a mandolin during "Millworker," and bassist Jimmy Johnson doubled with James in the intro, adding to the song's power. Another cool video effect was the full moon placed beside a split-screen image of James or a band member during a song containing a "moon" lyric.

"Sun on the Moon" was the MOST FUN song in the entire concert, with EVERYONE in the band completely energized and bouncing around, particularly keyboardist Clifford Carter. At the beginning of the song, James tried to distract Arnold, David, Kate and Val and make them laugh. He was aided in his cause by the aforementioned rubber ducks left for him by a fan at the stage's edge, and he picked them up and draped them around Arnold's neck. It was a classic moment. David told us later that each of the four ducks had a singer's name written on it.

Next was the pretty "Copperline," and then "Shed A Little Light" during which I really noticed the horns' impact. When JT introduced the singers following the song, he described David as "a great singer and prolific songwriter."

James then sang "Fire And Rain," ending it frozen for a few moments in an intense red spotlight, which seemed to underscore the timeless power of the song. He introduced drummer Russ Kunkel afterward, noting that Russ was the drummer on the original Sweet Baby James album recording of "Fire and Rain," and on the original recording (on Mud Slide Slim) of the next song, "You've Got a Friend." It was amazing to realize how long ago it was that Russ -- and Arnold and David -- began performing with James (decades!!). The last two songs were "Your Smiling Face" (with a cool reggae passage toward the end), and "How Sweet It Is" (with an audience sing-along included).

The encores started with "Traffic Jam" and "Not Fade Away," which David told us was added at their recent Lubbock, Texas date in honor of its writer, Buddy Holly, who grew up there. "Not Fade Away" has stayed in the set ever since, replacing "Knock on Wood." Sally Taylor, James' daughter, joined her proud father on "You Can Close Your Eyes" which sounded so beautiful. And, finally, James closed the concert alone, as he always does, as we always hope he will, with "Sweet Baby James." It was a magical night.

David's next report -- with a special guest "appearance" by Arnold McCuller -- will be posted on October 8.