October 16, 2009
Whomp The House Tour 3: Hope
It’s difficult to know where to begin. We’re nearly two weeks in and it’s been the usual series of ups and downs — mostly ups though, and morale is mostly high at the moment. We’re in a Best Western motel in Hope, Arkansas — the birthplace of President Bill Clinton. We drove around town tonight looking for a decent restaurant, and we found a ghost town. Abandoned buildings outnumbered functioning businesses; we found no restaurants beyond the usual fast food chains, and it seemed that the only remaining shops were tobacconists and hair salons. We also learned that Bill Clinton was born in a dry county; sadly, I think a couple bars might actually boost this town’s economy. The one business that appears to be thriving is Walmart. Although I have no means of verifying this, the Walmart appears to be new and a number of local shops appear to be recently closed. Hm.
Anyway, tour is rolling along and we’re making our way west. Today, I completed a 500-mile driving shift and spent another three hours finding dinner — we had to drive 30 miles away to Texarkana to find a restaurant that didn’t creep us out. I wouldn’t say that we’ve had a single bad show yet. Some have been better than others, but all have been worthwhile. Each of our house party shows has been an exercise in human kindness and generosity. We’ve received incredible support from so many people. We’ve introduced dozens to the HPA, collected new members and raised multiple hundreds of dollars. We’ve played shows with acoustic guitars and no amplification and managed to inspire dance parties. We’ve spent time with friends we haven’t seen in months. We’ve made several new friends along the way. In a sense, there’s nothing remarkable about any of this because we’ve done it before. But that in itself is remarkable — our formula keeps working, and we keep having success with a format that most would predict would be unsuccessful. A house party show with 15 people in attendance is as good as a summer tour library show with 250 people in attendance. It’s all a matter of getting those 15 people engaged in the party.
Today we crossed the Mississippi River; tomorrow we play Dallas. We have a number of house parties on the horizon and we’re expecting big things.
Shows Played So Far: 11
Money Raised For The HPA: $271
Alli
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It was so amazing to have you in Orlando. I’m glad everything’s continuing to go well since you left us. The house parties are pretty incredible and I’m so glad you’re doing them!