It's been a busy autumn and we know you haven't heard from us. So sorry for that. Our webmaster, Stumpy-Joe, was on the road for a few months tour-managing for Keb' Mo', but even if he had been around, we were touring too much to sit and write. Now we're home and it's 1999, so here is a recap of the last few months of 1998.

Prep and Promo
We started September talking up "Scratch At The Door" to retailers and radio. On the 10th we're at a Wherehouse manager's conference shaking hands and signing photos. A dozens other artists and labels are doing the same. We had fun and even ran into old friends who were pleased to know we had a new album.

The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR, is our next stop on Sept. 14 to perform for employees of the Fred Meyer chain. Heart, Heather Miles and newcomer Jude are among the acts on the bill. We perform on KINK-FM (for the first time ever!) and do an in-store at Music Millennium, probably the coolest record store in all of Portland.

Firsts and Frustrations
The first leg of the Scratch Tour starts September 20 with a cross-country RV trek from LA to Hampton, VA. Two hours out of town we blow a tire in the California desert. The Auto Club can't find us at first and the tire is hard to change, so we lose about 6 hours. We have a three-day push to make Hampton on time, braving a hellish thunderstorm in Oklahoma.

Pulling into Hampton September 23rd at 8:30am, we sleep four hours and go to work. By showtime at 4pm, the outdoor crowd has to brave cold winds coming off the bay. Our performance is pretty cold as well, as first shows often are, but we do our best to warm ourselves and the crowd.

Next is our first show ever in North Carolina. We visit WNCW, a college station in Spindale, NC, to play live. We talk up our show at the Grey Eagle Music Hall as part of Jimmy Landry's emerging songwriter series. Although lightly attended, the show is fun. Sadly, our show is one of the last there, as the acoustic venue loses its lease in a few weeks. At dinner, we discover that Jimmy's father had been a student in a French class taught by Eric's aunt in Saratoga Springs, NY. What a tiny world!

We move on to Decatur, GA, for our third visit to the legendary Eddie's Attic, where Peter Mulvey shares the bill with us as co-headliner. Peter is a wonderful singer-songwriter from Milwaukee, and we're thrilled to work with him, with both our sets broadcast live on WRFG radio. After the show, our RV ends up with a flat tire (again!). It takes hours to change it and make it back to our hotel.

Driving next to Nashville, the alternator dies on a gas stop half an hour outside of Nashville. We sputter into town an hour late for soundcheck and even later for an in-studio performance on WRLT (Lightning 100). Later, we have a great house for our show at Gibson's Caffe Milano, but begin to wonder what could go wrong next. The next day we fix the alternator, buy two new tires and aim north for a 14-hour drive to Maryland. The layover in Nashville gives us a chance to stop by Keb' Mo's soundcheck and see Stumpy-Joe. We do six hours before pulling into an RV park for some sleep.

The next day is to be a radio show in Bel-Air, MD. On the way, the cruise control sticks on and won't let go. Eric drives the last hour into Annapolis with the cruise control off and his foot off the gas, doing 50 mph. Because of the problem, we forgo the radio show. Luckily, the Annapolis hotel is next to a Ford dealership, so we check the RV in to get it sorted out. Again.

October 1 is our first live performance on WRNR in Annapolis, one of the few (relatively) free-form radio stations left in the country. We play, sing and yak with our old friend, Damian, a DC-area radio icon. It's a great time and we hope to do it again soon. Our show that night is the first truly wonderful night of the tour. The club, the Ram's Head in Annapolis, is sold out and the audience warm and responsive. It's one of our best shows ever in one of our favorite places.

On to Alexandria, and another sell-out at the Birchmere. Home to many of our triumphs, this night is no exception. We do our usual 2-hour-plus performance, complete with sing-along TFA encores and long chats with fans after the show. We've never had a bad time at the Birchmere, and it has come to feel like home.

Back down the Blue Ridge Parkway, the next night is Blacksburg, VA, at our old haunt, the South Main Cafe. Though under new ownership, the vibe is as wonderful as ever. It's our first stop in Blacksburg during the school year since 1994, so we're pleased to have a crowd almost as big as the old days. We'll be back!

We drive up to Woodstock, NY for two sets -- one live, one taped -- on WDST radio, then on to an intimate affair at the Tinker Street Cafe, attended by few but enjoyed by all. Next we shoot down to New York City for two sets at the Bottom Line with Eddie From Ohio. Though we've known the Eddies for some time, we've never performed together. It's a blast, culminating with them inviting us onstage to sing Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright", complete with Dan's Joe Cocker impression.

October 8 is our first show in Hoboken, NJ, with the Tom Tom Club at Maxwell's. We play a short set and call it a night, as we have to be at CBS Network Studios tomorrow at 5:30 AM for their national show "Saturday Morning". Though tired, we do "When The Lights Go Down" and bits of "Avalanche" and "Blessing." We then drive back up north to Schenectady, NY, for a show at the Van Dyck, a restaurant-club once frequented weekly by Eric's aunts. We're overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response (far greater than expected) to our two sets.

The eastern leg of the tour ends at Fletcher's in Baltimore. Our fans in Baltimore have always been the most vocal. This is a stand-up, rock 'n' roll crowd that draws a rowdier-than-usual performance out of us. What a way to end a tour! During the long drive home, we blow a third tire near Memphis. We buy two more tires and hobble home, exhausted and convinced the RV has made its last cross-country run.

North By Northwest
After two weeks at home, we're ready to tackle the Northwest, this time without the band. We start October 29 in Portland with a return visit to KINK-FM, where we played just six weeks before. Our evening show at Berbati's Pan is an eclectic affair featuring a solo singer-songwriter (half bombed), a power pop band from LA called Tom Racer (they're great), a trip-hop synth -meister, and us. The crowd is small, and a bit confused at the breadth of the music, but everybody seems to have fun.

Eugene, OR, is next. It's one of the few cities in the country with TWO top-notch Triple A stations, and we play live on both of them before headlining at the Wild Duck Brewery. The next night is Halloween in Seattle for our first Tractor Tavern show. Because of the holiday, the crowd is smaller than usual. Many were in costume, including five women dressed as "Five Golden Rings" (you now, from the Christmas song -- check out the picture) and a couple dressed as Prozac. It is our silliest show ever, as we change our own imaginary costumes every few minutes and don the personalities and songs of other well-known duos -- Righteous Bros., Hall & Oates, BoDeans. We hope everyone has a good time. We sure are.

Go Midwest, Young Men
We are a little surprised to realize we haven't been back to the Midwest in over a year, since July of 1997. We bring the band and hope our old audience finds us.

Our first show is in Minneapolis November 5 at the corporate headquarters of the Sam Goody record store chain. About a hundred employees pack the lunchroom for a 30-minute set of songs from the new album. Afterward, we sign photos and posters until everyone is back at work. The next day we play in-store at Sam Goody's City Centre location before several dozen shoppers, selling more than 50 CDs. Later we perform live at KTCZ / Cities' 97. It's our first visit to their new, larger studios. Our evening show at the Fine Line Music Cafe is the usual crowded, lively, jubilant affair as always, going on for hours. We can hardly wait to go back.

We drive on to Madison, WI, for an in-studio performance at WMMM before our show at the Crystal Corner. It's our biggest crowd in Madison ever, with over 200 people packing the place. The next night, we're on Milwaukee's new WLUM, broadcasting live from the Milwaukee Ale House. Between our soundcheck and our performance at Shank Hall, we do four quick songs and an interview. It's great to be finally on the air in Milwaukee. The Shank show is a high point in our growing Milwaukee standing. We hope to be back in time for Summerfest 99.

Chicago has always been a favorite stop. We take two days off there before attacking our schedule of promotion and performance. November 11 is our busiest day in recent memory. At 10AM we're live on WXRT (probably the best radio station in the country) with Terry Hemmert, who has a long celebrated history with XRT and always makes us feel like rock royalty. At 1PM we head downtown to the Rolling Stone Network for an interview and performance on Jam TV, a pop music website. At 4PM we hit WCKG radio for an interview, performance and jam session with legendary DJ Steve Dahl. We're on the air with Steve for a good two hours playing songs from "Scratch At the Door", requests from callers and from Steve himself. We're told that hundreds of thousands of people are listening! The session ends with Steve joining us on guitar and vocals for "Walking On A Wire". Steve was self-effacing about his performance, but he actually plays and sings great. Check out his website at for the evidence.

Our November 13 show at Martyrs' in Chicago is sold out. After a set by opener Stuart Davis (who also opened in Minneapolis) we deliver a 26-song set -- one of our longest shows ever. The audience is pretty pumped, and we'll remember the night as one of the best of our career. Even radio veterans (and friendly competitors) Norm Winer of WXRT and Steve Dahl of WCKG hang out till the bitter end. The only hitch all night is not performing "Constant As the Night", which is quite popular in Chicago. Oops! We won't make that mistake again.

We fly home the next day, ending the Scratch Tour for 1998. Time to rest up for the cruise, and who knows what else.

From The High Seas
The First Annual Lowen & Navarro Cruise leaves Miami the morning of November 20 with 59 fans aboard the Carnival "Ecstasy", heading for Nassau in the Bahamas. It is the first cruise for many, including us, and we're not quite sure what to expect. There are 2000 other people on board and the mood is festive.

The first night is a meet-and-greet cocktail party. Some of the travelers are people we know but most are new to us, so it's our chance to meet everyone. Four people are not L&N fans at all, but contest-winners enjoying a free trip on Intersound Records. We visit with everyone at least once before adjourning for dinner.

Food is part of what a cruise is all about. Dinner is a seven-course excursion through magnificent cuisine, impeccable service, all included in the price of the cruise. The portions are endless and delivered in the blink of an eye. This is going to be a very fun trip. We all are seated at seven tables in close proximity to one another, the better to get rowdy with.

When we arrive in Nassau, most of us venture out onto the island for lunch, shopping, biking or snorkeling. A few of us even get tiny braids in our hair, a local specialty. For two bucks a braid, anyone can look like Bo Derek or Stevie Wonder. Even we succumb, as Dan gets three braids on his left side and Eric ups the ante with fourteen braids -- seven on each side!

That evening is our big show in one of the medium-sized showrooms. After a few songs, we take requests, allowing each party to pick one song each until we've heard from every party in our group. A few unrehearsed songs are requested -- "Walk Away Renee", "Crossing Over", "She's Gone" (the Hall & Oates song we did as a lark in DC a year ago) -- and we try them with a grin and a shrug. We blow off the captain's black-tie cocktail party to keep playing, finishing 2-1/2 hours later, just in time for dinner. After-dinner entertainments range from disco dancing for some, stage shows and stand-up comics for others, quiet sips of whiskey in the Society Bar or the ker-ching of slot machines in the casino. Something for everyone.

The final day is a day at sea and starts with a Q&A session. We're asked about the inspirations for our songs, details on our history, how we work, what the music biz is like, and other such queries. By midday, most of us are lounging by one of the many pools scattered about the ship and sipping tropical libations. At dinner, pictures from the previous days are handed out by Donald Davidoff, one of the tour co-ordinators. Later, on a whim, we decide to enter the ship's talent show (which is, thankfully, not a competition) and are placed on the bill with six others, including one of our group (Tom, AKA Solo Tom) who chooses to sing "Makin' Whoopee". The bill also includes a gymnastic dancer, a soul singer (who inadvertently performed with his fly open -- what a neat gimmick!), a woman singing Whitney Houston, a sweet female duo singing a Deana Carter song and a vocalist-trumpeter-impressionist doing Louis Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World." The place erupts after each act, and rightfully so. Everyone is charming and engaging.

The next morning, we dock in Miami and disembark, saying goodbye to one another and feeling that much closer for having "braved the high seas" together. Most say they will return next year. Hope so. It was just too much fun.

Command Performance
While on the cruise, we receive a call from our friend Norm Winer asking us to open for John Hiatt at WXRT's Annual Christmas Concert For The Kids. The show is set for December 5, which is only 2 weeks away. It's deja vu all over again, as we opened the same show for WXRT and Hiatt eight years before, in 1990. This time the event is at the Riviera Theatre, a 2500 seat theatre on the Near North Side of Chicago. The concert has been sold out for weeks, so our fans will have a hard go to get tickets, unless they were lucky enough to get them beforehand.

On the day of the show, we make a pit stop of sorts at the Walgreen's pharmacy on Clark & Diversey to buy Christmas lights. We find strings of battery operated lights and affix them around the bodies of our guitars. We have a little surprise in store.

Our presence on the bill has been heavily promoted by WXRT. The air staff urges everyone to get to the show early to catch our set, so when we get onstage at 7:30 PM, the place is packed. We open with "Constant As The Night", trying to correct the mistake from our Martyrs' show three weeks before. We play six more songs before asking that the stage lights be turned off. We turn on our little Christmas light surprise and the place goes wild -- what a difference colored lights make -- as we play "A Song Of Christmas." We attempt an ill-considered TFA encore of "We Belong" (the place is a bit large for it) and leave the stage to Hiatt.

After the show, we hang out in the lobby to say hi, and everyone is gracious and supportive -- high fives all around. We hope we see some of these new folks when we return this spring or summer. What a way to end the year!
Love,
Dan & Eric