NYC- Ali

I just want to throw it up for Ali.  Grazie Mille.  Sorry if I stay at your home too often.
You are a shining star onto the world.

Grazie Mille.

WOW! My face looks red.  

I've "Ben" Everywhere Man

Grand Rapids MI
Cleveland, OH
Chautaqua, NY
Westhampton Beach, NY
New York, NY
Ridgefield, CT
Philadephia, PN
Newport, RI
Lowell, MA

Not everywhere, but certainly several places, and hung out with some pretty great people.  The Davis's of Chadds Ford are wonderful people with a beautiful new deck.  And it was at their home that I finally watched Blazing Saddles.  Fantastic.  Mel Brooks and Willy Wonka are a fabulous team.  I would love to do a remake.  I would be Willy Wonka and Cleavon Little would be played by, oh I don't know, how about... and Don Cheadle!  BOOM!!!!  Now that's a remake.
And as we are on the road with Jerry Reeds grandson, Jerry Roe (who is the drummer for kd lang), I've also been dreaming of growing a mustache remaking a little film called "Gator."  Jerry Roe would play Bama McCall and I would be Gator.
I would also love to play Batman.
If you have any other suggestions of remakes that the Lera Lynn band could possibly dream of starring in, please post it on Facebook.  If someone comes up with one that makes me "LOL," I'll send you a shirt or something.
Ben's mom sent me a Rubiks cube.  It's really frustrating when you can't win.  It's a youth puzzle, and there's a million kids on YouTube that can do it.  But me... I'm just a big idiot.
We're playing Hyannis tonight on a stage that spins around!  If I said I wasn't excited, I would be a liar.

Creepy Obama Thing in Westhampton Beach.

Lera isn't ready in this photo. 

Worlds weirdest mascots.

Rotating Stage!

Practice.

The SPACE Between Fort Collins and Grand Rapids.

Sometimes you forget about things you love or move on from them for one reason or another. But forgetting means you can later rediscover. Last night in Evanston, IL., I had the opportunity to rediscover the magic of something I once held near and dear; whiskey. Bourbon to be specific. Having recently spent 2 weeks in England, driving in a backwards car on a backwards road, I wasn't able to spend as much time as usual with my old friend. Upon return to the US, as some of you know, I was hit with a quadruple health challenge. I tried everything imaginable, except whiskey. Let me tell you, Whiskey truly is a cure-all.

How is it that the road delivers us wonderful people all the time? I guess the universe approves of our ventures. We played at Space, where the owner put as much, if not more, thought into the green room as the live room. Super super rad there. Can't wait to go back. We also met the coolest, sweetest couple last night, Ernie and Quinn, of somewhere south of Chicago IL. Ernie opened the show for us and then opened his home to us for the night. They built us a fire outside, played fiddle tunes and made us pancakes for breakfast. I slept better than I have in weeks. What have we done to deserve this? Nothing probaby.

Being on the road also presents challenges, especially with respect to finding mail recepticals. Lately we've been chasing down mail people and asking them to send out our postcards. I wonder if they think they're about to be accosted, ony to be handed a pile of ridiculous post cards. You're welcome. --Lera

Fort Collins

Katie is a cat lady.  And a cat lady is a nemesis to the band, no matter how sweet, how generous, and how amiable a person is.  The Ben’s will never fully accept a keeper of cats.  Meow.  We hate our allergies. 

As we drive through Nebraska, I reflect on our time spent in Colorado.  To quote Lera Lynn, “Colorado is possibly the worst climate for a South Eastern bred singer for two reasons. 1: It’s dry.  2.  I can’t hold my whiskey.”  To quote me, “I’m from Colorado, I love it here, please stop talking about the altitude.”  One actual downside about Colorado, no Bank of America, which has led me to invent a game.  It’s a race.  First person to find out where I am, kill me and take my wallet wins way more cash than anyone should ever carry in a wallet, much less a child Velcro wallet. 

Nebraska is a perfect state for pondering questions in ones head.  Can my pin number be 5 numbers long?  If so should I switch my pin to P-I-Z-Z-A?  How much do stuntmen make a year?  How far away can Chicago be?  If someone killed me and took my wallet, how long until they guessed P-I-Z-Z-A?  I wonder what Lera’s pin is. 

You know what?  Nebraska is pretty.  We’re 82 miles from Kearny. 

You have until 12PM, 8-8-12 to kill me.

Meow!

My first burrito of the trip.  Today I had the privilege to watch a man eat a burrito, and then begin and encore burrito!  10:40 AM.  Fort Collins, Colorado.

Colorado

Dear Fans of the Blog,
I am sorry.  I am sorry that I let you down, yet again and failed to blog overseas.  More than once.
- Lera

Buon Giorno!  I'm in my home state, Colorado!  Rad.  Adam came all the way from Utah and the Knutsons were there, and my family and the Ebel's and it was Suzanne's birthday, and and and my brother had too much to drink and I'm sure today he has buyers remorse for spending like, over $100 on things he probably could have stollen out of our van.  I'm saying... I would have trusted him with the keys.
Lera has altitude sickness, jet lag, allergies and womanly times happening right now, so she's a blast.  Flat tire on E470.  Our first one.  Got it by running over a Browning shotgun choke. It was a real treat trying to figure out how to get the tire off the bottom of van... it was a mess.  Good thing Jeremy showed up and saved us from what would have been certain lateness.
Ricky came too!  All the way from Florida.
Every time I visit Colorado I wonder why I ever moved away.  What?  So that I could ultimately meet Lera and have to ride around in a van with her while she steals my Advil and tells me to stop playing my Indian flute that I bought at Heritage Square?  Hindsight = 20/20.
So many good things.  Anyways, I'm sort of busy.  I'm going to go try to find Bama McCall's grandson and hang out with him, because yes... I'm on tour with him.  And they say sequels are never as good as the original...

Our address for receiving mail is:
PO Box 214
Athens, Georgia
30606
We'd love to hear from you.

BOOM!

And now... it never happened.

I hope he gets the job.