The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

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Well, we did it. The cast of My Joy Is Heavy performed on the Tonight Show! Bucket list item unlocked.

What a day it was. We arrived at NBC at 10am for a soundcheck and two hour rehearsal. It was so cool to watch the production of a major network taping come together. Everyone involved was a consummate professional and very friendly and welcoming. After a break in the afternoon, we all gathered for a photo with Jimmy and then the show began taping at 5pm.

pre-show

After an hour of nervous energy, it was our time to take the stage. We could tell immediately that the audience was fully locked in and we gave as much energy as we could back to them. In the moment, I thought we absolutely killed it. I was so proud of all the people on that stage with me, most especially Shaun and Abigail, who were the reasons we were all there. Thank you, thank you, hallelujah!

After we played, Jimmy came around and shook all of our hands and then we JAMMED WITH THE ROOTS! What an incredible and inspiring band they are. Afterwards in the hallway, Questlove himself came up and shook my hand. We didn’t exchange any words, just a nod. Drummer code for a job well-done.

Post-show

The hardest part of the entire day was the hour before the show aired on television. What if it sounds bad? What if I look bad? Thankfully, I don’t think either of those things were true. I could finally drift off to sleep after an exhausting and fulfilling day of music-making with my friends.

Our show runs through April 12 at New York Theatre Workshop. If you are in New York, please come out and support this joyous piece of new theater!

actual cue card!

The Midwest

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The Grand theater in wasssau, wi

Brass Queens just returned from our first ever trip to the Midwest. We had the best time. Man, Midwesterners are just so dang nice!

on david byrne’s reasons to be cheerful at town hall

We sort of kicked off the tour here in NYC at Town Hall, where we played David Byrne’s Reason’s to Be Cheerful live show. It’s been an entire week and I still don’t have the words to say how much this show meant to me. I was starting to get in to the Talking Heads in high school, but when I saw Byrne perform at Bonnaroo in 2004 I sort of became obsessed. The man is the embodiment of ART and to be on his radar is simply a dream. Here’s the link to the video of every artist at the show (including Byrne, Thao, and Fred Armisen) performing our arrangement of Just the Two of Us.

I booked it home after the show because we had 7am flight to Chciago. We went directly from O’Hare to WGN9 to play their Midday Show. It was so cool to be in the studio of a major news network! Check out our performance here.

The house kit at wgn, home of bozo the clown

After a little nap, we loaded in at the Hideaway to play what was probably my favorite show of the tour. We had a great turn out and the crowd was into it. I haven’t played in Chicago in almost 15 years and I hope we can get back ASAP.

At the hideout | credit: janet M. Takayama

From Chicago, we traveled up to Wausau, WI to play a sold out concert at the Grand Theater’s 10 x 10 series. The show was a blast and afterwards we traveled a few miles out of the city to get a look at the aurora.

The aurora borealis from Wasusa, wi

From Wausau, we traveled down to Madison for a radio spot at WSUM before we co-billed the High Noon Saloon with one of our absolute favorite brass bands, Mama Digdown’s! We got to play their song Mojito with them at the end of their set. Here’s what that was like from my view:

Next up was Ludington, MI for a performance at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts, another lovely show. We stayed right on Lake Michigan and I got to spend a little bit of time by the water in the morning before heading off to Detroit.

lake Michigan

And finally, we arrived in Detroit for a sold out show at the legendary Cliff Bell’s. Prior to the show, we checked out the Motown Museum. Simply put, I was verklempt. Here’s a picture from Studio A. All of this gear was used on those original Motown Records.

motown’s studio A

The next day, we played at Detroit’s Fox 2 (here’s the vid) before having brunch and heading home exhausted but grateful. Tomorrow we play an album release show at Brooklyn Bowl. We hope to see you there for a hometown show!