I got reviewed in Belgium by Rootstime! Check it out here- www.rootstime.be

Then click on "cd reviews" on the left hand side of the page. When that loads, scroll down and you'll see me listed on the bottom of the page.


Peace ~ Palka

And...I'm off!

I raced like hell Wed. morning to get packed. Eventually you just have to throw all your shit in and figure it out on the road. What began organized, ended with dumping merch and supplies into boxes and bags. I had a show to play that night in Kalamazoo.

Film maker, Chris Rutushin met up with me for the first round of dates on the tour. He's adding percussion on his jambay and helping me film. I picked him up in Toledo and headed North.

Dino's is an amazing cafe near campus in Kalamazoo. They've got a chill vibe with exposed brick walls, comfy couches, a fire place and tasty food. The staff feels like they are your old friends.

Kaitlin Rose and I shared the stage for an excellent coffee house night of acoustic music. I think Katie is my favorite female singer songwriter. She's got an amazing voice, lyrics and her guitar playing is quite accomplished. An old friend of mine met me up at the show too. Mike just had his first child, a 2 month baby boy, but still hung out with us all night. We ended up crashing back at his place and took a tour of his "farm" via the bus.


I had my first casualty of the trip. Rounding the construction past Chicago, I was forced to drive along the rumble strips. It vibrated so badly that a hubcap popped off. I watched it bounce merrily until it hit the median. Perhaps that was a sign of times to come.

WI is an amazing state. We motored past Madison and into Spring Green for the first house concert. We were welcomed in style and class. Check out the cheese hats! Just about everyone took a turn checking out the bus, lounging with a drink, chill-laxing. Shirley's two sons even joined in for a late night jam session. An excellent host, Shirley had stocked up on some beer from the local micro brew and bottles from the winery on down the road.

The next day, it got interesting. Barb started losing power a mile out of Spring Green. Then 20 miles down she wouldn't run... I put in a call to Waterville Imports near my hometown. They gave me some trouble shooting tips. I wrenched for 5 hours trying my best. A good samaritan stopped by in a 64 Studabaker. He had a gas filter and some new tubing to try and solve the fuel issue that I thought might be the cause. It didn't do the trick. He offered a place to work on it and to crash for the night. I got the neighbor to tow it. That was on Friday night. I haven't blogged because it is now day 5 and I still can't get it running. I've wrenched everyday all day and spent the other time tracking down parts. You never know what you're getting into until you jump right in...

...Bozeman, MT and Friday is coming quick...I'll keep you posted...

It's 1AM. Sober. Tired. (written the night before I left)

I'm leaving the East to tour back West. This is the next big phase. In booking this tour, I looked at all of North America and asked "Where do you want to go? What haven't you seen yet?" There I'm going. Wisconsin. It's northern neighbor, the land of a thousand lakes. Big sky country. Bozeman. Yellowstone. The Great NorthWest. Back to Cali, north and south. I've got some old friends to make and meet. They're speckled across the country we need to catch up!


The Midwest has been kind on my extended stay. I've had more troubles than I imagined with the bus, but that's part of growing, part of the experience. Hell, BARB's hiccups led me to record an amazing album, led me to get to know some amazing friends and to expand my community of artistic and mad souls. Besides, hitting the road without that LP, just wouldn't be the same.

I'm so damn lucky. I get to meet people when they're at their finest. The sight of my dream wrapped up in my red bus melts fears away, or reminds them of some past life. Strangers share their stories with me, and thus, we're strangers no more. Maybe I'm making the world a smaller place, one person at a time...

I have yet to pack for what I hope to be 4 months of continuous touring. Two months will pass before I make it back to the Midwest. I haven't packed a thing and, oh well. I've been here dozens and dozens of times before. Maybe knowing that I have a bunch of stuff stored in LA gives me confidence. No. I'm doing what I love, and that makes all the difference.

I've been thinking about this gypsy life. A day without patterns...


Tuesday. I drove out to my folks today. The surrounding corn fields have grown too high to see over. Time, I thought. I helped my father clean out the garage so we could get the Model A out. It hasn't seen black top in two decades. I have a music video in mind - old world style, scratchy record playing on the victrola, small town life, dust kicking up behind those thin Model A tires and a classy lady in the passenger's seat.

Then I grabbed all the loose metal around their garage, as well as my old engine. I had learned enough, and figured I'd make a little extra cash by scrapping it. Then the day took a twist. I punctured a tire while driving through the scrap yard. No worries. I had a spare. I parked and started to jack it up. I grabbed the spare and bounced it as I rounded around the bus. SWOOSH, with every bounce. I chuckled, those hippie Mormons got me again. First the rebuilt engine that was kinda junked together with shoddy repairs, the slashed spare and...

...I smiled. I wasn't affected one bit. I don't live by clocks or routine. This was an opportunity. I was meaning to test the jack and spare anyhow. At least I was close to friends and family to get some help. I wished I had my camera to film. I decided to work on a new song. It came to me as I drove yesterday on route 80 just past the Akron exit. As I worked out the chorus, a handful of scrappers trickled in to ask about my travels and offer a hand to help. Human nature is kind. The tow truck was late. The scrap yard finally closed up after my two hours waiting there. I was forced to drive, the rim grinding and marched it's snail path below. They locked the gate behind me. I parked and waited some more. I thought about a Europe tour late this fall, a motorcycle trip from LA to Ohio at the end of the summer. I thought about the next novel that's halfway finished, the next album, the VW Bus Tour and the documentary.

I have time to grow old. I needn't be rushed. One step at a time, I thought. That's why I bought the bus, anyway. To take a slower pace and see all this beauty. To make this life magical.
Dreams are not chased, they are built.

It seems like I've been driving my bus about as much as it's been in the shop. I think I've got it all situated now. I dropped a brand new engine in BARB. The fine folks at Waterville Imports let me film it. The whole processes was rather simple...so they said. There are only 4 bolts that hold the engine in place. They dropped it to the ground and had it up on a milk crate to operate in minutes! Luckily so many people drive the old Bugs and Buses, VW has a plant in Mexico that still makes the original engines. I wasn't chancing a rebuilt one.

AND NOW, the dash lights have been flashing red. I was determined to diagnose and fix the problem myself, this time. That's one of the reasons I bought the old bus. I wanted to work on it on my own and be self-sufficient. After a little manual reading and investigation I decided it was the generator. I employed my father to lend a hand. As I wrenched away, he kept saying, "I just don't understand V-dubs. I don't get this car. The simple engine, or lack there of, and missing radiator had him bewildered. "It's air-cooled, "I kept telling him. It took until twilight before we had the generator installed. The dash lights stopped flashing. Success! We made a few of our own modifications, which I guess is why we ended up with a few pieces of hardware left over. Not sure what they went to??? Then I asked him if he could help adjust the valves. The engine wasn't running so smooth. "Valves?" he said, scratching his head. Then he walked off and returned with two beers. "This is all the help I can offer here," he said. My father had restored a Model A, '68 Camero and wrenched on a half dozen other vehicles he's owned, but he's never seen anything like my bus.

This was how my pops liked helping the best.

Jambands charts my new album Down the Road! All the hard work in the studio paid off. I charted at # 22 on Jambands. (Though I wouldn't consider my music genera specifically jamband.)

I'm one step above North Mississippi Allstars, who are amazing to see live! I also snuck in front of Wide Spread Panic, Oakhurst, and Slightly Stoopid. Edging out ahead of me are My Morning Jacket and Yonder Mountain String Band among others. It's quite the company to be grouped in.

Check it out here http://www.jambands.com/RadioCharts/content_2008_06_20.00.phtml

The summer shows and Festivals have been fun! I'm going to need a bigger tour bus if I plan on bringing The Caravan everywhere with me as my jambands.

While the humbling winter delayed my VW's progress, it has provided me with an opportunity – the time to hunker down and record my first studio album! The results being the best Spring and Summer record I could ever hope to offer and a proper album to tour behind.
The past few months had me in quiet work on the record and also working some odd jobs to help me financially limp to the finish line. One of the most notable has been the complete remodeling of the old brick building that houses my parents' fudge shop.
Once armed with some more cash, I continued to bounce between the studio in Youngstown, OH and the barn studio in Copemish, MI. It's about a 10 hour drive between the two cities, depending upon the mood of my V-Dub, BARB and the weather. Six inches of snow fell while I was cutting the final vocals in MI. Scot Bihlman had to get out and push several times before we could continue through the snow and leave the barn.

A week later I returned to Youngstown and played a hell of a fun show at Cedars with my band The Caravan. The line-up was complete with keys and brass and reminiscent of Van Morrison and an early E-Street Band.

Then a day later, after tracking one last guitar part in Youngstown, I braved an ice storm on the interstate. My windshield froze solid as traffic whipped by. I had to balance the propane heater on the wheel to melt a hole just to see through. That was followed by an electrical fire in the dash. I quickly turned the ignition off, popped it in neutral and coasted along the shoulder. Semis blew by as the ice rattled over Barb's sides. Meanwhile, I rolled the window down and let the thick smoke escape out of the cab. About a mile down the road and coasting at 30mph, I turned the ignition back on and popped the clutch. The engine fired back up. No more smoke. Gingerly, I merged back onto I-80.

Since completing the mix of the album a couple weeks ago, I've managed to gain a few thousand more miles on the road. I hauled the Toledo Mud Hens baseball equipment and logged the longest time behind the wheel. It lasted from 6 AM on a Friday to 10AM this following Saturday. All that time alone, I find I'm missing many familiar faces. With just the radio as a friend, I greeted the sunrise over the dash with a pouch of sunflower seeds in my cheek. The silent undercurrent of a gypsy lifestyle has become all too familiar. I thought about the days gone by...

...I recently ran into Dusty (from the novel) after losing touch for 2 years. Kelsey's been working overtime with me on the CD design and band posters while expecting her first child. I dashed off a couple short scripts for the TV overdubs on a friend's film, reunited with the live incarnation of my band, The Caravan, as we brushed up for the CD release show Friday May 2nd at Cedars, had a lazy spring day in a college town and buzzed at the local brewery into twilight and then midnight, visited an old NYC and Columbus roommate in Jersey, road-tripped to Chicago and saw my friend's new artist studio, then caught an afternoon buzz in Wicker Park which started at 3 in the afternoon at an Irish Pub and continued to Wrigley Field, then shuffled back through the bars and down the neighborhood streets until 3 AM.

It's a good life. I hope to have some tour dates, new music, and the new album up for sale soon. Live the inspired life ~ MP