we made it back alive

well, i guess we made it. we have returned to asheville. we returned a little earlier than we had planned, basically we got tired and were ready to return home and felt we had accomplished a good bit and what we missed we will hit in the near future. We want to say thanks to all those people that helped us out with a place to stay, a free meal, a jumpstart to the van. all those things made this trip possible and pretty painless. I think we only had a couple of not so good nights of sleep. we really were not sure how this would go. We had a great time and look forward to more adventures on the streets of everytown USA. We will begin working on the documentary and hope to show it in the near future.. we may have a trailer or short version for our return show at THE NEW FRENCH BAR on August 24th. we will keep you posted. thanks again for all your support.
speedsquare

long time no post

well i guess it has been a while since the last post. sorry about that. it is not because things have not been going on so i will try to catch you up.
we have hit ann arbor MI, warren PA, rochester NY, ithaca NY, burlington VT, portland ME, and now we are in NJ. we have been taking it easy in point pleasant NJ staying with Emily's mom and catching some surf. tommorrow we are headed to new york city to hit the parks there.
things have been well. ithaca, portland, and burlington were awesome towns for us. they all felt like sister cities to asheville and we were happy to find them.
we will be back in asheville on or by august 13th.we are having a celebratory return show on august 24th at the NEW FRENCH BAR. we are starting to miss asheville a little so please come out i know that we will be excited to see everyone upon our return.
take care and i will try to update more often

the road back to the east

just a quick update on where we are at the moment. from san francisco we hit lake tahoe. lake tahoe is a beautiful area but not much of a seen for busking on a Monday night. we looked for the Godfather house but couldn't see it from where we were. after tahoe we headed for salt lake city. once again beautiful town but not much busking going on for a tuesday night. our next stop was to be Boulder. Boulder was awesome. We set a new record beating out the previous San Fran record and made several new friends one of which put us up for the night (much appreciated Justin) which made the search for a campsite at 1 am unnecessary. the next day we played another short session and went on our way through nebraska and iowa on an all day drive. we wanted to play Iowa city but we did not make it in time given our scheduled show in chicago. I have to say given our recent trek back and forth across the midwest i feel less concerned with over-population. there really is a lot of blank space out there if you are feeling crowded. Our chicago show went great at the Charleston where we also ran into several ashevillans and cafe on the square employees. thanks again for driving all the way to chicago just to see us... that's real support folks. we took the next day off for once to relax and recharge and the following day we hit Lincoln Square in chicago just down the street from a folk festival that was going on and did really well. i guess that is about it for chicago we are headed for ann arbor michigan tomorrow. if you know anyone there tell them to look for the speedsquare handi-van.
take care and thanks for checking in

the streets of San Francisco

San Francisco has been really good to us. we have made tons of new street friends. all very interesting folks you will see in the videos posted below. Josh and Nicole have been awesome host taking care of us and coming along recording video and showing us where to go in the city. much appreciation. it would be a different trip without their help. we had a few request for some b roll footage of the trip so I worked some in to the new footage. hope you like. I am not sure where we are going next but we have to be in chicago by the 13th. we will most likely head north a little further and then head east toward boulder. we will be planning our next move tonight. take care and thanks for checking in on us.
also the footage had to be broken into two parts. the top is the first part and the bottom the second.

Mojito in North Beach, San Fran, 8pm, July 5

Catch Speedsquare tonight!
http://mojitosf.com/
1337 Grant Ave, San Francisco 94133 (Btwn Green & Vallejo St)

Santa Barbara, LA and beyond

welcome to another speedsquare update. After arriving in California and staying up all night playing yahtzee at Yoffy's house in LA we moved up the coast to Santa Barbara to our friend Andy Bowers place. Before moving on let me say how much we have appreciated these guys taking care of us...... the yahtzee, the fresh oranges, beer, fresh avocados, the yahtzee, internet connection, and the true Santa Barbara club experience from Andy. it has already made our time in California much fun. Susanne has also joined us and been a great help and supportive team member, helping us remember to do the stuff we sometimes forget and be an eye outside of the band. we told Eli to take a couple days off to himself and enjoy Cali since Susanne could take over some of the band support stuff. On Saturday morning we hit the Santa Barbara farmers market and did the best we have ever done busking. we made back some of the rations we lost on much gas and no busking in west Texas (it is pretty much desert)... later on in the day we played a barbecue that had been planned way before anyone knew speedsquare was going to be in town and were welcomed with open arms of generosity and learned a new "family game" called flip cup. i am hoping to have some footage soon of the east coast team working the west coast team in flip cup but i might wait until we are out of California to do that so they are still nice to us here. they fed us and hydrated us or maybe that is dehydrated us? not sure, but it was a success. we made more tips and sold more cd's.... we were too tired to play that night ( not sure why ) but we decided to rest. Sunday we hit the Santa Barbara beach with lots of people but slow funds so we moved to State street in downtown Santa Barbara where things really picked up and made for another nice day of busking. we have a couple of leads on further gigs in California. we also had an accordion player, free-style rapper, and drummer sit in with us at different times. after that Andy took us out for a parting drink and we hit the road back to yoffy's in LA. we are getting ready to hit 3rd Street and then Venice Beach today which are supposed to be great places for busking. wish us well
take care and stay tuned for the coming adventures of speedsquare...

alive and well in LA

well a lot has happened since west Texas.. the industrialized cow farms in new mexico were awesome.... i think speedsquare is going to come out with our own cologne that smells just like it. we skipped over to Tucson, Arizona, and then on to Sedona and Flagstaff. the Arizonians have been really supportive of what we are doing and wondering where the hell we came from. we have some new video footage from Arizona posted on youtube to check out. we have made some new friends and contacts with a couple of potential film soundtrack opportunities in the future. we are really enjoying our trip across this crazy country. we especially enjoy surprising people on the sidewalks of their towns. take care and we will be reporting back soon on Cali.
much love for all the support from back home
speedsquare

Somewhere in West Texas...

We'll they're not sure where they are, but they're somewhere in West Texas, almost to New Mexico and aiming for Arizona by tonight. It's 108 degrees in the shade...the piano may be warping but there's no stopping Speedsquare!

Austin

austin is proving to be the best so far. with some early busking this afternoon we will be back at it this evening on the famous 6th street. we talked to the coppers last night and i don't think they will bother us but in the mean time you can check out our appearance with a professional street dancer in the streets of austin. stay tuned for the next chapter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Oa4X3r7Y4

Where the Gas is Cheap and Liberals Weep

Speedsquare made the painstaking trek through Texas yesterday (where, by the way, gas is not cheap), finding the oasis of Austin just after dinner last night...stay tuned.

Beale Street and the Memphis Movie Bust...Busk

After a few hours busking Beale in the early evening on Friday, Speedsquare was invited to play in front of a restaurant/club. Within minutes of setting up, a camera crew showed up, filming a video for risk management? and asked Speedsquare to create a song for them on the spot. The cameras drew a large crowd (I think the music actually drew the crowd :) and some cops, which promptly shut down the busking, which was outside the jurisdiction of their permit. Damn. It was a great five minutes though!

Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee, they're goin to Graceland

Speedsquare is busking, I mean basking, in the aura of Elvis' ghost tonight. I hope The King likes what he hears and sends good vibes. Campsite tonight and Westward tomorrow!

Speedsquare's On The Road

Craisins and new mini-DV camera in tow, Speedsquare set off for Nashville, TN, today. Look for their white handicapped van, with "Speedsquare" across the bumped up top, on all highways West toward San Diego between now and early next week. Stops include Nasheville, Austin, Phoenix and maybe a couple in between.

BUSKING TOUR KICK OFF AND DOUBLE CD RELEASE PARTY

with special guests from Stephanie's Id, Mother Vinegar, the Phermones and more
Friday, June 15 @ 11 pm
Cafe on the Square in downtown Asheville

Releasing "Be Cool" (studio album) and a streets CD

www.myspace.com/speedsquare1

SPEEDSQUARE TALKS TO KIM CLARK AT WNCW

We talked with Kim Clark about the cross-country busking tour. We'll see her again in Studio B in August when we get back from the tour. Thanks Kim!

Listen to the interview and three songs off of our new albums (available first at our DOUBLE CD release party at Cafe on the Square on June 15):

WNCW: Fri., June 8 @ 9 - 11 pm during Local Color
Sun., June 10 @ 7 - 9 pm during Local Color
Fri., June 15 @ 9 - 11 pm during Local Color

Local Color is hosted by Kim Clark who spotlights emerging artists from all over our listening area, with a focus on those who are pushing the envelope just a bit. Live performances, official releases, demos, and exclusive in-studio performances will all add to "Local Color."

Taking It to the Streets Tour!

Experimental drum and piano duo, Speedsquare, is literally “Takin it to the Streets,” busking in more than 20 U.S. cities this summer, and releasing their two new CDs!

Speedsquare’s Double CD release party and Tour Kick-off will be in Asheville at Café on the Square (1 Biltmore Ave. at Pack Square) on FRIDAY, JUNE 15, starting at 9.00 p.m. Special local musician guests will sit in with Speedsquare at their CD Release and Tour Kick-off party.

Upright piano and full drum set in tow, Speedsquare duo C. Scott and Billy Sheeran, dot the corners of Asheville offering an inspiring ride for their unsuspecting sidewalk audiences. Their progressive variety has been coined: jazz, classical, blues, “jingly”, and theatrical, and each show manifests originality and surprises. Under the ambiguous umbrella of musical experimentation, Speedsquare’s musical chemistry and madness is entertaining at least and provocatively awe-inspiring to most.

"This tour was born out of a need to connect with a larger audience by bringing our music directly to the people," said C Scott. "It's been exciting and freeing to plan for this trip, concentrating on our music and making our CDs, and knowing that we'll be sharing our music with anyone that walks by. "

Speedsquare www.myspace.com/speedsquare1 will be playing on the streets and in some venues in the following cities. Dates and locations (unless in bold) are fairly flexible. Call C. Scott to book Speedsquare at 828.279.3600.

June 15 Asheville, NC-- Café on the Square Double CD Release Party and Tour Kick-off
June 18-19 Atlanta, GA
June 20-21 Austin, TX
June 21-22 Phoenix, AZ
June 22-23 San Diego, CA
June 24-25 Los Angeles, CA* --Craven's Hollywood Tavern (June 27)
June 25-30 Santa Barbara, CA*
July 1-5 San Francisco, CA* --Mojitos (July 5)
July 5-6 Salt Lake City, UT
July 8-10 Denver/Boulder, CO
July 13-20 Chicago, IL* -- The Charleston (July 13)
July 20-22 Pittsburgh, PA
July 23-29 Washington, DC/Bethesda, MD* --Flanigans Harp and Fiddle (July 29)
July 29-31 New York City
Aug 1-4 Southeast Canada
Aug 5-7 Charlottesville/Richmond, VA

*Dates and cities with an * are set in stone--others are flexible.

With C. Scott primarily on drums, he also plays guitar, trumpet, trombone, piano, saxophone, melodica, and mandolin. In addition to piano, Billy plays guitar and ashtrays. From busking on city streets, to rocking festival stages and nightclubs, the chameleonesque peculiarity of Speedsquare suits any occasion, mood, or crowd.