Finally, Tift and the guys are coming to play the 42nd largest market in the USA, Tidewater Virginia. They are booked in Norfolk at the Attucks Theater, on Sept. 19. I had a little trouble finding the link to purchase tickets on-line through Tift's website, but found it here: http://www.attuckstheatre.org/shows.html   I'm located about 50 miles southwest of Norfolk and have many family and friends up there and attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk. I'll try to do what I can to promote the show. In Wilmington I took a couple, as my guests, who had not attended one of Tift's concerts before and now they're fans. I think if each of us would try to bring a friend to a concert we can help spread the good music. In the current state of the music business artists must work harder than ever as the labels cut back on promotion. I think we as fans can help in this regard. I hope some of you can join us in Norfolk. Stay around for the weeknd and enjoy the beach at Virginia Beach or go over to Williamsburg for Historic Williamsburg or Bush Gardens. There are a ton of good clubs and resturants in downtown Norfolk too. Let me know if you need any information about the area.

Stan

You are lucky to get to go to the show in Norfolk. I also went to the Wilmington show(As  my oldest daughter and Son in Law live there). My youngest daughter lives in Newport News so when i saw the Norfolk show on the schedule I was excited as I thought I could now take my Daughter and Hubby to see Tift because they have never seen her. Unfortunately though upon checking I found that I have Penn State football game tickets that weekend so no show for me. Ordinarily I would be happy about getting to go to the one game a year I get to attend, but this time I picked the wrong game. Oh well I'll just have to wait until she comes back to the Phila. area again

A place to dine is Doumar's.   Nothing fancy here, but it is one of the oldest drive thru and eat in diners remaining in Virginia today.  The ice cream cone was invented by Doumar.  As I recall, they serve pretty good BBQ sandwitches and milkshakes which would please Apollo and the Muses.  I have not been there in 20 years, so I can no longer attest to the fare served up today, but I suspect it might be worthy of investigation.  Perhaps Stan or some locals can confirm, or pan my recommendation.   Here's is a link to Doumar's :  http://www.doumars.com .  Enjoy the show Stan.  Peter

Absolutely, Doumar's is still there and still run by the same family. Good call Peter. Here is another great source for information:  http://hamptonroads.com/

Doumar's  Cones & BBQ Diner  video tour : http://www.doumars.com/DDDoumars.htm  

Stan just seeing one of those shakes for the first time in 2 decades made me drool on my tie !!!   Watch the video if you dare and enjoy the show. 

A Norfolk-area newspaper article profiles Tift. Here's a particularly interesting bit:

This fall will see the release of "Please Break the Stillness of the Middle of the Night," a digital-only minialbum with outtakes, covers and a few new originals.

One of those new originals, "Wayward and Weary," will also appear on the upcoming DVD version of "Gonzo," director Alex Gibney's documentary about Hunter S. Thompson (the late gonzo journalist who committed suicide in 2005).

"I saw the movie, which covers the span of his life and death, and this period of him aging and watching the world," Merritt said. "It really affected me. He'd become this old man who wanted to leave. So the song is about what he must have been feeling at the end of his life."

"Wayward and Weary" is one of Merritt's few recent compositions. With all the touring this year, she hasn't had much time for songwriting - or planning her wedding.

She and longtime boyfriend/drummer Zeke Hutchins got engaged in the spring but haven't set a date. So that will probably have to wait until next year.

"I think I'll have some time to write in the fall," Merritt said. "I'm gonna hibernate then, if I have to. Right now, we're just working like crazy. And the wedding, I've not had one minute to think about. We're thinking very small and quick and intimate. Just this morning, we were even discussing running away. It's hard - we just want to be married."

Those crazy kids.

I hope some of you got to the Norfolk show tonight. It was GREAT as usual. I believe this was Tift's first time playing the Tidewater area, although she mentioned she had visited Edenton, NC before. This was my first time at the Attucks Theater and it is a perfect venue, with great sound and sight lines. Although there was a lot of competition in the area tonight I thought it was a good size crowd. There was good local promotion on a couple of local stations and the local paper had the previous mentioned article yesterday. We again took a couple (my sister in law and her husband) as our guests who had never seen Tift. As usual they could not stop talking about how good Tift and the band are. It never fails. Danny was missing but Zeke said he was out west subbing for a friend. I think I understood that they are going to take a little R&R down at Virginia Beach tomorrow. There was a discussion of the local surf report. I hope they have a chance to take in a few of the local attractions. It's a great area.

Stan Vann