Vicki and I are back in Austin after The Zebras On The Loose Tour.  We couldn't have predicted all the stuff that happened.  We can't wait to tour the East Coast of the U.S. in February and England in May.  Before I catch you up on our adventures...

New CD, Book and DVD
If you've read the shows above, you can see that I have a new CD, book and DVD for sale.  You can buy the book and CD and pre-order the DVD (will be at your house in time for Christmas).  Order online, 1 for $10 or all 3 for $20 (plus Shipping).

This is Spoken Groove  - $10
This is the CD that I went to England to record over 2 years with producer Ross Gill.  It's a Spoken Groove adventure featuring Definition 19, "Sometimes I Can See The Future", "The Song About Nothing", and everyone's favorite, "Don't Trust Barack Obama" (I promise it's not political). 
Order This is Spoken Groove online now

I'm Going To Be A Zebra: How To Follow Your Dreams - $10
If you've ever dreamed of doing what you love full time, you need this book.  Peter gives you a taste of his journey from engineer to performing artist and what it takes to make it.  Is it doing what you love that makes you happy?  Or is it happiness that lets you love what you do?  Do you have what it takes to be a Zebra?  $10 or 3 for $20
Order I'm Going To Be A Zebra online now

Live at the Lantern: Peter Nevland - $10
Tucked away in Sheffield, England, sits the Lantern Theatre, the oldest, free-standing theatre in England.  In May, 2011, the curtains rose on three nights of magical performances.  Pre-order it now to arrive in time for Christmas.  Includes, Carrot Top, Sometimes I Can See The Future, Love Complete and many more.  $10 or 3 for $20.  
Pre-order Live at the Lantern online now

Starting with Nothing...
When we left Austin on October 26, we had no money.  The payment Vicki and I had expected to receive from our England Tour in May had been held up by bureaucracy and a very un-motivated visa sponsor.  After paying our bills and performing a couple amazing house shows in Fort Worth and Dallas, we had $80 in cash.  That's enough to drive to St. Louis, but not enough to get to Michigan. 

It was Friday.  No money was supposed to hit our accounts until Monday.  We had to make a performance by Sunday.  After waiting all day on UPS to receive new CDs that ended up never coming, we headed out and drove all night.  I called Kirk, who was watching our house, and asked him to check the mail to see if any checks for us had arrived.  Nothing.  We kept driving.

Jeff Watson greeted us at 6:30am when we arrived and escorted us to the room they'd saved for us.  We crashed into the pillows.  I woke at 11:30am and headed upstairs.  After hanging with the family and eating breakfast, I checked my bank account.  Nothing had changed.

I ended up performing some of my new pieces for the family.  The last I'd seen them was 6 years ago.  They've grown and matured, but they're still just as rambunctious.  Vicki stumbled upstairs in the middle of my performance and said hello.  She ate breakfast while I finished performing.  Before I finished I heard her voice...

"The money is in my account!"  Her direct deposit check wasn't supposed to show up until Monday.  It hadn't arrived Friday.  It showed up on Saturday.  We had money to get to Michigan.

We arrived late Saturday night in Zeeland, Michigan, to the hosting of Nettie & Dave Kooiker, who had gone to great lengths to provide snacks and treats that we could eat with our various dietary issues.  They even made a joke out of me screwing up Nettie's name thinking that it was Mattie Nettie. 

Sunday evening we performed for the youth of Community Reformed Church, with a big theme being how awesome sex is when it's only enjoyed with the person you've married.  I loved the look on the faces on one young couple who'd been all over each other up to the point that I went from funny stuff to talking about that.  Afterward I got to chase a kid through the basement hallways.  That plus the performance gave me enough of an appetite to eat a whole rack of ribs at the restaurant Phil took us to once we'd packed up.

Monday morning I awoke with ribs on my breath nice and early to go conduct writing workshops for the kids at Innocademy.  When the last school bell rang, we headed back to the Kooikers', said our goodbyes and drove to Indianapolis.  Tuesday and Wednesday I did writing workshops from 7:30am to 3:05pm at Ben Davis High School before performing Wednesday evening at Chapel Rock Christian Church.  The set they put together was pretty incredible with zebra stripes just like on my book.

Once we finished performing and hanging out with people, we packed up the car and drove the 4 hours to Portland, Michigan, arriving at 3am.  John and Nancy Longstreth greeted us at the door and made sure we got into their very comfortable bed so that we could sleep for a few hours before I did another creative writing workshop at Portland Middle School all day.  It was a fun day, but I came home and crashed.

When I awoke about an hour later, we got ready for our show that night.  My new CDs, which should have arrived before we left and UPS had said would arrive that day, suddenly switched to "arriving tomorrow".  Thanks to Keith Treman, we performed to another great audience at Portland United Methodist with "Born A Ghost" opening for us.  Vicki signed a bunch of autographs that night.  She's definitely the best part of our show now.  :-)

The next day our CDs arrived just in time for us to make our show that evening in Stratford, Ontario.  Now our only problem would be getting Vicki across the border.  "Do I need my passport?" she had asked the day before.  I was stunned.  We had been planning this for a few months.  Our only course of action was to get a copy of her passport emailed to us along with our marriage certificate and hope for the best.

At the border, the guard gave us a stern warning and then let us both through, telling us that we shouldn't have much problem getting back into America.  Good thing that they can tell we're honest just by our skin color and accents!  (definite sarcasm mixed with awkward thankfulness)

That night we featured at Factory 163, one of the coolest art spaces, I've ever performed in.  Nate-o McKay put on a great show for us again, and Dave Martin gave us two nights of a free stay at Mercer Hall Inn, the place to go if you want a romantic stay in Stratford.  We hung out with old friends, made some exciting new plans for next year and headed off to visit some of Vicki's relatives before smiling our way back across the border.

All the workshops and shows that we'd tried to arrange in Pittsburgh fell through, so we got to hangout and help John Stanley and all the cool stuff he's doing to resurrect the old steel town of Aliquippa.  A little rest and relaxation was needed, so I worked a bunch with my marketing clients.  Then my computer started making a clicking noise and stopped working, trying to make me think that I'd lost everything I'd done for the past 3 years.  I put it out of my mind. 

After a couple shows at Uncommon Grounds, we headed off to Columbus, Ohio, making sure to get a little lost in a town that looked a little too much like the movie, Deliverance.  (It was the 2 dudes and 1 girl drinking beer in overalls with mullets giving me directions that did it)  The gas station was an experience, but the gas and directions worked and we made our appointment at the Apple Store.  My computer magically got better with all my information in tact.

Once we arrived, Linworth Baptist Church made sure we got the star treatment on Saturday night, giving us our own dressing room, complete with water.  Then we performed for a bunch of crazy youth on a Disciple Now weekend.  When the show was over, I got peppered with questions about Justin Bieber while Vicki got asked about her dancing and how she got to be so beautiful.  Then Bill Montgomery took us into central Columbus for an incredible burger at The Thurman Café. 

Sunday morning we drove to Cincinnati and performed at Kenton County Public Library, just south of the river, in Erlanger.  The irrepressible Ryan Barnette had booked me as an actual author for the show and gotten a pretty good crowd to attend it.  He said it's the only time that an author has ever had people stay to talk to them and actually sold their products.

On Monday, we bought an external hard drive and drove up to Lancaster, Ohio.  Dave and Amy Lively hosted us while we performed at Fairfield Christian Academy.  On Tuesday I did 9 workshops, each 42 minutes long with only a 3 minute break in-between classes and no lunch.  I don't know what happened the rest of that day.

Wednesday we drove to Kingston, Tennessee and performed for a bunch of crazy kids as the feature of an open mic put on by John Pryor and Morrison Hill Christian Church.  My heart broke as one of the girls who had performed told me how "Sometimes I Can See the Future" had connected with her own story of a broken family.  She's so talented and valuable.  Every child is.

Thursday morning we woke in the palacial guest cabin of Bob Silvera and his wife.  We ended up with another impromptu living room performance before going to wait on the mail again.  I had left my phone charger in Cincinnati.  We left way too late and got into Fayetteville, Arkansas at 2am.

Friday morning I woke and conducted another day of workshops at Southwest Junior High, complete with a Thanksgiving meal.  That night Tyler Newcomb had arranged a great house show starting at 10pm.  The University of Arkansas had even put us up in the DoubleTree Hotel, so that we could get enough sleep for two nights.  Man, people treat us well.

We drove over to Edmond, Oklahoma, where we performed at Pam and Tom Ball's house and then slept for a few hours, getting up at 4:30am on Sunday to drive to Joplin, Missouri.  As soon as we walked in the door, I got the details for the Sunday school class I was speaking to, set up the merchandise table and then spoke for an hour.  After a church service and lunch I got a nap and some Sunday football.

Monday morning we attacked another day of workshops at Joplin High School, the one that was destroyed by an F5 tornado last Spring.  The devastation is still incredible 6 months later, and so is their resilience.  I saw trees stripped clean of branches and leaves that had sprouted leaves all over their remaining bark and stumps.  Life is hard to kill when roots go deep.

That night a bunch of people filled a little theater, laughing and crying and laughing again.  A writer named Eric Jones brought kids from a Kansas City youth poetry scene to get inspired by a professional performer.  Tammy Cady, who put on the show and workshops, sacrificed her time and resources, despite having lost her family's home without insurance.  I never feel deserving of that kind of honor.

We pulled up to my parents' house the day before Thanksgiving, unable to put into words, but bursting with gratitude for the beauty we received from everyone we met in all our adventures.  I can't tell you how amazing it is to be touring and dreaming together with a partner who's more beautiful, creative and intelligent than I could have requested.  And it's only the beginning.

Here's to ending with way more than we started,
Peter.