ROAD RECAP

An eventful trip back out on the road. We started the run in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan (the northernmost city in Michigan...unless they've since been annexed by Canada which is about 2 miles away). I'd forgotten all about the Northern Lights and the changes in times of day when you're that far up there. We went on stage at 7 p.m. and played till 8:30 pm. When we walked off the stage and out the back door of the venue, the sun was almost blinding. It makes you feel groggy to know that the sun is shining all but 6 hours of the day.

From there we went to Walker MN. We played with our friends Cross Canadian Ragweed. I haven't seen my buddy Joel in forever, he and I have worked for the same bands playing the same clubs for years. He's a great guy, it was fun to get to catch up with him for a while. The gig sucked. The people had no idea what was going on, they actually threw Trace Adkins out of the artist catering because they didn't know who he was. You can imagine how everything flowed after that.

We had a great day off in Chicago on Sunday. We went and ate some killer BBQ with Ed Warm, owner of Joe's Bar. It's a place called Smoque (weird spelling, but still pronounced the same). I also took the opportunity to do some Michigan Ave shopping and grab some soup. I'm a big soup guy, so we stopped at Soup Life and I had some Shrimp and Crab bisque and a bowl of a spicy tomato based soup. Both were great. Al went with the Turkey Chili and he might have out-ordered me, it was damn good. We capped the afternoon sitting on the patio at Joe's drinking a couple Blue Moons and watching baseball. On our way back to the bus, we drove by Wrigley Field while the Cubs were playing the Sox. The Cubbies scored while we were right by the stadium and it was deafening. That's such a cool atmosphere down there. Everyone in that neighborhood tailgates in their yards even if they aren't going to the game. It's such a town team spirit. Here's a cool pic from Lakeshore Dr.




We ended up back at the hotel and got some much needed rest. Monday we started two days of rehearsals at the Sommet annex. Long days and nights but hopefully the crowds will see the benefit.

Back out on the road now for the first of five days out. Festival season means one thing...a lot of XBOX and dirt.

FLYING THE FRIENDLY SKIES

This is actually the first blog I've ever written while airborne. At this moment, I'm on a Southwest 747 from Nashville to Chicago. It's about a 461 mile flight. Jet Fuel is running about $7 per gallon (from what my friend Glenn, who has his own plane, tells me). I cant imagine that this gas guzzling hunk of metal could guzzle enormous amounts of fuel while airborne, so let's just - for shits and giggles, say it takes 1000 gallons of fuel to get from Nashville to Chicago. I have really no idea what kid of fuel mileage they get, so 1000 gallons for a 461 mile trip seems safe. The total cost on that 1000 gallons is $7000.

Now lets say you pay each of the two pilots $1000 per day (plus benefits, so say another $100 per man). We're now at $8200 for fuel and pilots. Now, let's add in the ground crew. To be safe, lets average $30 per hour for each ground crew/baggage handlers who work a flight and lets say that each of them work one hour per flight. And for mathematical sake, lets say there are 10. We're now to $8500. A mechanic has to service the jet, refuel, empty the tanks, etc. Lets factor a couple of those in at $100 per hour. Up to $8700. Lest we forget the dear flight attendants and gate workers...average $500 per flight for six workers. Total jumped a little to $11700.

OH, I forgot the ticket counter folks...let's say $300 per day for those folks and average that two work per flight. We're now at $12,700. NOW, we need to assign a cost per aircraft per flight. I'm figuring that these big bitches probably cost about seven million dollars. They last for twenty years and are used every day multiple times, so....

Twenty years is 7300 days, and lets say each jet flies two flights per day. 7,000,000 divided by 7300 is just under $1000 per flight. Again, for simplification let's say $1000, I get $42 worth of padding for any parts that must be ordered/bought for service of the aircraft.

SHIT, I forgot the free drinks and peanuts. At the bulk the airlines buy drinks, they probably get them for $0.25 a piece, and say $0.05 for each bag of peanuts. SO, at 21 rows with six seats per row, we have 126 passengers who all get a beverage and two bags of salted or honey roasted (their choice) peanuts. Grand total for the nuts and drinks is $31.50 PLUS $12.60 EQUALS $47.10.

All in all, it brings our GRAND TOTAL to $13747.10. This includes all airport and airline personnel that are directly related to each flight, as well as fuel costs, maintenance and aircraft.

I haven't been on a flight in over a year that hasn't been either completely full or oversold. Let's just say the average one way ticket is $150 not counting taxes and the $3 airport fee), at 126 passengers that gross is $18900. That's $5000 per flight of PROFIT. And who are we kidding, most of these planes are flying three or four trips per day, so when you factor that it's $20000 per plane per day. And if you have 100 aircraft in your fleet, we're talking $2,000,000 profit per day. TWO MILLION DOLLARS PER DAY. I'm sure I'm leaving out some major expense, like the damn Spirit magazine that occupies my time so well, or maybe the maintenance costs of the award winning website. But if you can't thrive on making TWO MILLION DOLLARS PER DAY in flight profit something is sadly wrong.

All that to say that American just started charging to check even one bag and next month US Airways will begin to charge $3 for their in flight beverages (non-alcoholic).

I wrote in this blog last month that Canada Customs was the biggest racket I'd ever seen, but I stand corrected.

FAREWELL TIM...

I'm sure, unless you've had your head in the ground for several days, that you've heard about the sudden death of NBC political commentator and world renowned journalist Tim Russert. As I flipped on Headline News to see the events unfolding, I stood in front of the TV with my mouth agape. Russert had the desire to study and report "the effect of tragedy on the human spirit" and I can't think of anything more ironic than the effect his death has on a nation.

Russert first captured me in the long, drawn out drama of the 2000 presidential election...I was never brainy enough (or awake) to catch "Meet The Press." He was so excitable during that election coverage, it made the hours upon hours of coverage seem like minutes. He had that stupid little dry erase board. After that, he started showing up on panels during evening news programs and special Washington D.C. coverage.He just had that face and charisma that could capture everyone from the pundits to the grease monkeys. I guess that's why it was no surprise to me when I found out during all the drama after his death that he was a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Raised in NY, son of a laborer, paid his dues for a number of years...it's enchanting to see someone you admire drawn to the same things you are. It makes you wonder if the two of you would be friends. That also brings up a point that I always remember from the movie "High Fidelity." Cusack, at one point in the movie, expounds on the fact that "What really matters is what you like, not what you're like." This is a great point, people don't care about your personality anymore, they care about what you're into. It's like a fear of being "in the dark." This made me think of a conversation I had with Chris Wall about "The Last Waltz" by The Band. That movie (The Last Waltz) is like a secret society...if someone knows you've seen it you gain instant credibility. If you haven't seen it, you're in the dark and people just shut down about anything cool in your presence. If you've seen it 10 times and quote it from memory, they make you their leader (I know this, I've watched it a triple digit amount of times...maybe quadruple). I bet you all the money in the world that Tim Russert had seen "The Last Waltz."

So, we come full circle.

In a world where, these days, very few journalists are driven by a quest for truth, honor and integrity, Russert perfected that balance and managed to charm a world in the meantime. For someone like me who doesn't want to be preached to from a political pedestal, yet wants to understand all sides of the issues, Russert was my guy. I'll miss his wry humor, boyish enthusiasm and quality reporting. He helped shape the last 15 years of a nation's culture and, while others push agendas and become notorious for outlandish reporting, he did it the right way. Farewell Tim.

DOES THIS MAKE ME A DOUCHEBAG??

Last night, on PBS, I watched the 90 min Vegas show of Celine Dion. The show "A New Day" ran for 5 years and was sold out almost every night at 4000 tickets per show. In 717 performances over those 5 years they grossed $400 million dollars. Anyway, I watched the show out of production curiosity. Of course, there were some amazing effects and designs that, given the financial windfall, I'll definitely rip off and use somewhere. However, I did realize two things while watching this special...A) Celine Dion is the greatest singer alive today and B) Celine Dion is the most awkward human being alive today. While listening to how beautiful her voice is, you can't help but notice how uncoordinated and contrived she is. Her attempts to connect with the crowd make me cringe...maybe there is some demographic that don't see thru it and find it amazingly entertaining (like, maybe my grandmother or someone who speaks only Swahili) but to me it's almost as entertaining to watch her awkwardness as it is to watch her talent. I think since she cut her last single, the song "Taking Chances" written by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, I'm finally comfortable enough in myself to admit that I watched this show. It might make me a douchebag, but I'm not scared.

On an unrelated note, it's Fan Fair week in Nashville. Now I believe the politically correct name is CMA Music Fest, but it's still Fan Fair. And being my first Fan Fair while living in Nashville, it's been the most unreal thing to watch. Complete idiots driving down the wrong way on Music Row. People walking across the interstate into oncoming traffic. All the hotel lobbies jammed with overweight folks in hawaiian shirts and New Balance shoes. Wow. I need to start traveling during Fan Fair.

80's Babies

I was born in the 70's but definitely came of age in the 80's, and looking back now it was extremely hard to find good music from that time period. I remember those times in the summer, swimming in my grandmothers pool with the radio tuned to the pop station. You'd hear some pure shit ("Oh Sheila" or "We Built This City", but also great things like the Eurythmics, Fleetwood Mac doing "Little Lies" and Robert Palmer's rise as a solo artist.

However, one artist stood out and in the last two months his meteoric rise has been reinvented in another generation. BRYAN ADAMS IS BACK, BABY. After putting out several acoustic, live and independent releases, Adams is all over the airwaves and television with his new release "11". I bought it on iTunes yesterday and I'm gonna dive into it very soon, but I can already tell you it's going to be great. Adams is a timeless artist,  a pure singer and songwriter who has consistently made great music over the past 25 years. He fucking ROCKS. However, why is he so forgotten? Is it because very little came out of the 80's that was decent?  

Adams had great commercial success (and came dangerously close to jumping the shark with his 1991 smash from Robin Hood, but only because of HOW HUGE it actually was) but will never be on the same credibility level as U2 or Springsteen or even a Tears for Fears. It's a damn shame, because he's still touring and still putting out records that sound great. I'll confirm that shortly, but I can tell you now it's true.

And when Bryan Adams comes thru town this summer, you can bet your ass I'm gonna be there with every other 80's baby. I don't know if it's from nostalgia or the fact he rocks, but I'll be there.