Tonight finds us in Louisville, KY. Gallagher would have a field day with the local pronunciation of their town. We're playing with the Dangerous Man himself, Trace Adkins. We've got about 30 guests out for the show, so I've been labelsitting all day.
We roll to St. Paul, MN to play with Dierks tomorrow. Apparently they had a blowout on the road this morning and their crew bus ended up in the ditch. Everyone was shaken, but unhurt. Scary mother bitch.
By the end of this ten day run we will have logged approximately 4200 miles. Considering three shows are only 200 miles apart you can imagine the jumps we've had to make to get there. Our tires are burning and we're wearing our velcro PJ's.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
NEWSOM EXPECTS MORE OUT OF ME
Sometimes I get bored with what I think is the humdrum day to day life of playing fair and festivals. It's a lot of dirt, a lot of inadequate facilities and a lot of meet and greets. However, sometimes I'm reminded that others revel in the choice descriptions and short diatribes that I dictate to this blog. Chris Newsom, our beloved Production Manager, is apparently one of those. Therefore, he told me a few days ago that he expected more out of me in the blog department. So, here we go.
My last entry was Atlantic City. Alex had a baby, we had to send him home for a couple days. We had a great day off in Washington D.C. (Tyson's Corner area, actually). The new NCAA '09 Football came out and Kline hacked a copy, we played pretty much all day. Kline and I did venture over to the mall to eat at Cheesecake Factory with ML and Luke. Good quality food, always consistent. I've been there at least 20 times and haven't even gotten 1/4 of the way through the menu. We walked around the mall a little and I realized that in the last five years I think I've only made three clothing purchases from any mall. For some reason they all have that stuffy, hoity toity feel to me.
We then headed out for Lewisburg, WV. It was one of the ML/Blake shows. This is what a sold out crowd of almost 6000 people looks like.
I got to run home for a quick couple days after that. We had a forgettable gig three days later in Coffeyville KS. It was a mudpit of immense proportions. They made a walkway from the buses to the stage with plywood. However, some dumbass on the "maintenance committee" didn't double check that he had all the nails out of the plywood before laying it below our feet. I walked right over it and a nail went thru the bottom of my Chuck Taylors. I was pissed. I had to go the following day and get a tetanus shot, I hadn't had one in about 12 years. I remembered them hurting really badly, but it didn't sting when I got the shot. However, two days later it felt like I took a roundhouse to the left shoulder from Holyfield.
We had a great gig a couple days later in Beaver Dam, WI. It's always such a nice change when fairs "get it" and let people come up tot he stage. Makes such a difference. From there we had another couple forgettables in South Dakota and Nebraska. After those two we headed to Denver for a day of R&R. If you are planning a Denver excursion, I highly recommend the Crowne Plaza on Glenarm. It's right in the middle of the LoDo district downtown and there is so much going on. Malls, eateries, etc. And the hotel was great as well. Aden, Alex, Charlie, Keith and I went to a breakfast place called The Delectable Egg for brunch on Sunday. We beat the rush in and had an amazing meal. I had regular old eggs benedict (great hollandaise) while Aden opted for the California benedict (English muffin with tomato, avocado, eggs and hollandaise). When leaving, Aden noticed he really liked the sign.
That brings us up to speed. We're sitting in, surprise, a dustbowl in South Dakota again. This time it's Rapid City, but you think it really matters Eddie?
My last entry was Atlantic City. Alex had a baby, we had to send him home for a couple days. We had a great day off in Washington D.C. (Tyson's Corner area, actually). The new NCAA '09 Football came out and Kline hacked a copy, we played pretty much all day. Kline and I did venture over to the mall to eat at Cheesecake Factory with ML and Luke. Good quality food, always consistent. I've been there at least 20 times and haven't even gotten 1/4 of the way through the menu. We walked around the mall a little and I realized that in the last five years I think I've only made three clothing purchases from any mall. For some reason they all have that stuffy, hoity toity feel to me.
We then headed out for Lewisburg, WV. It was one of the ML/Blake shows. This is what a sold out crowd of almost 6000 people looks like.
I got to run home for a quick couple days after that. We had a forgettable gig three days later in Coffeyville KS. It was a mudpit of immense proportions. They made a walkway from the buses to the stage with plywood. However, some dumbass on the "maintenance committee" didn't double check that he had all the nails out of the plywood before laying it below our feet. I walked right over it and a nail went thru the bottom of my Chuck Taylors. I was pissed. I had to go the following day and get a tetanus shot, I hadn't had one in about 12 years. I remembered them hurting really badly, but it didn't sting when I got the shot. However, two days later it felt like I took a roundhouse to the left shoulder from Holyfield.We had a great gig a couple days later in Beaver Dam, WI. It's always such a nice change when fairs "get it" and let people come up tot he stage. Makes such a difference. From there we had another couple forgettables in South Dakota and Nebraska. After those two we headed to Denver for a day of R&R. If you are planning a Denver excursion, I highly recommend the Crowne Plaza on Glenarm. It's right in the middle of the LoDo district downtown and there is so much going on. Malls, eateries, etc. And the hotel was great as well. Aden, Alex, Charlie, Keith and I went to a breakfast place called The Delectable Egg for brunch on Sunday. We beat the rush in and had an amazing meal. I had regular old eggs benedict (great hollandaise) while Aden opted for the California benedict (English muffin with tomato, avocado, eggs and hollandaise). When leaving, Aden noticed he really liked the sign.
That brings us up to speed. We're sitting in, surprise, a dustbowl in South Dakota again. This time it's Rapid City, but you think it really matters Eddie?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
MEET ME TONIGHT IN ATLANTIC CITY...
Wow, what a day. We pulled into the gig at 10 am after an 800 mile ride. I walked off the bus, down to the boardwalk and took in the view for about 30 seconds. Then my phone rang and Alex, our guitar player, told me his daughter had been born and he had to get back to Austin. Mind you, he'd been in Atlantic City for a total of four hours.
I found him a flight out of Philly, but it's 60 miles to the airport. We called ChickenMan, a fan club guy we've all come to know and love. ChickenMan has a tattoo of ML's face and signature on his arm. A little wierd, but actually he's probably the most normal fan we have. ChickenMan was already in town and loaded Alex in his car and drove him to the airport to fly out.
Kline stepped in and played all of Scotty's parts and Scotty played all of Alex's parts. The show went great. John Eddie opened up. He's such a great guy and he played his ass off. The crowd loved him.
After the night was over, I just realized the irony of what happened. We had a guy named ChickenMan in Atlantic City and he drove to Philly. A little too ironic, I really do think.
On the way to Tysons Corner, VA for a day off tomorrow.
I found him a flight out of Philly, but it's 60 miles to the airport. We called ChickenMan, a fan club guy we've all come to know and love. ChickenMan has a tattoo of ML's face and signature on his arm. A little wierd, but actually he's probably the most normal fan we have. ChickenMan was already in town and loaded Alex in his car and drove him to the airport to fly out.
Kline stepped in and played all of Scotty's parts and Scotty played all of Alex's parts. The show went great. John Eddie opened up. He's such a great guy and he played his ass off. The crowd loved him.
After the night was over, I just realized the irony of what happened. We had a guy named ChickenMan in Atlantic City and he drove to Philly. A little too ironic, I really do think.
On the way to Tysons Corner, VA for a day off tomorrow.
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