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Oct. 26, St. Louis
Only four shows left in the tour - we're kind of sad - it's been great fun.
Not over yet, of course, and there are some manly drives still to be made...
Back in Santa Fe, we left behind the warm weather
Yesterday's drive took us across New Mexico, through the Texas panhandle, through Oklahoma and just into Missouri before we gave it up and
checked into a motel.
Mostly, it looked like this:
A good time to sum up some thoughts about the tour - soup to nuts.
We played Soup every night, usually starting with a band spoken improv, something about soup... cold weather needs, or Julie made some backstage - whatever
we feel like saying.
But there were nights when Pat and Markus didn't have mics, and we couldn't do the intro, which makes for a pretty lame start.
Plus I'd then have to do Pat's second verse, which I never remembered right even once.
By next Sunday night, we'll have driven 12,975 miles, not counting trips from venues to hotels
And spent about 221 hours in the van
Yet, amazingly, my quilt is still not finished -- not even half finished. (Squares are done, still to be sewn together, then the actual quilting begins!)
Maybe we need to book another tour, to finish it!
We spent a lot of time on interstate highways. Speed limits 65 or 75. But we hit construction delays in every state we passed through -
sometimes 20 miles or more of orange cones limiting to
one lane of traffic - and in that stretch you'd see one or two workers. We started wishing the pit stops would sell miniature orange cones to
collect and celebrate our improving interstate highway system.
It's gonna be shiny and new, but I'm wondering when that will be.
In Arizona, going over 90 in the 75 mph zone is a criminal offense. (Don't ask how we found that out!)
Lots and lots of plastic room keys... no metal ones to be found any more - maybe I could make a quilt out of these.
We played in North Carolina on the second night of the tour - and in a couple of nights we will finish the tour, again playing in North Carolina
We played shows in Phoenix, AZ and in Phoenixville, PA.
At start of the tour, Frazza got us a ton of healthy nuts and trail mixes at Trader Joe's.
Looking at the huge bag, now empty, it's a bit daunting to realize all those nuts have passed through us.
Could have been worse things!
Here in St Louis for the show - Tobias is back from his Montreal gig...
Willie is only a six month old puppy who is at the venue all day ... caught a shot of him in his little house, but most of the day he was in our dressing room
mooching turkey. He's going to be a very big boy!
The most direct route to the stage was up the cellar stairs into the rainy night....
then hopefully able to get inside next to the stage... a perfect "Hello Cleveland" moment...
and my camera went Spinal Tap on me, with this strange photo of the audience as we went onstage
Finished Adrian's set... Adrian adjusts his in-ear monitors backstage... and loses a piece in his ear.
Dr. Tobias is there to dig it out. We suggest to Adrian that he put it under his pillow tonight.
Oct. 27, Indianapolis
Loading our gear into the venue, it seems as big as the club itself...
Certainly a squeeze onto the stage
The dressing room has a certain charm to it...
But, as always, an enthusiastic audience spurs us to forget about the small stage and enjoy the music...
After the show, 1am or so, finally on the way to our hotel for the night, we need to fill the van up with gas for tomorrow...
Pat does some cleanup...
Hmm... I'm not sure that's an improvement!
Ahh... he thinks it's my glasses that are the problem!
Oct. 28, Nashville
At the Belcourt Theater, where we've had a number of great times with King Crimson
With a 'dark house' at the venue from 6pm, we were able to go to a real restaurant for a double band dinner - a rare treat on this tour!
And, when a french fry appeared in the middle of my hat on the teble...
a quick scan revealed Adrian at a table some 15 feet away ...
and though he later admitted that one french fry had 'slipped off his fork', it was clear that he's really on tonight, so I expect a very accurate show!
and, as the end neared, it became noticeable that more of the audience seemed dressed for Halowween next week...
Eventually we realized that, of course, there was a performance of Rocky Horror Show following our show!
Oct. 29, Ashville
and the last show of our tour.
An early morning - 7am drive to N. Carolina to be on time for the early load in, and lose an hour in time zones.
This time the scenery is varied, and with the leaves turning color, Eastern Tennessee and North Carolina live up to their reputation.
Colorful stage, too, at the Ashvilee venue -- part of their MoogFest festival
Seems a good time to grab a photo of everyone, before we all go off in different directions
It's been great touring with Adrian
Markus and Julie
Pat
Tobias
John
Troy
and Robert (who was busy in the dark at the mixing desk, I wasn't able to get a photo!)
Backstage some interesting commemorative ceiling tiles...
Maybe the guys are practicing, in case the audience doesn't clap and we have to applaud ourselves?
Here we go...
The B'Boom drum duo had the audience dancing in the aisles.
Well, not exactly in the aisles... and not exactly the audience...
But Adrian and Julie were dancing offstage....
Well, maybe not exactly dancing... sort of twitching around -- what else could you do to a drum duet in 7 ... or mayby they'd just had too much coffee
Drummers' shadows on the venue walls reminded me of the 90's Crimson shows which had the same lighting effect...
The bow... some nights the camera is my friend, and some nights...
And so it ends... a great tour, with great music and people, on both sides of the microphone!
We can only hope to do it again. Certainly need more van time to get that quilt finished!!
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