After getting home from Spain, and about one day's rest (maybe), we had to hop in the van and head to the final shows of this tour. We were playing the Muddy Roots festival in eastern Tennessee and had several shows en route, as well as one during the return. Jeff had funeral arrangements for his brother to attend to, which left us with the conclusion we'd have to play Houston without Jeff. He would fly into New Orleans for the following night's show.
So Patrick had responsibility for driving the van up from San Antonio, picking us all up, and heading to Houston. It was an odd experience not having Jeff around; everyone was, dare I say, not as well-behaved. There was plenty of grumbling from a certain member for not having picked him up last and taking 290 to Houston (we still had to pick up Cody in far southeast Austin before heading to Houston). It was sort of a six-of-one situation....I think Patrick chose the better method. Taking 290 to Houston can be rough, going through all the small towns, etc. But I digress....
The Houston show was at a bar/restaurant called Under the Volcano, and being a Wednesday night and a rainy one at that, there wasn't much of an audience. Some friends, and that was about it. We were playing with Dinola, and since they'd been promoting the show, Jeff hadn't wanted to cancel, even with his absence. What this meant was a sort-of karaoke show, with folks filling in vocals the best they could. David Ganz, being the unafraid sort he is, jumped in first and performed a hilarious take on "Hee Haw" and "Corntaminated." Eventually, the mic went to Sue Ford from Dinola, and she knocked it out of the park with "Bennie and the Jets." We finished with Patrick (Harvey) doing "Burnin' Luv." It was a lot of fun, despite the small crowd and of course, the nagging reason why Jeff couldn't be here.
That night, we stayed in eastern Houston to prepare for the journey to New Orleans. Once we got into New Orleans, we split into our factions for the night. I ended up in my own room at Hotel St. Marie, which is a place Michelle and I have stayed numerous times in NOLA. I walked over to d.b.a., where we were playing, and met up with the rest of the band unloading gear, etc. I decided to use the house kit with a couple of add-ons. All went fine; again, a smallish crowd, although the weather was better than Houston's. I should have mentioned the Harvey McLaughlin Trio was opening all these shows, and it was good to play consistently again.
On to Memphis, all of us, finally. I forget where we stayed there, but we were playing at a cool restaurant/bar, called the Rock n Roll Cafe, a place we'd eaten at during our last visit. Unfortunately, there was not really a crowd at all....but some people towards the back seemed to be enjoying the whole thing and even bought merch. So, in a weird way, I felt like we were 0 for 3 this trip so far. (Others did not feel that way and thought NOLA was good. Maybe it was.)
Next up, heading to Cookeville and the nearby Muddy Roots Festival. We were staying Saturday night but were going to have to leave really early to make Denton on Labor Day. So we went to the festival to catch Black Eyed Vermillion on Saturday and made it just in time. Gotta say, the festival was run really well, and I had a really enjoyable time. We bailed a little early Saturday (it was stiflingly hot), so we didn't see any of the marquee acts that night. But it was nice to get some rest and be ready for Sunday.
Sunday's set went great. I was fairly pumped after seeing Black Irish Texas get through "Blue Rondo a la Turk," a truly spirited performance. And fitting, as Michelle had just gotten to Turkey before they played that. Our set went fine and was fairly well received for us not being a regular at this festival. This is one festival I wouldn't mind returning to. Now, for the bad part....
Immediately after we finished, Fishbone began playing directly behind us. As I was using a backline kit, I hurried my cymbals, etc. to the van and positioned myself to enjoy those guys. I guess I must have bounced for an hour during their set (which was fraught with problems; they soldiered through). I felt great afterwards, and after some milling around, we headed back to the hotel room to get a little sleep before heading out to Denton (about 4 am!).
After my alarm went off, I got out of bed and was immediately in screaming leg pain. Yes, that leg. I guess the bouncing at Fishbone had really done a number on my right knee. I could barely walk. It was bad. I took some ibuprofen in the hopes that the swelling would subside, and it did nothing. The first few stops toward Denton were struggles to even get to the rest room, and frankly, most of the guys in the band who weren't named Jeff were avoiding me as well. Little help, please? Before we got to Denton, Jeff announced in the van that everyone was going to have to get my gear to the stage there....and they did. They listen to him. The leg was a little stiff for the show that night, but I was able to soldier through everything. Again, everybody helped me pack and move the gear to the van. Tom especially. The Denton crowd was pretty nonexistent, but I expected that. Rice had even suggested earlier that we drop the gig and head home, due to my leg, but I'm glad we played it. I'm kind of proud of being able to do it.
That's enough about this tour. We made it the rest of the way home fine. I want to write about other things, but this has been nagging at me to finish, and I should have done it earlier. More next time. And I bet I edit the previous post a few times over the next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment