Summer Tour: Day 13 - Travel and gig at The Dockside

And here we are again, back at our old stomping grounds up here in Bottineau. you might say, hey, that map looks a lot like yesterdays. well, it is basically the same route, the only difference is, we start at the bottom of the map and drive the top this time, instead of the other way around. but don't worry, if anything really fun or out of the ordinary happens tonight, I will be sure to let you know :)

cheers!


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Summer Tour: Day 12 - Travel and gig at The Lonesome Dove

So we're headed south today, about 5 hours, to Bismarck North Dakota. We've played the lonesome dove before, and it's a good fun time. The stage is very high up, and the drum riser, even taller, so I'll spend the night looking down on the folks in the bar as if I was on some sort of mountain. It's a ways up there. I'll see if I can get a picture of it so you can see what I am talking about. Until then . . . !!


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Summer Tour: Day 11 - Travel and gig at The Dockside

This morning, as we are all rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, we'll be driving about four and a half hours up to Bottineau ND. This town is right on the edge of our northern border. The lake we play at spills into both Canada and the U.S. The last time we played there, we took a pontoon boat and rode over into Canadian waters. It was a lot of fun, hanging out, seeing the wildlife, and just drifting along through the lake. tonight we'll load our gear in and back out, and then in a couple of days, we'll be back here again, slamming the tunes home for a second night, just not in a row. So if you want to see some international waters, and perhaps even catch a glimpse of canada, then come on out and hear us play !



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Summer tour: Day 10 - Travel and gig at Long Haul Saloon

We're pulling out of Fargo this morning and trucking up to Grand Forks, North Dakota. It's a short drive, just over an hour, so the travel part should be a piece of cake. No worries there. We'll be setting up our sound equipment again though, so it'll be another hardy load in, a killer show of course, and a late night hardy load out! So come on Grand Forks, if you're in the area, we expect to see you rocking out at the bar!


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Summer Tour: Day 9 - Travel and gig at The Windbreak Saloon, ND

So today we travel away from our little oasis of rest and drive about 6 hours to Fargo North Dakota for our next gig at The Windbreak Saloon. It was nice to have two days off on Lake Holcombe. If you are ever up in that area, you should definitely stop in, grab a bite to eat, get something to drink, or stay the night in one of the cabins at Ted's Timber Lodge. We're all big fans of Ted and the place he runs there on the lake.

Tonight will be the first show in another run of 5 that we'll be playing. We'll be hanging out in North Dakota for all the gigs, floating between Fargo, Bottineau, Bismarck and Grand Forks. So if you're in the area, come check us out! We look forward to playing some slamming shows after some good relaxation!

See you guys out on the road!



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Summer Tour: Day 8 - Day off #2 at Ted's TImber Lodge.

Today marks our last day off for a while. I woke up this morning to a chilly rain lazily drifting through the trees, and brushing across the lake. I stretched my arms out of my sleeping bag, relishing the cool morning air on them, shivering slightly before darting back inside the bag. I laid around this morning, listening, head resting on my pillows, body wrapped in my sleeping bag. I tumbled out after a while and had breakfast, looking out over the lake, and then settled down and read for a little bit. It was peaceful in the morning. All the people who were here for the memorial day weekend had gone home. It was almost like a ghost town.

I made it over to Ted's main lodge early this morning and settled down to catch up on emails and talk to my wonderful wife on the phone. I plan on the rest of the day being just as nice and as laid back as yesterday, it'll just be inside, with the rain listing over the grounds. I think watching a movie is in order today, one of the new Batman movies, or perhaps one of the Daniel Craig James bond movies. Both are favorites of mine.

Summer Tour: Day 7 - Day off at Ted's Timber Lodge on Lake Holcombe.

So today was our first day off since we hit the road. We all slept in, for varying reasons, and enjoyed a lazy morning doing nothing. Most of us had rolled out of bed just before noon, and we had lunch over at Ted's. I spent the morning doing some work. Catching up on emails, making some phone calls, and putting some things in order. Even though It was memorial day, I got a lot of things done.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting out on the lake shore, watching the wind whip the lake into choppy whitecaps, the sun shining down through the birch and hemlock trees. It was very restful, relaxing, and nice to just sit and soak in it all.

We went over to our booking agent's house for dinner, and an amazing dinner at that. They whipped up a six course meal, one of the best any of us have had, maybe ever. It was all homemade, everything from scratch, the pasta noodles, the caramel sauce, fudge sauce, lemon ice, vanilla ice cream, everything. It was amazing. None of us left hungry, and it was, amazingly, incredible. I called it an early night to get as much rest as I could, and slept very well with the cool front pushing in that evening and the soft sounds of rain tickling the window panes outside my room. My windows were wide open all night, and it was so nice, to smell the lake and the trees all night long.

Summer Tour: Day 6- Travel and gig at Ted's Timber Lodge

So today, we left out around 8:00 am from The Shooting Star Casino. We had about a 6 or so hour drive form Mahnomen, MN to Holcombe, WI. I drove the first 3 hours, where we made a quick stop for lunch (and where I snapped a picture of the sign you see pictured here) and then we drove on. We rolled into Ted's Timber Lodge around 2:30/3:00, did a fast a nd furious setup on the deck, and then hit the downbeat at 4:30. It was a jammed crowd. Lots of great people, lots of dancing and everyone was very receptive to the show, which always makes it easier to play!

After the show we packed up, hung out for a bit, and crashed for the night in one of the lakeside cabins at Ted's where we will spend the next two days, resting, and hanging out on our days off.


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Summer Tour: Day 5- Last day at "The Shooting Star Casino"

Today was a very restful day, as much as restful can be when you go to sleep well after midnight. I spent the day swimming laps at the pool, soaking in the hot tub, reading in the book next on my list, eating a hot meal at the buffet, and charted out some tunes. It was a highly productive day, all the way up to the nap :)

I am finishing up some pre-packing in my room before I head off to play our last show at the Shooting Star Casino. That way, when we finish playing tonight, and pack up and load out, I can shower and crash and maximize my sleep time before we head out for Holcombe Wisconsin tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have internet up on lake holcombe over the next three days so I can keep you posted on what we're up to!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Summer Tour: Day 4 - Rest and Gig at "The Shooting Star Casino"

Today is friday, and we don't have to drive anywhere, so you won't be seeing a miniature google map anywhere on this post :) I had the luxury of sleeping in today, blackout curtains drawn, earplugs in(so as not to hear the other hotel people moving about), and I just sleep. I made it till about 11:00 am. That is SUPER late for me.

Since we are playing here at the same venue tonight, then that means no driving, and, it means that I get a day to rest a little. Granted my day to rest looks different than some of the other guys. I tend to read through a stack of books while out on the road, or do a lot of business emails and phone calls, and, yes, I do practice. I have my Real Feel practice pad with me and two books that every drummer should have and work through: "Stick Control" by George Lawrence Stone, and "Syncopation for the Modern Drummer" By Ted Reed. They cover a lot of basics, but they keep the hands in check and the brain working over the small details.

My reading list varies from tour to tour. It depends on how long we are going to be out, and it depends on if we are in the states or Europe. Obviously, in the states, I bring many more books, and a larger variety. Wen in Europe, I cut back on the number of books, and I trust in the scattered daily free papers on the trains to keep me varied and cultured, I especially like the ones written in german, gives me some practice :) For this leg of the tour I have brought the following books:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
True Worship by Vaughan Roberts
A Mind for God by James Emery White
When Elephants Weep by Jeffery Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy
Wild Things; The art of nurturing boys By Stephen James and David Thomas

Thus far, I have already read the two Harry potter books, and I am starting True Worship next. It was a gift from a very good friend of mine, and I am finally just now getting around to reading it. My reading pace will slow dramatically, as I have a lot of work to do, and I try to save my reading for when we're driving. There's a lot of empty time there, and it's hard to write, or do some of the work I need to do in a van. So I save the work for when we have mini rest days like today and tomorrow, or on our days off even.

Well there you go. My reading list for the tour is laid out for you should you want to peruse it and read some of those titles. I was going to bring another favorite author with me, Lloyd Alexander, but I finished the series I was reading just before I left. He has a great series of books though, and I absolutely loved reading his stories.

We'll chat again soon friends -

Summer tour: Day 3 - Travel, Soundcheck, Gig

Last Night's show was a decent first show back - a few rough spots, but some good music played by all. Today we woke up, groggy after last nights show, stumbled into the van around 9:00 am and trucked it up to Mahnomen, Mn. A good 6 hour drive plus stops. We stopped in a little town along the way for lunch before driving the last little bit. We loaded in, got our rooms, and then soundchecked in just enough time for us all to dash off to grab dinner, before we played the downbeat. The first show in Mahnomen wasn't too bad. We were still dialing in monitor mixes most of the night, but that means tonight will just be pure playing!



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Summer tour: Day 2 - Travel, Soundcheck, Gig at "The Red Parrot"

So this morning we woke up, hit the hotel's gracious breakfast, and climbed aboard the van. We drove straight from Portage to Eau Claire, not a bad drive. We all hit the road in stride this morning, Mickey slept, Charlie slept, Avery played with his PSP, Chris drove, and I read . . . everything is back to normal.

Tonight we are playing at the Red Parrot Lounge. It used to be called Woo's Pagoda, and it looks like a giant pagoda outside, and inside it looks like a chinese restaurant with a small stage and dance floor in the corner. It almost reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom opening scene . . . where it all takes place in a ritzy restaurant in China. We Loaded in around 1:00, setup, sound checked, and now we're at the hotel, where our room opens into an indoor pool area. Its nice. I just wish we had more time to enjoy it, and not the scant 3 hours before we hit the downbeat for tonight. It'll be past midnight when we finish up, and with our semi-early leave out tomorrow, I doubt we'll have time for a morning swim. We'll see how the chips fall.


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Summer tour: Day 1 - Travel

Well, we are back on the road again. Yesterday we drove from Nashville, made a short stop in Chicago at the airport to pick up a couple of our bandmates, and then drove on to Portage, Wisconsin for the night's lodging. It was a long drive, that's for sure. I woke up around 7:00 am in Nashville and went to sleep about midnight in Wisconsin, and most of that in between time was spent sitting in our van, trucking up to places somewhere north of where we are.

Today we drive a few more hours to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where we'll play the first show of our summer tour. It also kick starts a run of five consecutive shows. I am pretty stoked about saddling up behind the drumset again for a few months of good ol' country music. So stay
tuned, check back often, and there'll be more updates along the way - you won't be disappointed :)



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