Friday, September 16, 2016

Orlando

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't even remember where we were earlier this week for the gig, and I'm not totally sure of what day it is today.  I woke up three times last night thinking that I was late for my flight, even though we don't fly again until tomorrow.  Soooooo...

Tuesday:  We got up super damn early and flew to Orlando.  There was a tropical storm off the eastern coast, and we had rain pretty much the entire day.

I sent my mom this picture and said, "Guess where I am."  "Give me a hint," she replied.  I wrote "You hate it here" and she immediately answered "Florida!"

Lunch in Celebration, Florida.  This place didn't exist when I lived here.  It feels like the town from The Truman Show. 


The rain is moving in!


Nice hotel rooms for the night at The Swan.  Corporate gigs do have their perks!  Our day was drawn out enough that after soundcheck there were several hours of down time.  I think just about all of us went back to our rooms and slept.


The rain is here!


This gig was a private party for a fast food chain--the typical party setting to close out an evening of meetings. Unfortunately, there was no green room for us to change in, but they furnished an RV which was parked across the street from the loading dock.  Since it was still raining, our handler brought seven ponchos.





Pete's new guitar effects pedal--because every twelve string guitar needs distortion and wah wah.

His guitar rig is now better than several of our guests' (original artists) setups.


Anyway...this gig was pretty happening for a Tuesday night!  The people were definitely into us from the start, giving us plenty of good energy to make it through the show.  They dug it so much, we had to do two encores (and easily could've done a third if the venue hadn't shut us down).   Another plus was that the room in which we were performing at Epcot sounded fantastic, and we had Kip and Zach with us to really dial things in.  Those guys are the best, and I'm so glad we have them helping us.

photo cred:  Kip Conner
Wednesday:  We took an early flight home, and Kip and Zach headed to Texas with all of our gear for the next run of shows.  Friday night, we're at the House of Blues in Houston.  Saturday night, we're hosting a revival (with Robbie Dupree, Matthew Wilder, Player, and Ambrosia) in Mansfield, Texas (outside of Dallas/Ft. Worth).  Sunday night, we're right back in Austin for another revival show at the place where they film Austin City Limits.  More details are available here, and I'll be posting the aftermath sometime next week when my brain recovers.