...but first...some other random gigs!
First up was our trip to Charleston (Isle of Palms, to be exact). We played the infamous Windjammer, a dive bar right on the beach that attracts some pretty big names. If you've ever seen us at the Park Tavern in Atlanta, this had a similar, but sandier, feel.
They did have dogs in the bar, though. All total, there were three chocolate labs, and they were all very sweet.
I had wireless microphone troubles again on this gig (for whatever reason), and it squashed my whole mood about this one. It was probably an ok gig, but I was preoccupied with the equipment gremlin.
Here's a random hotel room--the window was on the side wall, just past the desk. Not something you see every day.
The next day, we played a wedding behind a beach club. When we showed up for load in, the tent company was only this far into setting up. Evidently, whoever packed the truck forgot one critical piece that held the whole tent together, and so the entire operation ground to a halt until it was delivered.
Soooo...knowing that we would probably be faced with a frantic load in/soundcheck situation, the van headed back towards the hotel so that we could eat. This was some pad Thai with rice noodles. It didn't taste like much of anything, even by strip shopping center standards.
Here's our green room. No walls = excellent ventilation! Kudos for the non-styrofoam coolers, though.
And look! A tent! A stage! It all came together in time. How about that!
This gig was much better than the previous night. Did this tent sound better than the previous night's tent? No idea, but my wireless microphones did some sort of electronic belch at soundcheck and then began working fine, and so did I. Also, this crowd was outstanding in terms of looks and enthusiasm.
Oh yeah, and we let Peaches (James, our lighting guy) set up his lights and do his thing. Pretty epic for a wedding reception.
The following week, we played a fundraiser at the Atlanta Zoo. Fine for a Thursday. Whatever. Better than the 10 High. The hardest part of this one was the downtown traffic and the rain.
Here we go: the Hawaii portion of the blog. Actual number of pictures from this trip: sixty-three.
Sunday morning began the long day of travel. People who envy your trip to Hawaii probably don't consider the entire day spent on an airplane. It's definitely the equalizer in this equation.
Both sides of this trip had layovers in Los Angeles. Our flight out of Atlanta made it as far as taxiing to the runway (so I am told--already asleep at that point) before a broken fuel pump (a critical component, I would say!) sent us back to the terminal. After a maintenance check, it was determined that our jet would not be flying, so everybody had to get off and get rebooked on other flights. Some of us went to Seattle, and some of us went on a later flight to LAX.
Unfortunately, the later flight meant that we missed our connection to Kauai. Delta rebooked us onto an American Airlines flight (I did not know this was a possibility).
Pizza at LAX. Not bad at all.
And then we had to go through one thousand frantic steps on the Hawaii government website to prove that we did not have COVID and didn't feel sick. Major pain in the ass--I had to repeat the entire process three times before it finally worked. The big hiccup was that we had done all of the preliminary stuff based on a different flight to Hawaii, so each of us had to create a new trip--like filling out an online customs form with all the "what flight are you on," "where are you staying," "what is the purpose of your visit" kind of information.
I was so frustrated that I almost ate my phone.
We got on the plane at the last minute, but it wasn't even half full.
Six hours later, we landed in Kauai, and our luggage made it, too!
Here's the view from my room. Aloha!
First exploration of the resort (the Grand Hyatt in Kauai).
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not a dog, but pretty cool
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| also not a dog |
My run/hike took me up the coast on sort-of-a-trail. Here are a third of the pictures I took!
After lunch, I did my best to lie around and do nothing. It's not my thing, but I tried hard.
Dinner was...I don't remember what this was. It's roasted peppers and rice noodles and tofu and tasteless. I ate a bunch of bread with it.
Tuesday morning's breakfast of champions. A large coffee and three bananas was $12.52, by the way. $2 per banana.
Speaking of coffee and fruit, our rooms had bidets. It's an interesting experience.
Day two run went in the opposite direction. Not as much to see, as it was mostly just a sidewalk along the main road.
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| Is a dog. |
Lunch time! Here's what I ate every day for lunch. It's a veggie burger, fries, and a side salad.
Tuesday night, we played our show--a corporate thing for a tech company. Great gear, considering that we were on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
When I am in Hawaii, I eat all the pineapple. That's the law. I don't know what the red powder was, but it wasn't enough of a deterrent to slow me down.
On our final day here, I ran more or less up the coast again, but more on the road/sidewalk, which eventually gave way to a dirt road.
We hung around most of the afternoon, even though we'd lost our hotel rooms.
Waterslide. Did it ten times.
And then it was time to go home. The shuttle dropped us off at the airport, but I guess Delta didn't know we were coming? It's odd(really irritating) that there was no one working the counter at 5:30 in the afternoon.
Also irritating was the limited food options at the airport. I couldn't find any meat-free options, so here's my dinner (plus water from the water fountain).
It looks like a regular jet, but the inside was like a refrigerator. Nooooooo! It was so cold, I couldn't sleep.
We landed at LAX at 5 AM, and per usual these days, we had to go out on the tarmac and get on a bus to another terminal.
LAX at 5 AM. No people and no food options, and a very grumpy Dave. The coffee shops opened at 6 AM, but the line was immediately (and consistently) twenty-five people long, so I walked up and down the terminal for an hour and hated everybody and everything.
I sat in a middle seat next to a big, stinky guy...and Monkeyboy. My neck was stiff from sleeping. It sucked real bad.
The following weekend, we played a wedding in Atlanta. Yay for local gigs! This tent did little to keep us warm, however. The outdoor gigging season has ended, or should be ending--my hands do not like the cold.
Not too bad of a night, though!
Speaking of outdoor gigs...we're back at Chastain Amphitheatre in Atlanta for a fall/Halloween show. Hopefully there will be enough lamps on stage to keep us warm.
