Biloxi

First gig ever for Yacht Rock in Mississippi.  I haven't been to Biloxi since the 70s, so I really had no feel for what this one would be like.  It turns out that Biloxi is a mix of Florida panhandle and Vegas. Think of that what you will.

Due to the preordained load in time of 11 AM Saturday, we had to leave Atlanta the day before.  As we left town, we passed this person on Monroe/Boulevard, possibly moving into a new place?  It was the first day of the month.  Consider the man who carries and iron and a Clockwork Orange poster.  What's he up to?

We stopped in Mobile for dinner.  I had three cups of gumbo. Yeeeaaaaaaahhhhh.  And a salad.  Good stuff.  After that, we did a little shopping.  Remember how I forgot underwear on the tour to the midwest?  This trip, I forgot my whole damn suitcase.  Packed it and everything, but it never made it out the door.  Nice work.  Anyway, I had to buy toiletries, underwear, and a couple of t shirts.  Nothing I won't use down the line, but dammit.  What the hell is wrong with me?

My stage clothes were in a separate bag, so I was fine for the gig.

Westbound on I-10 there were multiple billboards with our name on it.  Very cool.  No good pics, though.

We arrived around 10:30 PM, and after dumping our luggage in our rooms, we did a lap around the casino floor.  Nothing you wouldn't expect.  We also checked out the band in the bar--they were actually quite good, and the lead singer/guitarist was very tall.  Dude looked like a 6'8" version of Jim Brown.

Eventually we settled on hanging out in a room.

So...a hard night of sleeping, up at 10 AM for breakfast, and then we loaded in our gear poolside at 11 AM.  Unfortunately, the sound crew showed up around 2 PM, and the lighting guy was a few minutes behind that.  A load in/soundcheck so long that we left, ate lunch, came back, and still had time to stare at bikinis.  At dinner I had three more cups of gumbo.

Special shout out to the lighting guy who wanted me to move all my gear a foot so that he could put one of his nifty lighting trusses in his favorite spot.  The answer was no.

Second shout out to the lighting guy for aiming his oil based hazer/fogger machines at our gear (so the lights were better for the DJ?).  Monkey's guitar took a direct blast that coated the whole thing in a light film of baby oil.  Same for the puddle under Bencuya's keyboards.  Welcome back!

The gig was fine, though.  The sound on stage was good.  We had Ganesh subbing for Mark Cobb on drums, and he played GREAT (and drove from Atlanta at 4 AM because of a gig the night before)!  Afterwards we talked to people who'd driven from Houston and New Orleans, some crazies who flew from Los Angeles, and even one of our drinking buddies from our 10 High days in Atlanta (to whom Pete asked "How do you stay married?").  I guess we had a hundred people there for our set, most of whom dispersed with the return of the DJ.

Final shout out of the night to the lighting crew (and to a lesser extent the sound guys) who tried to disassemble and pack up their gear on stage while we were trying to pack up our gear.  Thanks for nothing.

The next day, we left at 7 AM.  Ouch.

Midwest Tour

Yacht Rock returned to Atlanta yesterday after spending last weekend working our way up to Chicago and back, with stops in Louisville and Indianapolis.  Along the way we saw lots of family, friends, corn, and our phones.

Thursday:  The longest drive of the trip--we drove from Atlanta to Indianapolis.  Nothing much to report.  The corn is tasseling nicely.

We stopped in Louisville to meet up with Greg's old bandmate Peter Searcy and eat (at Ramsi's).  After dinner entertainment was provided by magician Manny Ehrlich.  88 years old and still going!

We spent the night in Carmel, Indiana.  It was here that I discovered that I had failed to pack any underwear for this trip.

Friday:  Underwear inside out day.

We continued on to Chicago, passing through northwest Indiana's wind farms.  Still really cool to look at.

Lunch at Don Pablo's in Lafayette.  Russian roulette with Mexican food.

Our gig was in Chicago Ridge (a southern suburb of Chicago) at their local festival.  It had kind of a carnival vibe to it, complete with rides, deadly food (brats and funnel cakes), and a crew of Ditkas working the stage.

There was a possibility of bad weather coming through, so we opted to set up our gear after the first band had finished.  We piled most of it up on the back of the stage.  Mark Cobb preset his drums in the trailer.  We had time for a short photo shoot.

Once the previous band finished their set, we had an hour to throw and go.  Guess what?  One of my sustain pedals died.  Ugh!  On the first gig of the run!  Fortunately, I had an emergency pedal.  It works fine, but it can be difficult to feel it with my foot.  

Our set was pretty good.  I liked the stage sound a lot--it was loud, but because of the size and the fact that we were outdoors (the stage was covered, but there were no walls on it), it wasn't muddy sounding.  

Security Ditka really liked my saxophone playing.  He did nothing to acknowledge my existence all day, and as soon as we came off stage, he was all over me.

Amazing weather (and no storms), by the way!  I don't think it ever made it to 80 degrees.  When we finished our show, it was 72.  In July!  Wow!

At our hotel after the gig, this was happening outside my window.

Saturday:  Underwear regular side out day.

We headed out around lunch time.  Just as we were leaving, we got a call from the Ditkas saying we'd left a bag on stage last night.  We got there as our friends from Blackberry Smoke were setting up for their show that night.  Brandon Still has a sweet keyboard rig--he's only a clarinet away from making Bencuya's heart burst.  

I am jealous not only of the gear, but also of the tech setting everything up while he lounges on the bus.  

Britt Turner gives it the bird while Brandon's tech does back breaking keyboard labor

the rig!  plus a picture of a Ditka 

The trip south to Indianapolis was uneventful.  More wind farm, more corn, more staring at our phones, more of the Don Pablo's in Lafayette.

Dustin (Bencuya's sub for this trip) takes it all in

Our gig in Indianapolis was at The Vogue--a cool place to play for all of us Indiana University grads. This one was a little underwhelming numbers-wise;  we sold it out last time, but this time we were a few hundred people short of that.  Blame it on the rain that came through about an hour before we started, and also the recent violence in the Broad Ripple neighborhood where the club is located.  Boo.  It was also mentioned to me that the Brickyard race was the next day, and it was one of the last weekends for families to go on vacation before school cranks back up.

Still a fun night, though, with 465 friends and family members in attendance.  The stage seemed bigger to me this time, though the sound was just as loud and muddy.  

One weird thing that I've never felt before--a cramp!  My side cramped, like side stitches, during my solo on Biggest Part of Me.  

Good news in the rest room, though!  They installed a door on the only stall!

I still dig playing The Vogue.  We'll be back!

Sunday:  Inside out day.

We very gradually made our way to Louisville with stops in downtown Carmel and Columbus, as well as a pass through Seymour while listening to John Cougar Mellancamp.  What's up.  

downtown Carmel has its own kind of fake people

Louisville was kind of deserted on a Sunday, but the room (and the surrounding buildings downtown) was old but beautiful.  The Mercury Ballroom!  

Love this place!  The crew helped us load in and out, the stage was a good size, the sound was really good.  Plus, they have a dog named Turtle!

Great gig!  Nick changed the set list up a little bit for this one.

The crowd may have been small, but they made up for it with their enthusiasm.  We played not one but TWO encores, and ran away downstairs to avoid a third!

Monday:  Regular side out one last time.

Monday felt like Sunday all day.  Where are all these people going on a Sunday?  The drive home from Louisville was uneventful, except for the lunch stop in Nashville at a taco stand that was just a kitchen with a window to the parking lot.  Walk up and order.

We listened to a box set of blaxsploitation music on the ride.  It felt like Bencuya was in the van with us.

We're in Biloxi Saturday night at The Golden Nugget.  Come find us.