Indiana

Thursday: Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Did you know they have an international airport there? It was...not very crowded. We hopped in two Lyfts. One smelled of cigarettes, one smelled of poop. I ended up in the poop car.

waiting for our ride

This was a tough travel day. I was up at 5:30 AM and out the door at 6:15 to make an 8:30 AM flight, which put us in Ft. Wayne at 10:30 AM. Then, lots and lots of hanging around. Fortunately, we were at the Sweetwater Amphitheater (Sweetwater is a mostly online company that sells music gear), so we hung out, looked at instruments and accessories that we didn't really need, ate lunch, and looked at our phones.

Finally, it was time to go--they even asked us to start early! A quick ride across the parking lot in their sprinter van.

Surprisingly, not too bad of a crowd. Five or six hundred--something like that--but it was a nice stage, great weather, and this aircraft hanger looking thing sounded pretty decent. Too bad we were a little rusty and a lot brain dead--I was functioning at about 70 percent.

Special shout out to the people who made their own yacht (which I signed after the show with a ballpoint pen).

Friday: From Ft. Wayne, we drove to Fishers, Indiana (an Indianapolis suburb), for a two night stand at Conner Prairie. Last year's gig was epic (reread about it here), and this year looked to be just as good. After a good night of sleep, I was optimistic.

our Indiana horn section: Clayton, Keith, and Vince

It was a pretty slammin' night. Somewhere around 5,000 people joined us. The weather couldn't have been better. The playing was good, particularly Mark Cobb's drum solo.

Here's most of my outro solo on Biggest Part of Me. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I was really frustrated with this one, as I was overblowing (and getting mad and blowing even harder, which is stupid), and I felt like I was just playing a bunch of garbage, and I was hoping somebody would shoot me so I wouldn't have to finish it. Listening to it now, it sounds pretty good, and I can hear my musical train of thought. Guess I should just let it rip and not worry about it.

Baker Street. Photo cred by someone in Mark Cobb's family

Saturday: Night two at Conner Prairie. I'd guess there were at least 5,000 people in attendance again. Another really good night, though maybe a little sloppy. Still fun, though. Pete's wife, Alyssa, came up and sang Islands in the Stream and Queen of Hearts with us. We also had the horn section, plus Keisha and Kourtney Jackson on background vocals.

Biggest Part of Me got cut from the setlist, squashing the opportunity to maybe redeem myself, but I did put together good solos on I Just Wanna Stop and Turn Your Love Around.

Baker Street was the second song of the encore, and some guy right in the front row had his phone on a selfie stick, which he held very close to me each time I was playing the theme. Not cool. I did my best to ignore it, though I knew it was there. 

After the gig, I ended up having to talk to him (he stood in front of the stage, bellowing YO BOSS! in my direction for nearly five minutes until I finally acknowledged him). He was really proud of his photography. He also wanted to know what it would take for me to give him my hat so that he could have bragging rights within his group. 

Some people suck, even on nights like this one.