Blog

Tour Blog Part Two

It’s cool here, I got my stocking cap out again. Florida was a great respite from the bitter cold of Midwest and Northeast Winter. Back in Portland Oregon they were getting snow - still are, I think.

Great jams down in Florida! Our show at the Culture Room was one of those magic sets, we just had the flow, and the stars aligned for the groove. It’s a pretty cool room - especially for a strip mall club! I always look forward to it, though some of that has to do with the sandwiches, dare I say hoagies, from the Italian market across the parking lot.

It’s one of those gigs that’s really cool in it’s unique sameness. Tour is like that, it’s the same day over and over again, like the movie Groundhog Day, or really a mashup of Groundhog Day and Spinal Tap. And it seems improbable that it will ever happen again, we’ll have that (Spinal Tap) rooftop scene - or something like it, when we get out West. Every tour is the final time anybody can take this insane bullshit. But every year, there we are again . . .

I dig it, after all this time, I’ve gotten used to it, and I kind of like the isolation, I can read a lot, listen and transcribe, write. All that is truly necessary is to be ready to rock each night at some predetermined time between eight forty five and ten o’clock. Then play a show like it’s your last night on earth, then get on the bus and do it again. And again.

Shit invariably breaks down. My pickups are misbehaving again. And it’s a surprising emotional journey to commit to actually fix it! We have a perfectly good work around, the second cable, I probably toured for a year or so with something like it. But with the intermittent nature of the damn signal cutting out, (rarely at soundcheck, usually in the second song of the night!) it’s frustrating to invest the time and energy to fix it right. Especially if this is our last night on earth, the final show before Orange45 gets us all blown to kingdom come.

So definitely come out to see this run, if you want to see this band again. No one knows the future, but I don’t think it’s any secret that there is a lot of conflict in this group. Twenty Five years later we still have the same problems and arguments. The reality is the G is doing better as a solo artist, and is about to release a record with Keb Mo and a bunch of studio guys, and I don’t expect this group to support that record, if that’s even how it’s done these days.

So, if you are on the fence, get your ticket today (shows get cancelled if there aren’t enough pre-sale.) The summer schedule looks to be pretty much all G solo shows again. But we’re playing really good right now, I mean, we’re having incredible musical journeys at each show.

I just wish that was enough.

New Orleans, overcast, cold.

Comments