We said goodbye to our ever supportive friends in Raleigh and set sail for Charlotte, only a 3 hours drive south. My high school pal Jesse Clasen's new side project, The Bear Romantic, invited us to open for them at Tremont Music Hall on Saturday night.
We were all excited for our first trip to Charlotte but apparently, we weren't the only new visitor. Locals told me that they'd never seen such a torrential storm in all their lives. The parking lot was a small lake and the thunder was louder than the mic'ed bass drum.
But people still showed up and the show goes on. We were really really having fun up there until we got to my favorite song of the set, 'Idiosyncrasies of the Resolute (track 4 off the new album)." I'm really able to lose myself in it and tonight, I absolutely did. The second half of the song is this big, chanting sing-along chorus during which I forget who and where I am. So I'm right in the middle of it and suddenly, I black out. Or think I black out.
But then I realize that all I hear is drums and the voice in my head.
Another second goes by and....Oh. The power went out.
Amazingly, about four beats later, the amps, mics....everything...boots back up instantly on the downbeat. We never stopped playing, the whole building just needed a quick breather.
******
The next day in Wilmington was really great. We blazed through another set, saw some old friends and met a lot of new ones. What a nice beach town.
Philadelphia was a little tricky. The room turned out to be more of a listening room (woulda been perfect for a solo tour) than a full-on rock band stage. So we adapted on the fly and made the best of it. Still saw some great folks.
Actually, this is the first tour I've done since I started the Living Room Sessions so it's always really cool to meet people who have reached out with support on the internet and put faces with screen names.
And New York was great. It's always great. We tried a new venue called Pianos which was a nice room. The heralded margaritas weren't bad either.
On Saturday, we played my friend Dave Chaitt's popular YouTube series 'Backyard Brunch Sessions' in Brooklyn with recent Glassnote Signing 'Givers.' They turned out to be really nice folks and we performed four songs in a stripped down set. Acoustic guitars, percussion and drums and an upright bass. You'll see the video pretty soon and when you do, you'll see first hand how much fun we had.
An off day in New York gave me a chance to catch up with some old friends and take my pops out for a Father's Day dinner. All in all, a perfect weekend on the long and beautiful road.
T
