Midwest Adventure

"There's a storm that's raging through my frozen heart tonight" - John Waite

I have a penchant for getting stuck listening to 80's ballads when it get cold and rainy. The weather is cold and rainy every time I am in the Midwest, so you can imagine what has been on repeat for 3 days. The sound is so over-dramatized and it seems to match every memory I have in my mind. 

Here is my playlist:

"Ain't Missing You" - John Waite

"With Or Without You" - U2

"Drive" - The Cars (or Deftones...see previous blog for that story)

"Every Breath You Take" - The Police

"If This Is It" - Huey Lewis and the News

"Rich Girl" - Hall and Oates (I know...70's. But LATE 70's)

"Sister Christian" - Night Ranger

"Broken Wings" - Mr. Mister

"Time After Time" - Cyndi Lauper

"Angel" - Aerosmith

"Heaven" - Bryan Adams

"Never Surrender" - Corey Hart

"Do You Remember" - Phil Collins

I have all these memories wrapped up in these songs. Some are actual memories that are directly connected to an event and song. Others are just memories sparked by a singular line in a song that does not relate in any other way. Music is weird that way. It is like a time machine. It takes you back and sometimes it takes you forward to what you want to find. 

Other than the rain and cold (it is in the 30's now!), we had a great day today. We grilled out with a $6.00 charcoal grill we got from Walmart. Quite the find. Then we went to a coffeehouse by the venue we are playing in a couple days. They took great care of us and the couple who owns it invited us to their place for dinner after we did some promo at the mall. The promo went great and dinner with that family was better! A home cooked meal once in awhile goes a long way on the road. 

Now we are camped outside of a good old Walmart Supercenter. These parking lots and this RV are so much like home. It is a great feeling stepping into the RV. Standing up inside of our touring vehicle is great! So much better than a van! I am going to switch out the battery underneath and get ready to settle in for the night. 

Tour Kickoff, Tally, Texas-bound

The worst part of all is that this did not completely fill our tank. It got us mostly there, but it could have taken a bit more. Thankfully that tank lasted us a little over 400 miles, which is really great. We are averaging about 13-14 mpg. It's about one mpg less than last trip because we are running two air conditioning units. And if we don't watch the temp setting on that thing, we will FREEZE!

We played with a band two nights ago who had an RV that was 6 feet longer than ours. They had a gas engine (we have diesel) and they said that they were averaging 6 mpg. So I am thankful for our big turbo diesel RV, Aslan. 

I am playing drums this tour. I have never played drums on tour. I get the feeling it is going to get wild. I get such a rush just playing guitar, so I can only imagine what is going to happen when I am hitting things as hard as I can! I stood on my kick drum and threw a cymbal stand at Andrew at the tour kickoff show. The stand broke. 

We hung out in Tallahassee, FL all day yesterday. We hung out with a group of lovely ladies who were nice enough to show us a great time there, complete with pool party, good Mexican food, a haircut, a house show, and basket casing (a video that demonstrates this will be posted later). 

We are driving into Texas. We are about 100 miles out of Houston. Texas is a a great place. I always have the best time here. I plan on eating good Mexican and BBQ, getting a few unexplainable bruises, breaking another cymbal stand, and riding a bull for more than 8 seconds. 

The Round Table

There is nothing like sitting around a table with a few full-time touring musicians. Our world is a very small one. Even though we have never met, we know a lot of the same people, played all the same places, met all the same girls...it is crazy how eerily familiar each story sounds.

It is an instant bond once the formalities are out of the way. This happens almost every time without fail when I am in a group with other touring musicians who "get" this way of life. Somehow, within a couple hours, all the emotions, triumphs, failures, strong confidences, weird insecurities, deep guilt, love, incredible passion and pain of tour life comes tumbling out. After talking and listening, I start to wonder:

"Who in their right mind would do this?"

Who leaves their families, friends, steady income, and everything secure? Who gives up personal relationships and watches every friendship you have steadily dissolve because of insane travel schedule? Who would want to live out of a backpack all over the country in a van or bus with a bunch of guys? What do you do when it is over? Can you ever really go back home to stay?

One of my new friends from today is in a transition from fronting a very successful touring band to doing a smaller solo project and focusing on writing songs. He said something to the effect of missing tour. Immediately, a couple of the guys chimed in that they missed it too. It was followed by the question of "what do you do when it's over?"

"It's never over."

The whole table went silent. Everyone reflected quietly for a second. Finally, this guy said,

"You know what? You're right. That's the question I've asked myself for a year and a half and you just brought it full circle. That's the answer. It's never over. You can't quit. Everything about us is conditioned to tour and play music. That's who we are. That encompasses everything we do. You reorganize and take a personal inventory. Then you start over. "

So true. I just trust that God has it all under control and His future plans for me are awesome. So far, so good!

I have learned so much different music for the artists I have been playing for. My brain is not on overload yet. Luckily! Because since Monday, I have memorized 11 songs and am playing them tomorrow night! I am really excited to play a college show. I love these shows! I want Paint Me Irrational to pretty much play them constantly. I will have to see how I can get that going.

Tour starts in less than a week! Countdown to the Spring Break-everything-in-sight Tour is ON!