Yeah yeah yeah, I’ve got enough death threats wanting to get some blog action. Folks, it was the most exciting hockey playoff season I’ve witnessed in years so I blame them. Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks on reaching the Western Conference Finals with the youngest team in the league, and to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning Lord Stanley’s Cup and keeping the dirty hands of the Detroit Sucks dead wings off the beautiful cup. And not that I care about the NBA but with only baseball, the updates will be easy. Then again, ‘Weeds’ is starting back up on Showtime….blast!
‘Alright’ has been sitting at number 2 for a couple weeks now, only behind Jacking Ram and his Big pr Machine. Not sure we can catch the Ram, but for an unsigned band, 1300+ spins is damn decent.
Back track WAY back to Shooter’s in Gainesville. Leave outta Woody’s early afternoon, nap most of the way there and load in upon arrival. Fairly uneventful day leading up the show, Ryan Beaver opening up the show. Right before JB&S plays, Roger asks me for tape as he wants to put a sign on the bus door.
What happened was Roger went to the gym and had to get a taxi to get back for the show. Roger only had a $20 bill, the cab driver claimed to not have change for the $6 cab ride. However, he promised Roger he would return with his change. What happened next, well, I’ll save that for a video blog.
Besides the show, the $20 created quite a bit of excitement. So much that I went to sleep as soon as we got to the hotel. I was plum tuckered out. Wake up as we roll the next morning to Mt. Pleasant. Can’t load in until 4 so we hit the hotel first. Thanks to my buddy Karen with Sisk Motors for letting us borrow a car for the day. The venue is 13.7 miles from the hotel, saved us lots of headaches. Now KFC has grilled chicken and maybe it was just Mt. Pleasant’s store, but it wasn’t pleasant. Not bad, but not near as good as the rotisserie chicken they had back in the mid 90’s.
Head for the venue at 4, they aren’t ready for us. Putting in a new outdoor stage area and they are behind schedule. Once JB&S finally gets to load in and sound check, it’s way late for two support acts. Ryan got added a couple days before and he just eventually pulled out of the gig without paying. Gina Walker did play and minus the amps cutting in and out, sounded good. JB&S didn’t experience any (or as much since I’m no sound man) problems, although I did use the bug spray quite heavily for myself. Always be prepared.
Get to bed and wake up in Fort Worth to pick up a box of merch I carelessly left in my garage. Head for Austin and arrive about noon. Reckless Kelly is about to kick off their sound check as he load in. Set up and take Greg to hotel, guys are finished with their sound check by then. Shower (on site, bad ass) and at merch for the doors at 6. Ryan, same beaver, plays his set, then JB&S and then Reckless Kelly. I’m a huge fan of Reckless but only got to see parts of their show. Sold a lot of merch and one of my best friends, who is gonna be moving to North Carolina (sniff sniff), hung out when I wasn’t so busy. Times flew and before I knew it, loading up and heading home. With of course a stop at Czech Stop in West.
Start off the next week in Little Rock, think I’m gonna have to slip you off, take a chance tonight and untie the not, there’s more to life than what I got….Sorry folks, the ghost of Reba’s career still gets to me every now and then. Leave out of Woody’s at dawn, arrive in Little Rock to get the bus and trailer washed up first. Sadly, once we get parked at Rev Room, the passenger side of the bus and trailer was spotless. The driver side didn’t even look like it’d been touched. No wonder they keep the lighting so dark in the wash bays.
Load in and sound check, head to Sticky Fingerz to get some fingerz for myself. Quick shower and nap before some of the last few hockey games before heading in. Unfortunately, the Rev Room was empty. Not completely, but usually enjoy a good early crowd there. Come to find out that Wakarusa, some big hippie festival, had moved to Ozark, AR, and was that weekend. That and a Thursday night in a town where most people have to wake up and go to work by 8 am, tough call. Show was good, I didn’t miss any of it being busy….haha.
Loaded out and went to bed, woke up parked next to Wayne & Layne’s in Sulphur. Played there once a while back, what a fun place. First off, Wayne is crazy, but in the good way. The whole staff is just so nice and courteous to the band, and the deli sandwiches are wicked good. Standard day, most of the guys go eat crawfish after sound check, Brad and I to hotel til they show up. Back to venue, nap, doors at 8 and off to selling koozies. Not sure why, but a beer just sounded good. Thankfully, it tasted just as good. The second one, was even better! The third, well it was about like the first. Then the shot of whiskey, par for the course. The tequila was terrible, but it was tequila. The jager, no thanks. I wouldn’t take a shot of jager for $1000 at this point in my life. However, I drank enough for the next few months so I don’t have to worry about it.
Didn’t get drunk enough to not do my job, but for the socializing after the show, I was not up for. I did wake up with a grand headache so my lesson was learned for now. Only a few hours drive to Brazoria so I took a handful of advil and went back to bed once we hit the road. Usually I wake up as the bus is pulling into venues to help determine parking situation, maybe I slightly od’d on the advil. I was the last to wake and we were completely parked when I got up. Armadillo Ballroom, it HAS to be a bar in Texas.
Load in and set up, once we’re done with sound check take trip 1 to the hotel. Most times there is only one runner to get us back and forth, so we take two trips. This allows for almost any vehicle to act as the runner, plus only having 4 people at the hotel means everyone has a place to sit. For instance, trip one is almost always me, Brad, Roger and Aaron. An hour after we are dropped at hotel, Jason, Noah, Mikey and occasionally Grantpa will come to the hotel. Trip 1 is returned to bus, trip 2 is picked up about an hour after their drop off. It’s logistics people, one of only 3 classes I made an A in during college.
So the preceding scenario works for Brazoria, and back to the club. I go in about 9:30, late crowd, lots of calls. The opening band did mostly covers and I hate to say it, I wasn’t happy with their song selection. Not saying they weren’t good, they were a good band. Not many country bands can play the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ or that song where the guy just says ‘cyclone’ over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Oh, you hate those songs too? And the stupid ‘Chicken Fry’ song. Yes, I know a lot of people love it and I know the writer wasn’t comparing a chicken fried steak to the brave men and women of our armed forces fighting for our freedom. But that’s EXACTLY what it says. Just wears me out, if chicken fried steak is an integral part of your life, and you’re not cooking them for people for financial reasons, I don’t know what to tell ya.
I don’t really remember much of the show, I drank a lot of brain cells away the night before. I do know we left and I woke up 15 times between Brazoria and Fort Worth by way of Austin. But it was nice to arrive home on a Sunday and not have a gig til Friday. Thursday gigs are SO overrated…except on pay day.
No gig but scheduled a rehearsal for Thursday evening in Austin. Once we get to MusicLab and set up, I go run around. Got caught in a wicked storm that came through town, that was nice. Guys worked up some new songs and a new (finally) set list. Oh you wanna hear ‘No Reason in Being Late’, ‘Bottle By My Bed’ and ‘Down Here on Earth’ live? Now you can.
Friday is a short drive to Schulenberg and the newly reopened Senglemann Hall. And old hall that’s been renovated and modernized. Other than the elevator load in, the place is nice. They were feeding us after sound check while Weldon Henson sound checked. Go see this guy, great old school country sound. If you don’t like him, you don’t like chocolate cake.
Stragglers start on their brand new set, I missed the first 3 songs as I went to the bus to see the last 1:17 of game 7. Although I’m no Pittsburgh fan, watching the dead wings on the ice without the cup was the next best thing to see the Hawks with the cup. Get back to catch ‘No Reason’ and so on, slow merch night til the end so I got to hear what seemed to be a pretty new show. Afterwards, back down the elevator to load out and to the hotel. Sadly, I went to the Whataburger next door, even though I said I probably never would again. However, this Whataburger not only got my order correct, but it was tasty and very fast.
On to College Station the next day. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater but I can never remember how to get there. Even with the gps, got lost. Finally make it, finally back in, finally set up my merch right by the moat around the front of the stage. Warm today, warm yesterday, warmer today….temps didn’t hit triple digits but at times it felt like it. Kudos to the amphitheater for building a sweet new green room with showers. Spent most of the afternoon in there just relaxing and not being on the bus.
Gates at 6, Paula Nelson on a little after 7 and then some delay came in, not sure why. Band of Heathens goes on a little late, plays a little late (but they are good, it’s okay) so JB&S on a little late. Extended the soft sound curfew to a late on and play on. Although there were a couple casualties from the new set in the shortened set, it worked well. It’s nice when someone comes up to buy a cd with “the song they just played” and I have to think of which one it is. Load up and head home, arrive in Fort Worth just in time to drop the trailer, grab a shower and head for the ice rink. Stick/puck at 8:00 am sounds nuts, but it’s cheaper than therapy...Til next week, I miss you pro hockey!
"Alright" is up to number 6 on the Texas Music Chart, thank you and please keep requesting!
So my interweb service at home as left me, apparently my next door neighbor moved out. Damnit, hate to not blog but this will be short and sweet…..and not sweet without pics. If you wanna keep up with pics while we are on the road, follow the band on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bolandstraggler. I do the uploading from my phone, makes it easy to remember all the funny stuff we see.
I missed last week, hectic times with festivals, playoffs and some games of my own. But back a couple weeks we left for Big Texas South and stopped along the way in Austin to get the guys, then to radio in Houston before making it to Webster. Regular day, hotel across the street, no opener, I brought my own food for the run. Typical Thursday Houston show, good crowd and they hung in pretty good til the end.
Short travel up to Conroe so Jason can get on the radio again Friday morning, then on to Big Texas North. Again, club’s convenience rating for proximity to food/hotel is very high. Roll into the club early to catch the Josh Ward Band, haven’t played with these guys before but heard a lot about them through my friend Josh Norman. The Joshes stick together like swine flu. Josh Ward plays some pretty traditional country which of course you don’t see in Texas as much as you’d think. Plus it was his birthday, I believe his 29th again is what he said. I was right by the speaker stack but didn’t listen to much of the JB&S show cause it was so loud I couldn’t hear it, if that makes sense.
Afterwards, just sleep as I’m reading “Invisible Monsters” by Chuck Pahlinuk. Become a HUGE fan of his work, I’m busting through all his novels at a rate I’m not accustomed to. Fall asleep and wake up in Austin at Jason’s house, monsoon has fallen upon us. The initial plan was for the guys to follow bus to Burnet and have standard load in/sound check, but after the show they could leave directly. With pending weather problems, just told them to stay home until further notice.
Got to Burnet and the Weather Channel is playing games. While it’s raining on us, there is a 40% chance of rain at that moment. However, the storm is moving past us with nothing behind it, yet a 70% chance of rain a few hours later. Held off loading or doing anything until about 6 when it looked as though all weather was gonna stay away. The Austin boys arrive about 7 and start the ‘festival’ set up behind the stage. David Ball, yes that David Ball, goes on about 8:30 and plays for 90 minutes. Yes, played “Thinking Problem” and “Riding With Private Malone” but I’ll be damned that I forgot “Look What Followed Me Home.” Great country singer but really folks, in the age of music video how did he ever get a number 1 hit? Not taking away from him, but did the Na$hville brass forget to man the stations for a few months? Bless you David Ball, you may be the last of your kind.
After the show, just load up and head home. A few days off before early am bus call for Memphis. Work until time to leave, take half an ambien while trying to finish off “Snuff”, another Pahlinuk book. Now Pahlinuk is a crazy writer and this book is about a woman trying to set a world record for sex. The book isn’t about the act as much as it is about 4 characters. Well as I’m (happy) finishing the book and the ambien is kicking in, I don’t know what I’m reading versus what I’m chemically induced creating in my mind. Let’s just say my dreams were more than their average fright fest. Thus, I had to wake up and reread the last 20 pages.
Sorta wake up about 6, Brad’s calling to tell me he can’t meet the bus has he’s come down with a stomach virus or food poisoning. Later in the day he’s better so plan changes to just have him drive to Pittsburg. Get to Memphis and go to the hotel first, Newby’s is a late load in/late doors. Get there about 5, load in and while the guys soundcheck, I grab some bad ass Chinese right across the street. The bad ass sub shop isn’t open yet, hit that later.
Doors at 9 and opener on at 10, Kingbilly. Folks, you read it here first if these guys make it big. Six member band, tall blonde singer that doesn’t play an instrument, very tight band, well choreographed show. Give them a video and watch what happens. JB&S after that and it’s not a big crowd to say the least, school just let out, Memorial Day weekend, lots of factors against us.
Played through the show, got loaded out and everyone hit the big sandwich shop next door. Head out at 6:00am for Pittsburg, KS, and arrive in town about 12:30. The GPS says the club is downtown, the iphones say it’s on the north edge of town when in fact, it’s way north of town. Look for the big cow with the band’s name on it. Get to the club, load in, sound check, hotel to clean up, I head back to watch some of the Hawks/detroit sucks game. Ended up winning in overtime although I was working long before the game went that deep. Brian Lumley and Red Dirt Underground opened, go check these guys out. Tight band, a lot of originals and when they do covers, it’s good stuff. I was super slow at merch until JB&S went on, then it picked up until the bar closed at 2. Okay, until the bar threw people out at 2:25.
Another night to bed and wake up at the venue the next morning. At the new Heartland Amphitheater at the Sac & Fox Casino in Shawnee, this place has great potential as a venue. Again the rain looked rainy so the guys set up and sound check on the nice big covered stage but I delay my merch under a tent just in case. And wouldn’t ya know it, doors at 6 and rain storm at 6:04. Didn’t last long though and was up and running by the time Shawna Russel took the stage at 7. Missed most of her show running Jason around for meet/greet and back/forth to merch in the meantime.
JB&S on around 8:30, gotta love casinos and their early shows. Although Heartland has great potential, the show didn’t go off that well. First, they don’t have a liquor license yet and honestly, JB&S fans like to drink. Second, Memorial Day weekend in Oklahoma, if you’re not by a body of water (lake or river), you may be by yourself. So the number of people was light but they had fun, pretty much hung out with them all after the show til it was time to leave. Get bus parked at hotel and watch “Dazed & Confused” for the umpteenth time. It’s over and it’s only 12:30, usually still on stage at that point on a Saturday.
Roll into Eufaula about 7 on Sunday morning, Motorcars beat us to the place but other than that we got prime parking. Again threats of rain throughout the day but Eufaula is a dead zone for network data so no one’s iphones or wireless cards worked for crap out there. The other bands start rolling in through out the morning, get merch to the merch tent to be counted in and sold. Not much for a merch guy to do when they have sellers, which worked out well at first since the Hawks were playing. Other than some of the worst officiating I’ve ever seen, the Hawks did themselves no favors by playing a terrible game. Beyond that, no comment.
Rain comes in and out throughout the day but I think they still had something like 9,000 people at the show. JB&S show was good and the weather was perfect. Gary Allan was next and it rained through most of his show. Stopped in time for Ragweed to finish off the day, so what does that tell ya? God likes Okies more than Californians. Watch part of Ragweed’s set but mainly just dried out on the bus. The band left so leaving the gig was just Mikey, Aaron and me, truly a crew bus for possibly the only time we’ll ever have it.
By the way, don’t eat the Sonic in Eufaula, nice case of food poisoning I got the next day. Quick recap, I feel like the 15 minute version of Sportscenter. Except, this actually has hockey included….
Congrats to Jason on the Gruene With Envy Songwriter of the Year Award….www.gruenewithenvy.com
I’m a little late, hard to follow a 4/20 blog plus it’s playoff season. Therefore, slack is needed. Going skip back to the morning of 4/29, heading to Austin to get Jason and Noah then to Houston for an acoustic show. Started the day off great by losing the trailer down the incline of Woody’s parking lot and coming within 3 feet of it going through the side of the old Loews Theater. Once I decide to stop screwing off and trying to wreck equipment, get on the road and arrive at Pub Fiction about 2. Park in the adjacent (and convenient) paved parking lot right in front, but that’s valet only. So move the bus to the not adjacent gravel lot, where it proceeds to sink in the rain soaked ground. Barely get it out before finally getting settled and “loading” in. Acoustic shows that means I set up merch and then go get Jason’s guitar.
Pub Fiction is hands down the trendiest bar I’ve been in for quite some time. I would say the median cost of a pair of jeans in that place was well over $200. I thought I may get kicked out cause my shirt didn’t have a cross on it but they let me stay in. Also, if you make it to Pub Fiction, get a drink called “Pub Fiction”, it’s made with grape soda. Man, I would be an alcoholic had I know about these when I was 8. I had to have a drink after someone stole merch off the rack sometime before I got there. Douchebag.
From where I am, don’t really hear the show that well although they have a still camera on Jason and Noah throughout so I can see them sitting there. After the show just load up the merch and guitar and crash out. Wake up for a few minutes in Fort Worth to run some merch to the post office, once everyone else is loaded head for Cain’s.
Pull in and it’s raining, seems the “April” showers are waiting for May so the flowers should be late also. Typical load in to the greatest venue ever, almost catch a nap before last minute guests are remembered for the list. Doors at 7 and start selling, Hazzard opens and then JB&S. Again, typical Cain’s show so I’m fairly busy and about the only part I really got to pay attention to was JB&S doing “Tulsa Time” for the first time in Tulsa. Pretty damn cool to hear everyone sing along.
Besides the zippo and shot glass getting stolen (douchebag #2) and one drunk guy feeling the need to ‘shh’ people trying to buy merch, pretty good night. Load up and get bus out of the back “gate” area, then just hit the sack after snacking on TONS of goodies received that day. Sack out until I wake up outside of Kearney (pronounced Carney), apparently a huge difference in 2023 1st Ave and 2023 EAST 1st Ave. But make it to Shooters, park in the alley to unload and then get parked. Standard load/sound check, hotel to shower, no nap as doors are at 7 and the bar is half full by 7:30. Settle in at merch, Wild Wind opens and pretty much an old school country cover band, so yeah, I was singing along.
JB&S goes on around 10 and no more dancing on the drinking floor. Major credit to Shooters, not one single fight and this was a drunk crowded bar. Lots of signatures which keep Jason at merch for 15 minutes after closing time, finally get loaded out and headed back to Oklahoma. Remember my little accident? Yeah well it trashed the jack for the trailer so when we get to Stillwater and everything, I MEAN EVERYTHING, is wet or mud. Taking the show inside but can’t back bus/trailer to Tumbleweed’s ‘north’ stage so we unhook after a trip to Atwood’s to buy a new jack. Park bus by outdoor stage and put trailer by the dance floor stage to make load in as simple as it could be. Not simple, just as simple as it could be. While Aaron and Mikey wait for production to get situated (from moving pa inside) I take Greg to hotel, pick up some Chick Fil-A for the kids and back to the bar. Check in merch (venue sells) and wait out a sound check. Jason heads out with his dad, the rest of us head for hotel to clean up.
Back to the bus to double check everything, merch is ready and the bands fire off. I missed them all, watching the Hawks dismantle the Canucks in game 2. He may not admit it, but I think Jason is starting to enjoy hockey. He’s very inquisitive and understands the game quite well for a rookie. Hawks pull off a great game and the timing couldn’t be better as I have to make a couple re-stocks to merch and then catch some of Aaron Watson’s show. Really hope to do another tour with those guys, they are all top notch.
Once they finish, change out the stage and then put JB&S on stage to a packed house. So packed, they even opened up the outdoor area since the rain had stopped for the day. Same thing happened a couple years ago, but it was only 60 degrees outside instead of 82 degrees, which meant it was only 80 degrees inside (with 90% humidity) instead of 95. And no crickets this time…
Show was good, strange not selling and standing on the side of the stage. Once the gig closes Jason signs autographs on the side stage and never quite makes it to merch. By the time I get back over to check up, the bar is closing and inventory is getting counted. Finally get all merch done and loaded, get trailer hooked back up to bus and officially we’re off the clock. Normally I’m home working and resting, but instead I went to Chicago to catch my first ever Hawks’ playoff game. Unfortunately, they didn’t win. Even worse was the migraine I got in the middle of the 1st period and barely made it back to my hotel before getting sick to my stomach. But at least I was there, right?
Fast forward to this week, shortened week and first time we’ve done 3 inside bars in 3 nights in quite some time. It’s nice not to have to watch the weather forecast all week long. Leave out of Ft Worth about 9, sleep til Beaumont and get parked in front of Dixie Dancehall. Crockett Street has changed a lot since the last time we were down this way. Antone’s is gone, Bobbie McGee’s is gone, the sandwich shop is gone, the Mexican restaurant has changed names but it’s still good. Guys get to the hotel leaving the tv alone to play some Hawks hockey, to which they played quite the lame game until 2:44 left when Martin Havlat finally tallied to tie the game. I didn’t get to see the over time as I went in to sell and listen to Two Tons of Steel (TWO TONS TWO TONS!). Before long my phone blows up with texts as the cardiac comeback kids in Chicago score early in OT again to win the game.
Back to the show, Two Tons is awesome. I couldn’t SEE them but I could hear their whole show. Just love that old school country or rockabilly when it’s done right; Two Tons, John Evans, 4020, Eleven Hundred Springs, etc. JB&S on and play the show, I snuck out to catch highlights a couple times and steal some cookies. Once the show is over and we get loaded up, just call it a night and get some sleep.
I broke my phone a couple weeks ago, for the umpteenth time. This time I broke down and got an iPhone. If you don’t have one, there’s probably an app to get one. Anyway, the best part of the iPhone is the Maps function. Bus stops, I hit a button and know exactly where we are. That way if we aren’t at venue I can just stay in bed. Yes folks, for no other reason than that, the iPhone rocks.
I wake up knowing we’re close to Dallas and gotta get Jason to the Wolf for a radio interview. Jason played a new song that’s yet to be titled, should’ve aired last night on the Front Porch Show for those listening. After that, to the Drunken Mule in Commerce. Bus driver Greg is from Commerce so he rolls us right into town, parks in the middle of the street while we unload and even chats up with the local law enforcement while we load in. The Mule isn’t that big and I don’t mean by capacity. The ceilings are all pretty low and not a lot of moving around room. You can tell this place is older than OSHA. Greg gets us some Italian from the local place, we use his car to go to the hotel 15 miles away (local hotel won’t rent to bands anymore, guess someone thought they were Elvis) and back to bar around 8.
Slowly fills up, no opener so JB&S goes on about 10. Okay, one complaint: from 8 til 9:45 the dj only played Texas country and some old school stuff. I’m not a fan of all the music in this scene but it beats most of the crap on the radio. Then with 15 minutes before a COUNTRY band takes stage in a COUNTRY bar, out comes the hip hop. I do not understand it, not in the least. JB&S onstage and you got half a dance floor of standers and half dancers. I’m just hanging out on the side, watching the show, watching the clock. Bar closes at midnight so Roger and I plan on driving back to Fort Worth after the show to sleep in our own beds.
Wake up about noon when the bus gets to Woody’s, everyone gets their cars and head to Billy Bob’s. Get trailer unhooked (safely) from trailer and to my truck, then get everyone parked and bus situated so that the satellite still works. Yes, it’s more difficult than you would think, haha. Load and count merch, settle up the guest list and meet/greet radio winners, grab some Jack In The Box (how did we live off that back in the van days?) and a quick nap. The show room to Billy Bob’s opens at 9, the same time the Hawks game5 starts. So as I’m selling merch I keep the play by play updates on my phone. As most of you know, the Hawks came back AGAIN to win the game and take a 3-2 series lead. Game six starts in 37 minutes so I’m desperate to finish this blog…haha.
Cain’s and Billy Bob’s, two places I never see the show that pays my rent. Wasn’t as busy, maybe cause we’ve serviced the DFW area quite a lot this year. Did run into some entertaining customers….
Eventually show is over, Jason signs all the stuff I sold, ran into a guy I used to play hockey with 12 years ago, count out merch, hook up the trailer and head for home.
Another week, another blog…..
Putting up some new shows and updates, plus “Alright” is doing Alright on the Texas Music Chart so just keep calling your stations.
