Sloping Ever Downward

So.  It has been a while since my public (both of you) has been updated on this merry adventure embarked upon some 5 months ago.  Do you want the real reason?  Darkness fell.  It’s true.  I try to be as upbeat as possible for as much of the time as I can manage but in the past 3 weeks the unavoidable in such a situation came about.  I was no longer happy to be out here.  I’ve since bounced back.  I didn’t want what I was dwelling upon to be mass consumed so I decided to run silent.  I have also developed a love for submariner colloquialism.

3 weeks ago we were 7 weeks from the end.  Kinda hard to see the end from that vantage.  Now we are within a month, have 13 days left on the bus, followed by a 2 week sit down.  The added bonus is that our 2 hour and 40 minute performance piece of high art will be slashed and burned to a 90 minute version without an intermission.  Hurray!!!  Not that I don’t still enjoy playing it, but a fellah gets tired.  So before you send the guard of white-smocked orderlies brandishing jackets of straightness, please know that my mental state is back to the slightly askew homeostasis that is known as my happy place.  Or at least a place of fatalistic complacency.  

Some highlights: 

Most of the upward spiral can be attributed to the overwhelming presence of friends and family coming to our show over the past 3 weeks.  We had a day off in Chicago and had  ”Indian Tapas” with my beloved sisters-in-law.  The restaurant was in Little India and specialized in “street food”.  Amazing.  Also, started an inroads getting back to what is important in life.  We got to see them again in beautiful Waukegan IL a few days later.  By way of Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin.  That was during a week of 7 one nighters in a row stretched all over the midwest.  Not complaining, just sayin’.

We played Bloomington IL which is about an hour from where I grew up.  Got to see my Dad, sister, and the joy of my life, my nephew.  Amazing kid who brings me great comfort and hope for mankind.  We had an early show so we got to hang out afterwards and go to one of my favorite restaurants.  We stayed in a fancy-panted hotel that I used to play jazz gigs at.  It was interesting to go from being treated like the help to a beloved patron.  Such disparity.

And on.

Next point of interest after some forgettable venues, Naples, Florida.  Clearly we drove millions of miles to get back to where we were a month previous.  Part of the gig of being a guinea pig show for the production company.  Sell it to whoever is buying. Anywho, Nalples was beautiful and we had our first sitdown in weeks.  Our parent company is based just up the road in Ft. Myers so we had a couple of parties somewhat in our honor.  Somewhat.  The theater was beautiful and we had a good run of shows.  It is interesting to me that we were supposed to “really” care about these shows and do our best because they were really really really “important for the company”.  Where I come from, one plays or performs the same show no matter who is watching.  It’s called being a professional.  But I digress.

We flew out of Orlando to Minneapolis where we met up with our bus.  Had the night off and went to a Japanese steakhouse.  Good food and an excellent show.  That is real dinner theater but perhaps I’m a bit jaded in that regard.

This past week brought new experiences.  We rolled from Minneapolis to Fargo whereupon we rocked 1/10th of the Fargodome.  This was the largest venue that I have ever played seating over 20,000.  For some reason, they didn’t sell out the entire arena.  Apparently they didn’t let greater Fargo know that I was on the gig.  But whatever.  Elton John sold it out the next weekend.  I don’t see how he is all that much bigger or better than our band.  The show maybe…I will talk to the marketing people about that.  

They opened a giant door and the busses and trucks drove right into the arena and parked behind the stage.  It was a lot of fun to smack my drums that night.  Usually I get a report from my sound guy as to what percentage of voluminous effort to put on any given evening.  It ranges from feathers to tree trunks.  This was a tree trunk night. 

The next night we played another arena in Bismarck.  Not quite the size of the Fargodome.  Fun nonetheless.  The hotel gave us free drink tickets for post-show.  I don’t think the fine folks of Bismarck knew quite what to make of us show folk.  Hate crimes were avoided but just barely.

Then came another round of familial comfort.  Again I say that this is the best side perk of being on the road.  We have been able to see family and friends that would be far too cost prohibitive for us to see individually.  In Billings, MT we saw Auntie Dee, Uncle David, and Grandma Marge.  We haven’t been able to see them much in the past couple of years and it was a real blessing.  We got to stay the night at their house, have great food and conversation, and treat them to our show.  As a side note, my wife is a native Montanan and treated the bus to a stirring rendition of the state song.  In all 12 keys.  At once.  Quite an ear on that one….

On to Butte.  Here we got to hang out with my wife’s parents and three of her girlfriends from the way back.  Again, it was refreshing to get back to the familiar and comfortable.  Wonderful people.  Not the greatest venue for seeing the “spectacle” part of the show.  The band was 2 feet below stage level so we had to back off quite a bit.  Apparently, I was distracting to some in that the most important part of my show (reading my Kindle) was also the most memorable of what I performed that night.   

The next morning we had a 5:30 a.m. bus call followed by a 500 mile drive through the mountains to Nampa, ID into a double starting at 4:00.  This translates into a 4:00 matinee ending at 6:40, eating a bagel-cream-cheese-and-potato-chip-sandwich and a cup of coffee, and hitting again shortly after 7:00.  Quite a squeeze.  But not as bad as we all thought it would be.  This has been the hell show of legend since the start of tour and I was frankly disappointed in how easily it came off.  Oh well.  Rest assured that I will find something else to bitch about.  The bus culture has somehow deemed this as appropriate, justifiable, and downright expected behavior.  If you’re not bitching then clearly you are siding with management.  Sigh.  The Entitlement Tour 2009 marches ever onward….

In Nampa we were able to see more relatives.  Aunt Becky, Uncle Gary, and Grandma Laura drove some 6 hours to come and see us.  Another blessing and they brought cookies!  We are starting to feel spoiled in this regard. 

We had another beautiful drive from Nampa to Salem, OR with a night off.  Oregon is my 48th state that I’ve played in throughout this quasi-career and is quite stunning.  Amazing vistas all the way capped off by some roadside rivers and waterfalls.  My favorite.  We tried to decide what to do when we got in last night.  I looked at restaurants etc.  In the end we ordered in, watched TV, went to bed at a reasonable hour, and slept for 13 solid hours.  Methinks that that was a long time coming.  I have figured out that there is a 2 to 1 rest ratio between bus and bed sleep.  

Looking back at some of what I have written here, I see the inklings if not broadly painted manifesti of discontent.  Fear not.  I think I’m just ready to go home.  Wherever that turns out to be…..

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~ by davejolley on May 6, 2009.