Year Three – Day 149 – August 4th 2011
I woke up in a car
I look around
Steve's to my left awake and driving (Good Thing) Jake and Rob are asleep in the back. Laughter is abound as we wake up and head to a Waffle House in the Carolinas for breakfast. One of the things that I've always thought was essential to making this thing work is that we have a core group of people that genuinely like each other.
I'm still blown away by the owner of Mojo Main's reception to our show, not because he thought we we're good (cause I think we're good) but that he would walk through the rain to tell us that. That's a place we might play again.
After a meal and several off color jokes we head toward Atlanta a place I haven't seen in over two years. The last time was with Camaro, and it wasn't pretty, Tequila, Cougars, Old Strippers, and the like. I remember feeling off about the city itself, but I also remember Atlanta as a musical hotbed, at least it was ten years ago. This is where John Mayer came to make it among so many others that used to call Atlanta home. I was happy that my friend Elizabeth lives down here, finally a connection.
We arrived at the Masters Inn around 3 and truthfully it looks a little sketchy but as long as the rooms are clean and I don't see anyone carrying out a corpse in a trash bag I'm cool. I need rest and I can feel my voice slipping away from me. I turn on pardon the interruption and I let those guys put me to sleep for an hour at least.
I wake up around 7 and shower, my phone is ringing off the hook because along with the pressure of performing in a new market for the first time the HYPE! has a show at World Cafe Live Tonight and for the first time I'm not there to run the show. As far as booking and hosting go it's probably my favorite venue to do shows at. But I left Man Wonder (The Nickname That Someone Gave My Father) in charge of the proceedings. It's the closest thing to me being there, we are definitely similar people and most of the things I learned about managing people and performances I learned from him. But as many parents can tell you, you can leave the best babysitter in the world with your child and you are still gonna worry, but once I got the call from Chris telling me the show was running on schedule I was able to shift focus to the work here in the ATL.
We arrived at The Music Room at Vesuvius around 7:30, loaded in, ate pizza and sat around for a bit waiting on word when to start. I hugged Elizabeth cause she got me the gig and she rules pretty hard on a 24/7 basis. Jake suggests we tune to E flat (he's been especially good with the ideas on this tour) so that's what happens. When we're given the cue we start
Set List
Ex-Girlfriend
Superhero
Get Me To California
Slowdance
Surrender
Sexy Machine
I Don't Dance
Baby One More Time
Psycho
I spend most of the show lost at sea, there's no monitor so I can't hear if I'm singing properly, the guitar was out of tune most of the time and to tell you the truth I spent most of the gig just not really being all that comfortable on-stage. The boys were amazing and the last three songs I had finally gotten my bearings. I was greeted by the few of the members of the audience, good show I was told. It's almost harder to be gracious when someone tells you you've done well when you think you haven't than the other way around.
After the show we were treated to a set by The Swear. I can't say enough about Elizabeth Elkins as a vocalist and songwriter. To do Folk/Coutnry and then turn around and hit you with the Heavy Rock, it's not an easy thing to do. I really love her and Vanessa (Olivarez) a lot, the fact that musicians and songwriters of that caliber have anything to do with me is pretty awesome. During the set I got a phone call basically sayign that The World Cafe Live show was a smashing success so good feelings all around.
As we get in the car and head for the hotel I reassess. The crowds haven't been great like they are in the Midwest but that's to be expected. This is my first trip through and I have to start somewhere. Next time things will be better and we'll find some cities to play in that work and add them to the ATL where we'll build off of what we had last night.
Next time I'll take the boys to Claremont
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