Picture a young kid from Connecticut… moved to Santa Cruz, California… desperately trying to play the big club, The Catalyst… the true sign of success in this town.
He never did. The band broke up and he went home to CT with his metaphoric tail between his legs. His disappointment was left to fester inside him like a cockroach in a 79cent burrito.
Present day. That same boy is now a man. He returns to Santa Cruz in his new band to play for all the people who shunned him all those years ago (or the grandchildren of those people). He returns for a night of triumph and victory. Does life get better than this? Karma, my friends… karma.
That’s where we are right now. Blue Sky Riders is backstage at the Rio Theater in my old hometown of Santa Cruz. I have tons of friends coming and it’s very cool to be here, all joking aside. This is the fifth show of the tour. Let me give you some thumbprint impressions of the tour so far:
We began the tour in Hawaii. Anything I say about a show in Hawaii is just going to make you jealous and angry and we need you to love us and sympathize with us as we struggle to make this band work. In Hawaii.
Second show…we fly back and play a corporate benefit in the Beverly Hills Hotel. We get to stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Warren Beatty and Annette Benning sat in front of Kenny. LL Cool J sat in front of me.
We’re losing you, aren’t we? If its any consolation… they did not feed us. We had to eat dinner in the Polo Loung…..uh oh.
Next show… Bend Oregon. Beautiful old theater and a great crowd. Our guitar and bass players got stuck in Denver and didn’t get to the theater till show time so we did the show with no soundcheck. That is always fun. (switch to sarcasm font here) We actually sounded great but the tsouris gave me a pain in my kepi. (that part was for Georgia… She loves it when I try to speak the language)
Next show… Sweetwater in Mill Valley. So far the Hawaii weather has followed us everywhere. It’s just been perfect. If you want to see how great that show was… look on our Facebook page. Georgia filmed the crowd going crazy and posted it. It MIGHT have been the best show we’ve done so far! Unless whoever is reading this was at a previous show… then THAT show was the best one so far!
Now tonight we are in Santa Cruz. Halfway through the run. Rio Theater looks like a rocking place.
Still kind of wish it was the Catalyst.