First of all… do you read these blogs because you want to find out how the show last night went?…. or because you want to peer into the dark chasm that is my alleged mind? I’m okay either way. I will certainly tell you how last night went. I’m a little late getting to it. If I waited much longer I would have to tell you about two shows in one blog and that way lies chaos. And I am only paid for one.

First… a couple of fun facts. We don’t know what this means, but Lee Brice played the Grammy Museum in LA last week and the music playing while people were being seated?… Blue sky Riders. Huey Lewis and the News (with our friends Striking Matches opening!) played the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall in Nashville, and the music played while people were being seated?…. you guessed it. Blue Sky Riders! Do you know what this means? We don’t either. Just sayin’.

Now, the show…

We’ve been playing a lot of really beautiful old theaters this run. Tonight we were at the Macomb Theatre in Mt Clemens, Michigan. Yes, THAT Macomb Theatre! We had a lot of tech problems getting started. The place wasn’t ready for us when our crack crew got there to load everything in so we ran really late and had very little time for a soundcheck. You might think that would make for a terrible show… but it really rocked. The night before we were at an outdoor fair in the center of town. All these great places to play… it has made me look back at my past and some of the stranger places that I have played as I have made my way up the musical food chain from plankton to orca:

I played an ice skating rink. Really great natural echo off the ice. Very cold on the fingers and the feet. I never want to play while people skate again. I have very few rules in my life but that is one of them. What was that great rule Jack told Liz about on 30 Rock? “Never go with a hippie to a second location.”  That’s a good rule, too.

Mona’s Gorilla Lounge in Santa Cruz, CA. I didn’t have a lot of contact with the gay community growing up in Connecticut as far as you know. This bar was a crash course in alternative lifestyles. Men dancing with men, women with women… our eyes were as big as saucers and we felt so… artistic.

Mr. Steak steak house. Nothing hones your stage presence like playing James Taylor songs over the sound of cutlery and digesting. I remember what it was like to finish a song and hear nothing. I mean… nothing. And that was just last night! Bada boom.

A motorcycle club bar. For some reason they loved our band. Very large scary and hirsute people (both genders) would treat us like we were the Beatles. When they liked you… they slapped you on the back. When they slapped you on the back… you went down. And stayed down. Sometimes we would not take a break just so we would make it to the end of the night without a broken scapula.

Were you in a band? What’s the strangest place you ever played? That would be an interesting topic. Type amongst yourselves. They say that every show helps you grow and become the musician you are. Apparently I am an ice skating hating, artistic vegetarian with two functioning scapulae. And I have to live with that.