Southern Tour: January 19 - February 3

THIS, is the way that it was. From my end, anyway...

With the excitement of a "Southern Vacation" in our future, I didn't mind that the first two shows were in freezing cold, northern cities.

Maumee, Ohio:
Promoter overestimated our popularity in Maumee, Ohio, and booked us in a big movie theater, just down the street from his bar. Needless to say, it was far from "sold out". Had a good show though. Woulda been a mob scene in his bar, but, was a good show in a mostly empty theater. Promoter got good'n drunk, and we ended up having to follow him to his bar to get paid at the end of the night. It was tedious work, but, we emerged unscathed, with payment in hand.
Checked into the hotel he was supposed to be "providing", but, he forgot that HE had to sign the credit card. He was still drunk, back at his bar. Too late to try and track him down. We ate that one, seein' how he took it pretty hard at the box office. He was a giant fan of ours, so, we forgive him, and hope to play his bar in the future.

Sellersville, Pennsylvania:
Another great, "attendance challenged" show at the Sellersville Theater. John Horton's amp blew up. Borrowed one from the opening band, who not only let John take it with him, they also had a member who was an amp repairman, and...they were gonna be playin' with us again in a few days in Raleigh. He took John's amp, to repair it, and they'd swap back in Raleigh. Lucky break fer sure...

Arlington, Virginia:
Iota Cafe is always a great time. Great club + great crowd = great show. Midnight Snack in da house. Blue Plectrum too. Got to see his oh so KILLER Creston guitar. Creston is gettin' better with each guitar.

Charlottesville, Virginia:
Nice club. Good show. Hyphen on merch (THANK YOU!!!) Decent crowd, considering we'd never been there before. Had AWESOME pizza at a place down the street (this non-Atkins behavior would come back to haunt me by the end of the tour...). We're creepin' further south, but it still ain't very warm. In fact, it's really cold. Maybe tomorrow...

Greenville, South Carolina:
It WAS a little warmer. Still cool, but, I'm hopeful. Spent the afternoon at the hotel, rehearsing the details of "The Ballad Of Curtis Lowe". Played it for the first time, correctly, this show (We did it on New Year's Eve, just from memory, we'd forgotten some key elements...). Great club. Good crowd. Good show. Mark's sister, Patty drove down from Asheville. Talked to some guys after the show, who told me Greenville, was the location of Ronnie Van Zant's last show. The plane flew outta there and crashed. I never knew that. They thought we played "Curtis Lowe" as a tribute. It was a totallly random thing. Keith first sang backup with Otis Gibbs at this show.

Raleigh, North Carolina:
It's pretty damn warm outside!!! Upper 50's. THIS is the show we'd been waiting for. Totally packed house. People goin' apeshit crazy. Midnight Snack on merch (THANK YOU!!!). John gets his amp back, to no avail. Won't make a sound, right at showtime. The great guys from the opening band, Tractor Pull, let him take theirs for the rest of the tour, and ship it back to them when he got home. The long lost "Indiana Girls" were at this show. Amazing. Like finding grown up babies you gave up for adoption. Great, magic, evening. One of the best since the album came out.

Columbia, South Carolina:
The "dud" of the tour. Really cold outside. Big club, tiny audience. Coulda had a good show, if we'd had it in the hotel room instead. Soundman was great. Club was kinda cool. The few that WERE there, were enjoying it. I forgot to mention, I had a cold, since the day we left St. Louis. I was feelin' it this night. Kinda sickly. Had dinner at a really mediocre Chinese place. Had a cool looking hotel. Keith was attacked by bedbugs though. They didn't get me. Lucky, random, bed selection on my end. When we left, in the morning, it was even COLDER outside. What's happening here??? Thought we were OVER this shit. Shivering beneath palm trees is SO wrong.

Athens, Georgia:
We're pretty far south now, and, it's pretty fucking cold outside. SO cold, by southern standards, that everybody stayed home. The whole town was dead. Too bad, 'cause it was a great show. Small crowd, but two of the few were Peter Buck, and Patterson Hood. THEY ain't scared of no steenkin' cold weather! Patterson got up and sang "Curtis Lowe", and "Kerosene" with us. Peter Buck told me a great story of a cross-country drive he took, which included a stop in Festus, Missouri. He said he looked in a phone book for my number, but couldn't find it (I haven't lived there for awhile...).
It was funny to think a member of R.E.M. was in Festus, lookin' for my phone number. Really good show, all things considered. We played really well this night. Stage sound was excellent. Weather sucked. Had the best burrito of my LIFE at The Taco Stand (More Anti-Atkins artillery...).

Atlanta, Georgia:
STILL COLD!!! My cold peaked this night. I felt like shit. The soundman never could get the monitors right, whis is a BAD thing if you have a cold. The crowd was great. Too bad I felt so lousy, and had to sing so hard through the shitty monitors. Blew my voice out before the end of the show. This was a rough one for me. Anna Kramer opened the show, and I thought she was great. The most precise trash rock guitarist I'd ever heard. If John Horton ever quits, and, I don't succeed in killin' him for doin' so, and, therefore, don't end up in prison, I'm callin' Anna...

Lake Worth, Florida:
IT'S SUMMERTIME!!!! BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL!!! In the '80's, palm trees EVERYWHERE. Played a "Blooze Club", but, it was great. We each had our own apartments for the night. I had number 8. Never wanted to leave. Never wanted to go to sleep, 'cause I KNEW I'd not see weather like this again, 'til at least June. We had to play quiet, to please the soundman, but, I didn't care. I'm a MUCH happier dude in nice weather. My cold went into complete remission. I was like a new man. Great show, great crowd. The wildest, fully seated, crowd I'd ever played to. Rockin' while reclinin'. I'm down with that, long as they're rockin'...

Tampa, Florida:
Little bit cooler today. Low '70's. I'LL TAKE IT. The killer tornadoes had hit in the night, about 50 miles from where we were. Kinda cloudy, rainy. Cleared up by showtime, which was good, 'cause it was an outdoor venue. Several message board members in the crowd. Too many for me to know all their names. A "two set" venue, so, we played two sets. It went over great. Sold an ASSLOAD of merchandise during the break. Crowd was whipped up and awesome. I do believe Florida has turned around for us. I used to hate playing there. Now, it's great. Florida, the final frontier...

Macon, Georgia:
It's cold again. Florida buzzkill. Cool little club. Nice crowd, but, I think most of 'em were just there to "hang out". We had a few fans though. The elusive Twitcher being one of them. Had two young local girls, who were actually FANS, dance front and center the whole show. That was nice. Made it harder to notice that the whole back of the club was paying no attention at all. Some of our friends from the Allman Brothers organization were at the show. "Catfish", the soundman, was great, and, a damn fine dude. This is the first city that really "felt" like the south to me. I love the south. The south seems less southern these days. Not Macon. It's still there.

Got home, not having had much of a warm "Southern Vacation", but, having had a lot of southern cooking. Stepped on the scale, and had gained 10 pounds. In two weeks. Goodbye Pecan Pie, hello bacon. Been on the Atkins induction phase since I got home. Lost 5 pounds already.

This concludes the southern tour. Upper midwest, will be next.

Stay tuned... Brian