Posts

Showing posts from May, 2010

Oklahoma City and Wichita

Image
Lunch stop, ordering in at a Sonic...don't get salads at Sonic... stick with what they do best...Burgers...just sayin' We left Bossier City and the Ramada Inn an hour earlier than what had been scheduled…it feels like most of our bus rides are averaging about 5.5-6 hours…we usually stop for lunch about noon and have a 45 minute break. There is a little grumbling about where we’ve been stopping. Let’s just say they are not the healthiest of choices … think truck driver…anyways…we had a day off and Shay and Shawna and I were looking forward to getting to Oklahoma City. We heard there was a big shopping/tourist area there within walking distance of the hotel. We checked into the Sheraton and I promptly jumped in the shower (as did most of the rest of the tour) to wash off the grime of Bossier City! I have never felt better…it was a short walk to “Bricktown” though we didn’t see much shopping. It’s very much like the river walk in San Antonio, there were river taxi’s and trolley’s.

Memphis - Baton Rouge - Bossier City

Image
Me, Peter, Gabe, Shay and Shawna I am on a bus…again…these last three days has been a whirlwind of bus riding, Star Wars playing, sight seeing and drama filled adventure. To recap…Tuesday morning Shay and I met our old college friend, Gil, for breakfast and then we jumped on our bus to head to Memphis. We hadn’t played the show since the previous Saturday and the schedule for Tuesday was to drive straight to the venue in Memphis for the show. The ride was pretty uneventful. There is a little drama regarding seat saving…I swear we are all over 18 but the things people choose to get into fights about is pretty hilarious to me. Anyway…we drove straight through to Memphis and played for an AWESOME crowd in downtown Memphis. After the show a group of us decided that since we were in Memphis we of course had to try out the ribs. We weren’t very hungry but settled on going to the Blues City Cafe on Beale street to split a rack of ribs. After we checked into the Memphis Marriott we started wal

Atlanta to Nashville

Image
Monday we woke up from the Ritz to hit the road for Nashville.  Another stop on the way to our next show in Memphis.  I am going to see quite a bit of this great country on this excursion of mine!  Shay and I hit up a diner that was downtown for breakfast.  It was okay.  There was a really bad smell of chemicals in the diner...a bunch of people complained and they eventually took care of it.  Before we loaded up on the bus we stumbled into "191 Bistro" It's a high rise attached to the Ritz.  It was gorgeous with giant chandeliers and a even more beautiful tapestry.  I snapped the above picture on my phone...and then I was promptly told by security there was no photos allowed...oh well...you'll just have to take my word for it...it was very 'grand' in there.  We headed out to Nashville...it was suppose to be a shorter ride than our previous days... but there was a big accident on the road and we sort of came to a crawl before we even hit Chattanooga.  I was abl

Orlando to Atlanta

Image
So three shows down and we are done with Florida! Orlando's shows were great.  They put up the NBA play off banners up on the building between last night and this morning when we left the Marriott.  (Picture: Star Wars "Screen Saver" I only ever see this screen during sound check...the silver "pods" are part of the lighting design.)  According to someone in the know...the stage and lighting/sound design was done by Lucas Films.  It's funny because this show is about the movies, yes, but also about the music, BUT when it came to setting up the brass the tuba is in the back row with the horns.  It's sort of an odd set up to have us back there behind the trumpets and trombones but it's even more odd that the tuba is with us and not the rest of the low brass...I was told that this is because the tuba would interfere with the "design" of the lights/lasers, ect...so to the back row he is!! That's okay with me.  I sit right next to him and it&