November 20th, 2007

I think it's either Matt or Tim's turn, but I've been sick in bed the last couple of days with nothing else to do so I figured I'd try to recall the madness of the last few weeks that probably put me on my back when we got home. Colorado seems like it was a year ago. We were lucky enough to have Andrew Weir on keys for the first 9 shows of the tour and it went swimmingly. Andrew is very easy to get along with and he's got a great ear. I think we threw something like 35 songs at him and he answered the call without difficulty. Thanks to all in CO that came out to the shows to see a sleep deprived rock & roll band. Within the first 4 days of the tour we had to do Columbia, MO, Denver, CO, Boulder, CO, and Lawrence, KS--back to back to back to back. Do the math. Brutal.

The dates with Cracker and Jason Isbell were a good time. Never really heard Jason or his band and was real impressed. Good fucking rock and roll band. And Cracker still rocks folks. All of the guys were real down to earth on the three day run. Hope to do dates with either or both again in the future.

Wanna thank Matt Welsh and Phil Sterk from Phonograph for coming out and opening a handfull of shows for us. For those of you who don't know, Phonograph is a rock and roll band from Brooklyn, NY that has great tunes and tones. Matt and Phil came out as a duo and sounded magnificent. Not to mention they are good guys and easy to work with. Check out Phonograph.

Chicago was rowdy to say the least. Multiple people that I know were carried out of the Double Door. At one point during our last song Time To Go (which is essentially a list of druckin acts that point toward it being time to leave the bar) one of our good friends was so hammered he was picking up the stage monitor and slamming it down on the mic stand which was in turn hitting me in the teeth repeatedly. Thought that was pretty funny seeing as I was singing the line "it's time to go when you grab the mic stand." Old boy was so fucked up he didn't realize he was living the words of the song. Also wanna thank Chicago Farmer for opening a wonderful night of music and debauchery.

At this point all of the other guys went home for a few days. I however stayed in Chicago to see Neil Young at the Chicago Theater on Mon. Perhaps the greatest show I've ever seen. Neil opened with a solo acoustic set with songs like After the Goldrush, Love is a Rose, Mellow My Mind, Hank to Hedrix, A Man Needs a Maid, etc. And then came back and rocked songs like the Loner, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Like a Hurricane, etc. Fucking unreal. And in such an intimate venue.

After Neil, I got one day in my own bed and then it was off to Louisville, Columbus, and a rainy, cold Cleveland. Thanks to Aunt Gracie for the dinner in C'bus and to Uncle Jim and Aunt Bernie for their hospitality and for the breakfast...go Buckeyes! Got up on Sunday, drove to J-town, got on a train to Normal (Nick is getting some electrical work done to the van) and it was home sweet home.

Only problem was that by the time I made it home, I was feeling pretty bad and have been for the last couple of days. Bad cough, hot flashes then the shivers. I guess maybe I had a little too much fun for the last few weeks. So I've been in bed trying to recover for the show in St. Louis and then we gotta get up to the burbs for turkey day and then J-town on Sat. Never any fun gigging when you're sick. Sooooo, I think I'm feeling better (or at least good enough) to get back out there.

Cheers,

Ed