Charlottesville “Summer’s Gone” Tour Report
It’s 70 degrees, sunny and beautiful, but my cousin and I are bathed in weak AC, bad floursecent light and the hum of hundreds PCs here in the outside the UVA computer cluster getting our marketing plan together for tonight’s Charlottesville show. Of course, it was supposed to be last night’s Charlottesville show.
It was a 4+ hour drive up and over from Raleigh. The sun was out much of the way, but some residual Isadore cloudburst rendered I-64 unnavigable for a while, so I pulled over and sat it out. When I finally got back on the road, and the sun burned off the gray, I started scribbling a new song, “Good Things” on a scrap of paper perched precariously on the steering wheel. I was motivated by a comment my former music teacher, Mr. Vandeslice, made to my brother after hearing my CD and seeing my show in Philly Monday night. He thought that my lyrics were depressing. Which is kinda’ funny to me, and kinda’ true. Of course, I’m always looking on the bright side of things in the songs, despite the darkness. To me, they’re all a variation of “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.” But apparently Mr. Vanderslice wasn’t in tuned into that minutia. So anyway, “Good Things” is nothing but: all optimism, all about being in love and making it work and bridging the miles and appreciating just how lucky we are. Can’t wait to record it and get it to Mr. V!
So I got to into town around 5, checked into my Ramada Inn (so swank), then went for a run around the beautiful historic campus. It’s exactly what college should be like: rolling green hills, old brick buildings with white columns and domes. Bustling and beautiful. Then Luke and had some sushi and got our shiznit together for the show.
Long story short, we walked into the bar around 10:00 with the gear and such. Apparently, bands typically perform on the patio. It was pouring, so that wasn’t happening. “Rained out,” Jeremy the bartender said before apathetically walking away. They had already sent home a bunch of folks who came all the way from Richmond to see me play. I kept smiling, despite my urge to throttle the guy. We got the booker on the phone, and spoke with the manager, and seem to have arranged a show for tonight. Whether it rains, or another band’s there (though they assure me it’ll be fine) I will play a set. So we’re making some flyers here to hand out at UVA’s RocknRally (featuring OAR, Skinnee J’s) to get some extra folks out, and we’re gonna’ take another stab at rockin’ Charlottesville.
P.S. If you’re in the Chapel Hill area on Monday, I’ll be on WSOU-FM in Elon, NC, doing a little in-studio performance and interview. If you’re not going to be in the area, rest assured I’ll tell ya’ all about it here in The Daily Journal.
P.P.S. If you haven’t purchased the “Summer’s Gone EP” yet, please click on “Buy CDs” and do so!
