Jeff's First US Tour of 2011 – blog #1 (day 7)
Tonight's show is about to start, but I wanted to get a blog out for this tour, since it's almost been a full week.
Here you go.
Welcome to the new (well, old – actually the original) home of the Tour Blog! While I liked the features associated with the MySpace blog, I just don't use MySpace any more, and don't appreciate the new layout and look over there. I hope you find this site to be just as good of a home for the blog, if not a better one.
Miles Driven – 1075
Average Speed – 52 mph
Miles Per Gallon – 33
Things got started off in a town outside of Atlanta, Georgia, called Roswell. There, I would make my first visit to the Land of 1000 Hills Coffee House.
When this tour (which includes 30 shows over a period of 24 days, and might therefore include fewer blog entries) concludes, I will have played 11 shows at previously unvisited venues. That's a high percentage for someone who's been at it for a while in this geographical area. Hopefully it's a sign that I am reaching some new listeners, as well.
Back to Roswell... or Nashville, I guess. My wife is a teacher, and is currently on spring break, which has enabled her to be with me for the first week of this tour. That's pretty awesome. She taught for half of a day on Friday, and came home. We quickly ate lunch, finished packing the car, and hit the road early in the afternoon.
The venue I was playing to kick off the tour was not feeding us dinner, so we ate a bit on the drive south. We got there about a half hour before the start time. Upon arrival, I was told that the venue did not have a sound system. In my email communication with them, I was informed that they did have one, but it was apparently on loan to them or something, and they no longer had it. I had been looking forward to not having to set up my equipment after the long drive. Ah well... I was also informed that music, which was usually held indoors, would be outdoors on their patio that night, because the weather was unusually nice. So I needed my full PA, rather than my small amp.
Needless to say, the show did not start on time. But I had some people coming out to the show who had not yet arrived, and the manager at the coffee house didn't mind the late start, so it was probably for the best. The weather was pretty wonderful; I never would have guessed that my first outdoor show would be a night time one on March 18th. But it stayed nice out there on the patio, well past 10 pm. The turnout was pretty good, too, and I got to catch up with a few friends who have relocated to the area, and some fans who came out for the show.
I enjoyed my first visit to 1000 Hills, and am hoping to hit the Atlanta area a few more times this year. If you have some venue suggestions, or live in the area and would like to host a house concert, let me know!
My wife and I were rather hungry after the show, so we accidentally stopped at Taco Bell on the way to our hosts' home. I missed a turn on the GPS directions, and happened to turn around in a parking lot where a Taco Bell was. I usually make a point to have one Taco Bell meal on each tour, and it looks like we got that out of the way early on. We stayed with a former coworker of my wife's that night. The next day, they were having a yard sale. This is otherwise not worth reporting, except that it was the second time that I had experienced a yard sale while staying with a tour host. The first was several years ago, as my parents were selling my childhood memories at the house where I grew up in Pittsburgh, before they moved to a different house.
The Sunday before the tour began, I got a really bad pinched nerve in my back, near my left shoulder. I was concerned that it would make setting up and tearing down my equipment a painful effort. That pinched nerve is still present, though it doesn't cause nearly as much pain as it did at this time last week. However, on Friday night / Saturday morning, something happened while I was sleeping. I was using a rather thick pillow, and it probably would have worked well I slept on my side. But I usually sleep on my back, and apparently slept that way this time, as well. When I woke up, the right side of my neck hurt pretty bad. That issue is still pretty painful now, almost a week later. I don't have to set up my PA for the next few shows, and hope the pain subsides over those next few days.
Back to the shows. On Saturday, we would make the long drive from Canton, GA (north of Atlanta) to Lenoir, NC (northwest of Hickory). We did a similarly-long drive during last year's first tour, but I had forgotten just how long it was. We made it to the venue with ample time to spare, though. I played here last year, and had hoped to come back at some point in 2010, but the timing never worked out. The owners are great people, and fed us when we got there. They unexpectedly offered us some apple pie a la mode when we were done, too. It was delicious. Unexpected deliciousness.
A friend from the Pittsburgh area, who had moved to Hickory, came out to the show. We had a good chance to catch up before the show. Unfortunately, the show was low in attendance this time around. But there was some stand-up comic performing at the Civic Center nearby, which I think really limited the attendance. Lenoir is a small town, I believe we were told that its population is maybe 20,000. So any big event happening in town is likely to impact the attendance of other events. But a few other people came out, and it was still a good, intimate show.
This venue in Lenoir is in the middle of a battle to keep its doors open. To read about them and perhaps offer support, check out http://www.visiononmainstreet.com/press-media/press01.html
After that show, we made another decent drive, of about 3 hours, to Blacksburg, VA, where I would be staying and performing over the next 3+ days. It was nice not to have to drive 100s of miles each day over those few days. We'll pick up in Blacksburg to start the next blog entry.
Here you go.
Welcome to the new (well, old – actually the original) home of the Tour Blog! While I liked the features associated with the MySpace blog, I just don't use MySpace any more, and don't appreciate the new layout and look over there. I hope you find this site to be just as good of a home for the blog, if not a better one.
Miles Driven – 1075
Average Speed – 52 mph
Miles Per Gallon – 33
Things got started off in a town outside of Atlanta, Georgia, called Roswell. There, I would make my first visit to the Land of 1000 Hills Coffee House.
When this tour (which includes 30 shows over a period of 24 days, and might therefore include fewer blog entries) concludes, I will have played 11 shows at previously unvisited venues. That's a high percentage for someone who's been at it for a while in this geographical area. Hopefully it's a sign that I am reaching some new listeners, as well.
Back to Roswell... or Nashville, I guess. My wife is a teacher, and is currently on spring break, which has enabled her to be with me for the first week of this tour. That's pretty awesome. She taught for half of a day on Friday, and came home. We quickly ate lunch, finished packing the car, and hit the road early in the afternoon.
The venue I was playing to kick off the tour was not feeding us dinner, so we ate a bit on the drive south. We got there about a half hour before the start time. Upon arrival, I was told that the venue did not have a sound system. In my email communication with them, I was informed that they did have one, but it was apparently on loan to them or something, and they no longer had it. I had been looking forward to not having to set up my equipment after the long drive. Ah well... I was also informed that music, which was usually held indoors, would be outdoors on their patio that night, because the weather was unusually nice. So I needed my full PA, rather than my small amp.
Needless to say, the show did not start on time. But I had some people coming out to the show who had not yet arrived, and the manager at the coffee house didn't mind the late start, so it was probably for the best. The weather was pretty wonderful; I never would have guessed that my first outdoor show would be a night time one on March 18th. But it stayed nice out there on the patio, well past 10 pm. The turnout was pretty good, too, and I got to catch up with a few friends who have relocated to the area, and some fans who came out for the show.
I enjoyed my first visit to 1000 Hills, and am hoping to hit the Atlanta area a few more times this year. If you have some venue suggestions, or live in the area and would like to host a house concert, let me know!
My wife and I were rather hungry after the show, so we accidentally stopped at Taco Bell on the way to our hosts' home. I missed a turn on the GPS directions, and happened to turn around in a parking lot where a Taco Bell was. I usually make a point to have one Taco Bell meal on each tour, and it looks like we got that out of the way early on. We stayed with a former coworker of my wife's that night. The next day, they were having a yard sale. This is otherwise not worth reporting, except that it was the second time that I had experienced a yard sale while staying with a tour host. The first was several years ago, as my parents were selling my childhood memories at the house where I grew up in Pittsburgh, before they moved to a different house.
The Sunday before the tour began, I got a really bad pinched nerve in my back, near my left shoulder. I was concerned that it would make setting up and tearing down my equipment a painful effort. That pinched nerve is still present, though it doesn't cause nearly as much pain as it did at this time last week. However, on Friday night / Saturday morning, something happened while I was sleeping. I was using a rather thick pillow, and it probably would have worked well I slept on my side. But I usually sleep on my back, and apparently slept that way this time, as well. When I woke up, the right side of my neck hurt pretty bad. That issue is still pretty painful now, almost a week later. I don't have to set up my PA for the next few shows, and hope the pain subsides over those next few days.
Back to the shows. On Saturday, we would make the long drive from Canton, GA (north of Atlanta) to Lenoir, NC (northwest of Hickory). We did a similarly-long drive during last year's first tour, but I had forgotten just how long it was. We made it to the venue with ample time to spare, though. I played here last year, and had hoped to come back at some point in 2010, but the timing never worked out. The owners are great people, and fed us when we got there. They unexpectedly offered us some apple pie a la mode when we were done, too. It was delicious. Unexpected deliciousness.
A friend from the Pittsburgh area, who had moved to Hickory, came out to the show. We had a good chance to catch up before the show. Unfortunately, the show was low in attendance this time around. But there was some stand-up comic performing at the Civic Center nearby, which I think really limited the attendance. Lenoir is a small town, I believe we were told that its population is maybe 20,000. So any big event happening in town is likely to impact the attendance of other events. But a few other people came out, and it was still a good, intimate show.
This venue in Lenoir is in the middle of a battle to keep its doors open. To read about them and perhaps offer support, check out http://www.visiononmainstreet.com/press-media/press01.html
After that show, we made another decent drive, of about 3 hours, to Blacksburg, VA, where I would be staying and performing over the next 3+ days. It was nice not to have to drive 100s of miles each day over those few days. We'll pick up in Blacksburg to start the next blog entry.
posted by Jeff Miller at 8:45 PM
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