Austin, TX

I write from the airport terminal in Austin en route back home to Florida for a couple weeks!  

Austin was great!  

This is my second time performing in this city - my first being on the musical 

SOUTH PACIFIC a couple years ago.

We received rental cars in this city because we had to stay so far away from the venue due to big conventions downtown.  This was nice because we could sorta be on our own schedules and have a little more freedom and personal space.  

Fun fact: I met a waitress named Freedom at an IHOP here in Austin...

There is a famous jazz club in Austin called the Elephant Room that I got to go to a couple of times.  Some of the band members even got to sit in with the big band one night; I did not because the drummer played left-handed, which is a mirror image set-up to the average drummer's set-up.  

I play the average drummer's set-up.

The trombonist sitting in

The trumpeter sitting in (middle)

 Going home to my beautiful girlfriend and family!!!!!!

Lafayette, Macon, Columbus, Knoxville, Greensboro

Lafayette, LA:

These were a rough couple of days.  I didn't even have the luxury of spending the night in Lafayette.

We drove right into a matinée performance here, then traveled out of that show to Biloxi, MS to make our travel to Macon, GA then next day a little better.

Found a Rush song title along the way!

Macon, GA:

We performed at the Grand Opera House here; it was so beautiful and historic! 

Instagram

My view

Columbus, GA:

I didn't realize it from where our hotel was, but I had player here before!  Great theatre with an artsy downtown area.  I frequented Fountain City Coffee while I was there.  

The band (Coffee Club) signed the wall in the coffee joint

I made the cover of the program here

 Knoxville, TN:

Another city I'd been to before!  The theatre is so ornate and unique.  It was cold and rainy so walking around the downtown area kinda sucked, but there were a lot of great places to eat.  

I couldn't get enough of The French Market Crêperie.  Easily some of the best crêpes I've ever had!

A look inside the theatre

The King painted on a wall

A look outside

Greensboro, NC: 

A nice little one-nighter before our week sit in Austin, TX.

Great crowds here, but the backstage area was a little cramped for our group; glad we were only there for the night.

There was a Carrabba's right next door to our hotel so the band had a nice dinner after the 5:00 show!

Thanksgiving

The entire month of November was kinda crazy for me because, on top of my performance duties, I helped form a committee to put together a Thanksgiving meal for everyone in our company - about fifty people.  This wasn't any Thanksgiving meal; we didn't want it to be catered, we wanted to cook the food ourselves.  This posed all sorts of unforeseeable issues.

The idea was to contact churches to see if we could use their facilities to prepare the food and then we'd bring the food back to the hotel where our company was staying and eat in a banquet hall there.

Easy, right?  Nope.  NONE of the ten churches we reached out to came through.  They either didn't have a kitchen or they didn't even get back to us.  We started looking into our catering options...  

So, it was back to the drawling board (we are a week away from Thanksgiving at this point).  We eventually come up with the idea to rent a house for the night on homeaway.com. Finally, success!

We drove through the night from Shreveport into Galveston to the house where we made our feast.  I navigated while another guy drove.  We got into Galveston around 4AM, dropped out bags off at the house, went to the grocery store and bought about $500 worth of groceries, and started cooking!  The plan was to serve dinner at 6PM and we did it!  I was shocked.  It was like that show dinner impossible.  We worked with your standard kitchen: four burners, one oven, a microwave, and a grill.  We had a pretty eclectic menu too:

SAUSAGE CHEESE BALLS 

CREAM CHEESE ROLL-UPS 

DEVILED EGGS

STUFFING 

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE 

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE 

CORN CASSEROLE 

MASHED POTATOES

MAC 'N' CHEESE

COLLARDS

ASPARAGUS 

HAM

TURKEY

RASPBERRY JELLO

COOKIES 

ASSORTED PIES

All in all we had good laughs, amazing food, and tired bodies.  Well worth the time and effort to have a home-cooked meal on the road!

Sunrise after shopping Thanksgiving Morning

Some of the groceries

  

  

Baton Rouge & Shreveport

Baton Rouge:

We stayed at the Radisson...again.  This is my second time in this hotel.  I remember it because of the showers.  They are amazing!  There are about eights jets plus a rain shower head.  Count me in!

The trombonist and I decided to take an alternate way back from the grocery store....through a very rough part of town.  It was quite the adventure.  We got many odd looks, but we made it out safe!

I had some mediocre BBQ across the street and some subpar Mexican food next door to the hotel.  

Got some Delirium too.

Shreveport:

Cool little city. The theatre was really small and old, like an old vaudeville house.

Apparently, it was a thing for actresses to kiss the walls all around the backstage area because there were lip prints everywhere!

The band had their own dressing room here so we made our own wall tag.

Me and a few other guys didn't stay in the hotel here because we drove right after the show to our next city to begin Thanksgiving preparation (this will have to be another post entirely).

The venue

Wall tag in the dressing room

Mural on building

Hello, Internet!

Well, here's what my life has been like since Bartlesville:

College Station, TX:

This was the first time I ever did the airbnb thing and I gotta say, it won't be the last.  Our host was amazing!  We were walking distance to the venue, but she didn't mind giving us a ride!  

Loved this city!

Tyler, TX:

Honestly, I can't really remember anything too special about this city, but it was a one-nighter...

Orange, TX:

Oh, Orange!  I missed this city since I'd been there last.  The theatre caters this amazing potluck meal made by the local volunteers!  So delicious! 

Wynton played this theatre!

Two other shows Iv'e done hanging next to each other on the wall

Cleveland, MS:

It happened (another one-nighter)

Lawrence, Manhattan, Ft. Smith, and Bartlesville

Lawrence, KS:

I have family here!  They saw the show and loved it.  I came through on another show about two years ago and they also got to see that one, but I think they liked this show better.

I finally got my Act II tux jacket back!

Grandparents in Lawrence

Manhattan, KS:

Sadly, not the other Manhattan...

The audience here was great, but the hotel was awful!  

Ft. Smith, AR:

Our hotel was directly behind the venue!  We performed to a packed house that had no balcony, just orchestra seating.

Great bar across the street from the hotel; the drinks were very cheap.

Bartlesville, OK:

The theatre was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright (the architecture reminded me of the venue in Tempe, AZ, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright).  

I met up with some friends from high school that live in Tulsa now.  Good times!

Onward!

Rush Night!

The band, not some weird fraternity or sorority thing...

I got to see the Clockwork Angels Tour for the third time last night in a movie theater; I saw the tour in Florida and Canada the other two times.  

I got this tattoo about a year ago in Canada:

"YYZ," an instrumental by Rush

Iv'e got to update my cities.  I had a stretch of one-nighters again... :(

Lincoln, NE

Last show in Lincoln is a few hours away.  This is a great little city!  

I probably performed my best show yet last night.

I went to an art museum today.  

The building is designed by the architect that designed the Lincoln Center in NYC.

Fun times!

The venue

My view

The art museum.  Looks very similar to the Lincoln Center.

Inside the art museum

  

Paducah, Wabash, Bowling Green, and Columbia

Gotta love one-nighter schedules and getting behind on entries!

Also, I composed this entry drinking a latte out of a pint glass at The Mill.

Paducah, KY:

We flew in from Boston on a very small plane.  It almost felt like a private jet because of how many people travel within our company.  

The smallest airport I have ever had the pleasure of flying into

This was a nice gem of a city.  I knew I had performed there before, but I couldn't picture anything about it until we pulled up to the venue; it's a bigger venue, right on the river with murals painted on what look to be storm walls surrounding the venue - sadly, I did not get a picture...Oops!

Great crowds!

Wabash, IN:

Great venue and great crowds!  Future touring Kevin, find another hotel here; you'll thank me later!  I'm pretty sure we stayed at the Bates Motel: 2.0.  Had some really horrible beer for a really amazing price with some awesome company after the show.  The keys 2 player/AMD and I paid $8 for five PBRs (in a Bud Light bucket).

Thank God I didn't have to leave the hotel for anything with these amenities 

College?

Bowling Green, KY:

I hope the audiences loved the show because they weren't very enthusiastic during the show.  These are the toughest shows to get through. When the audience doesn't respond to the comedy or songs, it gets in your head.  You wonder if you're doing something wrong/different when it's really just the crowd.  Oh well!

Columbia, MO:

OUR BEST AUDIENCE YET!  A welcomed relief after Bowling Green!  

Oh yeah, the trombonist and I got to indulge in some Chipotle after the show.  Yum!

  

Movember

Yes, I have agreed to participate in Movember this year.  

Actually, the entire MEMPHIS Band is participating.  We have already raised over $400.  

Our goal is $1,000 and I think we might beat it.

Donate, donate, donate!

MEMPHIS The Musical Band

Worcester, MA

Named after Worcester, England.  This is my second time performing in this venue.

One of the first places I went for food was Theatre Cafe.  I got the salmon BLT club "with a side of attitude," says the woman with the Bostonian accent behind the counter.  

One of the best club sandwiches I have ever had.  

This was the best city on the tour so far because my beautiful girlfriend got to visit me!

We got to celebrate our one-year anniversary with a wonderful dinner at Ceres Bistro.

We had a delicious spread, complete with a meat and cheese plate, Amanda had the steak, I had the pork chop, and we shared a slice of pumpkin cake for dessert.  The meal was flawless.

A unique way of delivering balsamic and olive oil

We also did some sightseeing:

The theatre

The theatre (inside)

Amanda in front of an old church

A cool old house

The Seven-City Stretch

Ames, IA:

A very large auditorium, made mostly of concrete.  This must have been a nightmare to mix sound in, especially since the house wasn't completely full of people.  The audience was very receptive AND the venue even threw us a party after the show (complete with wine).

We stayed at a Holiday Inn that was only about two miles away from the venue.  The company always provides transportation to and from the venue/hotel when we are far, but the trombonist and I didn't think two miles was far at all.  We walked back to the hotel after the show.  

It's always nice to be on your own schedule and not have to worry about bus call times. 

Whitewater, WI:

Even though we were performing in Whitewater, we actually stayed in a town twenty miles away because there were no hotels available in town - suffice it to say, the trombonist and I were stuck with the bus call this day.

Oh, I almost died here.  

So the band is actually onstage for this show, as opposed to being under the stage in the Orchestra Pit.  I love it because I get to see the show and audience reactions, BUT when a drop comes flying in too fast, I can't help but to remember how great 'pit life' was. 

There is a drop that comes down right behind me in a very quick transition in the show.  I still don't really know what happened - maybe the rope slipped through someone's hands - but this drop did a free-fall from above and crashed to the stage right as I was being cued to play.  I was pretty flustered.  Gotta love live theatre!

Peoria, IL:

We drove into a matinée performance and then played a night show.  When something like this happens, the company caters our meals to the theatre.  Our meals that day were actually pretty fantastic.  Lunch was fried rice, lo mien, beef and broccoli, and salad.  Dinner was beef brisket, BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, salad, and some various finger desserts.

The heat was actually not woking in this theatre, a bit of a problem in thirty-degree weather. Though, they did have personal heaters for us.

I do love a good pretentious coffee house and Peoria did not disappoint!  Me and a few other members of the band enjoyed some delicious coffee from Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co.  A must if you are in Peoria!

Peoria is also currently winning for best hotel; we stayed at the Marriott attached to the venue.  Beautiful!

Mason City, IA:  

Also known as River City, home of the late Meredith Willson!  We had to commute to a venue that was pretty far removed from civilization. 

Davenport, IA:

Home to the late great trumpeter, Bix Biederbeck.  There is a wonderful memorial right on the Mississippi for Bix.

Bix Memorial 

Bix Memorial

The venue

My kit

The view inside

I lost $30 at a casino and had a great time doing it!

Some of the cast and band playing Blackjack

Springfield, IL:
Home to former President Abraham Lincoln!

His Home

Original table and chairs

Original stove

The bathroom

Lincoln's House and my hotel in one shot

My view

Champaign, IL:
The end to the seven consecutive one-nighters and our first arena show!  That's right, we play arenas...

The venue

The band dressing room

The first time we've had a security guard outside our dressing room (we decided to have some fun)