The van is headed south, or Southeast. Today’s journey started in Lubbock and, if all goes according to plan it will end in Helotes I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that means we are traveling southeast. Currently we are jamming James McMurtry’s “Live in ‘03” album, its one of those albums that you love to listen to because its so good, but you also hate because it makes you feel pretty damn inadequate by comparison. Now I know that this blog thing may seem a bit out of the blue but I’ve got my reasons, namely being that I just acquired a new laptop and I’m attempting to justify my purchase by penning the occasional blog. Hopefully this will serve the triplicate purpose of keeping ya’ll informed, keeping me busy in the van and keeping our “ball-busting” manager content. I’m not sure if I will accomplish any of these things but hey, it’s the thought that counts right??? To elaborate a bit: our manager is one mean son of a bitch; no I’m just joking around… Seriously though the dude is an ass, and you can follow him on twitter (twitter.com/3leafent)
Tonight we will be playing at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes. It’s been a long time since we’ve been there but I feel certain that we’re all excited to hit the stage. I mean this is a pretty damn cool join: the food is great, one of my favorite live albums was recorded there (REK’s “NO.2 Live Dinner”) and the green room is nothing to complain about either. As an added bonus Floore’s is close enough that we all get to sleep at home tonight. This is a fantastic prospect considering the fact that we stayed at quite possibly the nastiest, dirtiest, most stinky motel in Texas last night. Amenities included a broken AC unit, a rusted bathtub, no sheets, torn wallpaper, broken doors, dirty water, blood on the carpet and blankets, ripped up towels that were nowhere close to white, no internet and a TV that was stuck on one channel. If you don’t believe me on that one just ask Bobby Duncan, but hey it was cheap and rightly so. I would like to add that Bobby Duncan is a real a-hole as well… all right this time I really am joking. Follow that boy on twitter (twitter.com/bobbyduncan)
At times things tend to have yin and a yang to them, last night appears to have been one of these times. If the seven-hour van ride and aforementioned hotel situation were the yin, then the gig was the yang. We played at the Blue Light in Lubbock and it truly was a blast. The crowd was great (we had over twice as many people as we had last time we played there), the people were rowdy, the beer was flowing like wine (D&D), and everyone was having a good time. At one point a fight broke out right in front of the merchandise table, but even this occurrence couldn’t do much to damper the crowds demeanor. Speaking of the fight: I missed it so admittedly I’m operating on secondhand knowledge, but from what I hear it was a cause for much excitement. One of the guys involved in the melee even stepped on Hunter’s sandal clad foot, to which Hunter said “Hey man, I got nine more”…like, you know… in reference to his toes. How about that? A guitar picker with a razor sharp wit and a silver tongue to boot. I don’t want to say that this fight was cool, because you know…you shouldn’t condone violence, but it was an interesting thing to see to say the least…that’s what I was told anyway. And to put your mind at ease as to the safety and sanctity of the Blue Light and its clientele allow me to say this: “worry not”. I was assured by a handful of patrons that this sort of thing is by no means commonplace.
That’s about all I’ve got to say and then some, but I’ll leave you with our funny moment of the evening. Lets set the stage. Hunter and I (Astros fans) are sitting at the bar watching the baseball contest between the Astros and Rangers. Along with us there are some bar regulars (Rangers fans) watching too. After the Astros pull out a victory one of the Rangers fans starts complaining to us about the Rangers:
Bar Dude: “At least the Astros went to the World Series a few years back. The Rangers haven’t made the playoffs since 1999. That's like 16 years man.”
Hunter: “How long was that?” (Trying not to laugh…)
Bar Dude: (After thinking a minute…) “I mean, like 14 years”
