As we’ve already discussed on this blog, we recently had to retire our trusty tour bus, The Knight Train. We really haven’t used it at all this year. Instead we’ve just been carpooling to gigs as far as North Carolina (which is quite a haul from Minneapolis). We’ve been saving up for a new vehicle to tour in, and about a month ago, we found one. Sonny and I spent countless hours researching and test driving vehicles until we found the right one, a 35 foot long ‘94 Feeltwood Southwind motorhome. It’s extremely comfortable and in far better shape than any other vehicle we looked at. After a lengthy test drive, we dropped it off at a garage for inspection, which save for a few little things, it passed with flying colors. We struck a deal with the seller and were quickly on our way to living life in the lap of luxury.

 

Before we would hit the road though, we’d want to get the small handful of items found in inspection taken care of by our trusted mechanic over in Saint Paul. They went through everything one more time, made a few minor repairs, and the next day we christened our new ride with a short mid-west tour consisting of Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago. First stop, Milwaukee, to play the popular Jazz In The Park series!

 

On our way to Milwaukee the blinkers quit working on the bus, so we stopped off and had them fixed. By “had them fixed” I mean we paid someone $150 to replace the wrong part. Within about 60 seconds of being back on the road, the blinkers went out again (for the remainder of the trip). Later we would learn that some of the wires were poorly conjoined by electrical tape. Exposed wire would hit metal when we go down the road it would and blow the fuse… another super easy (yet very important) fix!

 

Feeling slightly pressed for time, but knowing that we would not be late as long as we didn’t lollygag at truck stops, we continued on. I went to the bedroom in the back of the RV and laid down for a nap. I awoke to what sounded like a gun shot but turned out to be a flat tire right under the bed. Though we were equipped with a spare, the owner’s manual insists that you do not change a flat yourself. We pulled into a truck stop complete with a full service A&W and waited for a repairman to arrive. For a couple hundred bucks he showed up about an hour later and put on the spare in less than 20 minutes. Again, we hit the road. We were pushing it now. If we pressed on with no stops we’d arrive late for soundcheck, but we usually load in and check so quickly it wasn’t that big of a deal. We alerted the promoter who wasn’t worried at all either.

 

 

 

We got no more than 10 miles down the road from the truck stop when BOOM, another tire blew. To my surprise, it wasn’t the spare. It was another one of the 4 rear tires. Here is how our mechanic would later explain it to me. Most RVs (including this one) sit unused for long stretches of time. When that happens, the tires often experience “dry rot.” It can be impossible to identify with a visual inspection. But, you get them on the road and they get real hot (it didn’t help that it almost hit 100 degrees that day) and all of the little cracks from the dry rot expand until the tire blows. Then, an RV that was designed to sit on 4 rear tires is now being held up by 3. We barely drove at all on the blown tire, but the it didn’t matter because the weight of the RV was still being applied to the 3 “good” tires while the 4th one was blown. Once we got back on the road the tire closest to the spare finally gave way.

 

After the second tire blew, with the help of a police escort, we limped our way to a Walmart tire center about 10 miles away in Lake Dalton, WI. At this point we knew there was no chance of making the Milwaukee gig. We called the promoter, who was incredibly gracious about the whole ordeal. We quickly changed our focus from “How are we going to make it to Milwaukee” to “Let’s just get back on the road safely and make sure we don’t have any problems making it anywhere else!” Thankfully Walmart had 4 compatible tires in stock, so we replaced all 4 of the back tires.

 

Rather than drive all the way to Milwaukee (which is actually further than our next stop in Madison), we spent the night at Riley’s (trumpet) family’s home in nearby Wisconsin Dells. Their hospitality and kindness was much appreciated after a very long and difficult day on the road. They gave us a great place to park our motor home for the night, comfy beds to sleep in, and some of the best soup we’ve ever had! They are genuine, kind, fun people who have put us up on more than one occasion now. I can’t thank them enough.

 

When we arrived in the Dells, we discovered that the road case for Nick’s bass amp had been damaged by one of the flats. It was stored in a lower compartment of bus behind the back tires. When the rubber (fortified with steel) tore off the wheel, it bashed the storage compartment and dented the hell out of it. We rolled his rig into the garage, fired it up, and thankfully it appears as though the amp escaped unscathed.

 

 

The following morning we hit the road early and went to a Goodyear shop where we purchased two more tires for the front of the bus. We figured letting the old ones ride would be a very poor idea given what we had already learned about the rear tires. Plus, if a front tire goes out on this thing, it could be seriously dangerous.

 

The stop at Goodyear took longer than we hoped it would, but we got back on the road as soon as possible and finished the drive into Madison. The good people at the Isthmus newspaper had invited us into their offices in downtown Madison to perform a few songs for a small live audience (think NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert) and a much larger streaming audience. The event was sponsored by Mini Cooper and Ian’s Pizza. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any free cars out of the deal, but we did get copious amounts of excellent pizza, which included a buffalo chicken pie and a macaroni and cheese pie! If you’re ever in Madtown, check out Ian’s.

 

 

 

 

After the Isthmus performance we loaded into the Majestic Theater just a couple blocks away. I love everything about that place and the people that work there. We’ve been very fortunate to do several shows with them; in that room, down the street at The Frequency (one of my favorite gigs of all time), and Live on King Street.

 

After sound check we made it over to one of our favorite bars in America, The Paradise Lounge. The burgers are super cheap, the beer is ice cold, they play rock and roll on the stereo, and they have a pool table. If you truly dig dive bars, you’ll love this joint. We try and go every time we’re in town.

 

I left the bar on my own as I wanted to get back for a little nap. As soon as I walked outside straight-line winds tore through downtown Madison like something out of a movie. Patio furniture from the restaurants was tossed all over the sidewalks and roads. After about 5 or 10 minutes of that it seemed as though all at once the entire sky opened up and massive amounts of water fell on the city. The hard downpour lasted 30 minutes or so. Eventually it let up a little, but it would continue to rain for most of the night. It’s never fun loading in and out in the rain.

Despite the rain, this was a very special night, as we were paired up with one of my heroes, Clyde Stubblefield. Before we went on, he and his band delivered a powerful set of R&B standards that set the bar for the evening very high. When we made our way to the stage for our set we were all greeted by Mr. Stubblefield, who posted up on a steel folding chair behind the curtain on stage right. He was gracious, funny, and apparently eager to see our show after watching us sound check. As I kicked off the drum fill that opens our show I thought to myself, “Wow, I am about to play our entire show with James Brown’s infamous “Funky Drummer” sitting 10 feet away in the perfect position to see everything I do! I better not fuck up!” After about 30 seconds of playing I looked over and saw that Clyde had a massive smile on this face. I realized, he’s not sitting there to analyze me and vibe me out. He just wants to watch a band play some music. Not only is he one of the most important drummers in the history of music, but he is also an awesome dude.

To my surprise, Clyde stayed for our entire set. After we completed he jumped to his feet to shake our hands as we walked off stage and he exclaimed, “y’all are some bad motherf…ers!” It’ll forever be one of my favorite tour memories.

 

 

 

 

The next day we were off to Berwyn, IL, a very cool little suburb of Chicago. I’m slowly learning that the Suburbs of big cities like that are VERY different from the suburbs of Minneapolis. They aren’t all cookie cutter town homes, noodles and company, and chipotle. The main drag of Berwyn looks almost like little old college town. For instance, the club we played at, Fitzgerald’s, is an iconic venue that has been a place for social gatherings since the early 1900s! I believe the suburb I grew up in wasn’t even farmland yet at that point.

 

 

Before we went to the club, we swung by a BBQ organized by the band we’d be sharing the stage with later that night. Many thanks to Mr. Phil DeRosa for hosting such a righteous gathering. He prepared some of the most kick ass party food you could ever ask for, which included Italian sausages and Italian beef sandwiches (a staple in Chicago). It was the absolute perfect way to spend an afternoon on tour. We made some new friends, listened to some great music, and ate some wicked food. Phil, you’re an American bad ass.

 

 

Eventually we snapped out of our food coma and made it to Fitzgerald’s for load in and sound check. After all that, a few of us hit the air conditioned motor home for a nice solid nap. Every night is different when you’re on tour. Some clubs have dressing rooms, others don’t. Some do, but you’d be better off just staying on the bus. More often than not, the best place to get some real peace and quiet is the bus. The Fitzgerald’s dressing room was fine, but there were a lot of people in it, and it didn’t have a place to lay down.

 

Some promoters cater your dinner, others let you order whatever you want off the bar’s menu, and others still provide what we call a “buyout.” Rather than provide you with dinner, they just give you money to go buy it yourself. Whatever the case, I’ve come to learn that my ideal scenario consists of a large dinner before we play, with some leftovers for after. On a typical night, we might load in at 6, soundcheck at 6:30, and have dinner by 7:30. After an opener or two, our set, chatting with concert goers, changing clothes, tear down, load out, and getting paid, it is not uncommon to leave the bar at 2am. I know eating late at night is bad for you, but so is pretty much everything else about touring. By 2:30am it has been 7 hours since I last ate, and I worked my ass off for several of those hours, so a little bit of food (not a huge meal) is very welcomed. If I can save some leftovers from dinner, I’m doing much better for my health and wealth than ordering a pizza to the hotel room.

 

On this evening I decided to eat right next door to Fitzgerald’s at The Capri Ristorante. Man, did I make the right call or what??! I got the homemade rigatoni, and it was by far the best pasta I’ve ever had in my life… hands down no question about it. Go there and see for yourself sometime. It came with bread and salad, so I had plenty of leftovers to save for the drive to the hotel. Oh, a little tip, it’s a pretty nice joint, so if you aren’t dressed for success, go in the little side bar and eat there. You’ll be comfortable.

 

 

 

The event at Fitzgerald’s was a tribute to a good friend of my label, Secret Stash Records. I’m talking of course about Mr. Otis Clay, who passed away back in January. Otis was a rare talent and one of sweetest musicians I’ve had the distinct pleasure of knowing. He was a big help in coordinating our release of The One-Derful! Collection, in which he was prominently featured.

The Tribute was organized by Brendan O’Connell from the band, The Right Now. They performed a stunning tribute to Mr. Clay with the help of some very talented guests including JC Brooks, Ava Fain (Bumpus), Danny Fernandez (Kings Go Forth), Gina Bloom (The Congregation), and Bashiri Asad. After that we got up and played our set. I’ll be honest, the turnout for this show was pretty light. When they booked the event, I don’t believe they counted on it overlapping with blues fest, which was taking place 30 minutes away. Every Otis Clay fan within a 200 mile radius was down there. Also, the festival produced a tribute to Mr. Clay the night before the event in Berwyn. But, sometimes, that’s just the way it goes.

 

 

After the show, we went to the hotel (while I killed my left overs) where I crashed on the RV with Sam and Blair. Since acquiring the RV, the plan has been to get two hotel rooms each night. 4-5 guys will stay in the rooms and 3-4 on the bus. The only tricky thing is showers. 8 guys sharing 2 showers in the morning sort of sucks. I realized that after every show, I am a sweaty disgusting mess, so I might as well just shower before bed. It also has the added benefit of making things easier for the group as a whole come morning. I think Tony (trombone) is on a similar plan.

 

On this specific night, Nick (bass) got cleaned up at the hotel and then hopped in a cab for the airport. He had an early morning flight to Portland, ME for another gig. He’s a consummate gigsman. Out on the bus we drank a bit of hard liquor and watched Heartworn Highways until we melted into our beds. It was everything I hoped it would be.

 

The following morning we got up and made the long drive home. Honestly, it was a very hard little tour. Probably the hardest I’ve been on yet. Blowing those tires was a real punch in the stomach. It cost us thousands of dollars plus the gig money we lost out on. Beyond all of that, we committed to doing something and failed to fulfill that commitment. I hate that feeling. We kept getting text message updates from friends that were at the park standing in the rain waiting for us to show up. I don’t know how yet, but we’re going to do what we can to make it up the people of Milwaukee. I have some ideas, but we’ll see what we can make happen.

 

The one thing I was genuinely impressed with on this trip was the quality of character of every single member of this band. Our patience was tested over and over again, and everyone kept their composure. When you’re out there with a group like that, if one person decides to get upset about a situation, it can quickly eat away at the morale of everyone. We talked about it a few times and all agreed on one simple fact, getting mad isn’t going to fix anything. Many thanks to Sonny and the boys for keeping it together. It ain’t easy.