photo by Fawna Hammond/Black Sheep Digital Photography
1014 miles, 1 blown trailer tire, 1 Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer handshake, and I don't know how many beers later, we're back in Nashville. We're most definitely a few dollars poorer for our efforts, but damn, that was one hella good short run.
I guess I'm leaving out a few shows, since our last update was all the way back in early May, so let me back up a smidge.
Louisville, KY, we like you better sans the ice storm…and we'll never complain about two pretty ladies buying us pizza.
Marion, IL, you're still #1….even if we had to stop at your Casey's to address the aforementioned blowout this past weekend. If we hadn't been in such a hurry, I certainly would've voted for a stop at John Brown's On The Square after the bent axle diagnosis and the joys of roadside maintenance were behind us. Alas, an early load-in the following day and the 300 miles left to go that night prevented us from enjoying frosty libations. That said, we'll see you for Hubfest in September.
If you've been keeping up with these entries, then you've probably heard me mention my buddy Joshua Ketchmark & I working with an artist named Tommy Edwards, AKA Thomas. We're in the final stages of wrapping a few songs we wrote and produced for him, and it looks like they'll be getting a proper release in early 2016, via an indie label out of Kentucky. The Great Affairs supported the live debut of his new band last month, and it was a real trip hearing those songs recreated live, after having worked so long on the material. His guys did a bang-up job.
We returned to Madisonville, KY's Crowded House in May, and finally got around to busting out "Dirty On The Stereo" from the side project record that Kenny & I did as The Die Youngs. As it turns out, we might actually be capable of pulling off one or two of those tunes, just minus all the bells & whistles we layered on in the studio. Since we have roughly a month & a half off before our next scheduled gig, it looks like we'll apply some of that down time to figuring out how.
Oh yeah….we have a new video. This one is for another track from the "Dream In Stereo" record called "I Can't Sleep Alone", and is once again directed by Mike J. Nichols, with a little help from Stanley Kubrick and some oddly familiar source footage. You can check it out <HERE>
That brings us up to this past weekend, and a 2-night stand in Pekin, IL, night 1 supporting ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler's new band Adler. As advertised, the guy was total sweetheart, and his band were absolute pros.
Night 2 had us on ahead of Mr. Big frontman(and amateur comedian) Eric Martin. Though he busted my chops relentlessly for failing to participate in a singalong( I was writing a setlist, man….come on, somebody has to handle this stuff.), he did get the rest of the TGA guys up to join him on a cover of Humble Pie's "30 Days In The Hole", trading verses with Kenny, and proving to still have one of the toughest white soul voices in the business. Class act all the way. Good times.
The next morning we limped our weathered trailer back to Nashville….I guess I should explain what happened to the old girl exactly…so here goes: Somewhere a mile or so south Marion, IL on Thursday night, around 11PM, we hit something in the road that caused our driver's side trailer tire to disintegrate, taking with it the fender and one of our running lights(that I had only recently replaced, no less). Since the blowout was on the side facing traffic, and the shoulder presented a pretty sheer drop-off, we opted to make a break for the next exit before attempting to fish the spare out and resuming our travels. Once up on the jack, we noticed the rim was pretty well thrashed and our axle was mildly bowed….neither of which translate to money saved. But, we had gigs to make, so Kenny changed the tire out and we carried on, replacing the tire and rim the next day at a Farm Supply outlet. It could've been worse. I don't even wanna think about what that axle is gonna cost.
Alright then, back in Nashville….time off….a couple of us are gonna do some traveling, work on a recording project or two, and I guess I'll be dragging this busted-up gear hauler in for parts and repairs…and then we'll get back to playing some more shows and thinking about what comes next.
While we ponder, I'm gonna tape an episode of The Decibel Geek Podcast this weekend, discussing all things KISS, and my adventures working in their warehouse a few years back, etc. I'm not sure when this thing will surface, but I think it's scheduled for sometime in July, assuming Chris & Aaron have enough time to edit out every instance of me putting a foot in my mouth. Watch for that, and check the guys out <HERE> They have a mess of great stuff in their archives.
Shows on the books at the moment:
Saturday, August 1st - Marathon Music Works (I'm playing guitar for The Beauty School Dropouts, supporting Framing Hanley at their farewell show.)
Friday, August 14th - TN Brew Works (Nashville, TN) 5PM
TGA acoustic show FREE
Saturday, August 22nd - MVP Sports Bar (Cincinnati, OH) 9PM
Friday, September 11th - Clarksville River Fest (Clarksville, TN) 7PM
Saturday, September 26th Hub Fest (Marion, IL) time TBA
….August & September have a few more pending dates, so keep checking the calendar, and we might land a little closer to you soon.
OK, gotta run. Cheers and such….
D.