Man! We passed some SERIOUS tests this weekend. Thursday night we picked up a couple extra shows down in St. Andrews at The Red Herring. This meant some driving Saturday as we were already booked for a matinee at Crabbe Mountains Thirsty Boot Lounge, but hey we're used to van time.
After I got my haircut on Friday I noticed that Ruby was blowing cold air out of her heater. I topped her up with fluid hoping that was the issue. Later when I went to pick up Shawn en route to St. A I noticed the same issue again. I took a peek under her skirt and saw that there was rad fluid all over. Not good. We obviously couldn't take her to St. A. Normally I would be pissed bt I told her long ago that if she got us through the last tour and then to Mississippi and back she wouldn't owe me a thing. So....we went into "find a vehicle mode". After exhausting all rental car spots for a van we resolved to take Karl AND Shawns car. So we made the switcheroo and loaded up and hit the road for St. Andrews.
Remember Friday> It was storming badly. About two thirds of the way there Shawn and I hit a couple bad drifts which sent us spinning backwards into the ditch. We hit pretty solid but there was no damage save a flat tire. I texted the bar to update them and then a truck stopped and if you've ever been to Charlotte County then you know how this story goes...he had chains and pulled us out. We were literally in and out of the ditch within 10 minutes. MAJOR thanks to those folks who stopped to help! We arrived late but still rocked out a couple strong sets. Then Shawn had to wrestle with his spare tire for the trip home in the early AM. Once changed we loaded up the vehicles and went to crash out right around 3.30am. We were back on the road by 8am to get up to Fredtown and find a different vehicle situation before we headed out to Crabbe. I stopped by my pal Randy Wheatons lot, Trius Trucks on Bishop Drive, hoping that he would be open. He wasn't. Just as I was leaving I noticed someone come out of the building. It was Randy. Turns out he lives upstairs. I told him the situation and before I knew it he had hooked me up with a little van AND sent Ruby over to his garage for a closer look by a professional. AWESOME!
We rocked Crabbe and then loaded up and headed right back to St. A for another go. By this time my 'cough' which feels like Bronchitis was in full effect. I used the rest of my voice on Saturday night and now I'm enjoying a painful squeak. Great!
Anyway, through all these tests we ended up getting our mastering session moved up two weeks, thats good news! This means the new album might, just might come out when we want it to!!!!! As if that wasn't good enough, during my last set break at Crabbe I received an email confirming my invitation to perform at the Atlantic House on Granville Island in Vancouver fo r the good ole Olympics! This is a tremendous opportunity and as a result I cancelled all my previously booked gigs so I can go. Normally I would NEVER do such a thing but this is really is a great gig so I reluctantly called each spot to sheepishly cancel. Fortunately when you mention the Olympics EVERYONE seems to get excited and all the gigs I cancelled wished me well. I thank them all for their understanding!
So there you have it. When faced with times of trouble keep your head up and follow your gut and you will be rewarded. We could have threw in the towel on friday but I believe by persevering it helped line up some other great opportunities! Positivity breeds positivity folks!
I can't believe it's only the end of JAnuary and music has already taken me to Mississippi for a new record, Memphis for a weekend of good times with great friends and now in less than two weeks I head to Vancouver for two weeks. Lots to do before I go though....gotta finalize artwork for the new record, do some taxes and tidy up loose ends, then its off to the left coast! I can only imagine what else is in store for us this year. Bring it on 2010!
