day 7: memphis part 1

As of right now, this very moment, the first week of tour is officially over. Which means, well, a mere 8 1/2 weeks left. Tonight was the best night so far - with a show that will be quite hard to top!

We left the drizzling city of Springfield this morning around 10 and spent the next 6 hours in the car. I grabbed the very back seat of the Yukon and spent most of those 6 hours dozing off and on - in between a little Flight of the Conchords, Jonatha Brooke, making a few phone calls, and catching up on journaling.

I think we were all feeling pretty worn down today, but oh how we perked right up when we pulled up to the house we're staying at the next few days: gorgeous and uncluttered and huge (ie: no air mattresses tonight, baby!) I enjoyed a nice run around the neighborhood in the cool air before catching up on some NCAA basketball. Sadly (for me), I am pretty much the only sports fan of the 5 of us, and have to make sure to take advantage of any game-watching that presents itself.

Tonight we played at a place called Newby's. Apparently they have a pretty sweet theater that seats 500. Apparently they also forgot we were coming - and could not find any local openers. So, they stuck us on the bar stage instead. Although there may have only been about 17 people there (all huddled around the bar), our friends Jon, Lesleigh, and Rick sat right in front of the stage.

And it was the most fun show we have played in a long time - all 3 of them were cheering and yelling and bobbing their heads and air-drumming and singing the background vocals - which made us totally into it. And from our first note, everyone at the bar turned and listened - and even came down to sit closer! It was our first show where 100% of the audience bough merch. Turns out that one of the guys there was Joe Simpson's right hand man for a few years (Ashley Simpson's tour manager, etc) before getting out of the business. He said he would for sure be telling all his contacts in LA about us... and my dream of meeting Ashley and Jessica is now on its way to becoming reality!

Um, kidding. Except that then I'd have a better chance at meeting Tony Romo. :)