Well, looks like Tumblr is the new post area for my BHTM blog, which I thought no one would miss, but clearly I was wrong! I guess if I post to Tumblr, it will be shot over to the band web site, and while I’m not really sure how this will work, I felt it was time to say Hello to the fans again and get you all caught up on how things are going. 

I can’t believe how busy the winter of 2012 has been, and how quickly it has come and gone. We certainly had a busy first three months of the year. After a phenomenal night at the House of Blues in Chicago on New Year’s Eve, we geared up for a tour that began with a sellout in Atlanta. What a great start! We worked our way north, stopping near my home town in Pennsylvania for a day off near the largest mall on the east coast, the King of Prussia Mall. Met up with some friends and made up for some lost time. We had shows all over the northeast, and after a short break at home we worked the midwest, including a super show in Indy the week of the Super Bowl. We pulled up to this gig the day before our show. The hotel was close to the venue (a downtown street stage type set up), so I worked a deal where I could get our bus “in the hole” the day before, and not have to worry about manuevering in the next morning, when the streets would be filled with football fans looking for beer and chicken wings days ahead of the big game. That evening, on our night off, we were invited to see the Indiana Pacers play a home game. Since the bus was parked right outside the arena, it was a short walk from the bus to the game. We had killer seats. 2nd row on the floor. We sat behind several of the Patriot players, who had the first row. Who the hell do they think they are? We had a blast, thanks to the fact that one of the owners of the team is a big fan of the band. Man, those kids on the court sure are big. 

After the midwest weekend, which included Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and St Louis, we flew home on Super Sunday for a few days off, but made it in time to watch the big game. I lost all of my prop bets. 

A few days later, we began a run to the west coast, by flying in to Reno and working our way to the shores of Lake Tahoe. We have made the Crystal Bay Casino a regular stop for us. Nice small room, and we fill it up every time. I don’t know where everyone comes from, but we are thankful they find this place and treat us well. 

The next night, we sold out the Fillmore in San Fran. Always a fun time there. Then we headed south towards LA, but instead of doing the House of Blues, we did 3 smaller clubs outside the city over four days. (Hermosa Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Agoura Hills). Turns out we were right down the road from the foothills where M*A*S*H was filmed. That was my favorite 30 minute sit-com growing up. After those three, we rolled back north, stopping in Reading CA for a day off. First time there. We were walking to dinner and saw a girl sitting on the curb with her bicycle, in tears. She was in no apparent danger, and she was on the phone, so we let her be. when the restaurant  we went to was too crowded, we turned back to find another one, and came across this gal again. This time I had to ask if she was OK. Turns out she had been attacked by some young boys for no other reason than to knock her off her bike. She was still shaken up, but had called her father, who was on his way. I didn’t want her to feel afraid of US, so we moved on after determining she was safe and that her Dad was only minutes away. 

Damn kids…..

Portland was up next. Roger Clyne, who was traveling with us in a support role, had a good following here, and was definitely responsible for selling some tickets. He is a good guy, and we hope to be able to share the stage with he and his band sometime soon. 

Next up was Saturday night in Seattle in a venue we had never been to. It was called the Neptune Theater, and for the life of me, I can’t remember a thing about this place as I type (at 30000 feet on a flight home to DEN). Oh well, I’m sure we had a good time and I’m sure the crowd had fun. Don’t you always?

We finished up the west coast leg in Spokane. Another good crowd, especially for a Sunday night. After this show, the bus needed to head south towards Texas, where we would have our next batch of shows. So, we drove overnight to Bozeman MT, where we caught a flight home for a quick break while the bus rolled south. A few days later, we flew again, this time to Dallas, to begin the best three day stretch of the winter. 

Texas continues to impress us with the fan base coming out to see the band live. It’s really incredible. Also, we signed autographs in Dallas and Houston (and many of the dates on this winter tour), and broke records for our merchandise sales for the winter. Texas can party, and can really support a band when we need it most. I may never choose to live there, but the Big Head Todd band will always rock Dallas, Houston and Austin as long as they are still a band. Thanks to nearly 4000 of you who supported us down there at the beginning of March. 

Next up was the deep south. We flew in to Orlando, and spent the night near the home of our bus driver, saving us the cost of a hotel room. (we really ARE running a business). His home town was not exactly on the way to Tampa, our first Florida show on the trip, but it was close enough to make it worth it. TPA was too expensive to fly in to, so it worked out well. St Petersburg was our target the next morning, and going over that bay bridge in to the city was a pretty cool site. If I had time, I would have liked to go to a Phillies Grapefruit league game, but there is never enough time to do many of the things we would like to do. Traveling is fun, but not being able to see ALL the sites this country has to offer can be a bummer when you have to work most days out on the road. 

The State Theatre is a classic Florida hard rock club, or so it appeared to have been at one time. It was dark, and our shoes stuck to the floor a bit. But we had a good day and a good crowd. We were helped in part by a large contingent of Brian’s Mom’s friends and family. We set them up as best we could with chairs in a roped off section of the club, where they could watch the drummer do his thing. In our world, parents  have top priority. When we are in Philly, MY MOM gets the best seat in the house. We are fortunate to get to see family when we travel. Something I would not be able to do as much if I was trapped in a cubicle with only two weeks of vacation time per year. 

The House of Blues in Orlando was our next stop. This is a great room, with great crew and good logistics, and we only wish we could have sold more tickets to fill this enormous venue. But we had a great crowd on hand, including  John and Sandy and their NASA team out in full force. We treated them to a private sound check party, complete with a pre-show warm up of Blue Sky. 

We woke up the next morning in Ft Lauderdale. We were back at the Culture Room. A strip mall-y shopping center place where the bus took up seemingly half of the parking lot. Here we ran in to some truly hard core old friends from back in the days of Boulder, CO, when the band used to play at McCabes all the time, and everybody I knew either worked there or drank there. Roger, Paul, Trevor, and “Chicken” Rich set off the “way back machine” and we did get a chance to say Hi for a while. This club is interesting. The sound system is decent, but the owner decided to invest primarily in the lighting design. LED walls, fully programmable intelligent lighting and tons of haze fill this room. He is so committed to his club that he can be found there from 3PM until the joint shuts down well after we are loaded out. If only he could have put some of those lights on our drummer……

We made our first trip to the Florida Theater in Jacksonville the next day. Again, weak ticket sales were a bit of a disappointment, but we are looking forward to being invited back because of the quality of the venue. Great staff and crew, great audio and lights, etc. 

Our largest disappointment with regard to ticket sales, however, was not in Florida, but in Mobile, AL. Not sure if we had ever been there, and not sure if we will every be going back. This part of the country just never had the radio support we would have needed years ago to establish the band and get some long term footing with fans. We somehow survived the Soul Kitchen venue, which, while staffed by a good group of people, was truly a scary building. We were shocked that this place had not been condemned, and can’t’ imagine a building inspector would not demand upgrades and improvements. Again, we were OK with the hard working folks who ran the place, and if invited back I’m sure we would play there. But with the lack of radio support we don’t anticipate being back. But if we do go back, I hope they pick up the garbage off the floor that has been there since the turn of the century — the LAST century. 

Northbound, to the Carolinas… a beautiful part of the country. Started this run with a sellout at the Handlebar in Greenville, SC. Nice folks, and they clean the floors after every show. We would love to visit again. We left a box of CD’s there, and they emailed me and then shipped them home for us. People are nice….

The next night we were in Charleston, at the Music Farm. Another old building, but a decent venue all in all. Apparently it used to be the largest train station in the country. If this is not the case, don’t’ harm the messenger. We did a “brush with greatness” on this night. Our merchandise guy reported to me that Bill Murray was in the house. Sure enough, I spotted him in the 3rd row near the end of the night, and after buying a bunch of shirts and music, he was rocking out all the way to the end of the show. Afterwards, we coordinated a quick meet and greet outside in the alley of the club, and we learned that he is truly a fan. This was his first BHTM show, and we hope to see him again. We plan on emailing him the next time we are in the area (he splits time in South Carolina and…. New England somewhere). And of course we’ll be writing the sound track to his next movie, right? We’ll see….

Our second Fillmore of the year was in Charlotte the next night. Great room, good crowd, and even though it rained, we had a good day. We recommend the diner across the street for an awesome (not necessarily healthy) meal. Had a bit of a birthday meet and greet after the show for our friend Bobby, organized buy our biggest Carolina fans, the Harrills. Another close friend of ours (Bobby R.) stopped by the bus early in the afternoon before load in, and we caught up for a good while. He runs another venue on the beach that we love to play at, the Windjammer. We hope to be there again some time in 2012. Why? Because “the boat’s in the water”. 

Now for the crazy routing of the week award. 

After the Charlotte show, we loaded out (in the rain, ahem….) and rolled overnight to ATL (that’s the Atlanta airport, for you non-fliers). We jumped off the bus in the pre-dawn hours, and worked our way to check in for a flight to Denver. Made the flight, touching down before noon. From there, I pulled up the Tundra (perfect ride for these fly dates we do with limited gear), we loaded up our guitars, pedals, in ear monitor cases, and instead of going home, we drove right by home on our way to Crested Butte. Look it up. Beautiful part of the state, near Gunnison, CO (you could boat the Blue Mesa Reservoir for weeks). It was quite a long day, and we actually had multiple vehicles driving. As large as the Tundra is, we could fit the whole team in there. As I and my group got hungry, we started looking for some food near South Park. We stumbled in to a bowling alley with a restaurant attached, and actually had a pretty dang good meal. My chorizo burrito hit the spot. From there we got to within 15 minutes of Gunnison when we hit a speed trap. I was dead to rights, coming over the hill at 77 in a 65. But the Man was sympathetic to our trying 18 hour trip, so let me off with a warning. From there, we puttered up the hill to the resort just ahead of nightfall. there was no snow on the ground, and not much to speak of on the hill. Same story all over the country the way I have heard it. 

No snow at all, until….

The next morning, it was chilly but not too much so for a Colorado band. We set up and line checked our gear, then made room for Guster to set up. They would play first, after a 30 minute set from our friend Zach Heckendorf, and then we would hit late afternoon. 

Well, the snow came. By the time we were doing our changeover, it was falling at a pretty good clip. While the audio consoles were freezing up in the wind and snow, the band members were scaring up ski goggles to wear for the show. I’m not kidding. Rob put on his ski helmet and goggles, and the other three had the goggles alone. The snow fell harder, the wind blew wilder, and the consoles were still broken. The PA worked, so the crowd could hear the band, but the Monitor console was down, so the band could not hear itself play. I hope it was OK out front for the fans. After each song, I went out on to the stage to squeegee off some of the snow that would collect the previous 5 minutes. The keyboards were soaked, and Jeremy had to play with a towel covering the keys. Both pedal boards were covered in snow, as they were downstage where most of the snow collected. The lap steel guitar ceased to work, and I am awaiting an update on its condition. I rebuilt the guitar pedal board, and it all seems to be working. Better snow than rain I suppose. The wind blew the snow sideways, and it engulfed everything we own. But after drying it all out at our office in Golden the next 5 days, it seems to all be OK now. 

We are off the tour bus now for a while, but if you look at our schedule, you will see that we are flying in for some “one-offs as spring thaws the remaining snow at elevations we will see in Vermont and New Hampshire.

After that, a few more single dates as we close in on our yearly Red Rocks date in June. It will sell out this year, thanks to some ticket sales to Barenaked Ladies fans, who will open the show for us. And when summer hits, so will BNL and BHTM, along with Blues Traveler and Cracker for a SIX WEEK tour that we look forward to. Should be a blast, and we hope that our fans will see the value of the show and support us as well as the other bands. More info at our web site. 

Sorry for the long “catch up” blog. I know I owed you. 

Jeff Wareing

Tour Manager

Big Head Todd and the Monsters

As you may have seen, we have done a bit of a revamp of our web site. As a result, I have just figured out how to post my periodic updates from the road for your eternal enjoyment. Sorry I have not done this sooner. I’m not too techie, but still no excuse for the laziness.

Hope the BHTM nation is in high spirits at this time of year. Our band and crew is feeling pretty good. We had a memorable 2011, and have some time off for the holiday season, which does include my January 7 birthday (jawbreakers still make a great gift), and most importantly, my inbox is being crammed daily with new tour dates for 2012. Most of you are checking updates at the new web site, and the rest of you can find the new dates with ease. 

We knocked out a few shows in November. Our last show with the John Hiatt guys was in Indy on NOV 18, and then we somehow managed to fly our asses down to Phoenix to do a Big Head Blues Club “alter ego” gig with Tedeski and Trucks Band. The other night we played a taping of eTown at the Boulder Theater in our home town, and we have ONE MORE 2011 SHOW to rock out: NEW YEARS EVE AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN CHICAGO. I wonder if it will be windy or cold there?

One more item before I get back to work, preparing for 2012: This year, we toured as the Big Head Blues Club to celebrate the works of Robert Johnson. And as of yesterday, we had lost two of the legends that joined us on our tour bus for the trip. David “Honeyboy” Edwards, the last living link to Robert Johnson, left us a few months ago. And Hubert Sumlin, our dear friend and Howlin Wolf’s guitar player for 24 years, lost his battle with a multitude of illnesses just yesterday. We are sad to hear of his passing, but happier for having known him. Peace be with Honeyboy, Hubert, and you and yours.

Happy Holidays

Jeff, Tour Manager

So, we winged it again last week, both literally and figuratively (too clever for my own good). We flew early last FRI morning to the east coast, landing at BOS (horrible airport) early in the afternoon, so we could roll south on 95 in a major downpour to Providence, RI. We loaded in to Lupo’s, where it was kinda dark and clammy. Ended up having a strong crowd who seemed very appreciative. Spent the night down the street at an amazing hotel, the Providence Biltmore. Couldn’t stay more than one night though, as we had to ramble down the highway again to Bridgeport, CT (my Dad grew up in West Hartford, CT). We actually were playing second on this night, after John Hiatt, so we set up, sound checked, then the jumped in the van and drove down to Central Park, NYC to do a quick opening set ahead of Grace Potter. Not often that we do TWO shows in one day, but with some good logistical planning, we were able to pull it off. Then, back to the Klein Auditorium in Bridgeport just in time to do the headlining spot. And if that was not a long enough day, we rolled even further south after the show to the LaGuardia airport area, got a hotel for the night, and flew out the next morning to get home by noon the next day! Crazy weekend.

All of a sudden, I’m busy! What happened? 4 weeks ago I was picking lettuce, tomatoes and carrots out of my brand new vegetable garden, perimetered by the first 4 sunflowers I’ve ever planted. Next thing you know, my phone is ringing and buzzing, I’m in the middle of Tennessee, and I’m tired because I’m not getting enough shut-eye.

Heck, two weeks ago I was sitting on a beach with some of my best West Chester friends, looking around at each other stunned as the ground shook beneath us, knowing nothing of the earthquake that had occurred a few hours down the shore line in Virginia. Was it just that overweight man running after a Kadima Ball? NO! And later, word spread on the beach, thanks to cellular tech. 
But now, we are in the midst of an Autumn run, which has included a festival in Montana (where we froze our butts off in sub-freezing temps), a private event in Texas (where we sweated our butts off in 90+ degree heat), 5 Frontier flights, a tour bus airport pickup, an overpriced meal at Legal Seafood, a man who wandered on to the wrong tour bus… ours (John Hiatt) and various venues that we have never (and many never again) been to.

Flying can take it out of you, especially those early, predawn lobby calls. We DO love Frontier though. A whole different animal…… I’ve never been proficient at sleeping on planes. I have that mindset that something may go wrong if I am not awake. Perhaps the pilot will need me to take over for some reason….

Flying in to Reagan International is kinda cool. I happened to be on the Right side of the plane, so took in an impressive view of the Pentagon. I understand it is the largest building in the world. I have not yet Googled it though.

At the Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA, we had one of our better autograph signings, with some great fans who withstood some very threatening weather to say Hi. And the new tee shirts flew off the shelves.

We’re rolling with John Hiatt and the Combo band this week. Crew guys are pretty nice. Friendly, accommodating. They remind me of us. hah. Our tour busses look very similar. Both have the same style detailing, and both are pulling white trailers in tow. JH walked on to our bus the first day, started to ask us what we were doing on his bus, then stopped and decided to introduce himself, shake hands, then retreat, perhaps with a stitch of humility. Seems like a nice chap, though.

Tonight we are in Nashville. There IS a certain vibe in this town regarding the history of music, and it seems to ooze from the walls and pews of the Ryman Theatre, sight of this evenings show. We understand that this venue has its place in history. Hank Williams and Johnny and June Carter Cash have been memorialized on the walls with some very intriguing photos of their visits to the Ryman. Kinda cool.

We are having a pretty happening summer so far. 

After flying in to Minneapolis (MSP) on Aug 4, we somehow found the Zoo in Apple Valley. The tough part was working our way around to the employee gate and meandering down the narrow one way road to the backstage area of the amphitheater. Big lake right behind the stage, which I thought would be cool, but it was pretty stagnate and “buggy”. By the time we started to play around dark, the mosquitoes were threatening. We kept them at bay and rocked a sell out crowd though, and that made it a great night. 

Thanks to the young man who was kind enough (via his Mom) to bring us a bag of Starburst Fruit Chews. Tangy…..

The next morning we rolled south to Mankato, MN for our first Rib Fest of the summer. After we got settled in and got our sound check done, they venue brought us a bunch of ribs, corn, slaw, beans, and rolls for us to dine on. Good times. And a good crowd as well. We guessed the crowd to be about 4000 folks, and we thank you. I think it was our first time to Mankato. I guess after 20 years, we still have not been quite everywhere. There sure are a lot of cities and towns in this country, and you never do quite grasp the enormity of the USA until you get a chance to visit it by way of driving. 

Speaking of driving, we did a ton last weekend. We flew in to Milwaukee, but we weren’t to the gig yet. We had to get some vehicles and roll north and west to Oshkosh, WI, another town I am certain we had not visited. Was a bit put off (OK, a LOT put off) by the dam road construction in Wisconsin. Very frustrating when you are trying to read road signs, follow your GPS, AND negotiate the construction that the GPS girl (we call her Pat) is not hip too. I know, there are GPS units that can deal with construction….. Well, not Pat. And I just downloaded all new maps last week, too. Once we managed to get to Oshkosh, we found our way to the Waterfest grounds. Nice place. And another good crowd. I sold some merchandise early on, before handing off the chore to Mary, who did a great job and had the classic midwest accent, right out of Fargo….. 

Due to some ambitious routing, we needed to get to Duluth MN the next day for a show, so after the Oshkosh show, we had to get headed north and put some miles behind us so the drive the next day would not be too long. We somehow got through some more PIA construction and made our way to Wausau WI, where I had booked us some rooms for the night. The next morning, we were back on the road in our two SUV’s, headed north to Duluth. Fortunately, due to the nature of the Blues Festival in Duluth, we did not have to be there until 5PM, so we rolled at noon for nearly 5 hours and found our way, got settled in and prepared to “get the Blues”. Sadly, the local doppler radar seemed to be caught up with it’s own case of the Blues, and the weather was threatening the whole evening. By the time we took the stage (with a special appearance from Joe Louis Walker) the rain was falling. We saw some people head for the exits, so we truly appreciate those who stuck by us and rode our the storm along with us (it was raining on us and all of our gear on the stage due to the wind). We thank you. 

Next weekend, we are doing another crazy fly/drive trip that will take us to Arnolds Park at Lake Okoboji in Iowa on SAT, and then over to the Peace, Love, Music and Art Festival in Freeport IL on SUN. Hope you guys can make it if you are within driving distance. 
Until then, have a great week and we look forward to seeing you all before the end of 2011.

Jeff Wareing
Tour Manager

Last weekend, we had a show in Squaw Valley. It was a mini whirlwind trip, as we only had the one show to fly to. I loaded up our flight gear, drove to Boulder to pick up Rob K and Matt (audio guys) and headed to DIA to meet up with band guys. We had to fly in to Reno, where we were met by a nice guy name Tae, holding a sign with my name on it. That always makes me feel special for about 2 seconds. Tae would be the one transporting us up the hill one hour to what he called the Tahoe Basin. It’s really beautiful up there. On the way, I got a call from the CEO of Squaw Valley. He was welcoming us to his world, and offering us anything we needed during our stay. I got the guys all checked in to their condos, and then headed to the stage with our flight gear. The location of the stage was quite breathtaking. facing the mountain, under a gondola, adjacent to the pond where the pond skimming contest would later take place. Sure enough, dozens of contestants took part in the contest, and most struggled to get across the pond, but it was fun to watch a few of the runs while we set up for our show. After dinner, and as dusk fell, we worked our way to the stage to find several thousand people awaiting our set, which would be followed by a fireworks display. 
For me, the memorable part of my day would happen after the show, after the fireworks, and after the load out. 
I was able to find an employee with access to a big golf cart with space on the back for transporting our ten flight cases. Jeremy and I loaded up and were being delivered to the front lobby of our condo when we heard a gal yelling and running at us. I told the driver to slow down so we could sense this person’s issue or motive, and when we came to a complete stop, she was upon us quickly, and winded. She went on in some detail about her as yet unsuccessful effort to find her dog, missing from her vehicle somewhere in the massive parking lots that surround the Squaw Valley resort. I offered to help her look, explaining that after I put our gear away, I would extract my large Mag Lite from one of the cases and help her search for Stoli, the large black lab. The girls name was Laura. A bit nebulous at first, she explained that she was actually dog sitting for a friend, so she was quite despondent about the prospect of not tracking Stoli down before leaving. The parking lots were huge (think ski resort), but we worked in concentric circles for a while, before moving the next lots in search. Sadly, I was no help to Laura, and had to abandon my assistance after about 90 minutes, as I had a 4AM lobby call to be transported to the Reno airport for an early flight. I told the gal who I was, after she asked why I had all the gear in the cart, and I asked her to email the band web site when the dog was found, so that I could publish the good news here of Stoli’s return. As of this post, however, I have not received word about Stoli’s recovery. If anyone hears, please let me know.
See you this summer. 
Jeff

What a whirlwind it’s been lately. We just finished up a 4 show run which included two shows in Iowa, our Red Rocks show, and a date in Salt Lake City. 
We did an overnight drive from Colorado to Des Moines for what was supposed to be a great show under the stars on the bank of the Des Moines River. No good. Torrents of rain pelted Iowa the night before the show and continued most of the day of our show, so we had the show moved indoors to the Val Air Ballroom. And had a good turnout, too, but not as good as we might have had if we had people on the hillside with blankets on the grass at the Simon Estes Amph. This was our first show with Toots and the Maytalls. Nice folks, quiet, great musicians that go about their business in a pro manner. Also, we rolled in to town with a special guest on board. Hazel joined us for this show so the band could sneak in a bit of rehearsal time ahead of the Big show that would come 48 hours later. 
We drove overnight in hopes of escaping the rain. We arrived in Council Bluffs at 4:30AM. I got off the bus to get our room keys, but before going inside, I wandered up and over the hill behind the bus to see the water that had come up under the hotel’s parking lot far enough to reveal such a surreal scene under the building. Several ducks were bathing and dunking their heads where people usually pay for their parking. 
Got the keys (there were a few folks still up gambling for sure), set up the front lounge of the bus with hotel instructions, and went back to bed in my bunk. Woke up to clouds, but it was not raining. We were fortunate on this day to avoid the rain. It was cloudy all day, but it never came down. Great venue outside of the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino. And they take good care of us. Good crowd, too. We like that place a lot. And you can gamble after the show…. but alas, no time…. We had to race westward to COLORADO.
We rolled in to the Trading Post parking lot to land our bus for the day. It was a beautiful Colorado morning. After a shower up the hill in the dressing room, I worked my way back down to the bus to meet up with a couple of auction winners for this year. We worked with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to raise money for their cause by auctioning off some smoking hot packages, including “Crew Member for a day”. We loaded in and just soaked up the grandeur of the venue. I know I have said this before… if you have not been there, put it on your list. Saw tons of friends that I have made over the course of my twenty plus years in Colorado, and was glad that my work didn’t interfere with the promise of catching up with some good people. The band was on, and the crew was on, and the crowd was on, and Hazel was on…. We just nailed this show. A great memory. 
For the first time ever, we had to roll out of town after this show, as we had more dates to get to on the west coast. We stopped in Salt Lake City at a venue called the Red Butte Amphitheater, and had a great crowd come out to see us and the Maytalls on a Sunday night. I learned that you can not trust stagehands to be gifted in the basic physics of gravity, by virtue of several runaway rolling gear cases that I was able to slow to a halt before they struck any number of impenetrable objects. We woke up Monday morning in Reno. After checking in to our hotel rooms and getting some “day off” work done, a handful of us jumped in a cab and headed for the Nugget to feast on one of our favorite meals in the entire country, the Pan Roast at John’s Oyster Bar. Man, this is an amazing meal. Unexplainable, and dang good. Along with a couple Coronas and an Bloody Mary Oyster Shooter, it was the perfect meal for a day off. After returning downtown, some of us walked to the Reno Aces Baseball Stadium to catch some of the game. We stayed for 5 innings, and got our money’s worth, witnessing 20 hits, 5 home runs, and a combined 19 runs before we decided the home team had things well in hand, 13-6. 
After a 45 minute bout with the roulette wheel, I called it a night. Next day was a show day. 
More on that next time….
Jeff

So there we were, loading up the gear and the bus to roll east. Twas the first of June, and we had to get going towards Kansas, and when we woke up the next morning, we were in a town we had never been to before. Wichita. We had been within a few miles before…. Lawrence, KC, OKC, Tulsa…. but never to Wichita. Parked outside the Cotillion Ballroom, a cool round building , huge. And it was hot out. We ended up doing pretty well for the first tour date of summer, and had one of the longest autograph signing lines we have ever seen. Wanna know what you fans say the most often to the band guys as you are getting stuff signed? Here it is: “I saw you guys back in XXX at the XXX. That was the first time I saw you and it was a great show. Do you remember?”. If I had a nickel……. And that’s all cool to take us down your memory lane, but it often leaves the band at a loss as to how to respond… ” Well, I guess we were there!” Or hopefully someone on our side of the table remembers. It’s just that there are so many shows.
After the Wichita experience, we rolled overnight north to South Dakota, pulling in to a nice town called Yankton. We parked in the shadow of the water tower and loaded on to a beautiful large stage situated in the middle of a huge park, adjacent to the local middle school. The school acted as our dressing room area for the day, and Todd and I shot some hoops for a while in the gym. It was a beautiful day and the evening was perfect for a show, with the exception of the little gnats that seemed to annoy all of us. We put on some OFF, but it did not help much. Then after dark, the large exoskeletal flying bugs started dive bombing the stage, flipping over on their backs, helplessly flailing there legs in hopes of righting themselves. Stupid bugs…..
Great attendance at this city sponsored event. Hope to be invited back. 
We drove back down south bound and woke up in Kansas City, where we had another hot load in at the Crossroads venue, the place where we had played just last year with the BoDeans. It’s a pretty cool outdoor venue. We struggled a bit with some house audio issues, but it got worked out just in time to get the first of three bands on stage. Stone Foxes, then Langhorn Slim, then us. Not a bad night actually. 
After stopping home for a couple days, we are on the road again tonight to Des Moines, in hopes that the Simon Estes Amphitheater is still on the banks of the Des Moines River, and not PART OF the Des Moines River. 
See you on the road. 
Jeff

Typically, when we fly out of town for one or more shows, we roll out on FRI mornings and return on SUN morning. Rock out a FRI and SAT night show, then head home. This week, we had 3 shows, the first on a WED in NYC. We had a super early flight to combat the loss of two hours of time zone time. Flight was late, but I had arranged for ground transportation to take us in to the city. It’s a real drag trying to navigate north east Jersey roads and traffic in and out of Newark Airport. We worked our way to BB King’s, on 42nd near 8th and had to get to work quickly. This was a private show, where the primary reason for the event was to have a bunch of Hall of Fame football players talk about the NFL draft. We were the post party entertainment. So we did not get a lot of time for sound check, and had to make room for the NFL folks to get their act together. Not a standard show for us at all, but we got through. 

After we loaded up for the drive back to the Newark hotel, we sat in traffic for at least 30 minutes trying to get off the island of Manhattan. And this was at 1AM for crying out loud. I don’t know how people can stand living amongst soooo many people. Great city, but not sure I would live there. At least, not with a car! But that travel inconvenience was nothing compared to what we would endure the next day. 

That day was THU, APR 28. 

We loaded up a hotel shuttle vehicle at 8AM. Before we climbed in the van, I had received the first voice message from United Airlines. A 70 minute delay. Doh. By the time we got to the Newark airport, the flight was delayed another several hours, so the gal sent us down to the Continental counter after booking us on a different flight. At that counter, the gal told us the first lady did the wrong thing and messed up the reservation, and sent us back to United. By then, we had no seats on any planes that would connect us from EWR down to CAE (Columbia, SC), our original destination. They booked us on a USAIR flight, we checked our gear, and headed out to our gate. We then spent the next 5 hours watching all the flights cancel out of EWR due to severe weather up and down the Mid Atlantic states. Fortunately for us, this was a day off, a travel day, and we did not have a show that night. If we had a scheduled show, we would have missed it. By the time it all shook out, we had seven of us on 3 different flights in to both Columbia, SC and Charleston, SC. The first of us arrived via shuttle van to Isle of Palms at around 10:30PM. The next three of us arrived in Columbia to pick up our mini vans that we would need for the weekend. The gear, however, was not at the airport waiting for us. It never got on a plane. The last person arrived at 3AM due to a flight that was delayed at least 6 times. 

The next morning we tracked down the gear, and it was sent via courier to the venue we played on FRI night. It arrived at 2:30PM, just ahead of our 3PM load in. Cut it pretty close, but we rocked out FRI night in Isle of Palms at the Windjammer. 

We actually finished up and got out of the bar around 2AM. Not too bad for the Windjammer. We got a decent night’s sleep. I recall about 7 hours. We had to load up the rental vehicles and roll west towards Columbia, SC for a 2PM load in. We allowed an extra hour so that we could stop for a mea. We set our sights on a Cracker Barrel just west of the Charleston airport, stopped for about an hour, and then continued west. I blew off buying a jar of jawbreakers. Willpower. 

The benefit we played in Columbia was actually a good success for us, as it was well attended. We hope the folks in charge considered it a success as well. By the time we got to the hotel after this show, we were looking at about 6 hours of shuteye before we had to head for the Columbia airport. After going through security, they called me back to the United check in area. They had forgotten to charge me for our one overweight flight case. I thought maybe the woman was just being nice, but she made me go all the way back just to charge me $100. Ridiculous. Then I had to go back through security again. So much for breakfast. 

We have had our share of flight delays, but this was a new one…… After working our way from CAE to ORD (Chicago), and after grabbing some chinese food, we loaded up the next plane, left the gate, wandered around the tarmac, then got called back to the gate to get some sort of maintenance done that required that the plane wheels be “chocked”. Point is, we should have never left the gate in the first place so that the maintenance could have been done much sooner. Silly. We are not sure what was going on, which is why it’s hard to describe. Nevertheless, the delay almost caused me to miss the Phillies on ESPN on Sunday night. Flying can be tough, as we all know. We are just fortunate that we haven’t missed any shows because of missed or delayed flights. 

Heading to Santa Ana in a few weeks to do a Blues Festival at Doheny Beach. Fingers crossed for some smooooooth flying.

Jeff

FRIDAY, APR 15 TRIP TO ST CLOUD MN

This past weekend, we decided to journey back to a place we had not been in many years, somewhere around twenty. We were booked to do a couple of shows in St. Cloud, MN, a town about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis, so we flew out of Denver FRI morning, rented a big ole van from Budget, and fired up the GPS. After hitting some FRI construction on the highway outside of Minneapolis, we got up to speed on highway 94, stopped for a quick fast food snack on the way ( I skipped this meal opportunity), and at about 4:05PM, we arrived at the venue. My job is to plan a schedule for trips like this, so arriving 5 minutes late was not bad at all in my opinion. 

After loading in and setting up our gear and our merchandise world, we sound checked. We have been off for a while, so sound check took a bit longer than I had hoped. The band will sometimes fall in to a “rehearsal mode” when we have been off the road, so I had to shut them down at about 6:45PM. Doors would be opening in 15 minutes, and we would have to be on stage for our first of two sets just 30 minutes after that. Further, we had not eaten dinner. I called the restaurant across the street, put in an order, along with a plea for quick preparation of our meals, hosted a Meet and Greet with the band and some sponsors, and by the time we swallowed our dinner whole, it was 7:25PM. I convinced the venue to hold the show 15 minutes, to allow for the room to fill up, and to give us time to digest a bit. Both nights ended up being sold out, which certainly made the trip worthwhile. 

The FRI night crowd was very receptive and appreciative. The SAT night crowd was out of their minds with excitement! After the first night, I took the band out to the merchandise area in the lobby and they signed autographs for about a half hour. We TRY to do this as often as it is feasible. It had been an early show, and we didn’t have to load out, so it made sense to say hi to some fans. Merch sales were nuts on both nights. The second night was our getaway show, so the band laid low after the show, we loaded out and headed to the hotel to try to get some sleep ahead of a 90 minute drive and a flight home. 

Shout out to Wendy and Mari, our nautical connection when in the great state of Minnesota. Sorry we did not have more time to chat. Thanks to everyone for coming to those shows and packing them out for us. 

I’m off to Philadelphia to jam in a visit with my Mom and some friends, then we will be headed to South Carolina for a couple shows on the last weekend of APR. Hoping to go for a boat ride while in Isle of Palms. Speaking of which, if anyone you know has a 24 foot Sea Ray Sundancer for sale, I’m in the market. Also, can anyone help me come up with a cool boat name? (I’m not superstitious about re-naming a vessel!)

“How do you like your eggs”.
“In an Easter egg basket”.
Ba Dum Dum.

Happy Easter

Jeff
Jeff Wareing
Tour Manager
Big Head Todd and the Monsters