Our real weekend started off sanely enough...or at least what passes for sane in our world at times. We opened for Vertical Horizon, and I am happy to say that they single-handedly thwarted the stigma that so many national bands tend to proliferate. They were extremely cordial, mucho professional, and honestly grateful for the opportunity to come to a town they'd probably never heard of and play their music. Plus they rocked balls. Killer harmony singing was abundant throughout the set. Our set wasn't too shabby either, as we had the core of the philharmonic group in attendance. It's nigh impossible to have a bad show with that many killer musicians on stage.
But it worked for The Band.
Saturday was a much welcomed night off, and it was spent relaxing. Then, we began our bizarro weekend (Sunday/Monday) with an evening at Grady Cross's new place in Yukon. It was a lot bigger than I expected, and it was packed full on fans that were donating money at the door, buying fund raising items for ridiculously (and thankfully) inflated prices that all went to helping out the Okies that got hammered by the recent run of twisters. They raised over $15,000 bucks in one day. Props to EVERYONE involved, as there were many volunteers and unsung heroes that made that thing work, not to mention all the time and merch donated by the performers. Speakin' of them...
We messed up our time table and didn't get there in time for Camille, Aron, and Al's set. Which was extremely disappointing, but not altogether surprising as we're always running a little behind. However, I'm more than certain that it was a phenomenal display of rock and roll excellence. Stoney and Mac were the main event, and they plowed through acoustic renditions of some of everyone's favorite tunes, plus a few of the ones they wanted to play. They were kind enough to let Gabe and I pick 4 or 5 tunes and even sat in on a killer rendition of "Graceful Swan Dive", then new McClure/Marshall/White co-write. Say that 3 times fast.
We also got to meet and hang with Kim Brian, our new resident DQ photographer from Fort Worth. She has a really good eye and interesting ideas to keep us from looking like terribly non-photogenic ass clowns...which is something that comes pretty natural to us. I dig her style, not to mention she's a true fan of music, specifically good music. Looking forward to getting some of the pics back.
After running on relatively no sleep from the Grady's fiasco, things took a turn for the weird as we loaded Kim, guitars, lights, cameras, action, and a variety of van trash and headed down to Boohatch for a demo session that wielded some tracks for a friend and an acoustic demo of a new rockin' tune that's surprisingly cooler than I originally thought it would be. Can't beat it with a stick.
Unless your name is Wacky. And you have a machete. And a chicken. And a loving, patient, understanding wife. Did I say understanding? Yes I did. Much thanks to Scottie for putting up with all of our Damn Quails craziness, including the odd smells emanating from the basement, the ultra-loud lead guitar riffs at 3am, and the constant rabble of musicians that come tromping around the property. The woman is a saint.
Deli rocked. But I'm tired. So you'll have to come next week and see what all the hubbub is about. See you at the show...
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