Saturday, March 15th – last of a 9 day tour

45 minutes after the end of Day 8, I woke to begin Day 9. The Road Home. Not a very long road. Only a couple of hours back to Richmond. But if we lived 200 years ago it would probably be at least a day’s journey.

So it was 8am and others were beginning to stir. Jameson woke up on the bench seat behind me. Michael came out from wherever he had been invited to crash (probably even more tired after all that Duke-smoochin). Lindsey awoke from her couch annoyed because evidently Matt and I kept her awake with our all-night rap sesh.

MikeSoundGood tried one last time to contact a coworker to get his shift covered for Sunday. No luck. He was going back to Florida. This sucks. We were all sad to see him go. But glad that Lindsey was still coming to Richmond with us. At I-95 our van went north while Mike’s car turned south.

Nearing Richmond I felt an energy. An excitement. I’m not going to paint a romantically stylized vision of Richmond having some kind of special powers that draw the weary traveler back to her cobblestone shores. Any city for which one feels love can be a welcome sight upon return. And, to be honest, I had such a great time on this trip that I was more than ready to keep going. I would have loved to play another week and then come home. But I know the Pedals dudes were ready to be home. And the excitement that I felt was all for the sake of Lindsey. Since she and I met, I have been talking constantly about how much better Richmond is than Orlando. She never believes me; repping Florida harder than anyone else I’ve met. So now, even though we’ve only got one day, I’m going to get to show her what she’s been missing. I’m excited about this.

Over the past week I had been trying to gauge how much my vision had improved; trying to figure out if I would feel safe driving again. At this point I feel confident that I can. So after Lindsey and I each got showers and clean clothes at my parent’s house, I borrowed a car and took Lindsey on an abridged automobile tour of Richmond. From Southside we head up Powhite and get off in Carytown, wind through the Fan, down Meadow into Cracktown, past Maymont, through Byrd Park, across the Nickel Bridge, down Forest Hill, back up Belvidere, downtown past Belle Isle, Shokoe Slip, Shokoe Bottom, the Business District, Broad Street, VCU, Orgen Hill and ending up at Mojos for food. Obviously, I didnt get to show her everything that I wanted, but I think she got a decent introduction. She seemed to enjoy it.

Matt, Jameson, and Michael met us at Mojos, and after I finished my hot wings (for which I had been jonesin’), they took Lindsey for more fun in the city, while I went to Chris Carroll’s house so that the two of us could practice some songs for the show that night. Almost more exciting for me than showing Lindsey around, was the fact that Chris would be playing cello with me. I met Chris when I started playing bass for his band, Homemade Knives a year ago. He and I have a lot of mutual friends, but we’d never officially met each other. But in the past year he has been a great friend, and an invaluable musical accomplice. He has played every Richmond show with me since July and everyone who has seen us play together has raved about the incredible other layer that the cello adds to my songs. I agree. So since I’ve yet to come across a downside to Chris Carroll, I’m going to keep talking to him, playing with him, and caring about him.

At his house, we ran through a few songs and hung out for a minute, then went to Rumors, the clothing boutique that would be hosting tonight’s show. After dropping off equipment, we went next door to Harrison Street Coffee Shop for some beer. Talked to some folks there. Eventually headed back to Rumors to see Shannon Cleary play.

Shannon is a guy who I’ve known for a couple of years. He has an energy for playing and hosting shows that is refreshing. It was Shannon who put together most of the shows I played in 2006. I talked to him a bit before he played tonight and he told me that he was going to play his guitar differently. Kind of a more strumming thing. More use of the pick. It definitely made the songs sound fuller. Shannon’s solo acoustic songs remind me a little bit of Chris Terry’s solo acoustic songs. Just a little.

After Shannon was Horn & Tusk, which was a solo acoustic dude named Harris. New to me. It was great. Good voice. Solid songs. Kind of folk-punky, but not in that “chunka-chunka-chunka ‘we’re gonna fight for whats right!’” generic punk way.

After Harris, since one-half of MakeSoundGood was missing, Matt Seymour joined Lindsey on stage for one song by “MattSoundGood”. A little tune that the two of them had written earlier that day called “Thats my Otley,” a tribute to the drunken fun of our friend Michael. Lindsey then performed several of her solo ukulele songs. I heard lots of people complimenting her afterwards, which is great.

Chris and I played next. I had a good time. I feel like we played well. There were several people there who had not heard me play with Chris and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Lindsey and Matt, especially, had been hearing me play these songs for the past week, so I was glad for them to hear the two of us together.

Pedals On Our Pirate Ships played last. It was fun. It was a good time. I knew it would be. They’re a great band. I have had an incredible week with them.

After the show, Lindsey went with Pedals. They volunteered to take her to the Greyhound station at 2 am to catch a bus back to Orlando. Lame that she had to leave so soon, and doubly lame that she had a to ride a bus for 18 hours to get home, but we were all glad that she got to come at all. I went to Empire for my friend, Jet’s, birthday dance party. I was tired, so i didn’t stay long or drink anything. I went home and finished up this incredible week.

I have had such a great time over the past 9 days. I cannot thank POOPS and MakeSoundGood enough, along with all the people we’ve met, the floors that have been shared, the houses and places we’ve played, and the bands with whom we have played. It has been great. As I said before, I would love to just keep going for another few weeks. But maybe later on this year.

Thanks again, to everyone.

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I have several more pictures from this show, but all the links are coming up broken. So, if anyone is wondering, there’s your explanation.