Tour Diaries Part 1
As a musician, I’ve gone on many tours, but the touring that stands out the most, is my 6 1/2 years with The Red Elvises. Man oh man, what a ride that was. I got to see/experience so much of the world! I traveled to places I didn’t even know existed! I feasted and drank like a queen, but one of the biggest joys I took from that whole experience, was all the wonderful friends I made along the way. I know it sounds kinda cheesy, but I would have never imagined how many cool people I’d meet on and off stage! It was like being a part of a huge hippie family. People all over the country welcomed us with open arms. They brought us gifts, they fed us, they invited us into their homes, and they made us feel genuinely loved.
Recently I told a friend that I do at times miss touring and she asked, “Why? You miss all the attention?” (hahah) and I answered, “Nooo, I miss hanging our with all our friends!” I mean, I still am in contact with a lot of them on Facebook, but it’s not the same. It’s not the same as going out for a sunset kayak with Krusty in the Florida keys, or waking up to a beautiful home cooked breakfast with Bill and Irene in Palmyra, or enjoying an ice cold beer in the hot tub with Chris and Hitomi in Seattle, or eating peel and eat shrimp in a suite overlooking Daytona Beach till you hands turn red and you can’t stomach anymore with Jeff, Liz, Meredith, Allen, Lester, Rose, Shep and our beloved chef Chris! You can’t even make this stuff up! We had the best of times, and I’m only beginning to scratch the surface with the friends I’ve mentioned. We had experiences like this in many if not all of the states we played, and that’s A LOT of states.
Sometimes it saddens me to think that I don’t know if I’ll ever see some of these people again. Besides taking more tours in the future, I don’t really know when I would find myself in quaint little cities like Oswego, New York, or Butte, Montana, or Bethlehem, Pennsylvania again, and every city, from the smallest to the biggest, had something, or someone special in them.
For example, we once got taken out by several locals in Terlingua, Texas and got to shoot fireworks down into an 800 foot deep abandoned mineshaft! Crazy right?! The mine had a metal grate on top of the opening (to keep people from falling in of course) and we all laid on the grate, which in itself was already exhilarating, and we shot fireworks into the mine! The locals called it, “inverted firework.” The shaft was so deep that we got to see the fireworks blow up before they even hit the bottom. It was magical. Things that I never would have experienced if it wasn’t for some cool ass locals.
Man.. so many good times. There’s so much more to touring than the time you spend on stage, and I’m thankful of every friend I made out there. Without you guys, I don’t know if I would have survived. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you!! I miss you all very much and hope you’re doing well. Bacon!!
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