Night Two: Springfield, Ohio

That's me on stage in Springfield on July 7, 2006

Springfield, Ohio - beautiful location. An ampitheatre settled in the middle of a mountainous area with smiley-face fold out chairs in front of us. The backstage area had a grand piano where I improvised and did an epic version of the "Free-Credit-Report.Com" commercial. They got it right again (our rider, that is) and had an overflowing cooler with Rockstar Energy Drinks. We also had the infamous deli tray, but unlike Spinal Tap we had bread that could fold more than once.

There were 3 huge screens behind us projecting us on video which at first was disorienting. I'm remembering touring with Project Object when we played at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore. They also had video screens of us throughout the venue but they were t.v. sized for the most part. And just like with the screens in Ohio, there was a couple of seconds delay in the broacast. So it was like Baltimore but bigger and scarier. The crowd was estimated at about 1,500 people, and by the end they were going wild which was kind of exciting to see.

It was great meeting and talking with the videographer/editor. He's a really cool guy named Jeremy Sewell. He told me he's been filming Adrian Belew over the past couple years and Adrian is one of his favorite artists he's worked with. He also told me he plans on filming more shows during these tours and hopefully will use some of the vids for the CD Julie and I are recording with Adrian called Side 4 which is going to be done live.

For those of you who know about such things, Jeremy said he filmed us in 24p...3 angles (2 up real close)

Jeremy has some wild stories about Grateful Dead concerts he attended -- it's always interesting to get the inside view of a Deadhead. Meanwhile, he's also filming one of my favorite bands, The Flaming Lips. I gotta see if I can get to one of those shows! Jeremy said The Flaming Lips are also one of his favorite bands and he's booked to film them by Warner Brothers this fall. He's already filmed them four other times. Man, how lucky can you get. Right now he's on the Les Claypool tour, and he also works for Jamcruise, Langerado, Bonnarroo, and Ratdog. He seemed impressed that I actually knew what tour his Residents t-shirt came from...I even gave him the year and told him it was the Cube E tour. Yeah, I know my music history. Maybe because music is my life? Anyway, also cool was that he told me our upcoming gig in Jacksonville Beach will be awesome because the venue, The Freebird, is "sick". He filmed Buckethead there for an upcoming DVD release.

So our second show was "different" as we did not know what to expect from an outside venue, but the sound was pristine and it was unique so we appreciated the variety. We finally felt relaxed and couldn't wait to play Chicago the following night.

And did I mention I'm in love with the drum set I have on this tour? Adrian asked me what I wanted and since I play a vintage Gretsch kit at home, I asked if he could rent me something on that order. Naturally, he came through.

Music is the best!