I guess we got to Blossom around mid afternoon. The gazillion time s I’ve driven past that exit on the 271 I’ve never stopped here before. It’s a very nice pavilion, stained wood, and compared to what we’re used to BIG. My mom and her friend Diane are there. Everyone’s exited and at first the weather cooperates (that will change). There’s a lot of nervous energy and walking around for the sake of walking around. I’m hungry and I hit up catering right away. There’s all kinds of real-man food, I opt for soup and a salad and I sit down (alone) and in walks Toby. I hate to be ghermy…so I just wait ‘til he walks by and I’m like “hey man, I’m yer opening act, really want to thank you for this opportunity.” And he’s real casual and low key and like “cool man, are they treatin’ y’all all right?” and I’m like “yeah, it’s all good.” And I wish there was more to quote, .but that was about it. Which is great, given time I’ll always say the wrong thing,
It starts raining real heavy in the afternoon and that sucks ‘cause we got friends coming and they have lawn seats. Oh well. It clears up in time for our set and it’s actually sunny now (speaking of which Sonny Turcotte I’m SO Sorry we didn’t hook things up) and our set goes real good and I say some shit about Dirty Cowboys in Medina that gets a great reaction from Joe if not our audience and it’s pretty much a knock down, glitch free set. Ashley has some suggestions regarding my walk on and walk off. I take everything he says as true pearls of wisdom and just nod and say “okay” a lot….
I did have a chance to talk to Trace a little before his set and he was just a regular guy with me too. He and Toby both put on great shows and we watch from the sound booth and try and learn a few things.
Afterwards I offer to buy a few rounds of beer—which at ten bucks a pop teaches us another lesson of the big tour: bring yer own.
And I’m thinking about the Indy show after and it’s just like groundhog day, and I guess we were a lil sleep deprived. I remember one of the local; crew guy was our sound man at Eight Seconds last time we were there…oh Yeah..THAT I guess we got to Blossom around mid afternoon. The gazillion time s I’ve driven past that exit on the 271 I’ve never stopped here before. It’s a very nice pavilion, stained wood, and compared to what we’re used to BIG. My mom and her friend Diane are there. Everyone’s exited and at first the weather cooperates (that will change). There’s a lot of nervous energy and walking around for the sake of walking around. I’m hungry and I hit up catering right away. There’s all kinds of real-man food, I opt for soup and a salad and I sit down (alone) and in walks Toby. I hate to be ghermy…so I just wait ‘til he walks by and I’m like “hey man, I’m yer opening act, really want to thank you for this opportunity.” And he’s real casual and low key and like “cool man, are they treatin’ y’all all right?” and I’m like “yeah, it’s all good.” And I wish there was more to quote, .but that was about it. Which is great, given time I’ll always say the wrong thing,
It starts raining real heavy in the afternoon and that sucks ‘cause we got friends coming and they have lawn seats. Oh well. It clears up in time for our set and it’s actually sunny now (speaking of which Sonny Turcotte I’m SO Sorry we didn’t hook things up) and our set goes real good and I say some shit about Dirty Cowboys in Medina that gets a great reaction from Joe if not our audience and it’s pretty much a knock down, glitch free set. Ashley has some suggestions regarding my walk on and walk off. I take everything he says as true pearls of wisdom and just nod and say “okay” a lot….
I did have a chance to talk to Trace a little before his set and he was just a regular guy with me too. He and Toby both put on great shows and we watch from the sound booth and try and learn a few things.
Afterwards I offer to buy a few rounds of beer—which at ten bucks a pop teaches us another lesson of the big tour: bring yer own.
And I’m thinking about the Indy show after and it’s just like groundhog day, and I guess we were a lil sleep deprived. I remember one of the local; crew guy was our sound man at Eight Seconds last time we were there…oh Yeah..THAT was the gig with the open bar in the VIP section, and the Live Nation folks were there and they were really cool and everyone hung out side stage while Toby played, even Trace..and we had a lil party at the hotel to celebrate our first weekend out and that’s all acceptably haaazy.
was the gig with the open bar in the VIP section, and the Live Nation folks were there and they were really cool and everyone hung out side stage while Toby played, even Trace..and we had a lil party at the hotel to celebrate our first weekend out and that’s all acceptably haaazy.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
toby tour day One
Holmdel NJ is about forty five minutes outside NYC. We get to the venue mid afternoon and are greeted at the gate by a security guy with a Brogue that sound like he walked off the boat from Ireland about two days ago. Of course, he gets a huge kick out of my name. We pull up to the load in dock and it’s raining like I’ve never seen it rain before. It’s early and there’s nothing for us to do yet save eat lunch and we site down and try not to look like the newbies we are. Thankfully, TK (Toby’s Mgr) walks in and sits down with us. I’ve had dinner with him just a few nights ago and it’s great to see a familiar face among strangers. Bobby Pinson shows up and I know him a little so I have someone else to waste time with….the weather is god awful things are running behind. I guess the always do at the start of a tour. The atmosphere is chaotic on the surface but to watch the production start from scratch and build the stage as fast as they do is pretty amazing. I’m introduced to Ashley, our stage Mgr. Ashley is British, seasoned and as I will find, forever dressed in black. It takes about two seconds of talking with him to know that he does his job very well—that he’s been doing this a long time and has seen a thing or two. Ashley takes a mentor-ly tone that we all appreciate---I’m sure it takes him about a minute to realize that none of us has ever been along on a trip like this one (well I kind of have—but not as a frontman) to Joe he offer some inciteful, fatherly advice:
“Get the FUCK out of this business NOW, Joe. RUN. Run as fast as you can.”
And he almost sounds serious as he says it.
No, he definitely sounds serious.
Jeff (CMT) shows up with a camera and some encouragement/moral support. Suzie Walker shows up with an entourage and a bottle of Irish Whisky. We save the liquor for later, wait for what seems like forever and before you know if it’s six o’clock, no time to sound check (I wonder if this is a test of our mettle) time enough to get our gear onstage and make sure everything works. It does, thankfully. They open the doors and it’s more hurry up and wait til 7:25 pm when it’s “Ladies and Gentlemen, won’t you please welcome, from Nashville, TN Little Engine Recording artist Sean Patrick McGraw..”
And to be honest, playing in front of the big crowd isn’t a big deal…I mean, three of us played at Stage Coach and that was a HUGE crowd. There’s maybe 10k in the stands as we start and if anything it feels like déjà vu. I’m not nervous at ALL. No butterflies, queezy stomach. Nada. For having no sound check the mix and the monitors are about perfect (thanks Earl you are the MAN). And it’s not like the best show I’ve ever had but it’s like we pretty much nail it, and if anything there’s a sense of relief that we called it up and owned it.
I guess we hung out for a little while after. We had to hit the road for Ohio right away…it’s all a little hazy. That Irish Whisky really was great…
“Get the FUCK out of this business NOW, Joe. RUN. Run as fast as you can.”
And he almost sounds serious as he says it.
No, he definitely sounds serious.
Jeff (CMT) shows up with a camera and some encouragement/moral support. Suzie Walker shows up with an entourage and a bottle of Irish Whisky. We save the liquor for later, wait for what seems like forever and before you know if it’s six o’clock, no time to sound check (I wonder if this is a test of our mettle) time enough to get our gear onstage and make sure everything works. It does, thankfully. They open the doors and it’s more hurry up and wait til 7:25 pm when it’s “Ladies and Gentlemen, won’t you please welcome, from Nashville, TN Little Engine Recording artist Sean Patrick McGraw..”
And to be honest, playing in front of the big crowd isn’t a big deal…I mean, three of us played at Stage Coach and that was a HUGE crowd. There’s maybe 10k in the stands as we start and if anything it feels like déjà vu. I’m not nervous at ALL. No butterflies, queezy stomach. Nada. For having no sound check the mix and the monitors are about perfect (thanks Earl you are the MAN). And it’s not like the best show I’ve ever had but it’s like we pretty much nail it, and if anything there’s a sense of relief that we called it up and owned it.
I guess we hung out for a little while after. We had to hit the road for Ohio right away…it’s all a little hazy. That Irish Whisky really was great…
Friday, July 10, 2009
toby tour day before day one
Like any road trip we’ve ever taken, the tour starts with much chaos: I get to the airport early just as a thunderstorm descends over Nashville and no, that’s not the reason we’re delayed, there’s a crew delay and no one to clean or fly the plane and we end up leaving two hours late, no worries according to the nice people at United, we’ll make our connecting flight no problem and if not there’s one right after it….sure.
So I wait to get on the plane and I have my tele with me that I just restrung with piano wire and tuned down to dropped C and I’m messing with it and this familiar voice from behind me says “hey sean, where are you off to?” and I turn around and it’s Emily Lou and I’m going to Buffalo I say and where’s she going to “Telluride” she say’s and I’m like “can we trade?” and standing behind her is Buddy Miller and I always thought he was taller, but I’m like “You’re Buddy Miller aren’t you?” and yes, he is Buddy Miller and I can’t help but gush…I am a big fan, but I try to maintain at least a little bit of cool, but I can’t help telling him how I’ve covered a couple of his songs and I guess I’ll urn a copy for Emmy and maybe he’ll actually hear ‘em…
The thought of that happening is weird. Even weirder that the reality of having Emmy Lou recognize me and come over and say “hey.”
Murray and I get on the flight to Buffalo via Dulles and we land in Dulles and our connecting flight to Buffalo is right nest to us on the tarmac and I attempt to walk over to it but security will have none of that “but the lady said it was okay…” I say and she really but like a tool I do what they tell me and walk up the stairs into the terminal and walk one gat over and the door to the plane is locked but the stairs are still down and there’s no one around to let me and Murray onto the plane and we call someone at United and they can’t help and we stand there and watch as our flight packs up and takes off with out us…and I’m not real happy about that but they did say they’d get us to Buffalo sometime today so no worried but we go to customer service and now the story is they can’t get us to Buffalo til 0pm tonight both the earlier flights they said we could get on are now oversold and I am REALLY not happy with United at this point. I’m not happy with them NOW either. DON’T FLY UNITED, They SUCK.
So what are we gonna do? and the best solution I can arrive at is to tell the boys to load up the wagon and meet us in NJ…we can get on a flight to JFK right away and Murray has friends in NYC and I haven’t been there in many many years so what the hell? We’ll make the most of it…and we save ourselves a seven hour drive and get to go tooling around Manhattan and truth be told we have an awesome time..we get dinner at some French place on the street and it good wine and hanger steaks and unbelievably it’s pretty cheap and the food is great and the people watching is some great entertainment and I’m happy it worked out this way. We go walking through the East Village and then up to times square and the South St Sea Port and there’s just this too-much-at-once but it’s pretty cool and we visit Murrays friend Vicky in the upperwest-side and she’s really cool and her town house is like something out of better homes and gardens and the hang is great and before you know it it’s time for us to get a ride to Holmdel and I love NY..don’t think I could live there…but it was good to see you again.
So I wait to get on the plane and I have my tele with me that I just restrung with piano wire and tuned down to dropped C and I’m messing with it and this familiar voice from behind me says “hey sean, where are you off to?” and I turn around and it’s Emily Lou and I’m going to Buffalo I say and where’s she going to “Telluride” she say’s and I’m like “can we trade?” and standing behind her is Buddy Miller and I always thought he was taller, but I’m like “You’re Buddy Miller aren’t you?” and yes, he is Buddy Miller and I can’t help but gush…I am a big fan, but I try to maintain at least a little bit of cool, but I can’t help telling him how I’ve covered a couple of his songs and I guess I’ll urn a copy for Emmy and maybe he’ll actually hear ‘em…
The thought of that happening is weird. Even weirder that the reality of having Emmy Lou recognize me and come over and say “hey.”
Murray and I get on the flight to Buffalo via Dulles and we land in Dulles and our connecting flight to Buffalo is right nest to us on the tarmac and I attempt to walk over to it but security will have none of that “but the lady said it was okay…” I say and she really but like a tool I do what they tell me and walk up the stairs into the terminal and walk one gat over and the door to the plane is locked but the stairs are still down and there’s no one around to let me and Murray onto the plane and we call someone at United and they can’t help and we stand there and watch as our flight packs up and takes off with out us…and I’m not real happy about that but they did say they’d get us to Buffalo sometime today so no worried but we go to customer service and now the story is they can’t get us to Buffalo til 0pm tonight both the earlier flights they said we could get on are now oversold and I am REALLY not happy with United at this point. I’m not happy with them NOW either. DON’T FLY UNITED, They SUCK.
So what are we gonna do? and the best solution I can arrive at is to tell the boys to load up the wagon and meet us in NJ…we can get on a flight to JFK right away and Murray has friends in NYC and I haven’t been there in many many years so what the hell? We’ll make the most of it…and we save ourselves a seven hour drive and get to go tooling around Manhattan and truth be told we have an awesome time..we get dinner at some French place on the street and it good wine and hanger steaks and unbelievably it’s pretty cheap and the food is great and the people watching is some great entertainment and I’m happy it worked out this way. We go walking through the East Village and then up to times square and the South St Sea Port and there’s just this too-much-at-once but it’s pretty cool and we visit Murrays friend Vicky in the upperwest-side and she’s really cool and her town house is like something out of better homes and gardens and the hang is great and before you know it it’s time for us to get a ride to Holmdel and I love NY..don’t think I could live there…but it was good to see you again.
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