Down To Albuquerque

It happened again: another wreck on the highway that we were the first to come upon.  I will get to that story in just a bit though.  I think I’ll start this ‘journal entry’ like last weeks, just going through each day and discussing the interesting things that happened.  Then maybe branch out from there about other things. 

We had a few days off before we had to be in Albuquerque, which was good because we were pretty far away, and it was going to take a while to get there.  We had to be down there by Thursday afternoon to set up for Thursday night’s show, so we left early Wednesday morning, planning on driving all day Wednesday and part of the day on Thursday to get from Bismarck, ND to Albuquerque, NM. 

So, at 8am Wednesday morning, we piled in the van and headed south.  I mention the 8am only to illustrate that we knew it was going to be a long drive – that might not be early for most people, but to us that’s ridiculously early.  From ND we drove south into South Dakota, south further into Nebraska, then west into Colorado, and south some more into New Mexico.  We’ve had longer drives before, but for some reason this one was just about the worst for me.  I was bored before we even reached the South Dakota border, and it just got worse from there.  I don’t know why; usually I’m cool with sitting in the van all day reading, but for some reason on this trip I got extremely antsy.  We couldn’t get there fast enough for me.  We would stop for a meal or fuel, and I was jumping out of the van before it came to a stop.  Well, enough about my inability to sit still.  I assumed that the GPS would take us to Denver and then south on I-25 all the way into New Mexico, but it diverted us to some state highway most of the way through Colorado.  While I appreciate cutting off any distance and getting us to our destination as quickly as possible, this particular back road at night might not have been the best option.  For one thing, the wind was blowing pretty hard, and at times it looked like tumbleweeds were racing each other down the road; which was actually kind of funny for a while.  But then (of course) the wind picked up the dirt to the point where we could barely see the road; not only was it dark out, but we were driving through a dirt storm, on a two lane state highway out in the middle of nowhere.  Could it get worse?  Wait, don’t answer that; I don’t want to think about it getting worse.  

So anyway, the GPS finally spit us out onto I-25 down near the southern border of Colorado.  We crossed into New Mexico and finally stopped for the night in Las Vegas (the little town in northern NM, not the one with all the casinos in Nevada).  To recap day one of our driving: we drove 18 hours from North Dakota to New Mexico.  Oh yeah, and Kevin drove the entire time.  I had never seen anything like it before.  His stamina with driving long distances is incredible, but 18 hours was just wild.  He didn’t even seem that tired either.  He will always let us know when he is wearing down and will let someone else drive, but he just never got tired on that drive.  It was incredible. 

Since we drove so far and for so long on the first day, we were only 2 hours from Albuquerque.  Being so close turned out to be extremely nice for us; we got to sleep in and only had to be in the van a few hours. 

Wow, that was kind of a long description for just riding in a van all day.  Let me speed things up a bit here: we got to Albuquerque Thursday afternoon and went straight to the club to set up for that night’s show.  Thursday night was insane.  I wasn’t really expecting a large crowd, and was blown away by how many people were in the club seeing us play that night.  I posted a picture on FACEBOOK and TWITTER showing the crowd.  I have never tried posting a photo on this blog.  Let me see if I can do that here right now: 

(Wow, I think that actually worked.  That's the first time I've posted a picture on here.  I'm going to have to do a few more throughout this post).  

It was ladies night, which apparently is a big deal in Albuquerque, because the place was slammed all night long.   It was a great surprise for us, and quite the welcome back to the Dirty Bourbon Saloon.  It felt great to be on stage with so many people in the crowd. 

Friday night we were scheduled to share the stage with Bri Bagwell, so after Thursday night’s show we had to clear the stage to make room for their set up.  After they came in and set up all their gear, we came back in on Friday afternoon and set up all our stuff for our show that evening.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I really enjoy doing shows with other bands.  If I could have it my way, we’d do this every night.  For one thing, it gives the crowd a variety, which I’m sure they like.  But it also gives us an opportunity to check out other musicians and hear their music, as well as a chance to network while out on the road.  Plus, it means we have a shorter show and thus are able to showcase more of our original music, which of course I love!  It was nice getting to watch her show after we were finished performing for the night.  Good dirt road band; and cool guys too.  We really enjoy just getting to hang out with other musicians from time to time. 

Saturday we were back on our own, so yet again we had to come back in and set our stuff up.  We had another great crowd Saturday night as well.  It ended up being three great nights for us.  I love playing large clubs like that, especially in parts of the country that we don’t have the opportunity to get to very often (it had been over a year since we had played there – far too long for us): the exposure for us to new potential fans in a new market is great – there are so many new people that we can turn on to our music.  The problem for us is that we don’t really have the chance to interact with them like we do at some smaller venues.  But that’s the trade-off: more people in the crowd – less interaction.  For venues like that we really at least need a merch person, so that if people in the crowd like our music and want to buy an album, they would have access to that while we were on stage.  Actually, it would be really nice to have someone selling our merchandise at every show.  Hopefully someday soon.  When that day comes, I’ll title that week’s journal entry “Finally got a Merch Guy!”  You won’t even have to read the post; the entire entry will be about how excited I am to have the extra help at our shows. 

Anyway, our three nights at the Dirty Bourbon in Albuquerque were great.  We all agree that we hope to get back there more and more and start building a fan base down in that area.  Oh, I almost forgot: for all you ‘Breaking Bad’ fans out there – Steve and Josh found the house where Heisenberg lived. 

We left Albuquerque on Sunday and headed back north through Colorado and ended up staying Sunday night in Cheyenne, WY.  When we were about an hour away from Wyoming, we heard that the Interstate between Laramie and Cheyenne was closed due to bad weather.  Apparently a snow storm had gone through.  (My thought – it is late April; of course a damn snow storm is going through where we are trying to go).  But we made it without coming upon any bad weather and found a hotel for the night. 

Okay, now to the wreck on the highway.  This is a good one.  We left Cheyenne early Monday morning to get into Nebraska, where we’re playing Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  We were driving along I-80 (just outside of Sidney, NE) when a semi-truck passed us, and Kevin made the comment “that truck is going to tip over”; to which I thought (but didn’t say) ‘yeah right, that’s just stupid’.  Less than 2 minutes later Kevin shouts “holy shit” – we all look out the front window to see that exact semi rolling on its side.  The wind was blowing across the interstate so hard that it literally blew the semi over.  As crazy as it was, at least no other cars were beside it or right behind it, and it was just the semi involved in the crash.  Of course we were the closest vehicle behind the semi, so we pulled over and Josh, Kevin and I jumped out and ran up to the wreck to see if we could help the driver.  A few other people joined us to help the driver as well.  He was okay, not really injured at all, which was great; we just needed to find a way to get him out of the cab of the truck.  We ended up busting the front windshield out and he climbed out of that on his own.  If I were the truck driver, I would have been in shock after just being blown over on my side in a semi, but he actually seemed to be very coherent and in control.  He even went back into the cab to see if he could find his lighter.  At that point we thought he seemed to be okay.  The police had been contacted and he wasn’t hurt, so soon after that we got back in the van and continued on down the road heading to our destination. 

Here are a few more pictures:

So, that was basically our week.  This week we are in Chadron, NE on Wednesday and Thursday, and then off to Craig, CO for the weekend.  We haven’t been to Craig, CO since playing a festival out there last summer, so we are all excited and looking forward to heading back there this weekend.  Now on to a few random things that I find interesting or important to share:

1.       1. We posted a new video this week for our song “Back In Town”.  Josh has been compiling video footage the past several months, and he and I worked together to sort through it all and put together some of the footage for the video.  I really enjoy making videos like this one; looking through all the footage, finding useable stuff, putting it all together in clips, setting it to the music.  We also enjoy making fun of ourselves a little bit in the videos.  If you’ve seen this one (or several of the past ones too), you know what I mean.  It’s just a little bit of our personality coming through.  We also realize that they aren’t the most professional or most polished videos, but I think they’re something fun for our fans out there to see, so they get an idea of what we’ve been up to out on the road. Here is the video for those of you who haven't seen it:

2.       2. To get the video out there for as many people to see as possible, we created an ‘event’ on FACEBOOK that was basically: hey we have a new video; here is the link; go check it out.  The frustrating thing about doing it this way is that to invite everyone, you have to manually go in and click on each person; that is a couple thousand people’s profile to click on – it takes a couple of hours to do.  It is just mind numbing to sit there through the entire process.  You know, if I had a Merch Guy I’d have him do it for me!  But for us, that is a great way to get people on FACEBOOK to see our new video, so I take the time to do it.   Here is what I don’t understand though: when we create an ‘event’ and invite all those people, we are basically just asking them to click on the link to check out the new video.  There is no physical thing to go to, just click the link and watch the video.  I appreciate when people will also click that they are ‘going’ to the event, hopefully meaning that they are all watching the video.  But what puzzles me is when, for something like this, people will click ‘maybe’.  Are they maybe going to watch the video?  And if they’re not going to watch it, why take the time to click ‘maybe’?  Maybe they’re just being comedic, who knows.  I actually do chuckle when I see that people are ‘maybe’ going to one of our events like this.   Either way, I hope they all do eventually watch the video; we make it for our fans, so hopefully they’re watching it and enjoying.  Speaking of, I do appreciate all the comments left by people saying that they do enjoy the video we made.  It helps us to know that what we’re doing is entertaining to people out there; so if you saw it and liked what you saw, let us know.

 

3.       3. I wanted to share a comment that someone left on a recent blog post that really meant a lot to me.  The comment was: “so far I really love the song Friends Like These. its a very candid open piece that is written and performed in the same voice as these entries. very honest.”  If you know me, you know how much I enjoy reading a comment like this.  I work really hard to lay it all out there and be completely open with my art, whether it be in song or even just these writings.  I have written before about how that song was the most open and honest I have ever been in my song writing before, and how it is probably my favorite piece of work to date.  It is so fulfilling to receive a comment like that; knowing that someone gets and appreciates what I am trying to do.  It makes it worth it to know that there are people out there enjoying the work I’m doing. 

Well, I have rambled on enough for this week.  Like I always do at the end of each post, I’d like to take a moment to promote our band and music.  Check out our website at www.themichaeldband.com.  We have several new dates posted, and even more coming soon.  If you don’t have our latest album “Back In Town” yet, go to I-TUNES right now and download all the songs.  Then EMAIL me and tell me what you think.  Lastly, if you haven’t already, go ‘like’ us on FACEBOOK and ‘follow’ us on TWITTER. 

Be safe out there.

A Very Long Week Indeed

I’ve spent a lot of time the past few days catching up on reading my best friend’s travel blog (see, I’m not the only one out there still doing a blog).  In their writing he and his wife go into detail about each day and discuss all the interesting things they’re seeing as they travel the world, and really get introspective about the whole thing.  Btw, this is the same best friend that I mention in the first verse of “Friends Like These”.  As I have been reading their stories I keep wondering to myself: am I as interesting and descriptive in my writing as they are in theirs?  Probably not.  Maybe I should be going into more detail about the day to day activities we encounter, or more about how those things effect me or make me feel.  I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with unique or interesting things to discuss, when maybe the most interesting things will just come as I talk about our week and what is going on with us.  I don’t know, it is all trial and error anyway.  I actually spent the good part of a show the other night thinking about things to write about.  So I have plenty of material, plus it has been a busy week for us.  Guess we’ll see how it all comes out. 

Like I said, last week was pretty busy for us.  We had six shows in a row in 3 different towns, so there was also lots of set up and tear down included this week.  Plus, I got another cold at the beginning of the week to go with it.  Singing for six nights straight is tough; singing for six nights straight while fighting a cold and being congested is a nightmare.  Coughing up blood, taking long steaming showers to try to get some of the congestion out; plus the overall feeling of achiness and grogginess; it was brutal.  Anyway, on to the shows.  We started on Monday night at the Lonesome Dove in Mandan.  I think we might be the only band that they allow to come in on a Monday night.  It helps us make some extra money, which is great, and I’m sure it is advantageous for them as well.  We have been playing there for 5 years, so it is worth it to go in on a Monday b/c people will show up to see us.  It wasn’t a large crowd, but everyone was there just to see us, and stayed pretty much the entire time, which was great. 

We tore down our gear Tuesday and headed up to Minot to play at the Udder Place on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  The Udder Place doesn’t usually have live entertainment through the week, but again is one of those places that will let us come in on random nights like that when we need it.  Another club that will make an exception from their routine to help us out – very cool.  Tuesday was a long day for us; tearing down from one place, driving up to another, setting it all up again, then playing a show that night.  Story of my life, right?  Tuesday and Wednesday were like Monday for us: not large crowds, but most of the people in attendance were solely there to see us. 

From there we went to Williston for the weekend (Thurs-Sat).  Thursday was much like Tuesday: tear down the gear in one town, drive to the next town, set it all up again, and play a show that night.  By Thursday I was starting to get past some of the illness, but was really worried about my voice holding out for the next three shows.  When you’re sick and trying to sing all night, you have to push your vocal chords a little harder.  Since I had been doing that the past three nights, I was starting to get concerned that they wouldn’t hold up for the next three nights. 

Williston is great.  They get a bad reputation there, but we have felt very welcome every time we’ve been there.  The people there seem to genuinely like what we do, and are very appreciative that we come to their town to play music.  They buy our albums and merchandise and sing along to songs off those albums.  Crazy thing about playing in Williston this past weekend: we sold almost as many copies of our old album “Rowdy” as we did our new album “Back In Town”.  Actually, I think the people in Williston have purchased more of our merch than anywhere else.  We are usually pretty well stocked when we are on tour, but we have actually ran out of certain products while in Williston.  It is a very good problem to have. 

Also while up there this past weekend a friend of ours hooked us up with a radio interview.  Since getting our music out to the masses is a major goal for us, getting some air time at the local station is a huge bonus.  The problem was that the interview was scheduled for 6:50am on Friday morning.  It is tough to get up that early and be upbeat on the radio after playing a show late into the previous night.  When we found out the interview was scheduled so early, I told the guys that if they wanted to sleep in, then I’d just go do it by myself; no big deal.  Actually, I just wished they could go do the interview and I could sleep in; but since the band is named after me, I should probably be there.  Lesson learned: don’t name a band after yourself and expect to skip radio interviews and sleep in.  Steve and Josh ended up going with me to the radio interview that morning.  I was surprised when Steve actually called me to make sure I was up.  We went to the station expecting to be on their local country station, since that is what we were told.  When we got there we learned that our friend had actually hooked us up with the DJ on the A.M. station.  That kind of sucked to find out since I had just posted on FACEBOOK and TWITTER that we would be on the F.M. station, and even took the time to put a link on those sites so fans all over the country could listen in online.  But other than that, it was still nice to be getting our name out to new people, and we are always grateful to get any airtime to promote our band and our music.  So thank you to our friend Frank for hooking us up!

 

Anyway, the weekend was good (as always) in Williston.  We had fun crowds each night.  Oh, and I didn’t lose my voice either.  One more night probably would have done me in though. 

Steve, Kevin and I also went to their brand new Rec. Center on Friday afternoon to work out.  I had been to their old Rec. Center before, but it now has limited hours b/c of the new place and was closed on Friday, so we checked out the new facility.  It was huge: had several basketball courts, two indoor tracks, weights, cardio, and even a water park for the kids.  The only negative was that there were too many people on the basketball courts so we didn’t get to shoot around, but I did get to lift, and was able to get some cardio in on one of the indoor tracks, so it was worth the trip. 

On Sunday we tore down our gear (again), had Easter dinner at some restaurant, and left Williston. 

Speaking of Easter…

One of the things I did for Lent this year was to give up eating French fries.  Since Sunday marked the end of Lent, it also marked the end of my fry restriction.  So what did I do when we got to our destination on Sunday evening?  Went straight to Five Guys and had a massive burger and a ton of fries; so greasy, so bad for me, but so tasty.  I probably should try to stay away from fries though as often as possible.  I really did feel much better by cutting them out of my diet.  But they’re so good!  And to be fair, I did go for a nice long jog before we ate there, so that should count for something, right?  Mike’s horrible weight loss plan: jog a few miles, then pig out on high calorie fattening food.  Perfect.

To continue with just writing about what we’re doing: today (I say today as in Monday – I’m actually sitting up late at night writing this, so technically it is Tuesday morning right now) all four of us went to the gym together.  That has to be a first for this group.  It was great to see all of us working out though.  Josh and Steve played some racquetball together (wish I had my camera for that).  We all did some lifting and cardio.  It was a pretty great afternoon.  We’re all planning on going back tomorrow as well.  We’ll see if that actually happens though. 

Since I’ve already let you know I’m up extremely late working on this, I guess I will also let you know that there is no way I’m finishing it tonight, and I’m finally getting tired, so this seems like a good place to stop.  I will hopefully pick up right here tomorrow and finish up so I can post it Tuesday evening.  I guess we’ll see if that actually happens.  Much more to write about tomorrow. 

Alright, back to writing.  It is now Tuesday a little after noon.  I just read back to myself all the stuff I wrote last night, and wanted to add a few other thoughts from things that happened or that caught my attention throughout this past week. 

The first one is this: I continue to be amazed that people will come out to see us play during the week.  We played 4 weeknight shows this past week, and while they weren’t packed, there were still several people out to see us.  I think this means one of two things: either these people really really like our band and our music, or we are just a great excuse to head out to the bar for a drink.  I’m hoping it’s the former.  I don’t know, it is just difficult for me to imagine going out late in the evening to see a band if I had to work the following day.  Maybe that’s it; they don’t have to work early the next day.  I honestly don’t know.  I know I have a tendency to make assumptions and group people together; I guess I’m just assuming that everyone who isn’t a musician must have a day job they go to during the week.  I know that isn’t rational; there are thousands of different types of jobs with all different hours.  So maybe the people who come to see us during the week don’t have to be up early the next day.  Or maybe they do, but they enjoy our music so much that it is worth it.  Or maybe they work on the weekends and can only come see us during the week.  I just don’t know.  Whatever the reason is, I do know this: I am so grateful for those people that will come out on a weeknight and listen to our music and support our band.  Seeing people in the crowd on a weeknight really helps keep us motivated; it reminds us that what we are doing has some relevance.  So if you are some of those people who will come out to an MDB show on a Monday or Tuesday night, we really appreciate you.  We hope you’re not too tired the next day if you have to work. 

The next thing I noticed about this week was that we sold an unordinary amount of our first album (which I mentioned earlier in the entry).  We always carry some copies of it around with us, but hardly anyone purchases that one anymore.  I’m guessing either because they already have it, or because we aren’t playing as much material off that record lately.  Also, we have been promoting our new album so much, I think the old one kind of gets lost or forgot about.  But for some reason this week, we sold a higher volume of the old cd than we normally do.  Someone this past week asked me which one was better, and I suggested that he get both and decide for himself; and he did.  Maybe that’s what I should say to everyone.  I personally think that “Back In Town” is much better than “Rowdy”, but I definitely don’t want my opinion influencing what other people listen to.  So sure, get them both and see which one you like better!!! I guess I was just surprised that so many people were getting the old album too.  It has been so long since I’ve listened to any of the music off the old album that I don’t even remember what it sounds like.  I never listen to my own music though. 

Here is something that I find amusing: when we are playing a song, people will come up and try to talk to me.  It is funny for one very important reason: I can’t hear you!  I wear in-ear monitors during the show, which also act as ear plugs.  Think about when you have your headphones in and the music cranked up, you can’t hear people talking to you – it is just like that for me.  If we’re in the middle of a song, the only thing I can hear is the music.  And if we are in between songs they become ear plugs, so I still can’t really hear the crowd.  But inevitably someone will come up and try to tell me something during a song.  It becomes even more comical when I’m actually singing right when they’re trying to talk to me; I can’t stop singing to hear what they have to say.  Oh, and also, I am horrible at lip-reading, so not only can I not hear them, I also am not able to read their lips very well.  But as long as we continue to play shows, I’m sure people will continue to try to tell me something during a song, and I will continue to be amused by it.  

Oh, on a related side note: We enjoying wishing people a happy birthday over the P.A. system, and are thrilled that they will come celebrate with us, but I am awful with names.  (Example: Jim comes up to me during the break and says “can you wish Sarah a Happy Birthday?”).  By the time I get back up on stage and sing a song or two and am ready to say happy birthday to Sarah, I have completely forgotten her name.  From the time Jim comes up to me to the time I am ready for the announcement, I have focused on way too many other things and the person’s name is long gone from my memory.  I will have talked to several other people, signed a few cd’s or shirts, gone to the bathroom, and focused on the lyrics of a couple of songs.  That person’s name is long gone by that point.  Best solution: write it down for me.  I am a list maker anyway; if I need to remember to do something, I add it to my list – correction, one of my lists; I always seem to have at least a few running lists going at a time.  So the best way for me to remember not only to announce the birthday, but also to remember the person’s name is to write it down for me.  Bar napkins are great for this purpose.  And it can simply say ‘birthday Sarah’.  Anyway, just thought that was something funny that happens all the time, and wanted to share with you all.  

Wow, this has turned into quite a long entry.  Guess it is time to wrap it up.  If you don’t already have both of our albums, go find them right now on I-TUNES.  You will be glad you did.  Be sure to check us out at www.themichaeldband.com for tour dates and much more.  And if you’re not ‘following’ us on TWITTER or haven’t ‘liked’ our FACEBOOK fan page, now is the time.  And continue sharing us with your friends.  As always, I enjoy receiving your messages and comments about this ‘journal’ so please continue to EMAIL me with your thoughts and idea about what you’d like to hear about. 

As always, be safe out there!

Updates

I’ll start this entry where the last one left off.  We were waiting for the van to be fixed so we could get back out on the road and play some music.  Here’s how it all went down.  Kevin finally got the van out of the shop late Wednesday afternoon, so the guys loaded up and headed to my house that evening to come pick me up.  They got to my place about 11pm.  The plan from there was this: if we drove overnight from my place, picked up the trailer that was being fixed in Rice Lake, WI in the early morning, and continued driving the entire next day, we might just be able to make it all the way to Williston for Thursday night’s show.  So I got in the van and we headed out.  We did make it to Rice Lake the next morning to pick up the trailer.  The problem we faced then was that the GPS was telling us that from that point, we would just barely make it in time for the gig.  That wasn’t including set up time, or stopping for bathroom or food breaks, or to fill up with diesel.  So if we drove straight through without stopping for fuel, food, or for the restroom, and we didn’t set up our gear when we arrived, we would have made it in time.  Oh, and if there was no traffic.  Don’t forget the traffic.  Obviously we knew we weren’t going to make it.  Plus, on top of that, the light indicator on the dash came back on letting us know that the van was having the same problem that literally just got fixed the day before.  I think Kevin’s head was about ready to explode he was so mad.  Knowing we weren’t going to make the show anyway, we decided that getting the van fixed (actually fixed this time) needed to be the priority.  So we found a place near Minneapolis that could get us in that morning and check it out.  Two hours later we were at a repair shop outside of St. Paul.  At this point we were thinking/hoping that they could get the van in quickly, make an assessment, fix the problem, and we would be back on the road by early to mid-afternoon.  We were wrong.  You know, I could get into the specifics about what was wrong with the van and all that, but let’s be honest here; I don’t know crap about automobiles or automotive repair, and I’d be willing to bet 99% of you reading this don’t actually care what was specifically wrong with the van.  The point is this: we already missed 2 shows to get the problem fixed, which we were learning did not actually happen.  So we were taking another full day (and missing yet another show) to hopefully get it all taken care of so we wouldn’t just break down on the interstate somewhere.   Back to the story: we were hoping for a quick fix and to get back on our way, but that definitely didn’t happen.  We ended up being there for about 9 hours.  From 10:30am until about 7:30pm.  Oh, and this place was out in the middle of nowhere.  The only thing remotely close was a gas station and a Subway about half a mile down the road.  (I bet you can guess what we all had for lunch).  After sitting there all day, they finally fixed the problem (for real fixed it) and we were on our way.  Our revised plan was now this: drive to Bismarck, stop for the night and get a few hours of sleep, then travel the remaining four hours to Williston the next morning so we could finally make it to a show.  And that’s what happened.  We made it to Bismarck around 3:30am, slept for a few hours, and then on Friday drove the rest of the way to Williston.  So after three missed shows and countless hours of repair work done to the van we were FINALLY going to get to play some music. 

Like I usually do, I just read that paragraph back to myself to see if it made sense.  I was kind of all over the place with that description of events, so I’ll summarize those two days here:

Kevin picked up the van Wednesday afternoon / Band leaves Lexington, KY about 6pm Wed. evening / Band gets to my house to pick me up about 11pm Wed. night / we drive throughout the night / pick up the trailer in Rice Lake, WI about 8am Thurs. morning / get to dealership outside Minneapolis 10:30am Thurs. morning / leave dealership at 7:30pm Thurs. night / drive 8 hours to Bismarck / arrive in Bismarck at 3:30am Friday morning / sleep for a few hours / make it to Williston about 4pm Friday afternoon. 

Whew.  To say it was a rough couple days for us would be a complete understatement.  When we finally made it we were all exhausted and pretty frustrated.  But we did make it. 

For all the trouble we had last week with the van and traveling, we were all looking forward to getting back on stage and just being able to play some music.  That first show back on stage after that whole mess was probably one of the most fun shows I’ve played in a long time. Having such a rough week made being back on stage even more sweet for me.  Just being able to sing and play the guitar again, ah, felt so good.  I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire night.  It was such a fun show for us.  It also helped tremendously that we had a packed house and the crowd was ready to party.  They were happy that we were there; we were excited to play; it was perfect.  It really reminded me of way back when I first started playing in bands and actually doing shows, when the whole experience of being on stage was new and fresh - that feeling of pure excitement.  I’m having trouble explaining it now.  The best example of the feeling I had getting back on stage is this: picture your last vacation to a tropical location - the anticipation before the trip, driving or flying there, checking into the hotel.  Now think about how you felt when you finally got to the beach and were laying on a towel in the sand under the sun listening to the waves and smelling the ocean.  The feeling that in that moment everything was perfect and you were right where you were meant to be.  That’s how it felt to finally be back on stage after all the issues we had getting there.

Another update from last week: having a smart phone is awesome!  Several times this past week I have been able to take high resolution pictures of us performing, and then post those pictures on our FACEBOOK and TWITTER pages while at the show.  Immediate updates for our fans out there; so cool.  For instance, last night I took a picture of Kevin and Steve at the show, and during the break posted the picture on both social media sites. I know this is nothing new for the rest of you out there, but this is brand new technology for me still; and I am loving it.  The whole typing by sliding your finger across the screen is definitely taking some getting used to though.  On a personal note, I can also finally play Chess on my phone.  Of all the apps out there, one of the first (and only so far) apps I uploaded was Chess.  I have played more Chess in the past week than I have in the previous 5 years; and for those of you that know how much of a dork I really am, you know that being able to play Chess on my phone is pretty exciting for me.  But that is beside the point here.  Finally having the smart phone means being able to give you more access to what is going on with our band – and that’s what we are actually trying to accomplish; to make sure we keep you involved with what we are up to. 

Here’s a thought: since the possibilities are pretty much endless of what we can provide and how much you can be involved with what we’re up to, what would you like to see?  What do you want to know more about?  Or see more of?  Or become more involved in with us?  EMAIL me and let me know.  As you’ve read so far in past posts, I have really listened to people’s suggestions on here; answered pretty much any question, discussed what people have wanted to hear about, even posted lyrics to all the songs off our latest album.  Even this entire blog was started b/c it was suggested by several of our fans.  We would really like to keep all that going, and take it even further.  Your input really does make a difference for us; I appreciate reading your comments or questions about our lives on the road.  So please keep sending them in.  Let me know what you would find interesting to hear more about, and chances are I’ll write about it.  As you can tell from past posts, there’s not too much I won’t open up about and discuss. 

Oh, quick update for you.  I told you several weeks ago about Josh getting a custom bass guitar from Bergstok Guitars, and that they were making a custom electric guitar for Kevin too.  Well, they finally finished it and it has been delivered.  They named it the “Kevin Rawlings Edition Bergstok Guitar”.  Custom Built to all his specifications, it is set up just how Kevin wants a guitar set up.   So now both Josh and Kevin have custom instruments built for them and named after them.  Very cool stuff.  Half of our band has custom built instruments from Bergstok Guitars. 

Lastly this week, I thought I’d talk about being able to exercise while traveling; or the difficulties of.  Wait, have I wrote about this before?  I don’t think so; but honestly, these entries are all starting to run together for me.  Anyway, most of the guys in this band enjoy physical activity.  I used to be a gym rat, and would love to be able to go to a fitness center every day.  The problem we run into is actually having the time to get a good workout in.  Like I’ve discussed before in a previous entry, if it’s a travel day or if we have to set up for the show, our entire day is pretty much shot.  Getting those days where we can actually get into a gym is few and far between.  The other problem is that a day pass for most fitness centers is just too expensive.  I went to a place the other day that wanted $10 for a day pass.  No way.  Hell, now Planet Fitness offers the same price per month.  I should just become a member there; except that there is not a Planet Fitness in every town we go to; so I’d still have to pay the day pass fee at other places.  Sometimes we can find fitness centers that have cheaper day pass rates.  Then it is definitely worth going.  Even better than that, we have started finding rec centers in some towns.  I love these.  For one thing, they’re usually cheap.  Secondly, it is not just tread mills and weights.  Most of them have other amenities.  My favorite is when we find a place with basketball courts.  But we’ve also found one that had racquetball courts – that was a great find for us.  I used to play racquetball all the time in college; it was great to be able to play again; even for one day.  By the way, watching Josh play racquetball for the first time was hilarious.  We even found a place in Nebraska not too long ago that had an indoor track.  I was a sprinter for the track team in college, so for me that was awesome.  Getting back on an actual track just felt natural for me; except I was in a lot better shape then.  But I’m getting way off the subject here.  I’m just saying that I really wish we had more time for exercise.  Getting to go to the gym is a treat; and if the place has more than just weights and cardio, even better for us.  We are always looking for good places to work out when we are in different cities.  So if you know of a good place in your town where we can go (preferably for little or no cost), please let us know.  We’d love to check it out (if there’s time). 

Alright, we are pulling into the next town, so I better wrap this up.  We are getting ready to go check into the hotel and then go set up for tonight’s show, so I will post this entry this evening after set up (and hopefully a workout if there’s time).  As always, be sure to check us out online at www.themichaeldband.com for upcoming tour dates, etc.  If for some crazy reason you don’t have our latest album “Back In Town” yet, stop what you’re doing right now and go get it on I-TUNES.

Another quick side thought here: what’s your favorite song of ours?  Off of either album.  EMAIL me and let me know which of our songs you like the most, and Why.  Don’t forget to include ‘why’ it is your favorite.  I’ll post some of the responses in next week’s entry. 

Oh, and don’t forget to ‘like’ us on FACEBOOK and ‘follow’ us on TWITTER.  And did you share our pages with your friends like I asked you to last week?  I hope so.  Your support is what drives and motivates this band. 

Thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed.  Be safe out there.