Okay, picking up where I left off from last week’s
entry. I’m still in the van writing as
we drive down the road. I think it’s
about 1am or so right now. With writing
this and then taking over the driving duties in a couple hours, I’ll probably
see the sun come up in the morning. Oh
the joys of traveling for a living.
After stopping by the Bergstok warehouse and playing
our Sunday afternoon show, we had a much needed two days off. Much needed for two reasons: we were all
pretty exhausted from the previous week, and we had a big week coming up and
needed to rest up for it. We had two
shows in Proctor, MN at the Powerhouse Bar for the town’s Hog Head
Festival. We played the Hog Head
Festival a few years ago; we knew it was going to be a fun couple of
shows. Plus, Kevin was going to be
celebrating a birthday while we were there.
Like I said, we needed to rest up.
Let me start the discussion about this week with my
least favorite part of the week. I
always say that this lifestyle is definitely not as glamorous as people
perceive it to be, and this is about as much proof as I can offer. We checked into the hotel on Wednesday for
our two night stay, and when I opened the door there was only one bed. I walked back to the office and let the desk
attendant know that we needed a different room with 2 beds in it, at which point
he nicely let me know that there were no other rooms available. He did offer to bring me a cot though. I immediately lost my cool, stormed out of
the office, and told Josh we were stuck with that room and that he could have
the bed. I actually probably yelled it
at him. Sorry about that Josh. I guess I didn’t have my big boy pants on at
that moment. I’m sure I came off like an
immature asshole to both the desk clerk and Josh. Well choosing to sleep on the cot was a bad
idea. Easily the worst night’s sleep
I’ve had in ages. It was so bad that the
next night I decided to ditch the cot and just sleep on the floor. This is just one of those things that really
piss me off: we’ve been traveling for over five years now, and I’m in my
thirties. We are already away from home
and the comforts of our own beds so much; I feel that each of us at least
should get a bed to sleep on at night; not a couch, not a pull out, not a cot,
but a bed – mattress, box springs, etc.
Being basically forced to sleep on a cot (and then the floor by choice)
should not be part of it at this point.
If I was like 22 years old and we were all staying in one room to save
money and didn’t give a crap, then it would be one thing. But this just sucked. I know, I’m complaining here. Just let me vent for a moment and I’ll move
on. I took a photo of the cot so you
could see that it is not all glitz and easy living out here on the road… ha.
I guess that’s enough complaining for the time
being. I should move on to more
entertaining stories from the road. I’m
sure you’re not reading this to listen to me gripe.
As I was saying, we were scheduled for two nights in
Proctor during the Hog Head Festival.
The first night there I met a couple that had a really cool story for
me, which I’d like to share now. They
told me they had seen us play at the Spooner Rodeo the past few years, and that
last year their daughter was with them at our show. I can’t remember the daughter’s exact age,
early twenties I think. Anyway, their
daughter was out there dancing and saw this guy and motioned for him to come
over and dance with her; which of course he did. Apparently they hit it off at our show that
night and started talking, and pretty quickly started dating. A year later they are still dating, and have
moved out to Washington state (I think) because he is in the military (Army Ranger
I believe, but I could be remembering that wrong). I just think it is such a cute story: Two
young people met and fell for each other at our show. You know how I’m always saying how cool it is
for me to hear about our music having some sort of effect on people’s lives –
this is a great example of that. And
think about it, what if they end up getting married and grow old together? The
story they will tell their children and grandchildren will involve us. That’s a big deal for me; so cool. Fifty years from now, if they’re together,
will they remember the band they went to see that night? I certainly hope so.
The moral is this: come to our shows, meet the love
of your life, get married and live happily ever after. Uh, I guess that is just for the single people
though. This moral doesn’t apply to
people who are already in relationships.
Not to say that only single people have something to gain from coming to
an MDB show; we want you all there!!!
The next night was Kevin’s birthday. You can’t let your boy have a show on his
birthday and not expect to party with him.
So I did. We might have gotten a
little wild that night; at least Kevin and I; but I didn’t want him partying by
himself on stage; it was the responsible thing to do, right? We actually didn’t get that out of control or
anything. We weren’t missing lyrics or
playing poorly (that I noticed), and the crowd seemed to really enjoy getting
to be a part of the celebration as well.
I think maybe I’m more susceptible to the power of
suggestion though when I’m drinking and partying (well, aren’t we all though). I sometimes think things are a good idea that
I normally wouldn’t. Usually nothing criminally
or morally wrong, just silly things: like putting on a head band and sun
glasses at our show. Why do I do stuff
like this? I’m pretty sure in my buzzed
state I thought ‘hey this will get a reaction out of the people here tonight’. But why do I need to get more of a reaction
out of our crowd? I already have them
listening to our music and watching our show.
Do I really need more? Well,
apparently I do. I guess I really am an
attention whore sometimes. So, since I did
it, I might as well ask: is it a good look??? EMAIL me your thoughts. Maybe I’ll pull it back out sometime.
Well, at the end of that night the coolest thing
happened for me. The crowd was chanting
for an encore, which was great (and appreciated), but then they started
chanting for a specific song. I’m not
sure if that has happened to us before.
But the cool part was which song they were chanting for. They wanted to hear “Friends Like These” off
of our ‘Back In Town’ album. I am positive
no group has ever requested one of our songs for an encore before. This may have become one of the coolest
moments of my music career to date. In a
small bar in a small town in Minnesota, the crowd was chanting for my song at
the end of the night. I will admit that I
got choked up a little. Kevin and I just
looked at each other with a look of surprise and maybe a little
astonishment. So Steve got up from
behind the drums (since there are no drums on that song) and Kevin, Steve and I
stood in front of everyone with just an acoustic guitar and sang the song. And not only did they request it, they sang
along. I almost lost it. At the end of each chorus, I’d sing “… I’m
glad I get to be” and then stop singing and playing, and the crowd would finish
the line “…with friends like these”. It
was very humbling and surreal. I’d kill
to have it on video. This is the whole
reason I do this: for people to like my lyrics and songs so much that they know
all the words and want to hear them at our shows. It was just the coolest way to end a
night. I couldn’t have been happier then
I was at that moment. For those people
who were at the show that night and chanted for the song as the encore and sang
along: thank you. It meant so much to
me.
Our next show was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
at a small casino. Unfortunately, there
were not a lot of people there that night.
There was nothing really out of the ordinary or interesting to report
from this show or the trip there. So I’ll
just move on.
The next night we were back in WI at the Pickle Fest
in Boyceville, just north of Menomonie.
Again, with small town festivals like this we never really know what to
expect going in. Are people going to
show up and stick around? What will the
stage set up be like? Will there be
enough power to run all our equipment?
We just never know how it’s all going to turn out until we get there and
find out. We were definitely pleasantly
surprised though. The stage set up was
nice. Plenty of room, big stage, under a
tent, beer area set up properly. And
there was a great crowd there that night for the show. They were ready to
party, got wild with us, and didn’t want to stop at the end of the night. Those are the kind of shows and crowds I
love; those are the easy nights. We do
our thing, everyone has fun. As long as
we put everything into our show, we know a crowd like that will respond; which
in turn makes us want to put even more effort and energy into it. We had a blast that night. We could have played for two more hours and
they would have stayed and partied with us the entire time. I wish every night was that intense. But I guess I wouldn’t appreciate those
nights as much if I didn’t have the slower nights mixed in as well.
Switching gears a little bit here:
I’ve heard the expression “don’t forget the little people
when you guys get famous” more and more lately.
For some reason that saying bothers me.
I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it, and am completely
flattered that people think we are talented enough to reach our goals and
therefore ‘become famous’. But I just
don’t see it as a ‘big people’ / ‘little people’ kind of thing. I don’t know, I have just never viewed
celebrities or rock stars as more important than anyone else; and hope I would
never consider myself more important than anyone if I happened to become that successful
musically. Maybe I just see things from
a different perspective because of the path we’ve taken with our career. We’ve been up close and personal with our fan
base; and I would hope we continue to be.
If we ever become successful on that scale, I feel that it will be
because of those people who have supported us and our music throughout the
journey. How could you ever forget that
(or those supporters)? I hope I don’t. If I ever get to a point where I feel like I’m
better than anyone else (for any reason actually), I hope someone will slap
some sense into me. I was brought up
better than that. I hope we all were. If we ever are able to meet our goals, get
our music out there on a level that makes us famous, I will be sure to never ‘forget
the little people’ who have supported us and rooted for us from these early
days. Well, now that I have that off my
chest…
Note: I did not finish this entry in the van that
night. But I did see the sun come
up. I took over driving in Tomah, WI and
drove to Chicago that morning. I did end
up seeing the sun start to come up somewhere between Rockford and Chicago.
I guess it is about time to wrap this entry up. I have a great song quote at the end by Corey
Smith, and also want to mix things up a bit with a few other song quotes. Let’s have a contest with it. If you are the first person to correctly
guess the artists for both of the last two song quotes, you will win a free ‘Michael
D. Band T-shirt’ at the next show you attend (you’ll have to remind me at the
show that you won though; I’m kind of forgetful). So if you know the artists of the last two
song quotes, post your answer in the comment section of this blog. If you’re receiving this entry via email, you
might have to go to our actual blog website to post a comment. If so, the site is: http://michaeldband.blogspot.com/
Before the weekly song lyrics though, I want to
remind you to check out all of our online tools to keep up with everything we
have going on. I just updated several
things on our website, including updating our schedule, so go check it out to
see when we’ll be at a venue close to you.
Now for the Song
Quotes. I feel like this first one
sums things up for me pretty well.
“Times are a changing but I'm still the same ol' son
of a bitch in the wind. I act like I did back when I was a kid but it hurts me
more than it did back then. I go out on
the town and make a fool of myself, I run around with the same rowdy
friends. I get drunk and obnoxious and
wake up the next day swearin' I'm never drinkin' again” … “Still got the same
dirty mouth that I've had since my first cousin taught me to cuss. And I just
quit my 9 to 5 occupation to play a whole bunch of songs I made up” – Corey
Smith ‘Maybe Next Year’
And lastly: The
‘Guess the Artist’ Contest
These are from our youth; or at least my younger
days.
The first person to correctly guess the artists who
sang these lyrics will receive a free Michael D. Band T-shirt at the next show
they attend. To submit your guess, just
post the answer in the comment section of our blog. You have to get them both correct to win!
1. "Never trust a big butt and a smile"
2. "... rhythm is life, and life is rhythm"
