After days of heavy rain, a beautiful sunset.

I’ve got to say that this break has begun with several serious sections of roller coaster. But before I get to that, I’ve got to write a few words about the end of the tour, because that was a bit of a coaster ride in and of itself. I mean, really… floods and Bones Malone in one week?

Seriously?

To make sure you’re up to date, here’s a synopsis of the last little jaunt: half-rained out in Russel County, VA, so we put on a semi-acoustic, in-the-round set in the Livestock Barn (which is a LOT better than not performing at all); run to PA, only to sit through our second batch of hurricane-induced heavy rains, to the point that the Susquehanna River went 20-some feet over official flood level and inundated Wilkes-Barre and surrounding areas for several days; watch Doug Brewin and his band do an excellent tribute to Alan Jackson… in the rain… to a dozen people…: sit and fret over whether or not we will be able to do the Saturday show with Ryan and the Sunday show with Mark Hinds’ tribute to Kenny Rogers; finally watch the clouds clear and get to do both shows, and even meet Tom “Bones” Malone in the bargain.

An interesting week, yes? I thought so, too.

For those who don’t know him, Bones is one of the most highly regarded brass and woodwind players on the scene today. Nicknamed after the instrument that is the cornerstone of his career – the tromBONE – he’s been part of David Letterman’s band for decades, and has a resume of top-shelf credits twelve pages long!! Tom was working with the Blues Brotherhood, one of the top tributes in the country, and often includes not only Tom, but other original members of the Blues Brothers band.

Bones is also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. We spent a fair amount of time getting to know each other, and found several connections, not the least of which is that I played lower brass as a student, and studied under the famed Brian Bowman, who now heads the Euphonium department at his alma mater, North Texas State. (And yes, there are enough students studying each instrument, that they all have their own departments.)

Taking the obligatory "I met him!" photo back stage at the fair.

That night we did our first full-on show in two weeks, so it was great to get back on stage with Ryan for the whole enchilada. The following day we performed with Mark for the first time, and he was extremely pleased with the results of our week of preparation. I really enjoyed the shows as Kenny Rogers was yet another artist often heard in our house growing up. Plus, a couple of them had fun bass lines to enjoy. (smile)

The only bad thing about that day, aside from a mere few minutes of sprinkles, was the apparent loss of my cell phone. I realized it wasn’t on my belt as we sat down for our single run-through with Mark. As we couldn’t quickly find the phone, we decided to take care of business before engaging in a more thorough search. Once that was well-handled, we set about searching the entire back-stage area, and obviously, the bus as well. All to no avail… for hours! Finally, shortly before we were to go on (after a killer set by Rick K and the All-Nighters), D’arcy and Jeff heard my signature old-school ring on the bus. It was muffled and indistinct, but they traced it to underneath one of the benches in the front lounge. It had fallen between the cracks when the seat was lifted to access the storage underneath. So, crisis averted.

As soon as we finished our last show with Mark, we did our usual Instant Load-Out, getting out of the park a mere 45 minutes after the last note rang. As usual, we did the overnight run to Nashville, with D’arcy and I riding mid-shift (as in middle of the night). One welcome change was that I slept through the rest of the drive after our shift… all the way to the stoplight at the gate of Ryan’s complex. Thanks to that, I was well primed for the remaining 7-hour trip home.

When I arrived home, I had just enough time to get a good, long shower to wash off the road grime before sitting down to an excellent meal. There’s already more to tell you, but I’ll let it wait until my next post. (If we’re connected through Facebook and/or Twitter, you already know some of what’s been going on.) Until next time, all y’all…

God bless,

Lane

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