February 3, 2004 - Boise, ID

We arrived in Boise early enough to check into the hotel. I was able to get a couple of hours sleep. Since we didn't have an overnight stay tonight, we were sharing rooms. In this particular instance Kurt, Ted and I had to share a room. Most of the time when we arrive at a venue early they don't wake up, they just sleep on the bus. I went upstairs to the room and went right to sleep. It was a suite with 2 bathrooms, an isolated bedroom and a sofa bed. While I was asleep I vaguely remembered hearing Kurt come in. He got on line to check his email and when I finally woke up I checked mine. Bus call was 12:30PM and load in was set for 1:00PM. This was our 3rd time being at the Big Easy in Idaho. I like this place because the stage is pretty big and the sound system and lighting rig is nice. There doesn't seem to be much to do in the vicinity of the club, though. I was totally done setting up Victor's rig and checking all the basses by 2:15. I was trying to arrange a ride to the local Ducati dealer to check out their bikes. My friend's Russ & Robin were going to drive me to the local Ducati dealer in Utah, but then I remembered that most motorcycle dealers are closed on Monday. Before I left for the tour, I made a list of all the cities that we were going to be playing in that had Ducati dealers. My goal was to try to make it to all the dealers. I didn't make it to the dealer in Denver because there was too much snow on the ground. In Idaho I wasn't able to find a 'runner' to take me to the dealer. I ended up walking into the sushi bar next door to the venue. There I met a bartender named Sadie and a sushi chef named Devon. Devon wasn't scheduled to start making sushi for another hour. She offered to make me some. She made me some yellow tail rolls and some negihama, which is tempura shrimp and cucumber wrapped in avocado and seared tuna with sweet and spicy sauce. It was the best tasting sushi I ever had. She didn't even charge me for it. When I got back to the venue they were taking orders for food and this venue's theme is Cajun. I ordered a bowl of crawfish étouffé It was yummy! I'm generally not a big fan of spicy food but sometimes I make allowances for that.

The show was very good. Divinity was coming down with a cold or something. She wasn't feeling too well, but she still rocked the 'mic'. Victor played extremely well during his solo and he played a really long time too. The audience really enjoyed themselves. Victor was born in Idaho and he always mentions that when we play there. The tear down and load out goes incredibly fast now. It seems like it takes me no time at all to pack up all the basses and tear down Victor's monstrous rig. We usually end of having to wait on Derico and Joseph because they get swamped signing autographs. Ted lines all the cases in the order that they go into the trailer while I stay up in the venue with the gear. Then I send the cases out with the loaders to Ted and he arranges it on the trailer. After everything is packed up, Kurt, Ted and I do an 'IC'….it's an 'Idiot Check'. We just generally look around the stage and the dressing room to make sure nobody left anything. We take all the food that's provided for us and stock the refrigerator on the bus with it. After we left the venue we rode the bus back to the venue to shower and we headed on our way to Montana.

Here's a picture of me and Jeff - the 'naked bus driver'... fortunately, he's not naked right now

peace & blessings

anthony