February 8, 2003 - Boulder, Colorado

It's Monday, Feb 10th at 7:30PM Eastern Standard Time. We're in our office at home doing the last diary entry. I'm exhausted. I didn't have enough energy to do an entry yesterday, that's why we're doing it today.

We had a 10:00AM bus call in Ft. Collins and even though it was only about an hour drive, we had to get there early because Victor had an "in-store" appearance at Bart's CD Cellar and a bass clinic at a local music store in Boulder, CO. Toné and I rode in the front of the bus for the whole trip and we did the Ft. Collins entry during that ride, while driving parallel to the Rocky Mountains.

When we got to Boulder it was about 11:00AM. So Victor and I jumped off the bus on the Pearl Street section of downtown. We stopped in a cool book store on the way to Bart's CD Cellar. When we got to Bart's, the place was pretty much empty and I didn't think anyone was going to show up for the "in-store". But at noon, the place just seemed to fill up. It was a very good appearance. He has a very good philosophy on music and he's very good at verbalizing his thoughts. After that appearance, he went to the music store and I walked back to the venue in the freezing cold.

Ted, Zach & I loaded in and set up for the show with help from employees of the venue (The Fox Theater). While I was doing that, my wife, Toné packed my luggage and emptied my bunk because the bus was heading back to Nashville right after the gig. I always seem to have a lot more stuff at the end of the tour than I do at the beginning of the tour because of all the 'doo-dads' I pick up along the way. Kevin, our bus driver was also "pulling" for the Flecktones and they were heading out on Monday the 10th. So he needed to get on the road.

After sound check, my friend Michael Dietrich, Toné and I went down to Pearl Street to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The food was VERY good. When we got back we went down to the dressing room and I gave Michael and a couple of guys from the opening band some tips on bass. It felt really good to do that because I've been out of teaching mode for so long. Following the lesson, the opening band went on and they were very good. They asked me to play with them on a song, but I declined because I was exhausted and I had a long night ahead of me. But it's always an incredible honor to be asked to sit in with a band, 'cause it means they think a lot of your playing.

When they were done we switched over the stage pretty fast. Then the Victor Wooten band took the stage. Everybody seemed to have a lot of energy - I guess it was because it was the last night. I took a pretty decent solo and the audience seemed to appreciate it. So I thanked them. Only thing is,…I thanked Ft. Collins and we were in Boulder! Of course the guys in the band just bust out laughing! And I have a feeling they'll NEVER let me live that one down. And since this concert was being filmed and some of it might be on a DVD, I have a feeling it's gonna' show up on the DVD also. I got an email from a guy after the show who thought it was part of the act. Kinda' like a TV commercial for a hotel chain that had been airing the last couple of months. All I can say is, I wish it HAD been part of the act.

After the show we took pictures with the opening band and we took pictures with each other on the bus. Zach & Ted had a 6:00AM flight so they left straight from the venue, so we all said our goodbye's to them. The rest of us were being dropped off at a hotel in Denver by the airport. On the way to Denver we watched the footage of the concert. My wife Toné shot the video for Victor and she did a great job (but I'm biased). We all had different flight times, so we were being driven to the airport at different times. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Victor and the gang, so I'll have to call everybody.

Our shuttle call was 10:00AM. The driver was very cool - he said he used to play bass with Natalie Cole. He was also in a band with a guy named Darryl Woolfolk, who's brother was a member of Earth Wind & Fire. Then I remembered there was a sax player in Earth Wind & Fire named Andrew Woolfolk. And THEN I remembered the Earth Wind & Fire is from Colorado.

Denver airport is VERY large and kinda' disorganized and security had been stepped up. We had a long uneventful flight. The TV monitors in front of each person had a GPS navigation screen that showed our flight path, cruising speed and altitude. We touched down in Baltimore 4 hours later. Then something very interesting happened. But lemme' me back up a minute…when we were at our gate in Denver, I noticed that there was a Jet Blue gate next to the gate we were flying out of. Seeing that made me think of my student Freddie McSears, who is a pilot for Jet Blue. He's also one of the nicest human beings on the planet. When we landed at BWI, Freddie was one of the first people we saw. Jet Blue doesn't even fly to BWI. He was only there because he had missed an earlier flight to his temporary home in Florida and he was waiting for the next available flight. I hadn't seen him since Christmas eve. He used to drive all the way from Delaware for weekly lessons with me. Now he's probably gonna' fly in from Florida for lessons!

One hour later we were home. We watched a little bit of the NBA Allstar game and fell asleep on the couch. Doing a tour diary has been a great experience for me. Even though I wanted to do this and I thought it would be fun, I had some reservations. I thought it would be 'cheesy' and at times juvenile, but the feedback I got was positive. A lot of people wrote in and said it was VERY cool. Victor said to me in Missoula, MT that most people will never get to go out on tour and it's a great way to give them insight on what we do. Most people just think that a band shows up at a venue, play and then they leave. Most people aren't aware of the 12 to 14 hour days that most bands put in while they're out on tour. I tried to give people a sense of the reality of touring, but I also wanted to give people the sense of the social aspect of being in a different city every day, meeting cool people and doing cool things, and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

I'd like to take the time right now to thank our driver, Kevin Premier (thanks for always getting us there safely) - our tour manager Danette Albetta (thanks for always getting stuff done even though it drives you crazy) - our house engineer and main technical person, Zach Newton (I can't express in words what you meant to me and how valuable your expertise was on this run) - our lighting director, Ted Atwell (you hit all the cues and made all of us look good) - our MC/rapper, Divinity (we just have WAY too much fun on stage together) - our drummer, Derico Watson (you are truly a 'force of nature') - our guitarist, Regi Wooten (you continue to blow me/people away with what you do,…and your ability to manifest, uh, I mean find a Subway sandwich shop in every city) - our keyboardist, Joseph Wooten (you're my favorite songwriter in the world…after Stevie Wonder. Let's go to another fight together) - and to the man himself, Victor Wooten - you are the Muhammed Ali of the bass guitar - 'the greatest of all time'. Thank you for inviting me out, again. Thank you for trusting me with your irreplaceable gear. Thank you for letting me play bass in a show that in NO WAY needs another bass player! Thank you for our long talks. Thank you for the experience of a lifetime. I can't believe you pay me for this!

Let's all do this again soon.

Special thanks goes out to my wife, Toné. Thanks for putting up with the 4:00AM phone calls to do the diary entries. Thanks for giving me permission to go on the road for a month (hee hee). Thanks for an incredible web site that keeps getting better. Thanks for letting me blow tour money on musical equipment instead of bills. Thanks for trusting me on the road. Thank you for the best year of my life…and many more to come.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank you guys for finding this little experiment of ours interesting enough to keep checkin' it out every day for the past 3 weeks. I'd like to thank you for your continued support.

Oh yeah, if you or anybody you know has taken any cool pictures at the shows, please email me copies. I might just put 'em up on the site.

If I had to sum up this whole experience in one sentence I would say...

"SMELLS LIKE FUNK"

peace & blessings,

anthony