January 28, 2003 - Tempe, Arizona

Toné and I started the day not wanting to get out of bed because we were tired from the previous day. But we packed up the computer and our luggage and made the 10:00AM bus call. We got to Tempe about an hour earlier than we planned, so we just started bringing the gear in and setting up. Toné had a 4:30 flight out of Phoenix, so I was sad that she had to leave today. I miss her already.

Today is my older sister's (Antoinette Wellington) birthday 39th. Happy Birthday "Piggy"!!

After a very short sound check, Victor and I walked to a Mexican restaurant. The Phoenix area has a very large Mexican population so I kinda' figured that the food would probably be very good. We both ordered seafood enchiladas. It was the BEST Mexican food I had in my whole life! After we got back, Hannah from the venue took me over to the drugstore to restock on some supplies I needed for the rest of the tour. Most of the people in the club hadn't seen the Victor Wooten band before so they didn't know what to expect. It was a great show for them to come to because it was the best performance of the tour. I got to play on a lot of songs. I did another solo. A lot of people recognized me from the CD. I had a guy come up to me before the show and say "You're the brutha' from DC aren't you?".

I actually called Toné a couple of times during the show just to see if she made it home safely. It's 2:00AM Phoenix time and we just finished packing up about an hour ago. I'm in the back lounge on the bus telling all this to my wife and she actually types all this up on the computer as I'm saying it (and it's 4:00 in the morning her time!). I really appreciate that she takes the time to do this for me at such odd hours. Thanks, Toné!

When I wake up tomorrow we'll probably be in San Juan Capistrano, California which puts us back in the Pacific time zone. This is my 4th time zone change since I left home. And I have at least a couple more left. As soon as I start to get used to one time zone, it's time to go into another one. But I'm not complaining because each early morning and late night, and overnight travel on the bus, and being away from home and missing my wife…STILL beats sitting behind a desk for a living! That's all for now - check in tomorrow for more!

peace & blessings,

anthony