September 24, 2003 - Knoxville, TN

Man, these bus trips have been LONG!! It seems like when I wake up in the morning after traveling all night it seems like we have a couple of hours left to the trip. I woke up and looked out the window, I saw that we were at exit 369 on I-40 East. I knew that had to be close to Knoxville. When we got into Knoxville the first thing I spotted was the tower they built for the World's Fair back in 1983. My family came down to that World's Fair in '83. There is something about Knoxville that I like a lot - I can't quite put my finger on it. I look forward to when we play in Knoxville and when we play in Chattanooga.

We got into town extremely early and we had a 3:00 load in and I think it was around 11:00AM when we got in, so that gave me a lot of free time. I went up to my very nice expensive hotel room. It was the Marriott Hotel that was shaped like a big pyramid with a big courtyard inside that the rooms overlooked. A guy named Wes Switzer had been emailing me about hanging out before the show. I guess we had met at the San Juan Capistrano show in the winter. He had just moved to Knoxville last week. So after I took a shower, I came downstairs and waited for him. We rode around town looking for a place to eat and a Best Buy to look for some Palm Pilot accessories.

We were getting close to bus call time so I called the tour manager Danette to tell her that I was just going straight to the venue, which was the 'Blue Cat's', and would miss bus call. When we got to the venue the bus hadn't gotten there yet. So Wes and I just hung around at the venue. I saw that they had made some pretty cool changes to it since the last time we played there. They actually added a 2nd floor by cutting a hole into the roof and added a large screen over the band stand. I told Wes that he could hang out for load in and sound check if he wanted. I was also looking forward to this day because I was going to see a friend that my wife and I had met the last time we played here. Her name is Jessica Greenburg and she was coming to the show with her boyfriend Aram. Jessica used to work at a coffee shop around the corner from the venue. The last time my wife and I were out there we struck up a conversation with her and then wound up inviting her to the show. She's a very cool young lady and she's studying Social Work and UT Knoxville. Not surprising her boyfriend is a bass player and she once surprised him by bringing him to a Victor Wooten show in Chattanooga without telling him where he was going.

After eating at the venue's restaurant I went for a walk in old town Knoxville and as I was walking back a train was crossing. As a kid I was fascinated with trains, so I walked right up to it while it was going down the track. That was the closest I had ever been to a train that was moving. In the city of DC most of the train tracks are elevated so you don't get to walk up to a train as it's going by. I was so excited I called my wife to let her hear the train. I guess all the people sitting in their cars waiting for the train to cross thought I was some kind of nut. After the very long train finished crossing I walked back to the venue and it was time to give the basses one more check before show time. Another Bass/Nature camper, Daniel Budd was at the concert. I thought for sure that Victor was gonna' call him up to play, but the show started running long and we ended up leaving a couple of tunes out.

After the show we did our usual meet & greet with the fans. I talked to a woman named Melody Sunshine and her boyfriend. I had initially met them at the Prince Celebration we were at last summer. We laughed and joked with the 'Blue Cat's' staff as we loaded out. Then we all jumped on the bus to head back to the hotel to clean up and get ready to do the trip to Ohio. I was kinda' tired, so I didn't stay up. I just went straight to the back and talked to Toné for a while on the phone and then crashed.

peace & blessings

anthony