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April 11, 2005 - Columbus, OH Our bus call was too early this morning because we only had to go about 113 miles to Columbus. I saw Divinity on my way to the bus so I asked her if she wanted to run with me down the block to McDonald’s to grab a breakfast sandwich. We made back before everyone was on the bus. I rode some of the way up front so I could talk to our bus driver, Todd Brewer. He’s very cool. He used to be a tour manager until just a couple of weeks ago. He worked for the Oak Ridge Boys. He’s also a former professional wrestler. He was one of the Steiner Brothers. I’m not a fan of wrestling but I do remember the Steiner Brothers. We chatted about his ‘various’ careers. When we got to the venue I realized that we were on the campus of OSU (Ohio State University). We’ve played OSU before but I can’t remember the venue. I just remember riding by the football stadium. We parked our bus alongside the venue to unload. Then Todd moved it to the street just behind our ‘other’ bus. I walked into a tattoo parlor that was next door to the venue. I plan to get my mighty Mouse tattoo while I’m on the road. I’ll probably wait `til the West coast run. The Venue looked pretty cool inside. It had kind of a ‘Goth’ feel to it,...ya’ know,…spooky and dark. We got everything set up and I decided to change all of the strings on all of the basses. I musta’ changed the strings on about 8 basses. It took a couple of hours with everything else that I had to do. Divinity saw me changing strings and came over to use the tools to change the strings on her bass. Victor was doing an interview somewhere. When he got back I saw him with Dwight from the last camp. I can’t remember his last name but I remember him being very cool. I think Victor met him at a festival that both of them were playing here in Ohio. I got a couple of opportunities to talk with Dwight. I was glad to see someone from camp since I didn’t see anyone from camp at the Cincinnati concert last night. I’m sure that someone from camp was there,…I just didn’t see anyone. After we finished soundchecking I had just enough time to go next door to Chipotle’s to eat a Burrito. Joseph walked over there with me. We walked right past the very long line for the Victor Wooten concert. I was surprised at how many people didn’t recognize Joseph and I,…especially Joseph. A woman in the restaurant asked if we were here for the concert. We told her that we were playing in the concert. I introduced myself and I introduced Joseph. She called some of her friends over and said, “This is Victor Wooten’s brother”. That’s a ‘running’ joke with us. Joseph always gets introduced as Victor Wooten’s brother. I guess people don’t mean to be rude and they probably don’t realize how rude it is to do that but,…it always happens. After eating I decide to spend the 20 minutes I had left to walk down the street and back. This place looked like a typical college town,…school bookstores and bars. I walked back to the bus and got my ‘show clothes’ together. I went and changed and tuned the basses one last time. Victor came and told me that Foley was in the ‘house’. Foley useta’ play lead bass for Miles Davis. I think his lead bass was like a piccolo bass. I’m not really sure,…I’ll hafta’ ask him about that. I never got a chance to see Foley but he emailed me and told me that he would come to another show. I’m just so busy after the show that I don’t have time to be involved in the ‘Meet-N-Greet’ that we have after every show. Anyways,…the show went great. I love having JD out. He’s playing drums and percussion. But mostly percussion. It adds a whole new dimension to what we’re doing. JD’s time is so solid and everything he plays he does it with the intention of making the music better,…and not to show what he can do. He’s such a ‘mature’ musician. I learn from him everyday I hear him play. A sax player named Shawn ‘Thunder’ Wallace sat in with us. He also played on the CD. He teaches here at OSU. It seemed like it took us a long time to pack up the gear after the show. We have so much more stuff. Little do I know what’s in store for us tomorrow! I’m just glad that we have another ‘overnight’. I like having my own hotel room. That really allows me to ‘unwind’ after a long day. We’re averaging 14 hour days of working. The 2 ½ performance is only a very small part of our very long day. And mine is especially long since I’m crew and band. I talked to my wife on the phone a couple of times after the show and at the hotel. That always helps me to ‘unwind’ too. I pretty much spend my nights getting caught on sports on ESPN’s Sportscenter and getting caught up on email. If I miss a day of replying to email it becomes a mess. I usually get a buncha’ email after someone sees the show. It’s exciting for me and I do answer them all but I hafta’ be sure to stay on top of it or I’ll hafta’ answer double the amount the next day. I won’t even mention my phone messages. peace&blessings, “Smells Like Funk”
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