March 17, 2005 - Burlington, VT

Man,….that was one LONG bus ride. We left Nashville around 11pm Wednesday night. We got to the venue in Burlington , VT around 9pm Thursday night. Now, you might be asking yourself,…”If you got to Burlington at 9pm , what time was showtime?” Showtime was scheduled for 9pm . I think we were supposed to load in at noon . We spent over 20 hours on the bus ride. We saw night time TWICE on one bus ride!

So,…you think you wanna' be in the music business?! We once spent 12 hours in an airport in Spain and this is our 2 nd bus ride that lasted more than 20 hours. Most people only think of the ‘glamour' of touring. Ya know,…the onstage stuff. But when you're a full-time musician so little of your ‘working' time is spent on stage. We actually spend more time setting up and breaking down gear than we do performing. Not to mention the travel. It's a good thing we're fortunate enough to travel on a nice tour bus. But I've had and continue to have my share of gigs where I hafta' drive 3 or 4 hours each way to play 1 hour.

Anyway,…the trip was actually fun for me. I can't think of a better buncha' people to spend 20 hours with. I already knew I was gonna' laugh a whole lot. These guys are funny!!!! The Wooten brothers have some hilarious stories individually and collectively. When I think about it,…everybody on the bus has their ‘funny moments'.

We started watching the 3 rd season of the TV show called ‘24'. We watched about 8 one hour episodes. Some of them I watched in the front lounge and some of them I watched from my bunk. I decided I was gonna' start sleeping on my bunk. I don't usually like to sleep on my bunk because it felt kinda' ‘closed in' but I'm actually starting to like it a whole lot. My bed is very comfortable and it offers more privacy than the back lounge. It seems like I got enough sleep for 2 days on that bus ride.

One very cool thing about the trip is that I got to spend a lot of time on the phone with my wife.

Like I said earlier,…we got to the Higher Ground in Burlington around 9pm . They moved into a new location since our last trip here. The club useta' be located in Winooski.

We decided that we would try something different since we were late arriving. I can only imagine the amazement of the audience to walk into a club at 8:45 to see a concert that starts at 9 and see that there's no gear on the stage whatsoever.

We decided that we would try something different since we were late arriving. We decided to start playing as the gear was being set up. That way,…the crowd could actually see us set up, sound check and play. How many audiences can say that they've seen that. I got Victor's rig set up very fast and he came out and just started playing the crowd love it. While he was playing, Derico start sound checking his drums. Then he broke into a groove behind Victor. The rest of the band just gradually fell in. Now,…you're not gonna' believe me when I tell you this,…

The gig was supposed to start at 9pm . It only took us 29 minutes to set up are start the show. All of you guys who have seen this show before know that we travel with a lot of gear.

The show was incredible. Everyone in the band played their butts off. At the end of the show Victor called me out for an ‘impromptu' bass solo. That was fun. The impromptu solos are cool for me. It doesn't give me enough time to be nervous.

Of course we had some bass camp folks come out. John Spaulding brought 2 of his students, Kyle and Sam. There was Christian Heins and Andrew Root too. I just saw Andrew at Gerald's camp. Andrew's lovely mom came along to check out the show too. Another camper named Robert Strangell (I think) gave Victor and I some very cool ‘bronzed' leaves that he and his dad made.

Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon from Phish were in the house. It was cool hanging with those guys. My wife is a big fan of Phish.

All-n-all,…we had a great night despite the long bus ride and being late. I was thankful for long shower I was able to get after the show.

Now we have an 8 hour bus ride to Reading , PA.

peace & blessings,

Anthony

“Smells Like Funk”