Road Journal 10.6.2021
Part of the day’s task on the Hunting Ground Tour…any tour…is looking at a list of ‘Necessary Things TO DO NOW’ and deciding what is going to be punted until tomorrow, or next week, or ‘when we get home’….or abandoned altogether.
That last field is a real boneyard.
It’s a paradox on the road, to have no time for getting things done Just So, or having more personal time to breathe, take in the view; read a book or just get your nails painted….and at the same time, having the rare day off, or a travel day, where you don’t know what to do with yourself. It knocks you off your rhythm of Go Go Go. Either way, it seems you are always on the edge of falling apart in all Personal Self Care categories.
Too busy to rest. Too restless to relax.
Alas, it’s a familiar glove…worn, washed, tight…but still-sort-of-fits and shopping is hard.
Where was I?
Yes, so we are traveling towards Salt Lake City from an always-super-high-energy engaged (TUESDAY!) crowd in Boise ID last night, and our first time at The Olympic Venue. Hauling 10,000 lbs of gear to the 2nd floor stage (and also back down) is always a treat that the band savors. We grouse, but it’s always a hearty exercise and you feel like a man and entitled to some extra calories when rolling out of town that evening.
Seattle is a special stop for the band and is our geographic watermark where the band reaches the top of the northwestern U.S. coastal border of our tour route where we start the southeast route back across the country. We’ve been fortunate to play 3 shows across two venues here in a 24 hour span for the last 4 or 5 years: a Saturday standing show, and 2 seated/dinner shows on Sunday.
Being in a town for 2 days in a row feels like you’ve practically relocated. There is no extra time really, it’s mainly just that you’re not driving miles to your next stop, just a handful of city blocks. So it’s wake up, walk it out a bit, or grab a sit down breakfast that isn’t moving on wheels, or set up a mobile office at the coffee shop to do some paperwork, photo/video editing or check in with the families. 1pm Load In comes quick, and it’s Go mode once again.
Where was I?
Yes, so Seattle was great, as always. At Neumos on Saturday, we got some vacuum-sealed fish gifted to us onstage; fresh smoked salmon from a fan who’s family business runs Alpenview, a fishing expedition outfitter in Alaska that you reach by ferry or seaplane. At Triple Door on Sunday, someone named their boat “Life Less Ordinary” and we were given a framed photo.
Another Seattle highlight - our eponymous song, “The Hunting Ground”, made it’s public debut in Seattle on Saturday. Having our friend Ty Bailie on keyboards added some magic to it, and to the whole weekend…thank you Ty and Emily for coming into town and lending your time and talents.
We have been enjoying peppering in some of the new songs into the sets - Her Father’s Pride, Everything’s Alright Mama, The Hunting Ground - and they have been well-received. {This is a REMINDER that you can listen to them all now for pennies on the dollar on Spotify. Give a listen so when we meet, it’s not awkward.}
[Tempering some rosiness. A general sense that things are off everywhere you go, and it’s eery. Some in small ways…businesses working to get open, to do some business…any business…understaffed or limited hours. And in some large ways, in some areas the underbelly is more readily exposed than you’re accustomed…the homeless lining filthy back alleys, gangbangers shaking up their peddlers in broad daylight, and low level suppliers keeping a supply of cash and drugs to addicted junkies on death’s door, who smoke crack and shoot up in broad daylight under people’s feet, getting high and then taking their cash and drugs out on the circuit to keep the cycle going.]
Anyway, our shows are feeling safe and the vax card mandates/negative tests/masks are going well.
OK, on to other Hunting Ground things. We hope you are making plans to join us on the upcoming shows in SLC, Ft. Collins, Denver, KC and into the midwest in the coming days.
All we need is gathering.
-Barry
