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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
 Posted - 07/13/2007 : 5:12:13 PM
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Well we heading to Ashland fearing the worst after our absolutely wonderful 3 nites at Blues Alley in Washington DC. Who could have imagined it would be a continuation of such good fortune.
We arrived in Ashland the nite before our show and got to bed fairly early after the relatively short drive and dinner as we had an early morning press engagement in Richmond. In the morning (c)Rew wasn't feeling so well so he opted to stay at the hotel and TR and myself made our way to Richmond for the TR interview and performance.
We arrived to the TV station early and didn't have to wait long to head into the studio to soundcheck. After that, we were shocked to find out that we had to wait another 30-45 mins for the actual broadcast as it was going out live instead of taped. TR had not had his morning Starbucks yet as there was no Starbucks in Ashland so we took this opportunity to venture out and see if we could locate one. After a quite a few u-turns TR was ready to give up and head back but I was "on a mission". LOL We found the a Starbucks much to TR's satisfaction and headed back to the station where we were greated by a little bit of panic since we weren't in the waiting room where they had left us. They joked about what would have happened had we gotten in an accident. I joked back about the "accident" that would have occurred if didn't find TR some coffee. LOL Everyone at the station was great, very professional and friendly and the interview and performance went great. TR performed one instrumental, Betrayal, and one vocal track, The Truth. There were jokes made about the contrasting titles. I am hoping to get a copy of the performance at some point to share. It was on WTVR's "Virginia This Morning" show and the interviewer was a fan of TR's from way back in his Secrets daze. They seemed very excited to have him on the show. Then it was back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon before the gig that nite.
We arrived at the venue and were greeted by the soundman, George. Room seemed nice but I was still a bit worried about the audience noise that could be possible given the room. I guess I was a bit overly sensitive about it since we had just come off of 6 pin-drop quiet shows at Blues Alley. It turns out all my fears were for naught. After soundcheck we met the owner Kay who was absolutely wonderful and really seems to love what she does which is run an awesome coffee shop and restaurant that has live music. What a great mix for the boys. LOL Turns out the folks that come there are much more listener oriented which was great to find out. They actually made an announcement just like Blues Alley just before the set asking people not to talk and to turn off their cell phones. I was still a tad apprehensive at this point but found that even after TR finished his first song noone even clapped. LOL I almost walked into the room to start a clap but by that point TR had started his next song. Talk about a QUIET, respectful audience. They lightened up after the next song and find their niche in the scheme of the show. No yelling, perfectly quiet, clapped in all the right places. Another perfect show. The setlist looked like this in front of TR:
Inner Space Walk
Captain Cod
Che
The Truth
We Are From Outer Space
Betrayal
Brief Encounter With Insect Conciousness
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Sinceritox
Ancestors
Arroyo
Coco
Metamorphuc
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Emptiness Times Infinity Equals Infemtinessity
To The Next
Dissolution
This Is The One
(Hidden Marbles?)
Smells Soooo Sweetah!
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Death Squad
Doom
Ocean
Scream
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Hold On, I'm Still Coming, I Can't Stop
We Are from Outer Space seems to have been added at the last minute to the setlist as it is written in the margin and "Noble So + So Or Time Has Told Me" are written there and crossed off prior to the set. Sorry, don't remember any changes made to the set as it was to long ago but a recording was done so the tale of the tape will bear out the actual setlist.
Kay and her staff treated us so well, more like family than guests. Thanx for the absolutely WONDERFUL food and positive vibes all nite. At some point I had to ask the really embarrassing question that I am always asking someone, "Do you know where a Starbucks is for in the morning?". Sadly, when you are in such a kewl little mom & pop coffee shop even mentioning the word Starbucks is tantamount to murder. LOL Anyway, I sucked it up and asked Kay as apologetically as possible and she informed me that so far they had managed to keep Starbucks out of there wonderfully, quaint little town. She said we were more than welcome to come by in the morning and have all the coffee and breakfast we wanted on the house as well. We would just consider it part of our hospitality for the evening. Kay was then notified that that was all well and good but that tomorrow was the 4th of July and they wouldn't be open. Back to square one, or so I thought. One of your staff, who turned out to be a huge TR fan(he even had an original copy of Stream on cassette)offered to give us his number and we could call him in the morning when we were ready to leave and he would meet us and open the coffee shop just for us. Talk about above and beyond. That's the kind of folks we were dealing with all nite. Thanx to Kay, George, Michelle and the entire staff for the wonderful experience. Look forward to doing it again in the not too distant future. Special Thanx to Brad for hooking the boys up with mojogogo juice before we undertook our longest drive of the run to Hartford, CT. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2007 : 6:33:33 PM
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| Oh, SNAP!!! Forgot to mention the train. So the Ashland Coffee & Tea is set on a street with all it's front windows facing the street. Literally down the middle of the street are active train tracks. Must have been about 6 or 7 trains go during TR's set which added to the already awesome feel of the nite. Not loud enuf to take away from the show but just enuf to add an organic, bluesy feel to the evening. We had noticed this during soundcheck and joke about it with TR. On a past TouR TR had brought a blues CD along on with him, sadly the artist escapes me now, but one of the tracks has him playing live in a club and you can hear the train pass by during the song. At the same TIMe a friend or fan is yelling things like "Go ahead!", "Get it!" and TR really thought that was kewl. We joked that (c)Rew or myself should yell similar things as the trains passed so we would have a recording similar to the one TR liked so much. Neither of us did it so you will only hear the train going by if you even hear that. LOL |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2007 : 5:59:52 PM
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| Sounds like an amazing venue. I really enjoy reading about the various events of the night just as much as the show review itself. Well I guess that has morphed into the show review anyways, but thanks as always for the tales from the road! |
god
Kevin |
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07/03/07 Ashland Coffee & Tea Ashland, VA
