Staring Down The Path. Tour Blog. Day 1

Posted by: Jack    Tags:      Posted date:  November 11, 2011  |  12 Comments

Staring Down The Path

North American Tour Journal

Day 1

November 10, 2011

It is 9:52 pm, Central time, and we are on the Prevost II tour bus travelling through the Bayou in Mississippi. We are planning on stopping in Lafayette, Louisiana tonight before we start back up in the morning and head to Austin where our first show is scheduled at The Elysium on 11/11/11.  We have been through two truck stops so far in Alabama, which were quite interesting. As I’m writing, I can hear the bus traveling over the rough patches on the shoulder of the road, which is causing a bit more anxiety than normal. Keep straight, man.  Our bus driver, Sam, looks like one of the members of ZZ Top. The beard, the clothes and the attitude are priceless.  He has been great so far at discussing the entire trip with me and he has done his best to calm my anxiety level, even going as far as sharing his own idiosyncrasies.  Sam is a smoker, along with half of the ten band members on the bus, and has allowed us to sit in the front seat and open the window one at a time. It has been a great policy so smoke isn’t all over the cabin of the bus. According to Sam, he has spent the last thirty of his fifty-five years on a bus, either in a band or driving it.

John just asked the bus driver if he has ever lit his beard on fire.  Only he would ask such a question. It did, however, give us a great laugh. I just changed the channel on the bus satellite. I had to get the military channel off.  The World War I series on television was not helping me relax at all. Steve “Foxy” Foxcroft, our bass player, is across from me and has been great so far at helping me put this experience in perspective.  He is kind and funny and has been awesome at letting me vent to him. (John is back up next to the driver, his new best friend.) John Lever, our drummer, is to the left of me, studying up on old coins which is his other passion. John is a machine. He is solid, quiet and very pleasant.  His thick English accent is both hard to decipher and calming at the same time.  The nine other guys on the bus are pros. They have nerves of steel and can settle right in to the worst of circumstances. The bus is jumping around the road like a plane that is experiencing mild turbulence. It feels like we are in the cabin of a small yacht going over bumps in the ocean.  I considered jumping out before the bus made it out of my neighborhood.  As of late, I’ve been more accustomed to resorts and back massages, not tight spaces with eleven mature men.  This was a self- inflicted punishment on myself. However, it is something I have wanted to do with this band for some time and couldn’t manage it prior to today.  Why I needed to do it is the golden question. Leaving my family today was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I considered smuggling one of the dogs aboard earlier, but decided against it.

I’m not sure if I will get any sleep over the next month.  I can feel every bump and turn and our bunks are less than two feet high. It feels like you are in a rumbling coffin, basically.

The good news. In less than twenty-four hours, we will take the stage for the first time in America as Black Swan Lane.  Hoping my strep throat has disappeared by then 🙂

Love & Light,

Jack

B S L

 

About the author
Jack
Founding member of Black Swan Lane




12 Comments for Staring Down The Path. Tour Blog. Day 1


Steve C

Geat blog Jack.
Keep them coming….Oh, and good luck!
ps. Not sure if ‘Lie Still’ is on the set, but if it is, can you sensure its on youtube or DVD.

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Remindlessness

Looking forward to your show in Oakland next week. It will be my first show since moving here a little over a month ago.

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sir william fandango

Howdo…hope you have a great gig tonight? Or is it tomorrow? If you smell something strange then it could be my lil bro, stephen ‘foxy’ keep him away from the beans and u may be alright!! Happy travelling and say hi to him from me!
Have a nice day now!
Billy 🙂

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Martha

Mature men? God I hope not! Keep the stories and the photos coming, Jack. This is the time of your life, right here, right now. I am so proud of you for making this tour happen. Everyone should chase their dreams like you do. <3

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deb

love the blog! great experiencing it with you as you go 🙂 settle your nerves down and enjoy! right now (946) yall are probably blowing them away 🙂 CONGRATS… Black Swan Lane on stage …. looking forward to reading the next post 🙂 and seeing yall soon. take care of yourself. hope you get over that strep SOON!!!! tell all hi and all my best…..

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Martha Fuller

I hope to hear y’all play tonight in Dallas. My daughter is Kami Fuller of K2 Entertainment who is promoting the show at Trees. I live about 110 miles south of Dallas in Robinson, just south of Waco. You will be driving through Waco and part of Robinson on your way from Austin to Dallas. There is a truck stop at the Hewitt exit that is within the Robinson city limits. It has a Wendy’s Hamburger place and a Subway Sandwich Shop within the truck stop and a McDonald’s Hamburger place across the street. Farther into the center of Waco there are a couple of Steak Restaurants. Logan’s Roadhouse is located at I-35 and Loop 340/Hwy. 6 in the mall parking lot. Texas Roadhouse is at the Valley Mills Dr. Exit. There is a very good Thai food restaurant called Bangkok Royal. To reach it, take the University Parks Dr. exit and turn left to go under the freeway overpass. Keep going straight and go 5 or 6 blocks till you go over the railroad track and it is in the old red brick warehouse building on the left. It is the second shop from the end nearest University Parks Dr. It opens at 12:00 noon on Saturday. There are also 2 more very good restaurants on the north end of Waco at the Lake Shore Dr. exit. both are along the southbound access road along I-35. One is named Heitmiller Steakhouse which opens at 11:00 a.m. To get to it, turn left on Lake Shore Dr. and go to the street behind the McDonald’s. Turn right into the parking lot of the large farm and ranch store and procede to the parkin lot beside the Heitmiller Steakhouse. The other restaurant has what we call country home cooking. It is named Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. To get to it, take the turn around at Lake Shore Dr. or turn left and go under the overpass, then turn left again on the southbound access road. You will see it then almost immediately on your right. Again I hope you enjoy your travels in Texas and I hope to see you in Dallas at the show.

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Jim R of Blue Bayou

Blogs are great. Look forward to hearing about all the in-between stuff when you get back. Take care and I’ll keep reading!

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