Tour Diary – Boston, MA and Philadelphia, PA (March 8 and 9)

Boston (Somerville)
It was a very fun night tonight. Thank god, because last night was torture. We drove through the night, up and down and across and over and around the Allegheny Mountains . I lay in my bunk for hours trying to counteract the G’s. I even tried some kind of homeopathic sleeping pill but that only made things a little foggy. I should have taken a real one. No sleep…it’s such a leveler. So I stayed as stationary as possible today, outside of visiting Jared’s groovy new studio/clubhouse. Fortunately, Skippy was in town on a business trip and he set-up a makeshift sausage stand out back of the venue, so I didn’t have to go far for dinner. Besides being close, the food was no doubt better than anything any of the restaurants on the square could have offered. Man, that dude cooks an awesome sausage. He was also cooking salmon and a couple of other things on what looked like a Hibatchi…he is unbelievable…I couldn’t hang very much because I was so exhausted and needed to preserve the little energy that I had. Showtime was easy….the audience was fantastic and immediately infused us with their enthusiasm. We had lots of little technical glitches on stage but the energy from the audience was enough to keep us on track. Another night of fun. Thank you Boston (or Somerville or wherever the hell we were).

Philadelphia (Glenside)
I slept till 1pm. There is definitely something stalking me….I only need to keep it at bay for a few more days. Kind of a nothing day. The Keswick Theater is a nice old venue but it’s in a very non-descript suburb of Philly and there isn’t a whole lot to do or look at or walk to while one waits for the work day to begin. I commandeered one of the theater staff and made a run up to an outlet beer store and bought a case of Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA and a case of Red Hook Long Hammer to bring back home. Due to the draconian liquor laws that we live under in Ontario, we can’t get any of the beer brewed by all of these great independent breweries down here. Occasionally they will allow one or two brands to be sold in our government controlled liquor outlets but usually at about a 50% mark-up. So I stock up whenever I can. At showtime my insides were under siege, the battle had begun. It made for a very difficult show on my end. I think we played ok…it was a little laid-back, but that’s not always a bad thing. The audience seemed to be having a good time and that is the ultimate goal. This was our last of three shows with Joe Purdy opening up. It was a pleasure listening to him and hanging out with him each night. I’m sure we will cross paths again somewhere down the road. Back up 95 for one more show.