Nashville and Pittsburg

NASHVILLE AND PITTSBURGH

JUNE 15-18 2015

So after having so much fun with the family, Rosie and I threw the bags together and prepared to fly to Nashville on the 15th. Gaining an hour, we arrived at the Sheraton Hotel around 5pm. We met up with our friends the Hickingbothams for dinner. Herren and Susan had brought their kids Christian and Hayden with them, as well as Hayden’s boyfriend,??. We met in the hotel bar for a drink, then as Herren had rented a large SUV, we all piled in and he drove us to Kayne, a really nice steak house place. Great conversation at dinner, mainly catching up with what Christian and Hayden had been up to and what their future plans are. Hayden will be attending SMU, and Christian remains interested and involved with some theater projects. All of them had recently been on a cruise up in Alaska...and we got to hear all about that. Food was excellent, and as usual, Herren ordered some extra things to try. After that, we made it back to the room and tucked in after a little more wine and some TV.

The next day, 16th, was a day off for us. We had arranged dinner with Buck and Patti Williams, as well as their son and our Godson, Hunter. There would also be a tribute to Bobby Keys that night that his son, Jesse, had put together. That would be held at a club called The Mercy Lounge. We had a leisurely morning...doing computer stuff and hanging out in the room for the most part. Later we met Buck and Patti and they drove us to Shane’s, Buck’s favorite restaurant there. Hunter met us and we had a good time together and another fine meal. Right at the end, Buck spilled his glass of red wine on his shirt and pants....so he had to go back to his house to change. We drove in Hunter’s car to the club to attend the Bobby Tribute. It was a madhouse in there...but in a good way. Our crew band (backline crew for Stones) did an opening set, and then Bobby’s band, The Suffering Bastards, took over. All the principals of the Stones were there, and most of our staff folks. Packed house....overpacked, really. Buck, Patti and Hunter wound up not staying...it was quite hot in the room and no doubt uncomfortable for them...plus, Hunter couldn’t find a parking place. Rose Lane and I went back stage to hang out with everyone, and I wanted to pow-wow with the guys in the Bastards to see about sitting in. Their keyboard player, a fine gent and keyboardist, Mike Webb, invited me to play on three tunes and we worked out those logistics. Their band really rocked it...with the help of Tim Ries and Karl Denson on saxes. Bernard Fowler and I sat in and had a great time. None of the principals in the Stones played, which surprised me a bit, but I guess they had not talked to the band about it, but they stayed there to hear the gig and offer their support for Bobby. All in all, a very fitting and fun event. I said a few words upon taking the stage...first giving Jesse a shout out for putting it all together, and touting the talents of the Suffering Bastards and saying how much Bobby would have loved it all, and how much we all loved Bobby. We miss him still.... 

Time to “make the doughnuts” in Nashville. Showtime! Buck rode with me to the gig early, and while I left him to his own resources for a while, I worked on the set list. Brad Paisley would open up for us, and would be a guest artist on “Dead Flowers”. I had the notion to do a little “country set” around that...and convinced Mick and all to do “Far Away Eyes”, “Wild Horses”, then “Dead Flowers” with Brad followed by “Honky Tonk Women” in its usual place. Four tunes in a row, all with a country twang to them. Before the sound check, I went to Mick’s dressing room to run through “Dead Flowers” with Brad. That went smoothly....as I said, he’s done it before with us and was well prepared. It was also great to see Dave Rouze, who has been working with Brad as his guitar tech for a number of years now, but who used to work with us on tour doing basses and guitars. He’s very happy living in Nashville and Brad has treated him really well. He told us he and his long time girlfriend, Cat, would be getting married before the year is out. Way cool.

We went through the sound check in due course with everything sailing along nicely. I had a good many guests coming...and made a pass through VIP to see them. Greg Gumble and his friend Mark; Chip Barber and his wive, Cinnamon; Bradley Hall and his family (a Charlane Plantation client); Tom “Jar” Twitty and Phillip McWayne; Rutherford Sydell and his son; Steve Slade (SunTrust banker we deal with); Jack Leigh and Jim Harrison; James Young who owns and manages the Cherry Bar in Melbourne, Australia where I did a solo gig last year...and my pal Jimmy Hall, the great singer that works sometimes with Jeff Beck. There was a separate room for native Nashvillian musicians and artists...Dirks Bentley; Sheryl Crow; Miranda Lambert; Tim McGraw and a slew of others. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to that room...but I did see Sheryl as she came back to the dressing room area.

Great gig, and the audience ate up the country section. Brad tore it up both as the opener and as guest artist. They especially loved “Far Away Eyes”.  

The next day we would head to Pittsburgh. The usual schedule of bags collected at 11:30am and departure at 2:30. Wheels up at 4. We lost an hour with the time change, so it was close to 8pm when we checked into the Fairmont hotel. Rose Lane and I went to an Italian place for dinner that was just across the street called Vallozi’s. It was fine...maybe not stellar, but it fit the bill and was close. The next day I would be doing a private gig for a great guy named Dave “Shorty” Short. Shorty is a client of ours at Charlane Plantation, having come last season with Peter Mathieson and his friends. I thought it would be a good idea to take Tim Ries with me for that, and Tim had accepted. So we shut it down for the night to get some rest before all that would start.

JUNE 19

Shorty had arranged for a small sound system for us, and I had secured a Yamaha CP 300 through my contacts at Yamaha. Shorty had all that picked up in the afternoon and had it set up and ready to go. He picked us up at 4:30 to take us to his house. A beautiful layout, on the top of a knoll with amazing views of the surrounding area. I noticed a wild turkey and a few deer on the way up on the drive. He had a nice room ready for us to play in...with about 100 or so white foldout chairs for his friends. He had the event catered, so there was plenty of good food available. Tim and I did our sound check and had time to relax before the gig. Rose Lane, Tim and I were given a room in the back to sit around in while the folks arrived and had drinks. The guests milled around inside and out for a while, and eventually Shorty herded them all into the room where we would play and gave us a nice introduction. Tim and I kicked it off around 7:30 or so and played for about 75 minutes. Great fun...on the song “Alberta, Alberta”, Tim got the notion while playing soprano sax to walk around the room with his horn...that was a big hit...the song has a sort of New Orleans overtone, and it was a perfect call. The whole gig went really well and Shorty and his wife, Beth, took great care of us. We hung around for a while meeting folks, having a bite to eat and some drinks and then Shorty had a couple of guys run us back to the hotel. Great fun.

JUNE 20

Heinz Field tonight. Many of the folks from Shorty’s party came to VIP, and we got to say hello to them before the show. Some of the folks that had been to the party and that had hunted with us at Charlane included Jim “Sauce” Conroy...he has a sauce company that supplies restaurants in the area and had been kind enough to send us a big box of his goods that arrived just before the tour; Susan and Mike Boyle; Pete Perkins and Ted Wilkes as well as Peter Mathieson’s wife, Carol. Doug Oster, a writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was also there. Doug had done a really cool article on me for his Gardening column a few days before, and I had received quite a few nice comments on it. Diego Winegartner and his son Dylan (of the band Lions on the Moon) with a couple of his friends were in attendance as well.

Another kick-ass show....what can I say? The band is just on top of its game and while there are minimal little things on occasion, they are hardly worth mentioning and the overall take from our friends and the reviews from the media are just so positive. Thank heaven for that!