SHUFFLE OFF TO BUFFALO

BUFFALO, NY

JULY 9

 

ASHLEY ROSE AND PETER TZIROS

Time to move along...and we were definitely ready for a change of scenery. We were excited, as our daughter, Ashley and her husband, Peter would be coming to Buffalo the next day, on the 10th. We bussed to the plane and got up in the air at 4pm, landing at 5 and then were bussed to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Buffalo. There was a big food festival going on in the city during our stay...the “Taste of Buffalo”. The locals told us that it would be a big deal, attracting lots of folks from other cities into the downtown streets. Indeed, that was one of the reasons it was so difficult to get Ashley and Peter a room at the Hyatt. They had actually booked a Bed and Breakfast room some weeks ago as we were told no rooms were available at the Hyatt....but then about a week or so before, one opened up and we were able to book it for them.

But the food fest would not start until the weekend. But folks were already beginning to bring in tents to set up, etc. For this evening, we roamed around and found a nice local Thai spot for dinner called Papaya on Chippewa St. Back at the hotel we wrapped up the day with some tv in our room until lights out.

JULY 10-12

I wanted to do laundry one more time before the tour would end, and called a place that was on our “Daysheet” to make sure it would be open and could do the “fluff and fold” service. They said they could, so I took a cab to it to drop off the goods. Ashley and Peter would not arrive until later in the afternoon, so we had some time to kill. After I got back to the hotel, Rosie and I went out for some lunch and to roam around some. I asked the server at lunch where a street might be for us to do some shopping and wander around, and she made a suggestion to us to go to The Elmwood Village. What I failed to ask was how far it was....we walked a good  three miles before we got there. We almost decided to try and go ahead and get a cab back, but in the end we made it there. Maybe not a stellar shopping area, but we enjoyed popping into several shops just looking around. The funny thing was that after an hour or so, just as we were about ready to go back, I recognized the laundry place I had been to earlier...so I went in to see if my stuff was ready, and it was. From there we called a cab to get back to the Hyatt....and somehow the cab company managed to miss us....we called another couple of times before they finally got to us....causing us to wait a good 40 minutes or so. The good news is that we got back with clean clothes!

We hung around the room for a bit...me doing some packing now that I had fresh laundry, and waited until Ash and Peter arrived. Finally they called, and we were so excited to get up with them. It was Ashley’s birthday on the 8th, so this would be in part a celebration for that. I had asked the concierge about a good restaurant for dinner, and he had suggested a place called Tappo. I asked him to make a reservation, which he did. However, when we got up with the kids and discussed it, Peter pointed out that there was a steak restaurant in our hotel that was deemed one of the best in New York state....called “E.B Green’s”. I had seen the rating as well, so we switched to go there for dinner.

As it turned out, Keith (who had several members of his family with him) had taken up most of the tables in it in the main dining area...but his assistant, Tony, who I ran into trying to make the reservation told me that there was one table they had reserved that they would not use, and graciously gave it to us. So we wound up in the same area as the Richards....which gave Ash and Peter a chance to say hi to all of them and for us to mingle with them.

As for the food....we all decided that it was fine, but not what we would think would give them the “Best Steak Restaurant in New York” rating...but it made for a fun setting and we all enjoyed it.

The next day would be show day....Peter decided he wanted some time at the indoor pool in the hotel, so Ashley, Rose Lane and I went out to check out the “Taste of Buffalo” on the streets....by then the streets were filled with lots of tents of various venders and tons of folks there to try out the wares. After 10 minutes of that, it was apparent that that scene was not really what we wanted to do, so we went back to Chippewa St and found a spot for lunch. Soon after that, it was time for us to head over to the stadium to get things started.

The Buffalo Bills home field, Ralph Wilson Stadium. The usual routine ensued, sound check, etc...and soon it was showtime. Great show...another sold out gig...amazing. Ash and Peter had a great time, as we did.

After the show Rose Lane and I went down to the bar for a bit...and called Ash and Peter to see if they wanted to join us...but they were pretty beat, and as Ashley was at that point close to three months pregnant (she told us that just before we headed out on tour...but swore us to secrecy about it until we would get together in Buffalo...so we had spread the news by then), they decided to stay in the room and go to bed.

We got up with them the next morning....we would be flying to Montreal and they would be flying back to Manchester, NH....but we did have some time to hang out a bit before we would have to go our separate ways. It had been so great to spend time with them...so special. It was difficult to have to split and go our different ways, but we were infinitely grateful for the time we had! Their flight wasn’t until later that day, so we actually wound up leaving before they did. After hugs and an emotional goodbye, we got up with all the gang to head off to the plane and on to Canada.

The St. James Hotel

An easy flight and immigration process got us to the beautiful St. James hotel in Montreal around 6pm. The cool thing about being here is that we had the whole hotel to ourselves. No other outside folks staying there. We were here not all that long ago....in 2013 when we played in Montreal on the “14 on Fire” tour. This time we were actually playing in Quebec City for the “Le Festival d’ete’”. But they had decided to work it out of Montreal. After settling into our room, Rosie and I went downstairs for a cocktail. It was so great that we had the place exclusively. Keith, who rarely gets out of his room, had come down to enjoy some time with everyone. I had a great chat with him...and we both talked about how great the tour had gone, and discussed hopes of the band continuing on. We also talked about his upcoming solo record, which would come out in September. It was wonderful to have some one on one with him, and of course there were others in our entourage that were coming and going in the bar and restaurant in the St. James. Rosie and I eventually took a table for dinner in St. James...and joining us was our friend Sherry Daly, who helps both Ronnie and Charlie with their affairs. We’ve known Sherry since I joined the band back in’‘82, and she has always been an ally and supporter. She had come and gone on tours several times during the past couple of years and we kept saying we should get together for a dinner and personal time, and finally this was a great opportunity to do so. We enjoyed that very much, sharing thoughts about the past, the present and the future. She is a wonderful person and a great friend.

 That ended a fine day