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| Dixie Bee Liners L-R: Sara Needham, Sav Sankaran, Brandi Hart, Leah Needham, Zachary Mongan, Buddy Woodward |
When you read this, it will be Friday. But right now, it's Thursday. And I'm filthy.
Not that this is a regular occurrence necessarily. I mean, its not like I grab my day planner, flip to the Thursday pages, and scrawl "FILTH!" in the center of each one, and then rush off to wallow in the gutter.
But all the same, I knew it was coming. Two words: Haz. Mat.
Yes, today I performed a task that I'd been dreading for some time: Cleaning The Tour Van, which we affectionately call "The Trilobite."
There was dirt in the carpets that Zach, our banjo player and resident geologist, carbon-dated to the Palaeozoic Era...things we tracked in and ground down into the carpet from nearly every corner of this country: crumbs, copper pennies, beach sand, mini binder clips, mini hair barets, pencil lead, water bottle caps, granola, seed pods from plants thought to have died out during the great Permian extinction. All these things had to go, and go now.
Yes, there are some things Turtle Wax will just not cover.
The reason for this overdue Spring Cleaning is the beginning of our summer tour season...YAY!! Thank heavens, I was getting SERIOUSLY stir-crazy.
Last weekend took us on a short southern hop of three groovy venues:
Randy Wood Guitars in Bloomingdale, GA -- a cozy music hall built on the same property as Randy's retail music store, and a frequent routing date for many of the top Bluegrass bands in the country...
The European Street Cafe in Jacksonville, FL -- a cozy cafe/restaurant that is also a frequent router for many of the top Bluegrass bands in the country...
Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA -- a cozy listening room that is also blah blah blah blah blah.
(no slight intended to Eddie's, which we love, I just got tired of typing the same thing).
Went to the beach at midnight, vampire style, where the girls did balet on the dunes and the boys got sand in their shorts:
Gazed longingly through windows of solid honey
------------------------
Watched Brandi make out with her favorite bottle of salad dressing:
Observed curious and fascinating cultural rituals of local inhabitants:
By the way, The Dixie Bee-Liners need a catchy theme title for our June 2011 summer tour. We put that up to the fans on our Facebook page, suggestions so far have included: "Bumbling Across America," "Summer Stings," "Bee Wings Across America," "Bees Here Now," "Who Has The Keys To The Van?" (submitted by our Svengali-like sound man, Jay), and several sardonic ones referring to the absurd gas prices.
Submit the winning idea on our Facebook fan page, and receive a free autographed tour poster!
This weekend we're buzzin' off to Virginias East and West:
Friday, May 13 at The Mockingbird Music Hall, Staunton, VA
Saturday, May 14 at The Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV
Sunday, May 15 a special early dinner show at The Pretty Penny Cafe, Hillsboro, WV
All in a weekend's work for the Dixie Bee-Liners AND their new clean van! We'll see how long that lasts...
You can find all the gig details at http://www.dixiebeeliners.com/info.html. Hope to see some of you at one of these shows!
Keep an eye on this blog, I'm going to TRY to get the other members to contribute as we fly down the highway over the next couple of months.
Cheers,
- Buddy
PS - If you're on the IBMA Awards Nominating Committee, GEORGE SHUFFLER NEEDS TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME THIS YEAR!!!!
More about:
Yes, today I performed a task that I'd been dreading for some time: Cleaning The Tour Van, which we affectionately call "The Trilobite."
This, finally, after approximately FOUR YEARS of hard touring. When I took the vinyl floor mats out to wash them, I first thought they had been laminated, but no. The years of spilled Starbucks, diet cola and drool had left them in a state of...how shall I say it..."carmelization." Nice, if you're a grilled onion. Not so nice if the dang thing sticks to your heel when you go to hit the brake pedal. Immediate action was called for: boiling water, lye soap, sandblasting, disinfection, the works.
There was dirt in the carpets that Zach, our banjo player and resident geologist, carbon-dated to the Palaeozoic Era...things we tracked in and ground down into the carpet from nearly every corner of this country: crumbs, copper pennies, beach sand, mini binder clips, mini hair barets, pencil lead, water bottle caps, granola, seed pods from plants thought to have died out during the great Permian extinction. All these things had to go, and go now.
Yes, there are some things Turtle Wax will just not cover.
The reason for this overdue Spring Cleaning is the beginning of our summer tour season...YAY!! Thank heavens, I was getting SERIOUSLY stir-crazy.
Last weekend took us on a short southern hop of three groovy venues:
Randy Wood Guitars in Bloomingdale, GA -- a cozy music hall built on the same property as Randy's retail music store, and a frequent routing date for many of the top Bluegrass bands in the country...
The European Street Cafe in Jacksonville, FL -- a cozy cafe/restaurant that is also a frequent router for many of the top Bluegrass bands in the country...
Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA -- a cozy listening room that is also blah blah blah blah blah.
(no slight intended to Eddie's, which we love, I just got tired of typing the same thing).
Along the way We stayed at the home of some lovely fans (Ken and Ceci), who didn't seem to mind us picking (and squealing) long into the night:
Went to the beach at midnight, vampire style, where the girls did balet on the dunes and the boys got sand in their shorts:
---------------------
Gazed longingly through windows of solid honey
------------------------
Watched Brandi make out with her favorite bottle of salad dressing:
Observed curious and fascinating cultural rituals of local inhabitants:
It was also cause for a bit of celebration,
as our bass player, Sav, received shipment of his new solo CD, "Back To Bassics":
------------------------------
It's an awesome CD, and we're damn proud of him. You need to pick up a copy. Seriously.
By the way, The Dixie Bee-Liners need a catchy theme title for our June 2011 summer tour. We put that up to the fans on our Facebook page, suggestions so far have included: "Bumbling Across America," "Summer Stings," "Bee Wings Across America," "Bees Here Now," "Who Has The Keys To The Van?" (submitted by our Svengali-like sound man, Jay), and several sardonic ones referring to the absurd gas prices.
Submit the winning idea on our Facebook fan page, and receive a free autographed tour poster!
This weekend we're buzzin' off to Virginias East and West:
Friday, May 13 at The Mockingbird Music Hall, Staunton, VA
Saturday, May 14 at The Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV
Sunday, May 15 a special early dinner show at The Pretty Penny Cafe, Hillsboro, WV
All in a weekend's work for the Dixie Bee-Liners AND their new clean van! We'll see how long that lasts...
You can find all the gig details at http://www.dixiebeeliners.com/info.html. Hope to see some of you at one of these shows!
Keep an eye on this blog, I'm going to TRY to get the other members to contribute as we fly down the highway over the next couple of months.
Cheers,
- Buddy
PS - If you're on the IBMA Awards Nominating Committee, GEORGE SHUFFLER NEEDS TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME THIS YEAR!!!!
More about:
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