2004-04-12 - 10:54 p.m.
We’re off on a little run to the south. It’s been awhile since we’ve been on the road and we’ll have to get our feet under us again. This was supposed to be a bigger tour that would include Florida but it became obvious that it wasn’t going to be financially viable so we kept it to a three-day trip starting in Baltimore. The Funk Box is the old 8 x 10. Tim Walther, one of the East Coast’s most entrepreneurial promoters bought it, gutted it and made a great new venue. Andy and I were there at its inception in 1983 when we played there with the Sparks. It was an upscale thing then with nice artwork displayed and lots of cocaine being consumed in the bathrooms. Ah the 80’s! Somehow we made it out alive! We had a nice crowd and it felt good to out doing it again.
Charlottesville, Va. and the Star Hill Club are next. We open for the Hackensaw Boys and it’s a sellout. They were good even though the banjo player seemed to be working with a liquid impairment. C’ville is another town I’ve played so much that I know it like the back of my hand. In the morning our old friend Carol picks up Andy and me. We’re going down town to see another old friend, Sandy McAdams. Sandy used to own a club out on Long Island called the Long Island Potato that I played when I was too young to drink. I lost track of him until he surfaced in C’ville with a new club called the C&O. Great place that also had a great French restaurant attached. Sandy eventually sold the club to concentrate on his other love…books. He runs a great used bookstore called Daedalus and over the years I’ve found dozens of books there. He got MS a few years back but I’ve been told he’s doing just fine. Unfortunatimetable, it’s his day off so we don’t get to see him. I left him a note wishing him well and we’d see him next time. We have a bit of a stroll and coffee on the mall and then we’re off to Raleigh.
It’s our first time playing at the Lincoln Theater. It’s a converted movie house with a nice PA and nice folks running it. A lot of old friends show up including Bob Steele from way back in the Sparks heyday. He and his wife look nearly exactly the same. I don’t know how folks do it. My nephew Matt and his wife Terry take me out to dinner (thanks guys! I love ya!) and we have good old time. Dougaroo makes an appearance carrying some of his fine shine. Yeah!! It was a rocking show and finished in comedic fashion as our friend Allan got waylaid by the local constable for having moonshine in his possession. He got let off with a fine (and having to turn over that fine shine to officer, who I’m sure disposed of it in proper fashion) so no real harm done. It made for a pretty funny story. Early up and home for dinner on Sunday.
