Friday July 19
Another day of storms which cleared out by the evening.
Apparently there was a much-needed break in the hot weather and storms coming in. Bring it on. The humidity was getting ridiculous.
Again spent the day chilling and getting my bearings. Was feeling much better physically and mentally. Bout time.
Finally heading to the venue with Rick, he wanted to stop briefly and see some old friends. He grew up and went to high school in this area, so he still knows a lot of people. Seems most of them stayed.
I myself didn't know who any of these people were and had forgotten to eat prior to leaving, so he dropped me off at an Arby's and went to make an appearance. Greenville was currently under a water boil order. So I had to buy a damn bottle of water to wash down my dinner (left my water bottle in the van... well shit).
Got to Rumourz in downtown Greenville and were very happy to feel a blast of cold air upon walking in the front door. Their AC kicked ass! However, then the cigarette smoke immediately hit us. It was a smoking bar.
I am a smoker. However, I feel weird smoking inside a building. I don't even smoke in my own house, except for the patio/living room of the Hobbit Hole, and that is still open-air. So yeah, smoking venues get even to me. And I'm not the one that has to sing lead for 3 hours.
Nevertheless. Plenty of room in Rumourz, and the ceiling was high. So not as bad as it could be. Loaded in to the corner stage area, set up the PA and lights. Plenty of room for everything. I was again on stage right, as opposed to my usual default stage left that I've been occupying for most of my tenure as a bass player. Didn't feel weird until we played, but I'll get to that.
Had to grab a cup of coffee from the place next door. I was dragging some serious ass, and didn't want to be yawning on stage, heh.
The place was filling up with friends and family by set time, which continued to grow as the night went on. Opened with some different songs to again mix it up, "Far From Home" instead of the usual "Miss California."
And the show felt great. Our collective chemistry finally crystallized and we were on fire. The crowd was having a blast and dancing all night. I had many a Yeungling Lager (God I've missed that beer) and several Jager bombs courtesy of the crowd and was feeling really good.
What a fun night. Tho was kinda weird being on stage right, as I felt I was constantly on the verge of skewering Rick in the back with the headstock of my bass. Never happened, but it was something I was constantly aware of.
Ended the set at the appointed time, or a little later than such, heh, and the crowd still demanded an encore. So we played "You Never Call Me By My Name" and Rick led the whole crowd in a sing along. It was awesome! And we all needed that.
Our clothes would be stinky and our throats would be sore from all the smoke. But who gives a fuck \m/,
Afterwards went with Rick to an after-party with some friends. I was tired but fuck it, I don't know any of these people but Rick does, and doesn't get to see them very often. Was fun and all but I was ready to go early on, heh. Lemmy would have been very disappointed in me.
But we did manage to leave ahead of a line of storms tearing across Lake Erie and heading right towards us. One heck of a light show driving home down dark back country roads at 4am. Quite a bit of rain tho the main cells broke apart and bypassed us.
Slept great that night.
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