Here I am.  Back in Omaha for a night off in-between Pittsburgh and Denver shows and after riding my bike, playing my piano, and frisbee golfing, I found some time to sit down and reflect on the events of the last week before we head out for more.

We took off on Easter Sunday headed east toward Ann Arbor Michigan for our first show of the tour.  The venue was a wonderful, non-profit club called The Ark and it was a great place to get started.  The crowd turned out to be the smallest of our week but their enthusiasm and the way we all played made for a great night of music and I'm sure we would all love to come back real soon.  Then on to Buffalo to the Tralf with the Blues Hounds.  This was another fun show spirits were high as we all made plans for the next day.

Kris, Andrew and I decided that we wanted to see Niagra Falls at sun-up before we head into the big city.  So, we leave the hotel at about 6 am with all of our 'bags' packed and no idea of where exactly we are going.   Before we knew it we were in line at customs to cross the border into Canada.  I hate it when you take a wrong turn and end up leaving the country.  After border patrol made us feel like we had done something seriously wrong, they suddenly let us go and told us to enjoy the falls from their side because it's much more impressive anyway.  He was right.  Niagra Falls was quite a sight in the early morning light as the adrenaline worked it's way out of our system.  Luckily, they let us back into the states after a few questions and a little search of the vehicle and we were on our way to New York City baby!

Kris and I have been to the city a few times now but it was Andrew's first time and that's a fun experience to be a part of.  After a soundcheck with some of the most knowledgeable soundmen you can work with, we headed out (on my request) to get some real New York pastrami at Katz's Deli.  Katz's is the place where they filmed the fake orgasm scene in 'When Harry Met Sally' and on the Travel channel's advice I had to 'have what she was having'.  The food was amazing!  It's a completely different flavor than Norm's Chicago style meat at M&N but I loved every bite of their sandwiches.  And the subway rides across Manhattan were a lot of fun so it was totally worth the effort. 

The show was a lot of fun then us three bounced from club to club trying to find the best music we could on a wed night in Greenwich Village.  We did see some really talented musicians and ended up spending very little money at the cool places we went.  There was a Jazz jam in one place where all the musicians sat around on couches waiting for their turn to take a lead while the rest of the place amused themselves with ping-pong, pool, shuffle board, and chess untill about 4 am.  Kris and I enjoyed a few $3 PBRs and a game of chess as Andrew turned his ear to the talented round table of New York City jammers.  I really enjoy myself every time we get to see that city.  I already want to go back again.  Damn that was some good pastrami!  : )

So far so good huh?!  And we are just getting to the weekend.  The next night we were in Harrisburgh Pennsylvania opening for the one-and-only Buddy Guy again.  The Whitaker Center was a beautiful theater the 1,000+ crowd was excited to hear some music that night.  This was the third time we had seen Buddy perform (not counting the 20 bars that he joined us for a few weeks back) and we were all interested to see a true performer do his thing.  Sure, there are some similarities in his performance from night to night but you can tell that he keeps that band on their toes and goes wherever he feels and does whatever he wants.  It's one hell of a show.  Buddy Guy is the real deal and his voice and his stage presence show the years and years of experience that he has.  All in all, it was a fantastic night of music.

The next night we had our first sold-out show of the tour in Sellersville Pennsylvania at a cool little theater.  They treated us great with fresh seafood and everyone was super friendly.  Plus, the guy that builds Diaz amps showed up with toys for the boys to play.  Mato got to use an amp that was specially made for Warren Haynes and Kris got to use a cool combo built for Eric Clapton.  Needless to say, the guys were happy with their sound.   With a few tricks in dynamics that we might have picked up from Buddy Guy the night before, the show was the best one of the week.  There was one point in the night where the soundman said we went from under 30 decibles to almost 120 in one second.  After the show, Andrew was standing backstage with his uncle Scott just staring off and not saying anything.  When I asked if he was alright, he grinned super big and said "that was one of the sickest shows I have ever played".  We were all cuttin' up an feelin' good for the rest of the night.  Thank you Sellersville.

Then, believe it or not, we were back onstage opening for Buddy Guy at a huge theater with about 1,400 people the very next night.  John Devine and the Guard Arts Center took real good care of us.  John told us the story of how he was at "Live at Filmore East" just to see Johnny Winter the night that the Allmans recorded their famous album as he gave us a tour of their renovated, turn-of-the-century theater.  This time, we got to talk to Buddy's band a little bit more and they all hung around to watch our show.   I was a little surprised at how enthusiastic they were about our performance.  I got some great compliments on my organ playing from Marty Sammon, the keyboard player, and all the guys were super cool and 'glad to have such a quality opening act'.  I tell ya, we might have a long way to go still, but there are some experiences along the way that really make me feel like we are on that path.  If we keep working hard and trying to play better and better, there's gonna be no stopping us.

Unfortunalely, we couldn't stay for the whole show that night and hang with the band.  Pittsburgh was a long ass drive away and we had to get several hours out of the way before bed.  But, Pittsburgh is a great place for us and we rocked the Rex once again.  They were screaming for us from the very start.  Kris even had a cheering section that was hollerin' for him all night.  At one point, at a particularly quiet part of a slow blues organ solo they were yelling for Kris so loud that I had to  say "Hey Kris, can you tell your fans to keep it down, I'm trying to play the blues over here".  Me, Kris, and AC couldn't help but laugh through the rest of that one.  We sure do love playing Pittsgurgh and I'm sure it will become a regular stopping spot for us for years to come.  Thanks to Tam and Jim, Scott Barta, Mato and all the people that made our little East Coast run one to remember.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

your friend
-miah



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