Nov 23rd,
Nashville Airport....
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Quick Trip to
Vegas - ....
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Airports seem
immune to time – even arriving at 5am finds a hive of activity as folks bustle
through X-Ray machines with laptops and guitar cases. I should know by now to
always expect a line at security, but I always drive into the airport thinking
I’m the only one in the city who had to get up so early. Give me a cookie,
please…....
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It’s been a little
while since I last wrote (my apologies!), but I’ve been suffering from a liver
infection that’s left me rather weakened and bearing an uncanny resemblance to
a banana. But being of pale Irish complexion, most people thought this newfound
yellowness left me looking tanned and healthy. So much for the sympathy vote…....
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We’re on our way
to Vegas for an outside show tonight, having just returned from an 8-day trip
to the northeast. We started with an awfully long drive to Maine, but the sight
of New England at the start of autumn is a beautiful sight – each tree offers
its own unique colour for your appreciation, painting a calming kaleidoscope of
colours. Our gig in Portland ME was a lovely venue called Port City Music Hall.
We were graced by the presence of the fantastic violin maker Jon Cooper, and
violin master Darol Anger – King of all things cool. How incredible it is to
find your heroes are nice down-to-earth people!....
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We slowly funded
the northeast tollbooths as we journeyed to New Jersey, Connecticut, Mass., and
upstate NY. We still feared for the van’s suspension as we failed to avoid the
ever-present pot-holes – don’t know how many we saw, but more than enough to
fill the Albert Hall I’m sure… Speaking of which, the van did need some
maintenance en route to a show – always scary – but thankfully a quick cleaning
of the fuel injectors was all we needed.....
We ended the tour
with a date in Pittsburgh at the Club Café, and were surprised to see so many
new faces – many had seen us at Grey Fox Festival, so it was nice that they
made the journey to see us in Pittsburgh. Thanks also to Vienna Tang and The
Infamous Stringdusters for outing the word out!....
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We played just one
show in Vegas – Hendersonville to be exact – but it was a lovely outdoor series
and the people were very happy to see us! Folks recommended we go see Marie and
Donny Osmond that night, but none of us were ready to party that hard. Kym and
Jake went for a stroll on the strip, but Carol and I retired back to the hotel.
I’d love to go back to Vegas sometime and see one of the big shows – The
Beatles ‘Love’ springs to mind – but don’t know when that’ll be… The downtown
strip was pretty impressive with high rise replicas of the Phoenix and the
Eiffel Tower! And lunch at Caesar’s Palace was quite extra-ordinary! The inside
deco seems to replicate every Renaissance masterpiece you can imagine, and I
think it took Jake’s breath away: “Wow! Look at that architecture!” he cried as
we first entered.....
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Vegas Airport at
7am is a unique place. People were eating pizza and playing slot machines right
beside our gate. Miraculously we all avoided the gambling tables and held true
to the belief that you’re meant to take money AWAY from Las Vegas, not put it
in!....
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So, a few days off
and then we have a fairly busy November staring in Florida and South Carolina.
Hope to see you at a show sometime soon!....
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Cheers,....
Eamon....
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