After two days off in Nashville, Team DR is once again out on the open road. As much as I appreciate having time to relax and catch up with friends on days off, I still can't wait to get back on stage and perform. Nothing beats the rush that comes from singing my songs night after night under the lights with my band.
That said, this particular stopover was still really fun. We hit Nashville's famed Music Row on Sunday night for BBQ and followed that up with an impromptu karaoke throw down at a real deal country bar. Everyone on the team got up and sang something, with a few of us even going back for seconds! My first attempt (alongside drummer Sonny Guy) was the Bowie/Queen classic "Under Pressure," which I certainly thought I knew better before actually trying to sing it out loud. Isn't that always the case? All those ad-libbed "bum-ba-bum-hey" parts really threw me off. Fortunately, I redeemed myself later on with a fairly solid tribute to Roy Orbison's "You Got It."
Last night a few of us went back to The Mercy Lounge (the club we played a few nights earlier with Stars) to catch the Dinosaur Jr. show. We were lucky that the promoters graciously put us on the guest list, because by the time we arrived at the venue it was jammed. Dino J. isn't really my thing, but it's always nice to catch a bit of crazy guitar shredding here and there. We left the show a bit early, wanting to avoid having our ears ringing for the duration of the next day's sound check. Those guys play loud!
This morning, my roommate Graham Van Pelt and I took advantage of our hotel's exercise room facilities -- which is something I really like to do on days when I'm not sweating it out on stage. It's also the only time I really ever watch TV, and I was treated to an awesome documentary on Canada's own Terry Fox. If any of you are ever looking for ways to make yourselves feel athletically inadequate, I'd suggest watching footage of a 22-year-old man with one leg running daily marathons across Canada as you struggle to last just 22 minutes on an elliptical trainer in an air-conditioned hotel gym. Terry is truly inspiring.
Now that we're deep into our own marathon of sorts, I'm hoping to bring some of that inspiration with me on the stage tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. We're back on the grind, and I wouldn't want it any other way!