ONLY 24 hours?
What would you do if you only had 24 hours left on this planet? (Oh, happy good morning with such a pleasant thought). Let’s say you have 24 hours before you are singing with the angels, you are in perfect health, money is no object, and if you are traveling, then you are already at your destination, and if you have others involved, they are already there too. Now what?
Some of you may want to see someplace you’ve never been. Some may choose spending it with family, or drunk on a tropical beach (or drunk on a tropical beach with family). Some of you would want to meet someone famous. Want to know my answer? Do ya, do ya?
My day would be spent with family – every damn one of them – and we’d have a breakfast from Sunrise Café, BBQ from Pierce’s, and dinner flown in from the Calderone Club in Milwaukee. Oh, the kicker – it would be at the Virginia Air Museum so we could also go flying. And when the kiddos are down for naps, I’d shuffle over to a recording studio to finally track something with a slew of friends, and for a nightcap, we’d make a big fire and sit and tell stories until the 24 hours are up.
Not so crazy, I suppose. Maybe I need to think about it more. Or maybe I’m sort of living that way now. My days off on the road are spent seeking the most I can do with the time (and you guys don’t hear about all the laptop work I do while en route), but as I look back at my 24 hours, I suppose it’s not much different than a normal day. I’ve been fortunate enough to do lots of things, and go lots of places (and for some reason I still haven’t seen Paris). When it all gets peeled back, all we have is family. And hanging out with them is about the best thing ever. At least it is with mine.
But I have another family, the road family, and we get out and make music every week. And travel. And see things. And eat LOTS of BBQ. Maybe every day out here IS the last 24 hours I have. Hmmmm.
Our first show was in Galveston, TX. Galveston is one of a handful of cities in this fine country that, until this week, I had not visited. (The others I need to see are St. Augustine and Savannah). Wouldn’t you know that we didn’t have to be at the historic 1894 Theater until 4 PM, so that meant exploration day. KT and I took the rental car and bustled out for an hour to town, so I can say we did that. Then, right around the corner from the hotel was the Lone Star Flight Museum. Uh oh. Big, old planes…
Our show was a charity event for Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the venue was spectacular. The Opera House was built in 1894, and has been restored to pristine condition. I’d play that room every night if I could. And the Italian place around the corner was exceptional as well.
Day 2 of the run found us with a day off in Little Rock. To say I was gone all day is a bit of an understatement. Remember that 24 hour stuff? I think I hit my mark. It started with a superb breakfast at ‘At The Corner’, an amazing place full of amazing choices. Then I was off to the State House to catch up on my architecture, the Arkansas Museum to catch up on my history, and a few shops to and from the hotel. And I managed to squeeze in a good workout, decent dinner, and then a streetcar ride. Oh, and the streetcar ride was across the river to North Little Rock (No relation to Little Rock), where we had All Access to see Dolly Parton. We then walked the pedestrian bridge back over the river to the bus, where we pulled out at 11PM. Should I write a travel blog instead of a music-type blog?
The next day was just slightly less exciting – Rockford, IL, for another private event. This was one of those ‘stay on site all day’ type of things, so I didn’t get much done in the way of sights or sounds or smells. No architecture, no fun food. But that’s OK, I suppose. We still had a fun day.
And now we’re headed back to Nashville. The weeks ahead are going to be crazy, but I’m ready for the challenge. Lots of music, lots of travel, lots of life to be lived. I hope your coming days are productive, meaningful, and exciting. And they all don’t have to be ’24 days’. A series of 4-hour segments works as well.
See you on the road!
