3 GIG WEEKEND May 28, to June 2, 1996

Not That Bus Driver Again

A certain un-named bus driver picked us up at the airport. I couldn't believe it after all the trouble we had with him before. He drove us to our first show in Vegas at a place called The Joint. It's attached to the Hard Rock Hotel. What a spectacle. Besides the usual slot machines and gambling, this hotel is a rock museum. Complete with Zildjan cymbals for wall sconces and a chandalier made of tenor saxaphones. The double doors into the hotel have brass Flying V guitars for handles and of course the gift shop has all the standard Hard Rock merchandise, displayed in flight cases. Wow! I thought I was Backstage. Robert Cray's show was taped, for a future broadcast on PBS called On Stage, to be aired sometime later this year.

Next stop was Humphrey's By The Sea. A great place to have a show, in the courtyard of the hotel, but the noise will keep you awake. Then it was on to The Amphitheater, in Universal City, where the Union crew is king. We had two great support acts, JJ Cale and Little Feat. After the show, my brother and I, took our own private tour of the back lot. We saw some historic movie sets and props, like the car from Back To The Future, and the house used in Alfred Hitchcock's Psyco. It was fun nosing around until a security guard spotted us. We told him we were lost and asked if he could show us the nearest exit. He said "No problem".

When it came time to go to the airport we were one van short. It seems that the un-named bus driver had borrowed the van for an hour, only an hour turned into all night. Maybe we should have a tomb for the un-named bus driver?

Well its time to go home again. I have 3 weeks to finish building a wheel chair ramp on the front of my house. You never know when you might end up in one. This next tour is about a month long, so watch for more stories around the end of July.