US and CANADA '96 June 15th to July 21st 1996

The BIG Buzz!

Well, I'm back from our month long tour. It was great for the band, but pretty rough on the crew. To begin with, we were all concerned about the missing bus driver from our last 3 gig weekend. When we last saw him at Universal Studios, he had borrowed one of our rental vans and although he was only going to be gone a short time, he had not returned by the time we left California. We knew he was a jerk since he had been our driver before, now everyone will know it. He had decided to party and not bring the van back. Do you think he may have forgotten that it wasn't his van, or that he had just gotten married the day before and should be on a honeymoon instead of "hanging a moon" ??? On the better side, our special thanks to Art Ross, who was an excellent driver on our current tour.

When you're on the road, it sometimes pays to have an imagination. Take for instance, the night I forgot to take my instant coffee off the bus. I drank hot water and pretended it was the weakest coffee I had ever had. There are other times when I am just waiting around for an airplane, a hotel room or for the gear to be unloaded that I sit and pretend that I'm fishing for salmon, but just not catching anything. Kinda like real fishing! Ha!

I have one of the greatest stories ever told. It seems that a certain person in our group was very anxious to get going on the road. He went to the airport, kissed his wife goodbye, hugged and comforted his crying children, and tried to check his bag. To his embarrassment and shock, he was informed that he couldn't check his bag until he went inside to change his ticket for a day earlier. Luckily, his family was still waiting for him. The moral to this story is: ALWAYS look at the cable guide to see what day it is and THEN look at your ticket to make sure they match.

Well, folks. I really don't have anything good to say about a certain venue in Kentucky. I'm sure you will agree unless you enjoy a "crack house" for a dressing room (house across the street), loud thunderous disco music during loadout, or certain other problems, such as the person (name censored), who seemed to be in charge of whatever benefited him at the moment. Guess this was just a bad gig day.

Finally, there is Rochester, Michigan. Something is going on there that I can only call "The Big Buzz"!! It seems that there is alot of EMI (electromagnetic interference) in the area of Oakland University. This caused problems with guitars using single coil pickups. This is not the only place where this happens and there is no cure. The best thing about this gig was that the opening band was Brian Setzer and his Rockin' Big Band.

TECH TIP: Very simple. If it blows up once, fix it. If it blows up twice, get rid of it !! Second TECH TIP: Never put your leg in front of a moving lift gate. If you want to know why, I know who you can ask.

Once again, sadness enters the tour. The day before our show in West Hampton, Long Island, the tragic news of TWA Fight #800 was on the news. Although words cannot express the hurt, anger and unanswered questions friends and families feel, our heartfilled sympathies and prayers go out to them.

Last of all, I can't tell you anything about our final show in Pittsburgh. It was cancelled due to some terrible flooding at the venue site. The good news is that we all got to come home a day early. This is much better than trying to leave a day early.