One night, yeah, and one more time...

We've started the trail of one nighters on Tuesday and continue until next Tuesday, January 27th. For those of you who are not in the know, this is the protocol behind the one nighters:

Morning: Leave to next city
Afternoon: Arrive at next city's hotel
Afternoon + X: Depart to Theater
Early Night: Sound Check @ Theater
Night: Show
Night + 1:39: Pack up, Load out, back to hotel

Lather, rinse, repeat (if necessary) the next 7 days. The farther the distance we have to drive, the earlier we have to wake up. This is a welcome change from the morning wakes I'm used to -- commuting for 45 minutes and dealing with kids who destroy music stands and come to me with stories about the kid in 8th grade who posted drama on their myspace.

Now I just fall back asleep...

We left Tennessee on Tuesday morning and were met with an unexpected act of God on the road - a blizzard. Really? In northern Mississippi? I'll take it! After listening to the inauguration botch and speech on my phone, we detoured to the Hoover Mall in Hoover, Alabama. This was a chance to pick up amenities for my home away from home (if you call a hotel room your home) - the bus! I decided to forgo the pillow/blanket combo out of sheer stupidity, but realized it was a necessity after witnessing the comfort of my contemporaries. Thank you Sears for your polyester filled hypoallergenic pillow and fleece blanket -- all for $17. After snoozing and snoring, we had our first stop in Montgomery, Alabama where supposedly every place of commerce after 6pm closes down. No joke -- between the sound check and the curtain, Dave, Sukh, and I checked out downtown in hopes of dinner. See "I am Legend" to recreate this awful scene.

The theater in Alabama was packed as tight as sardines. Had to fit 2 rows of reeds and brass across in a 7 foot space (and that's being quite generous). Nonetheless, it was a hair uncomfortable.

Woke up next day at 850am to a beautiful and frigid Alabama morning. I learned a new craft on the road... how to operate a spigot shower. No latch, no level, but this thing right below the faucet that I've never encountered before. It took 10 minutes for me to figure out where this was until Matty showed me while I was still in my half-sleep stupor. Supposedly for the folk who've been on the road in many hotels, this device was commonplace. I am the rookie's rookie.

Alabama to Florida was about 3 hours, and finally back in the Sunshine State. We stayed in Destin (currently the site of this blog) about a block or two away from the beach. Too bad it's... still cold. Low was 32 last night. Foreign temperatures for us natives, right?

The theater at Okaloosa-Walton County College was nothing short of amazing. What a welcome we received when we stepped into the footfield field... otherwise know as the pit:


Look at the smile on Jason Mink's face. This is the heaven that all pit orchestra musicians go to when they die.

Off to Panama City in about an hour, and then some great news later!