However, it's been a busy week.
Appleton was the first city where I wish I had had more time to really walk around a bit. We spent...two days there, I believe. Didn't go out the first night, was too tired. Second night, we managed to escape for a few quick beers before the bus call. Appleton was also the first day of our new Head Carp, TP, joining us and shadowing Jack. Ana-Rose, our production manager was back as well to oversee. Somewhat tumultuous.
After Appleton was the first of our 3-city tour of Illinois - Moline, Rosemont (Chicago), and Peoria. Moline and Peoria were both hockey arenas - Moline much nicer than Peoria's...both were cold. Both were long one-day-wonders. The Rosemont, though, was great. We were only there for 3 days, but it was a great crew, and the shows went smoothly. There was something in the low-end of the system that I was having trouble pin-pointing and getting rid of, but other than that...a successful city.
The first night in Chicago was pretty low-key for me. I was in a bit of a funk (due to the low-end issues in the rig) and didn't want to go out to the fancy steak dinner that a bunch of people were going to in Evanston. Instead, my friend Olivia from NYU came and picked me up, we went to a local bar (tough to find out in the 'burbs) and had some beer and food. Well, I had beer, she had ginger ale. It was good to get a few hours to sit down and chat with her, as I hadn't seen her in months. Those few hours ended up getting me to bed by 2a - not the restful evening I had planned on.
The following night, after yet another grueling 3-show day, Grant and I booked it back to the hotel and hopped in a cab. The plan was to go to Grant's favourite tattoo parlour (he's from Chicago) and then I'd head off to the Oriental where Billy Elliott was (still) in tech. And THEN head back to Rosemont for Jack's, our head carp, going-away party.
We made it to the tattoo parlour, and I'd been thinking about starting a multi-step tattoo while on the road. Grant's had a lot of work done at Chicago Tattoo, Inc so I trusted the place. As it turns out, I could have gotten the whole thing filled in, but instead I just got the outline:
After my tattoo, I waiting around while Grant got some work done on his knees. He's definitely some great work done. His work looks somewhat... "piecemeal" but it doesn't read as thrown together. It's clear that everything is of a theme but that the piece, as a whole, has been developed gradually with every tattoo adding to the final product and it's vision.
I had planned a few months back, when we were both still in town, to stop by and say hi to Tony at the Oriental while he was in Billy Elliott tech. After a quick beer with Grant, I managed to figure out the CTA - which is a lot like some sort of bizarro MTA rip-off....the subway version of evil Spock. The turnstyles are the same, except you put your card in a different way. Even the cards look the same! Anyways, traipsed downtown, managed to find the Oriental, eventually, just in time for end of day. So, being that it was a whole week before St. Patty's day....all the bars are busy, apparently. Doesn't anyone work for a living anymore?? (Said by the guy who was out pub-crawling last night before his 9a showcall) It was good to see Tony again, get caught up, spend some time with someone NOT on the tour. Unfortunately, my beers with Tony (and my $40 cab ride back to Rosemont) made me late for Jack's shin-dig. Although last call is 3a in IL, the bars out by us closed at midnight. Who knew.
Now I'm settled into Knoxville, Tennessee. We had a long, 10-hour ride from Peoria to Knoxville, arriving somewhere around 1p. Quickly dumping my stuff in the hotel and changing, then out the door to grab some food at a local micro-brewery downtown. I wasn't wowed by the beer, though, but the food was decent. Dinner was at a really good little (and I mean TINY...like, NewYork Tiny) sushi place called Nama. Yesterday was a fairly easy day - load-in and then a 7p show. Followed by, of course, St. Patty's day celebrations. There was a pub crawl in Old City - $7 for 7 bars. Headed down there with Squeege (my A2) for an hour before some other folks joined up with us. Having started drinking around 9p, by 1a we were all ready for bed. Made an early night of it, as I had to be back in this very chair at 9a, ready for our lovely 10:30a show.
Thankfully we only have a 10:30a and a 7p today, so I'll go back to the hotel and take a nap between shows...
Off to Akron, OH tonight...NYC in just over a week! It'll be good to be back...
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