Thursday, November 12, 2009

Three shows, three wild nights...

Last weekend's shows made me PROUD to be a Pyghead, here's what happened...

Thursday I woke up, showered and waited for Dep to arrive at my house and cruise with me to Statesboro, GA to rock out at Retriever's Bar and Grill. Since he now lives in Gulf Shores it made it easy for us to carpool. He got to my house around noon and we headed on our way. Personally, I wanted to leave earlier than noon, but Dep said we'd get there right on time... he was wrong. Statesboro is on Eastern time, we were on central time. It's also a seven hour drive and load in was at 6:30. Needless to say, we arrived in just enough time for them to be DONE setting up. Christeen and I then jumped in my car and ran some errands for the band. We needed batteries of every size, Gatorade, and tape for Chris. While traveling back to the bar I received a call from Angel, asking me to hurry back to the bar to hang out. The band started around eleven. It was a great turn out! There were even a few lucky fans that even got to dance on stage. After the show Cameron and I headed to the parking lot for some barbecue sandwiches. There was a guy that sells them outta a little cart. Cameron ordered 15 sandwiches and we headed back to the bar to enjoy a late night meal while they tore down the equipment. Dep grabbed a bunch of sandwiches and I took him back to the hotel. After returning to the bar, I realized the guys were done and ready to go. Cameron and Brad headed back home, while Christeen, Dep, Chris, Pete and I stayed in Statesboro to rest, it would be a long drive to Tuscaloosa in the morning. I fell asleep around 4 am

I woke up Friday morning around eleven. And decided to get ready and leave. There was no use postponing the inevitable, awful drive. The guys had left earlier than I did. I guess they take less time in the shower. I headed towards Tuscaloosa. The band would be playing at The Jupiter downtown for the pre-game day party. It took FOREVER to find a place to park in Tuscaloosa. I ended up 3 blocks from the bar. I toted my lap top case with me, in case I was missing in really good facebook drama the last few hours from my drive. When I came into the bar I was greeted by a bartender and handed a wristband. Jeremiah was his name. He let me know he wanted me to have a wristband early so I wouldn't put mean things in the blog about how long I had to wait in line before the show. It was very nice of him, and I was grateful. I folded a BUNCH of brand new Alabama Roll Tide Pygmie shirts before the show with Angel. The guys set up the new lights and were ready to roll to the hotel to get ready around 9:30. I stayed in the bar and chatted with Pygmie fans. The crowd started rolling in. It was amazing to watch the venue start to fill with eager fans. There were SO many of them. I was wondering how good the show would be tonight, because it'd be hard for Cameron to top the wild fans that had been drinking all day long. They were very entertaining. After the guys arrived back at the club, Cameron motioned for me to come up to the band room. He handed me the new video camcorder and told me to video tape the show's highlights. I was very excited! I stood in the middle of the venue, next to Pete's sound board to get the best view of the stage, lights, and fans. I have to say, I have seen hundreds of Pygmies shows, but that show was the best light show I have ever seen! Pete is truly talented! If you ever want to watch a real show, watch Pete manually create the light show that you see during a Pygmie concert. It's insane! The band took a short break in the middle of the show to sell shirts and got right back on stage to finish the rock. After the show the band, once again, started putting the equipment into the truck. It's a long, hard job. By 6 am Cameron, Brad, Christeen and I were at the IHOP relaxing and enjoying a meal. By the time we went to bed it was well after 7 am. Luckily, the Ramada hooked us up and let us sleep in!

I woke up Saturday around 2 pm, and headed towards home, tonight's show would be in Mobile, AL, only minutes from my house. I arrived at my house around 6 pm and showered, unpacked, and headed back to Pygmie land with my cousin, David. When we got to Soul Kitchen there was a private party going on. Angel was already there, I was supposed to eat dinner with him, but I was running a little late. I had to buy some more batteries, so I asked if he would want to come with us. We then headed to Walgreens, where my mom is the manager, so I was able to get a good discount. By the time we got back to the bar the guys had shown up and were ready to load in. I watched patiently as they set up the great stage. My sister and her friends waited anxiously at the barricade waiting for the bar to open. Right when the guys finished setting up the lights, the bar opened the doors to the fans, and they all rushed the stage, hoping to get a front row spot for the show. I had suddenly realized how incredibly hungry I was. I grabbed my cousin and Becca, Angel's friend, and we walked downtown to look for something open. We found ourselves at a Greek Sub shop... can't say I have ever eaten there, but we ordered anyway. We ate our food side stage at the bar. The band started around midnight. It was a great show, there was even a young girl that jumped on stage. Christeen, not wanting to let a cigarette go to waste, picked her up with his other arm and carried her off stage. It was pretty funny. The band also had a guest singer. It was Jeremy from the band D.R.E.A.D. who sang EnterSandman, a crowd favorite. The show ended around 3 am and the band tore the stage down for the last night of the week. After the show, the band headed to the nice, Hampton Inn of Downtown. I was flagged down by Daniel, the bar manager, he handed me Eddins cymbals that he had forgotten. So, I drove to the Hampton and waited on Christeen to come down from the room and get the gear. There was no Waffle House, IHOP or Denny's on the menu for the night, everyone was so tired. I drove back home with my cousin around 5:30 am and crashed. Next weekend would be a fun week, I needed to start resting right away.

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