What a great way to start a day. I woke up about 40 miles outside of Nashville, around 7:45. Well, OK, 6:45. Forgot about the time zone change for a minute there. That's great, because it means I have an extra hour on my day off.
From the looks of the front lounge of the bus, a bunch of folks were up late last night and did some serious drinking. What a mess!
We dive into the Nashville Airport to let Ethan, our rigger, jump off the bus. He's gotta fly to L.A. today to take care of some personal business. He'll be taking the red-eye out of L.A. tonight to return for tomorrow's show. Better him than me – I hate overnight flights.
We get room keys straightaway, so I head up to the 15th floor and walk into a very toasty room. Yikes! Quickly switch the system to A/C. Gonna be about 78 degrees and gorgeous here today.
I'm armed. In the lobby I grabbed a USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Tennessean. I knock back the USA Today, then head down to Sevala's Café on the corner to grab some breakfast around 9. Believe it or not, they have the best biscuits I have ever had anywhere in my life. I loved my mom's biscuits when I was growing up, and maybe it's been too long since I had one, but these are like little pieces of heaven. I'll probably buy a bagful for the folks on the bus tomorrow morning.
My friend Jen calls a little after 1. I'm having dinner with her tonight and then going to see her band play.
In the meantime, I'm gonna wander around for a bit. She said there's a cool Ray Charles exhibit over at the Country Music Hall of Fame, so I might wander over that way.
Never made it to see Ray. I was back in my room around 4 when Jen called. I went with her to run an errand and then she drove me around East Nashville. Man, I just fell out over all the cool houses. I saw at least a hundred houses I liked. It was crazy.
We got to her and Audley's house and loaded up her gear for the gig. I got the deluxe tour of the house. Killer house, great yard, way cool patio and a really great fence. I can see why they love their house so much. We sat out back on the patio and had a beer before heading over to The Family Wash, their neighborhood watering hole and the venue where Jen's gig was gonna be tonight.
Dinner, 2 sets by the band, and about one thousand Pacifico beers later, I jump in a cab to head back to my hotel. That was the most fun I've had on a day off in a long, long time. Thanks, Jen, for the hospitality!
I wish that Audley had been around, but if he had been, I'd have been out waaaay too late and I'm sure I'd have had a mondo hangover…
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