Thursday, June 29, 2006

Day Off in Kansas City

Up at 7:30. Hang with the driver all the way into Kansas City. We arrive at the hotel just after 2pm. I walk into a room that's evidently been used to facilitate a cigarette-smoking contest. This entire hotel is non-smoking, so it shouldn't be like this, but it is. Twenty minutes later I'm in my new non-stinking room. I crank up the A/C, drop bags, and head off in search of anything cool in the 'hood. Major shopping area starts 300 feet from the hotel. Almost everything you could ever want, except of course, the two things I really want – a grocery store and a drugstore. Turns out they're only a few blocks away, so all's well.

I drop a call on my KC buddy Brad Stonner and discover he's home. We worked together on Disturbed a few years ago and again on System Of A Down last year. He just came off the Black-Eyed Peas tour. Turns out he lives about 4 miles away AND he's having a cookout tonight. Yay!

Brad's little brother Trent lives about 2 blocks from my hotel, so he sends him to pick me up around 5:30. The cookout was a blast. Brad has a way cool "rock & roll" home. Lots of cool memorabilia from his years of touring, garage full of motorcycles, and a backyard full of interesting characters, a couple of whom I've actually met before on previous trips to the KC area.

A good time was had by all, and Brad's other brother (whose name eludes me) drops me back by my hotel a little after 11…

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