Day Off in Little Rock, AR

Whew! That's all I could say when I finally got off the bus this afternoon. Last night and today was a 960-mile submarine ride from Miami to Little Rock. We left the venue last night at 1:40am and arrived here at 4pm local time. That's 15 hours and 20 minutes, which is about 5 hours longer than anyone should be subjected to on a tour bus…

Went up and dropped my stuff, checked email and putzed around for a bit. Heading back downstairs to watch the Duck March at 5:00. A few crew folks who'd never stayed here or the Peabody in Memphis didn't believe me when I told them about it, so they showed up to see for themselves. You can read all about them HERE.

The ducks in the lobby fountain:

The Duck Master:

The ducks walking the red carpet:

The elevator, waiting to take them to their suite upstairs:

They take this stuff so seriously here that there are giant duck inlays on the roof of the lobby:

I was gonna have dinner in the hotel bar tonight, but the stench from cigarette and cigar smoke in there was unbelievable. Seriously, it was on par with Northside Billiards, the old man bar I hang out at sometimes back home. No fucking way I could eat a meal in a place that smells like that.

I would up down the street at a great sushi restaurant called Wasabi. They had a cool bar area with a big flatscreen TV, so I got to watch the Monday Night Football game while enjoying some great bait and a few Buds.

After dinner, I stopped by the bus to grab a couple of beers and took them to my room to watch the second half of the game. I don't like either team, but it was fun to see the New Orleans Saints kick the shit out of New England. Great way to end the night…

Show Day in Jacksonville, FL

Yep, nine shows and counting down. I will be so glad when this is done. I really need some "me" time at home. Like three or four months worth.

I finally emailed the Coldplay folks the other day to tell them I won't be available to do the South American tour in February and March. I've never been there before, and hated to bail out on them, but I have so much work coming my way in a few months that if I don't take sanity time NOW, I won't get it at all.

Nothing much else to report today. Sorry I quit blogging for the last few weeks, I was just burnt out on it. I've been Facebooking regularly, though, so I’m easy to keep up with there. Just search for Bob Davis, Raleigh / Durham, NC. My current profile shot is actually a BD logo that looks like this:

Heading out to the bus for some bunky-time…

Thanksgiving Day in Jacksonville, FL

Following 2 nights of shows in DC, we left last night around 2am for Jacksonville, Florida, about 710 miles away. Got into our rooms about 2pm. Nice way to spend a holiday, isolated from family and friends and loved ones back home. Oh, yeah, we're living the dream here!!!

I putzed around the room the rest of the afternoon, catching up on email and watching the lopsided football games on TV.

About 7, I walked about a mile to the Chart House, a high-end seafood restaurant. It was one of the few restaurants open around here. There was also a Hooters open about a block from the hotel, but I knew that most of the crew was going there and I didn't want to hang out with them.

Had a killer meal, sitting at the bar, being entertained by a lovely young lady named Tanya. They closed at 9, but I stayed until around 10:30, as it was slow there and Tanya said she enjoyed the company. (Yeah, right, had nothing to do with those tips I was laying on her on a slow bar night.)

It was nice to walk the mile back to the hotel. A bit cool for Florida, but I didn't mind a bit. Stuck my head in the bar back at the hotel, but none of the crew I'd have a drink with were in there, so I headed back to my room for some tube and internet surfing.

Nine shows left on the tour, the countdown's begun…

Paula Matthews Davis

Today would have been Momzilla's 80th birthday. Thanks to the tobacco industry, she's no longer in the lives of the many people who loved her. In loving memory of Paula Matthews Davis, please don't smoke...