This week was a fairly slow week for band business. We finished our mini/album promo/college show tour on Saturday [Oct. 8] in Ithaca, NY and flew home for some rest and relaxation before the big fall tour begins. The problem is that I am more rested and relaxed our on tour than I am at home. When the band is out on the road we are cared after, waited on and applauded for almost everything, while at home, I take out the trash and change diapers. It’s enough to warp your mind something fierce. But in all honesty, it keeps me very grounded and respectful towards my craft.
While I was home, I did have a chance to drive up to my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, and visit the set of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The band recorded the show’s theme song last month while we were in Los Angeles and I found out that they were going to makeover a home of a family where I grew up. I have to say that I am a fan of the show and even get a little misty watching it from time to time (it’s hard not to… the show tugs at your heart strings for over an hour).
The cast and crew are some good people; all of them very kind and generous with their time. They even woke Paul (the carpenter) up from a nap to say hello. I hold sleep as a top priority in my day so I made our encounter short and sweet. It was a good day; I shook a ton of hands, showed my appreciation for getting the chance to be involved in some small way, saw a very deserving family get a great opportunity, and the wife met Ty.
We played a show in Memphis on Friday [Oct. 14] at a beautiful theatre, the Orpheum. This show signaled the beginning of the fall tour and it was quite an eventful one at that. I was really proud of us with this one. The beginning of the night started off shaky and the audience was very uninspired. Marc recognized this and rallied the troops to win these people over. The night was decided and won on a great version of “52/50” about a quarter way through the set. We all played with a chip on our shoulder and with something to prove, which got everyone on their feet and into the evening.
During the night’s set break we had a longtime audience member propose to his girlfriend on stage. Little did he or anyone else really know that the band’s fog machine had set off the smoke alarms in the building and the fire marshal and department showed up. Memphis’ finest wanted to shut the show down and evacuate the building during this guy’s proposal. Understanding the importance of the moment and the unimportance of the false alarm, the fire marshal allowed the show to go on and for the girlfriend to say yes.
We finished with the frantic and fast version of “Love & Memories” and sent everyone out on to Beale Street for cocktails and adventure. I witnessed and experienced some great barbeque ribs, some great musicians all along the strip, and a goat drink eight beers. It was a good night.
Take care all,
Jerry
Read O.A.R.’s previous entry.
O.A.R.
A fire marshal and an onstage proposal make the first show of O.A.R.'s fall tour an interesting one.
