Tornadoes, Satan, and Night of the Live Dead

Sugar Lime Blue is on the road in North Carolina, and we're having a great time avoiding tornadoes, the voice of satan, and a night of the live Dead.

Let me explain....

We left last Wednesday in beautiful weather. Sunny, 55 or 60 degrees - a great way to start things off. Dave insisted on driving (in spite of my offer to do at least a third of the driving, given that we had 3 or 4 drivers in the car), and I found myself sitting behind Ashley. She asked me if I had room enough for my legs, and of course I said yes when there actually wasn't - forgetting that we had an 8 hour drive in front of us. I finally got up the nerve to ask her to move forward after a couple hundred miles, which she very graciously did. I only wish I'd asked before my right leg fell off due to lack of circulation...


Dave ended up driving all the way to Charlotte, and then another 10 hours on Thursday/Friday. Somehow he found the energy to play some great guitar on both nights. Don't know how he does it...

Anyway, we got up into the mountains and we couldn't decide what kind of weather we were having - one minute rain, the next clear blue skies. Once we got across the border, however, it was decidedly nasty, including a hailstorm (not golf ball sized, mind you, but big enough to make you wonder how many dents we'd be counting when we stopped!) Fortunately, the car survived intact - which was a real relief given that we were driving in the Beth's new Band SUV... I think it was Ashley who said: "hail usually comes down before a tornado comes through"...

But we all knew it wasn't tornado season and collectively decided there wasn't much chance of that. Turns out there WAS a tornado in the near vicinity, only we didn't hear about it until we got to Charlotte.... First bullet dodged!

The Double Door is a great venue, with a great atmosphere. Kind of like the Station Inn in Nashville, if anybody's been there to see some bluegrass. Craig the sound guy was very helpful and did a great job with our sound that nite. We had a great time playing, and it appears that next time we play there it will be on a Friday or Saturday night.

We stayed at a nearby motel, while Ashley camped out near the sink in her room. Did I say camped out? She pretty much owned the place... But she looked great the whole time, so all the more power to her. (For any musicians out there, Ashley doesn't fill the usual "singer" profile. You know, the stereotype from the old "how many soprano singers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer- one while the whole world revolves around her...") Ashley sings in tune, with passion and dynamics, and listens to the band. It's a pleasure to play the songs Dave and Ashley have written too.

So I was getting a really good night's rest, being tired from the drive and all, when I wake up as one does from time to time. Suddenly I hear this ungodly sound that I swear sounded like the voice of Satan. You know how you can be half asleep sometimes, and wake up in an unfamiliar place, not knowing where you are? It was that, only in the form of sound... My mind spun for a bit before I realized it was the next door neighbor snoring, only it was a kind of intermittent thing, with this sort of "ululating" effect (if you can imagine that). Phew! Dave said he heard it towards morning and it made him sit straight up in bed. (I know the feeling brother) Second bullet dodged...

So we drive ( I mean Dave drives) to Greensboro, and we spend some time visiting the shops. I got a cool shirt that I wore that night, and I'm really looking forward to trying out my tie dye that I got at a stop on the way in. Greensboro is a college town, and it has a great vibe. We were opening up for two other bands at the Green Bean, and were pretty much an unknown quantity to the local college crowd. But they were an excellent audience, and (as often happens) were
drawn in to the great songs and musicianship (not to be too egotistical about it :-). I had to yell out a few times - always a good sign that the energy is on!

So we hit the road again with smiles on our faces (in spite of the fact that there is a definite chill in the air). Sometime around 3 am, (and in the middle of the mountains) there's a loud noise and the SUV starts a-wobblin' somethin' fierce... Dave get's it to the side of the road, and we set about changing a tire on the trailer in something like 24 degree weather. (Dave and I are both from Maine/New Hampshire, and thought we were getting away from the cold when we separately moved to Nashville. HAH!) The tire shredded so badly that it took the fender, off, but fortunately we got the spare on and traveled the rest of the evening without any further troubles. Good thing Dave thought of buying the spare last week! Now that's what I'm talkin' about- people that pay attention to their intuition! It would not have been a fun thing to be stuck somewhere in the North Carolina mountains without a spare tire... Third bullet dodged....
So after narrowly missing a tornado, hearing what sounded like the voice of satan, and having my heart stop for a moment when the tire blew, I was beginning to feel a bit like the walking dead... This is when Dave puts "Live Dead" into the cd player, and we drove through the night and the snow flurries to the sound of Jerry and the boys...

Steve