So I got to see Beauty Spot this afternoon. It’s basically a mountain with no trees at the top with a gorgeous view. Eastern Tennessee is beautiful.
Cara and I at Beauty Spot.
Tonight I got to see the ETSU Med students powder puff flag football game…..that was interesting at the least…haha, but they won, and we celebrated at Buck’s Pizza.
Tomorrow it’s off to Winston-Salem to Wake Forest University. Hope to see you there!
So, I basically backtracked all of 77 yesterday coming to Johnson City, but it went pretty fast. 77 is a really interesting drive through the mountains and all. I even got to stop at a Scenic Overlook in West Virginia to take a few pictures.
Hold your breathe.
The gig last night was one of the most fun gigs I’ve had. Well, this whole tour has been great. It’s fun to show up somewhere, hardly knowing anybody, and by the end of the night we’re all hangin out telling stories, and just having a good time.
Thanks to Addie for her beautiful rendition of Old McDonald had a farm, and to all the the back up singers for Life’s A Bitch. I wanna take ya’ll on the road with me.
Today, I’m hangin out with my friend Cara from back home. She’s down here at ETSU teaching and whatnot. We’re gonna go run and then take an adventure somewhere. Maybe climb a mountain, oh, and have a bonfire tonight.
Check out this picture of us from highschool. Me, Cara, and Aaron. What the goatee.
Well, for less than 12 more ours….then it’s off to Johnson City, TN.
But last night was fun. I got to hang out with my buddy Jerry Chapman in Mount Airy, NC, and the Mediocre Bad Guys.
Tonight, My friends Jon and Stephanie came over for our rehearsal. We’ve been working on the live version of the song “Can’t Keep On Running” from my new album, and it’s coming along really well…..I’ll give you a little background to what’s going on here. It started out, that we wanted the drum loop to play live, so Jon, in his amazing technological wisdom, rigged up a MIDI trigger on his keyboard so that he could start the loop. That worked pretty well, so we started thinking….towards the end of the song there are these two cello parts that fugue, but we only have one cello.
Jon rigged up a way to record the cello as she plays the first part and loop it back while she plays the 2nd part on top. Then he found a way to layer the parts, so we added 2 more cello parts….but why stop there? why not loop andy’s guitar, and add some percussion right?
well, here’s what we came up with…remember, there’s no prerecorded parts besides the drum loop. It’s all happening live.
Hey everybody,
I’m in Mount Airy right now watchin my buddy Jerry Chapman and the Mediocre Bad Guys play at the Cross Creek Country Club. Talk about polar opposite of last night. The Juggling Gypsy was like Jimmy’s Cafe’ mixed with Thursdays. Picture New Orleans style decor, very eccentric colors and plush couches only they serve hookah, and have fire eaters as bar tenders. The Cross Creek is definitely a bit more classy…..guess where i fit in better…haha? no, but the people here were great.
I expected to have a dead crowd that completely ignored me, but they were into it. And it’s great, cause we’re playin outside under this pavilion thing breathin some good ol’ mountain air.
The Mediocre Back Guys are pretty sweet. They played some Ryan Adams and Tom Petty, real good, and my buddy Jerry Chapman is playin bass for them. Jerry was in Nashville the same time I was recording at Sputnik, so we hung out a lot earlier this summer (Twin Kegs International Famous right Jerry?) haha…….
So yeah, last night I actually lived up to my talk, and slept in my car in a Harris Teeter parking lot. I was woken up this morning by the guy who was mowing the strip of grass on the island in the parking lot, so I moved my car and went back to sleep. Surprisingly, I feel pretty rested…..You’re probably wondering why in the heck I’d choose to sleep in my car, especially if you knew that I had the opportunity to sleep in Raleigh in a bed….but the reason I stayed was because I wanted to go to the beach and the weather report said the rain was passing, so I stayed, and it was worth it.
I went for a jog this morning on the Wrightsville Beach Island
then took a dip in the ocean to “shower”.
Good enough right?…..ok. I feel kinda gross right now, but I’ve got plenty of old spice on…haha. Well, I’ll have some pictures from tonight soon, so check back aight.
oh, and i love palm trees!
Thanks again everybody for coming out to the shows, and thanks to you guys for reading the blog, but the most special thanks to those of you who have let me stay at your place, I really appreciate it. Even you Harris Teeter.
What you are about to see is unprecedented in Dolson performances.
So yeah. I can officially say that I use pyrotechnics in my performance. It’s crazy, tonight was supposed to be this big fire twirling drum night outside, but the rain stopped it all. But my new friend Lauren who was working last night asked if she could eat fire while I played. I’m like, “sure”….so she grabs her can of kerosene and well, you saw the rest. I’ve never seen a girl who carries her own bottle of kerosene with her for such occasions, but then again…..i’ve never met a girl who eats fire for a living. Thanks lauren…and thanks Terry for the pictures.
Well, time to find a good place to park my car for the night.
Rain, rain, go away!
I totally would’ve taped the waves if I wasn’t worried about getting my computer wet. I was a little more daring with my camera though. check it out!
One brave/crazy/stupid surfer made his way in.
Even the news crew showed up to get shots of the action.
The street was completely flooded.
But that didn’t stop people from driving.
And it made perfect conditions for some urban kayaking.
Well, I’m gonna dry off and head over to the Juggling Gypsy. Catch up with ya’ll later.
Wheww! What a night! it’s 4:10 AM, and I just rolled in about a half an hour ago. Thanks btw to everybody who came out to the show, and thanks to you guys who bought t-shirts, CD’s and ties. I really appreciate it, and I hope that you enjoy!
Tonight I played at The Pour House Music Hall with Buzzround and the High and Mighties. If you weren’t there and you get a chance, you should check both of those bands out at myspace.com/buzzround and thehighandmighties.com.
. . .so here’s a story for ya…I opened my guitar case this afternoon and started playing when i realized that I was missing the bridge to my guitar. I remember changin my strings in Pittsburgh in the dark and I must have lost it there, so Club Cafe’ has a seagull bridge layin on the floor somewhere, but oh well. I called The Pour House to find a guitar shop. As it turns out, there was a Guitar Center and Sam Ash right down the street from me at the time. After a failed attempt at Guitar Center I stopped at Sam Ash where they just happened to have a Luthier (a maker of stringed instruments, such as violins or guitars) on duty. Lee was his name, and let me tell you, Lee is the man. He totally hooked me up. Not only did he stay late to fix my guitar, he only charged me $10, and he showed me a few useful tips for the road. So my guitar was saved and I headed for the Pour House.
We got all set up, and i got to hang out with the guys from Buzzround for a while. I got to play a full set tonight, 45 min worth. Oh, and the ties went over really well. The guys from Buzzround rocked ‘em through their whole set……
I got a chance to take some pictures of the show tonight check em out…
Dolson ties! Heck yeah!
I just really like this picture of the alley, on the way into the Pour House.
Tomorrow I’m playin the Juggling Gypsy in Wilmington, NC, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to stop at the beach for a bit. Maybe take a swim or surf. We’ll see.
Catch ya’ll later
Greetings from Raleigh, North Carolina….well Zebulon, NC, blogging to you from the Hixenbaugh’s livingroom.
Today was an adventurous day. I drove back roads from Pittsburgh to Raleigh and got to pass through Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia before reaching North Carolina.
I decided that I was gonna go for a jog today while I was on the road, and I lucked out when I saw signs for the Cacapone State Park in West Virginia, home of Eastern West Virginia’s tallest mountain!
I stopped and went for a jog on the trails, and had the crazy plan to make it all the way to the top of the mountain to take some pictures. When I realized that the trees would block any view that I’d have, and that it would take me nearly an hour to get up the mountain and back I had to scrap it and hit the road.
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, but it was a little intense since there is no direct way to get from Pittsburgh to Raleigh. My directions had about 20 different turns and highway changes, but I made it.
I’m stayin down here with my old roommate Hix and his wife Bethany, and I got to meet their new dog “Bowie”.
We all got to catch up for bit, but now it’s time for bed. Hopefully I can sleep in a bit tomorrow
Tomorrow night is with Buzzround and The High and Mighties at The Pour House Music Hall. It should be a good time.
-Peace
I made it to Pittsburgh today, and for the first time I didn’t make a single wrong turn. I just got off the highway and went straight to the venue with no problems. The last time I was here, it was a nightmare trying to get around. Well, I take that back…the last time I was here, I got my Corolla. 118,000 miles strong. He’s a champ
Yes, my car is a he, and his name is Malcolm thanks to Ronny D.
Anyways, the south side of Pittsburgh is great. Kinda reminds me of Uptown in Chicago or Hillsboro Village in Nashville. Real artsy, but not pretentious if you know what i mean.
So yeah, I played at Club Cafe’s Acoustic Showcase tonight, which was pretty cool, but it’s hard to live up to the last gig I had at Club Cafe’ opening for Bill Deasy’s back to back sold out shows in one night.
Tonight there were a good amount of people there. A bunch of local musicians, and a few out-of-towners like myself. Everybody got to play a few songs, and dolson got to be a featured act for the night.
I got to meet up with my buddy Russ and his wife Brenda who live here in town, so that’s fun, and they let me crash at their place. (Just like old times right Russ? Brown street!) We walked down the strip after I played to get some pizza. New York style of course. That’s how we do on the East Coast. I just wish that there were more authentic Chicago style pizza places, but I digress…. so while we were walking I saw this coffee/internet bar with the sign for “Iced Mocha’s” which is really not that interesting of a story, but it made me laugh cause my friend’s 2 year old daughter thinks that everything is Iced Mocha. Of course I took a picture.
This picture is for you Aaliyah.
Well, I’ve got to say, I’m exhausted. This past week was crazy, getting everything together for the trip, but I think I got it all together, and now I’m just along for the ride. Tomorrow I’m off to Raleigh, so I should be gettin to bed soon. Russ and I are watchin some Seinfeld before we hit the hay.