TTS Fall Tour - Day 11

TTS Midwest Tour

Day 11, Dispatch 1 - Last night in Kansas City will easily stand out as one of the most memorable evenings from this trip (that has had so many memorable evenings!) We pulled into Davey's Uptown Rambler's Club only to find it wasn't so uptown.




More importantly for me, as I was loading in my gear for the night, I glanced across the street to find the hand of providence had gifted me a crazy nice laundromat only steps away and with plenty of time to get my drums set up and all of my dirty threads laundered and smelling fresh and clean. I was down to my last pair o' boxers - and that's not the most pleasant place to find yourself, staring at the prospect of a suitcase full of dirty chonies. Several days on the road with consecutive shows and the incosistancy of regular showers will leave a man with a bad case of what Dr. Rhoades-Bomb has diagnosed as...




Fortunately for me I was able to get all my laundry taken care of and repacked away just in time to get changed for the show and walk across the street and go to work. We played another fantastic set to a room of quite a small crowd. No matter. The folks that came were not there by accident. They were as animated as any crowd we've played to before and everybody had a great time. We played the early slot which meant once we were torn down and loaded out, it was still really early. This is where my memory of last night will stay so vivid for many years to come. A big part of what makes these evenings spent away from the comforts of home in Anywhere, USA is not the fact that we played a certain bar in a certain town. On one hand, a bar is a bar is a bar. We play lots of them in lots of towns and they all start to kind of blur together after awhile. It's the memories of experiences that happen before and after and around these performances that make these trips seem real long after we've returned home. Shane is a new pal of mine sent out to see us from a mutual friend back home. Crazy nice guy and a fellow musician as well. Jeff and Stacy are fans of the band who have followed us and supported us in Kansas City on past excursions into town. Jeff and Stacy were kind enough to treat us to a barbeque feast that included almost every conceivable kind of meat that could be cooked! A few pitchers of some very tasty and locally brewed witbier along with several sides and lots of delicious barbeque sauce made for a wonderful meal amongst friends new and old. It was nice to take a break from "the road" and escape to a place similar to where an evening meal might find me at home in that we were out with friends and sharing stories and laughter. Always lots of laughter.







So thank you, Jeff and Stacy, so very much for your warmth and hospitality and for making Kansas City such a wonderful stop on this tour.




Due to many things going on in town over this weekend, we were forced to drive an hour over to Topeka to find lodging last night. This morning I made my way down to the van to find that once again the heartland of America had dawned on an absolutely beautiful day with a light breeze and quite a chill in the air (and only just a short drive to Wichita, where we'll open the show tonight for Delbert McClinton tonight.) The only thing that will make this day any better is if I can find somewhere to watch my 'Horns play OU after we arrive in Wichita. Gonna be a great day everybody -- Cheers!

- Dodds


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