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Nashville, TN: When I have a little downtime (ie. not traveling for work), I tend to get restless and dream of places to travel. This past week was -- for all intents and purposes -- my "summer vacation." I was still able to work, but with the gifts of a laptop and iPhone, I can literally be anywhere and still accomplish my tasks. For the most part, my work for upcoming shows were as advanced as they could be and the email/phone contact was quiet. So I looked at
another calendar and decided to take a quick trip to
The Big Easy.
I tried to keep it as easy as possible by packing -- for the first time EVER -- one small bag as a carryon. And, of course, I brought along my backpack with my electronic gear, but as long as I have been a traveler, I have not figured out how to pack so lightly. I figured with two travel days & one "play" day, I could figure it out. It helped that it's July and I don't need any sort of coat or boots to try to shove into a small space.
After reaching
MSY, I connected with my friend in baggage claim, where we hugged, jumped in a cab, headed to the hotel to preare for an evening of adventure. After a filling meal, we headed for Rev. Zombie's Voodoo Shop and awaited the start of our
Haunted History Tour. The beauty of this particular tour is that you not only get some chilling stories of lives lost and supposed spirits, but you get real & rich history of this historic city.
This is us, doing our best scary faces. Though, I'm not sure if this would have scared anyone away, honestly.
We also took a walk down
Bourbon Street around 10:15pm and it was going on in full force. Since I'm not drinking
right now, it felt a little awkward to roam the street in a straight line, versus a tipsy zig zag, as I have on pretty much every other time I've been here before. I actually enjoyed watching others look pretty ridiculous while I held my own for the night. That being said, the temptation was starting to nip at my heels, so we picked up the pace a bit and I looked forward to a solid (and sober) night's sleep.
The next morning, we walked to
Cafe du Monde, a place we had actually met before, years ago, and caught up on the thousand stories between us. Serenaded by a jazz street band and engulfed by the summer humidity, it was the perfect snapshot of a memory I will carry with me forever.
The only bummer of the moment was that I'm doing the ABS plan. I'm pretty sure even though B doesn't stand for beignets and A doesn't stand for au lait, I probably shouldn't be having them. So instead, I opted for my protein bar and a black coffee (with 1/2 a packet of stevia. Baby steps). Honestly, I didn't miss it that much. (Although, please, NO ONE remind me how good they are!)
In the afternoon, it was more walking & talking, then back to the hotel to check in on any pending work happenings... and to get gussied up for the big night.
The crux of this trip was not only hanging out with my friend & exploring the history of New Orleans, but also seeing a live show of two of my favorite acts. One (the girls) whom I have worked with before (and hopefully again someday) and am continually inspired by their music and mission. The other (the boys) who are my new favorites. The Shadowboxers combine 2 of the 3 of my favorite genres of music: funk and boy band. (The third being 70s love songs, if you can even call that a genre....)
I haven't been moved by new music since another opener I saw for the Indigos -- Stephen Kellogg And The Sixers -- whom I now friends with and still love very much. Ideally, I would like for TSB & SK6ERS to play together so I could have all these boys together on one stage. But for tonight, I was able to see the Girls & the boys together on one stage, which was incredibly magical.
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| soundcheck |
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| showtime |
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| setlist |
And as a complete & serendipitous surprise, I was informed that this club holds a little history of its own. Turns out a video was filmed here in 1988. That video was "The Right Stuff" by New Kids On The Block. Imagine my sheer joy as I reenacted their dance moves behind the fenced rails on the second floor.
Back at home now, I've crashed pretty hard from my music high, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have had the chance to see the boys AND the girls. And thanks to youtube, I can relive those memories again and again....
