Greenville, South Carolina

This morning I spoke on a panel at APCA called "Rolling Out the Red Carpet." Boyd Jones from Winthrop University (and Columbia TN!!!) put this Ed Session together for the students. There were a couple of agents, a couple of artists, and then a poet, and a speaker.

The students were given a chance to ask questions, and we all just had a general discussion about the details that go into making the best show possible - for the schools, the agents, and the artists. :) It was a great panel, and it was fun to be a part of.

After that, I went to the co-op to see what that was like. Co-op is where the schools who are already interested in booking an artist have the chance to block book and work with other schools (which makes it cheaper). If 5 to 7 schools in a row book us all within driving distance of one another, then of course the price comes down.

When they announced my name, it felt a bit like being auctioned off :) I mean, it was AWESOME, but it was really strange to be sitting in the back of the room, with my little hat on, looking all incognito... and watching schools fight over dates and yelling across the room to work with each other. It looked like a bunch of commodities brokers! Absolute chaos. But it is an incredible feeling to know that we'll have work for at least the rest of the year. And we've already gotten booked for 4th of July in 2010, plus other dates in 2010. Wow. :)

James and I went back to the hotel, picked up the guys, and then we headed to Bosphorus. That is the Cymbal company that James endorses. Their main office is in Kennesaw Georgia, just north of Atlanta, so James always tries to stop in when we are close. Plus, it means he gets to try out a bunch of new cymbals :) He bought some hit-hats and a crash cymbal, which he played tonight! James was a happy boy.

So then we headed out to Greenville, South Carolina. We played at Wild Wing Cafe there tonight. We played there almost a year ago, so it has been a while since we have been back! Greenville has the cutest and most adorable downtown. I LOVE it. But we have never had enough time to explore. This is one of those places I would love to come back to when I can really spend some time. They had an outdoor concert going on (which was happening last year, too). And there are tons of cute little shops and restaurants with outdoor patios.

The show was awesome. This is one of my favorite Wild Wings we play. Load in is the hardest - it is an old building with... no elevator.... and we play on the second floor. Loading our entire trailer up stairs is never fun, but these strong boys can handle it :) Clemson was playing when we got there, and they had the game showing on 2 huge screens on stage. We wouldn't DARE get in the way of the screens, so we just waited until the game was over to actually set up on stage. The game was SOOO close.... but Clemson lost :( It was sad. The place was packed and they all just looked demoralized. So we lost a whole lot of the crowd before we even started... they all were slowly filtering out with their tails tucked between their legs... not really in the mood to hang out.

But those that stayed? And then those that came in and filled the place back up? QUALITY audience!!! They were so much fun. Everyone was dancing and singing and I remember seeing a lot of hilarious stuff happening from stage. :)

When I first walked in, my friend JEFRE T! (That's his myspace handle) was already there, and he had brought a CROWD! He was at the show last year, and he brought his wife and tons of friends to the show tonight!


This guy was at our show in Cape Carteret - at the The Dive last year. (We were the last band to play there before they had to shut their doors. Sad) But he told me the coolest story. He said he had brought (I think it was) his niece to the show at the Dive. She played the violin when she was growing up, but hadn't played in years. He said after they came to my show, she has been playing ever since. How cool is that!?!?! That makes me so happy to hear.


Howard The Disco Cowboy!!!! Howard won that buckle in a dance contest believe it or not! He is one of the most fun people to watch dance. I don't know how he does some of the stuff he can do. It is impressive! He used to line dance at the Wildhorse on TNN when that station was still around. And he also ballroom dances - his parter is from South America. Yay Howard! We love you!


Cowboy Hoot! When Hootie sang Hank Jr. - Howard couldn't resist giving his hat to Hoot!


Dana (on the right) was at the show last year, too! He and his friend had me sign a poster last year for another bar in town. He said it is still up in that venue - I've never played there, I just signed a poster for them :) And then someone else later in the evening was telling me how he had seen my poster in this other place and got excited!


These guys both came up on stage to take advantage of their free hugs :) One hugged me, the other hugged Hootie!


This guy was so much fun to watch. He was cuttin a rug out on the dance floor! It was AWESOME!


So yeah, we had a great night in Greenville. It may have been a Thursday, and Clemson may have lost, but that didn't stop these Greenvillians! They still partied just as hard or even harder!

You wanna know something awesome? We have a late check-out tomorrow. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.