Y102, Slaymakers, and Cunningham's Journal

Ughhh. This internet is sooooo slow. I have been going back and forth between wifi, plugging in the ethernet cable, and using our mobile internet card. Ummm... been trying to get at least ONE to work. The Sprint card seems to be working the best now. It's just frustrating. Especially when the hour you are tryin to get things to work is 3am. It is now almost 4 and I am JUST now on the page to write this. Good LORD, Bet Western. COME ON! ;) Oh the things we get frustrated about these days... boo hoo... my internet is slow....


We are in Keanery Nebraska (sung to the tune of "Even Alaskaaaaaa") I really wanted to change the last line of "Even Alaska" to "Even Nebraska" tonight. But I didn't think anyone would get it. I totally would have if Jenn had been here. (Miguel's wife). SHE would have gotten it! Right?!

Speaking of...
Have I mentioned all the connections we have to Kearney? I think I have... but here's a recap. Jenn went to school here in Kearney. And now her sister goes to school here. Her entire family lives in Nebraska... only a few hours from here. She's from Atkinson. And Ella (Miguel and Jenn's precious little girl) was born in Atkinson.... I found out today that Ella was born in the same room that Jenn was born in. Whoa.

And completely coincidentally, Bridget, Joe's girlfriend, also went to school here in Kearney. And she is from Broken Bow. But her family is still here in Nebraska. Nope. Jenn and Bridget didn't know each other while they were here. They met in Nashville. Crazy right? Both our guys are with women from Nebraska.
So it was very fitting we played here tonight. But it was strange that Jenn and Bridget's friends and family were all here but THEY weren't...

Billy Wolf had us on the 5 O'clock Stampede on Y102. What a GREAT station!!! Billy was so fun. We talked for a bit... Miguel and I played "Standing My Ground" live in the studio... they played "Best Years" on air... we talked some more.... and then we played "Angel". "Angel" is Billy's favorite song on the myspace page, and it was really cool to hear that. He didn't even know the story behind it and it was still his favorite one!!!

They had been advertising our show all week - we were the "after party" for the Oak Ridge Boys show in town. :) They were playing at the event center and the radio station kept telling everyone to go to Cunningham's afterwards to hear us a keep the party going. That was pretty fun.

Thank you for everything Billy!


Miguel and I playing a little diddy.



The show was SO MUCH FUN. We played 2, 75 minute sets. The first set everyone was so laid back! It was crackin me up. They all seemed to be enjoying it... but they were all just sittin and starin at the stage. One couple got up and danced on "Days Go By" but that was it! We even gave em "Love Shack" and they wouldn't get out of their seats. :)

But Lordy... after we took a break and talked to everyone.... and maybe just maybe a few drinks later for everyone.... THEY WERE UP AND DANCING the second set. It was AWESOME. Plus, Jenn's family - including her brother Jesse who was turning 30 - tripled the amount of audience noise once they got there. It made me so happy.

Jesse (Happy 30th!!!) is the easiest to spot in this picture! And Ki, Jenn's mom.... ummm she had NO TIME for the picture... she must have still been doing her "Funky Music" dance....

I really wanted Miguel in that picture but we couldn't find him.... He was probably in the back of the bar with people bowing at his feet saying "we're not worthy" because of his face-melting solos.

I didn't hear about this until later. I had gotten Jesse up while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and we gave him a drum stick to play with James'. Apparently he had a little trouble with the stick. He tried to play a cymbal, but he threw the stick instead. Awesome.

Ok. I finally got Ki to take a time out from her dancing.


I got to meet Bridget's brother, Geoff! I already knew Colin her cousin, (we go WAY back.... back to Sam Hill's!) but I had never met his twin brother Riley!!! YAY! :)
All of Bridget's men.


Kirk! This guy was so great. He was in town for the night from Vegas. He was in Kearney looking at some major properties and just ended up at Cunningham's. He kept yelling at the owner "Whatever you're paying her.... it's not enough" I thought he knew the owners and was just giving them a hard time.... He didn't. They didn't know each other. Nor did he have a clue what they were paying us :) I just thought that was funny.



This bar was really great to us. And they kept talking about their outdoor stage in the summertime. It sounds incredible... They have a big Bier Garden outside. And I was really excited when we first walked in because I saw that our good friend Scott Holt is playing here in just a few weeks!!! Another Columbia, Tn native! It was fun to see both of our names on the schedule. :)

I played until about 5 minutes after 1am. I wanted to go a bit over our contracted time to play (we were just told set lengths - no specific stop times). But in Nebraska.... bars close at 1:00am!!! I had NO IDEA!!! I felt terrible. The bartenders and bouncers had their work cut out for them when we stopped playing. The bar was really full and they had to get EVERYONE out. Whew. Stressful. I'll definitely know for next time!!! I wouldn't have played that long at all if I had known. I don't think we have ever played a bar gig in a state where they close at 1:00am. It is usually 2. Oh well. You live, you learn. (Haha... they were playing "You Live You Learn" by Alanis Morissette when we got there today) And both of the bar owners didn't seem to be a bit annoyed by that, which was awesome. But it is hard for me not to stress about stuff like that. Cause I know what a nuisance it is for the staff.

I hope we get to go back there. It was such a fun night!

But it is 5:00am now. You think it's time for bed? Yeah. Me too.

Peace, Love, Fiddle, and Cunningham's Journal,
~natalie