Centro-matic

Heart break en-route to Phoenix, as we watch our beloved Dallas Mavericks get eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Sacramento Kings 119-118. I am still a bit shaken up about it. I guess I need to stop watching once the playoffs and defense begin to be played. Some of us recovered a bit when Calgary fanned the flames of our false hopes, with the Redwings beating them 5-2.
-Mark

1021 miles- who knew Phoenix was so far away? I guess we did. We also knew that the last ever Little Grizzly show at Rubber Gloves in Denton the following night. It was not possible to miss our friends swansong, so as soon as the show was finished we began our preparations to drive overnight back to Denton. The Grizz went out in a majestic blaze of glory, and it was well worth the sleep deprivation it cost us to make it back in time. The folks in Tempe were wonderfully kind to us. We haven’t spent nearly enough time there to deserve the reception we received, so thanks for listening and sharing such encouraging words. We will try to make it back real soon, friends. This was way too short a run.
-Mark

Speaking of the House of Bourbon (please note the use of the heavy-handed segue way), I allowed myself to be over-served by tender cousin Jim Beam. I can’t remember if I did the caterpillar or any other such dance moves, but I definitely remember pogo-ing on the balcony while singing along to Death Cab and BK. If my unbridled enthusiasm for our tourmates distracted anyone from their own attempts to enjoy the evening’s proceedings, then I do apologize. Can’t take me anywhere.
I sure had fun, though.
-Mark

A bit of advice for aspiring stagehands- do not plug the lights and the PA into the same circuit-thingy. (I hope I am not being too technical here.) Bad things will happen. Rock shows will not happen. Hundreds of fans waiting for hours in the rain did unfortunately happen. I must say that if the same thing had occurred at a nu-rapmetal show, the crowd would not have been anywhere near as gracious in their drenched defeat. It sucked not being able to play after driving down to H-town, but we salvaged the evening by drinking margaritas and Mexican beer with Scott’s folks. (They always make a Houston roadtrip worthwhile, and Steve Danbom knows more about rock than all of us put together: http://www.danbomgeophysics.com/.)
-Mark