We manage to catch a few songs from our pals Dig Deep at Badger State Brewery before heading to ZZQ for my load in
NOT much time to hang around this morning – we need to get to Green Bay and pay Kip at Printables Inc for the tour t-shirts he printed and shipped to New York.
He’s around ’til 1pm.We leave Wausau int he snow and hit Green Bay and Kip’s place with 15 minutes to spare. Great top see him and hang out for a while.
My show at ZZQ isn’t ’til 3pm and our pals Dig Deep are playing at the Badger Brewery taproom at 1pm. We drop by to see them and have Philly cheesesteaks for lunch before checking into our motel and hitting ZZQ.
Booker Misty is waiting for us – and some folks in the music room are wrestling with an old PA system. They call for help and soon Jesse arrives, disses the house PA and brings in his own rig!
We’re up and running pretty quick and I have a blast playing a couple o 45-minute sets. Shame the show was moved from a nighttime show to the afternoon, but there’s still a good bunch of folks in. The Dig Deep guys have hot-footed down after their show and catch a few songs, we sell some merch and chat folks then I tidy up the stage area.
Pete – Dig Deep bass player – ands wife Chris hang out with us for some dinner and a few drinks. Great to catch up with them…these guys became pals on very first trip to the USA back in 2013.
We’re back at the motel soon after 10pm and relax a while before crashing.
Fun and games at ZZQ in Green Bay
And a wee Glengoyne with our pals Pete (Dig Deep), Chris, ZZQ owner Bob and booker Misty…
Time for a wee Glengoyne after the show with Keil Grove, Dig Deep and venue booker Dave. Alright!
THE Microtel in Fond Du Lac proves to be another breakfast disaster.
Available ’til 10am says the sign, but t 9.30am there’ nothing – fridge empty, no yogurt, bread, bagels, muffins, cereal, milk…just a waffle machine and some crappy waffle batter. The manager comes past and says he’ll get stuff brought out…Margaret gets some cereal and a jakey-lookin’ guy comes out with a tray with three or four bagels that loom like they’ve been picked up off the floor. I pass.
Back in our room I get on with some poster art and online promo for the Scottish shows when we get back later in November and December…Bank Street Gallery (100% unplugged!) in Kirriemuir on Saturday 26 November and Clarks, Dundee on Thursday 15 December.
My eyes are playing up. I’ve been feeling pretty crap since we arrived the USA and I’m kinda sick go fighting it day in, day out. I’ve been stressed, irritable and feeling terrible – hopefully it hasn’t shown through. I decide – again – to try and blitz the uveitis and bump up the steroids. Far from ideal, but if I can keep things at bay ’til we get home and start feeling even a little better that’ll do.
We’ve a book club night a few days after we get back and I try to concentrate not things long enough to at least start reading Mornings in Jenin that was loaded on the Kindle before we left.
The Cold Shot, in Appleton, is 40 or 50 miles away and we leave a little early so we’ve time to stop in at a Japanese restaurant called Bamboo when we get there. After a nice meal we unload at the venue and catch up with our pals Dig Deep who’ve sorted the show.
Texan troubadour Kiel Grove opens the show with great songs and stories, then I hit the stage helped by a few large drams from the audience, then the Dig Deep guys finish the night off…there’s a fantastic crowd in and we all have a blast. Some night!
I’m little worse for wear when we load out around 3am and stop at a Perkins on the way back to Fond Du Lac. Ooofft…
Keil Grove gets things off to a great start at The Cold Shot….
…then yours truly….
…and bluegrass mayhem from Dig Deep 🙂
