AUG 23/08 - REIDSVILLE, NC - Shenandoah at the Nissan Dealership
Shenandoah, along with former member, Curtis wright and up and coming new artist/songwriter, Billy Ryan.. left the Kroger parking lot at around 12:30 am Friday, August 22. Most of us stayed up till the early wee hours just hanging out. We arrived in Reidsville, NC at the Nissan dealership around 11:30 am and headed inside where they had set up a"green room ", with drinks and a deli tray. I've seen very few actual "green" rooms in my day...most are NOT green..why is that ? I think we outta always have a can of green paint with us...Hmmm.
The stage and PA was already set up and ready to go and we started soundcheck around 1: 30 but it proved to be another exasperating experience for all..seems like there were patching problems and we had to endure a two hour troubleshoot. There are two things about this life on the road I don't particularly enjoy..I wish we could skip the soundcheck and I wish we were self-cleaning creatures...so we didn't have to rush to get cleaned up for a show...just push your belly button and you're clean and ready to go...lol
Yep..I know it.. I am insane! The one thing I did enjoy about the hellish soundcheck was playing "Under the Kudzu"... a song we hadn't played in years but decided to bring back to the show..possibly as a candidate for an encore. Jimmy Yeary, along with Mike Folsom's high harmony brought new life to it.
After soundcheck we ate a bite and at 3:30, Jimmy Yeary, Mike Folsom and myself went to the hotel. We had three hours to rest up before we had to be back at the bus...a rarity. It was nice to have a bed to fall into for a little while. While I rested ..Jimmy Yeary ran. When I feel the urge to exercise..I lay down till the urge goes away_I gotta stop that and get back to my near perfect physique.
We arrived back at the venue around seven and the opening act, Ghost Riders were already into their set. They were a southern rock group whose members were from other well known bands from that genre. They were missing their keyboardist, as he got stuck in Florida..due to the crazy storm that had hit them a couple of days earlier. Even without the keys, I thought they were good. They rocked hard and loud. ..
When their set was done and they were off the stage..a man walked up to me and asked me to do him a favor. I was told that Shenandoah's show time had been changed..so he asked me to get onstage and announce to the crowd that we would be on 45 min later than planned..and to tell the audience to move their chairs closer to the stage.
I did just that..with everyone on the Shenandoah bus looking out the window at me...wondering what the heck I was doing. Not only did the audience ignore my request to move closer to the stage but the guy who had given me those instructions... was not the one in charge. lol What can I say... :) I still can't believe the audience didn't do what I told them..the audacity! lol Ok then...sit far away from the stage_I got on the bus and saw that our good friend Lyn had made the trip to see us and brought with him, the very good, mouth-watering Parker's barbeque..his wife, Harriet couldn't make the trip this time. We missed seeing her but enjoyed hanging out with Lyn.
Shenandoah did hit the stage about 15 min later than originally
planned..at 8:15 that evening and did a 75 min set. After the show we mingled with some of the crowd and talked to the opening act for a little while..exchanging phone numbers.etc
The "hillbilly hotel" pulled out of there around 10:30 and we headed down that ol' road towards Music City...watching several episodes of "The Office"..and the video of the night's show ..which Byron Cumbie had shot.
We got home at 7:30 am and one by one..we piled off the bus and into our cars.
Another country music adventure had been had by all.
Down the Road...Stan Munsey
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