Shenandoah at "The Dive" in Goose Creek, SC/ April 23 /2009

Shenandoah at "The Dive" in Goose Creek, SC/ April 23 /2009 Current mood:  contemplative  Category: Music Shenandoah pulled out of the Kroger parking lot around 1:45 am..with John Gee driving.  We were off to do a Thursday night show at a club on a naval base in Goose Creek, SC. We arrived Thursday.. around noon, in the little town Of Goose Creek.  When I got off the bus, we were sitting behind "The Dive"..a club where military and civilians were welcome.  This club was located on the naval base. Later that night.. Naval VIPs and brass would be there for our performance. We hung out for about 45 minutes..checking out the stage and what not and then were taken down the road to a military picnic..all part of the days activities..which was all about the commissioning of a naval ship.. At the picnic, there was a bluegrass band playing and tons of out-door games..which included cornhole..where you throw a bean bag and try to get it in a hole on a wooden platform.. Byron Cumbie, Jimmy Yeary, Mike Mcguire, Mike Folsom and myself participated.. I pretty much sucked at that game.. the big hole-in-0ners were Yeary and Mcguire..  Other games included sumo wrestling and jousting...Yeary tried his best to get me involved with those..he did not succeed..lol  Food for the day included, barbeque, baked beans, cole slaw, rolls and dessert..had my fill as usual. After we ate, they took us back to the club where we loaded in and ran through a soundcheck.  When we were done, we went inside a truck parked by the club that housed a mobile pro tools recording rig inside.. very cool.. the owner played us some stuff he had recorded live from his truck.  He then said he planned on recording us live that night from the truck.  I guess they will send us the recording. They took several of us to a private condo on the base..so we could rest and get showers...Jimmy Yeary stayed on the bus and Mike Folsom went off with an old friend. It was nice and included two bedrooms, a living area, kitchen, bathroom and outdoor balcony-patio.  We had a little over three hours till we had to get back to the club.  It was nice to have a little time to chill. Once back at the bus..we had almost an hour before show time..I hate it when you get back to the bus just in time to change into show clothes and get on stage.   We took the stage at 9:15 and the crowd was going wild...I hadn't heard that kind of excitement in a while.. It always makes for a better show when the audience is really into it!  They brought us back for an encore and we did, "Under the Kudzu"..one of my all time fav Shenandoah songs.  They were singing every word of it ..I'm glad we all remembered it. After the show I met up with songwriting buddy, Jim Evans and his lovely wife, Becky. I met him online on the Nashville Music Pros website about 8 months ago.  It was nice to finally meet him in person.  They drove almost 3 hours to see us and we enjoyed having them as our guests.   After a long autograph session, lots of pics were taken.. and we met a lot of long-time Shenandoah fans that night.. great folks and a good time to remember.. Thanks to Byron Cumbie for all of his hard work.. loading all of the gear by himself and for a great job manning the FOH console.  Thanks to everyone involved with having Shenandoah there. ...Another Country Music Adventure had been had by all in SC. Down the Road... Stan Munsey