Burn Rome Burn Tour, Day #2

Date: Saturday, October 14

Place: The Dame, Lexington, Kentucky

When we last saw our heroes, they were sleeping in a cheap hotel room in Ohio. Our alarms started going off around 10:00 am, way too soon after our 4:30 am bedtimes. I had slept well, albeit for not long enough. I did vaguely remember waking up at one point because I thought Barret was clapping and yelling in his sleep.

As it turned out, that was not a dream. Barret's clapping and yelling were an attempt to get Jeff to stop snoring, which apparently Jeff did for the entire night less than 5 feet away from me. Although I had slept right through it. I decided my ability to sleep through such an immediate cacophony was akin to being in the eye of the hurricane.

We somewhat haltingly got our things together and trudged to the van. I went across the road to get coffee at a BP... and had this exchange with the attendant: Attendant: That'll be $1.56. Joe: ... (staring into space) Attendant: ... (waiting patiently) Joe: Uh... where are we?

We got on the road and began the trip to Lexington, where we were to stay at Aoife's parents' house. The drive was going well, until we decided to take a bypass highway through Cincinnati (275), and ran into construction, which added nearly an hour to what should have been a brief trip. Undaunted, we pushed on and got to Lexington just in time to have a nice lunch with Aoife's parents.

The contrast between our cramped Budget Motel room of the previous night, and our separate bedrooms and sushi lunch provided by the gracious Lyons' family... was striking. And wonderful. After lunch, we headed over to the Keeneland racetrack to catch a couple races. We met up with my friend Gretchen and had a good time hanging out making small unwise wagers. Barret won about $15 on one of his bets, and immediately put his winnings on the ninth horse in the ninth race. We headed out and got to The Dame around 6 o'clock to set up for our early show.

The Dame is a beautiful club with great sound right in downtown Lexington. Our show was sponsored by the local Kentucky Ale brewery, and after the cracked-themed graffiti and incomplete PA of the previous night, we seemed primed for a great show. After soundcheck, I wandered off to try to find some tea for my throat and, sure enough, there was a Starbucks just down the block.

I was a little worried about my voice... I had a busy two weeks with six performances of the Odyssey, a couple of gigs and a couple of rehearsals, and doing six shows in six nights would give me no chance for recovery. I knew on tour I would learn a lot about the stresses of being on the road and how I needed to prepare for so much singing. The fact that it was only the second show and my voice felt a little ragged... did not bode well. 

When I got back to The Dame, there were already people in the club. We started playing around 8:00, and played a strong set. The most striking thing to me was that, for all my worries about my voice, once I began singing, all the soreness and concern melted away and I felt great about my performance. I felt like I had found a slightly different way to sing, from a slightly different place in my throat and face. A good omen.

The crowd was very receptive and there was a lot of talk of bringing us back for another show in the spring. Gretchen and her boyfriend Jude came out and it was great to hang out with them and talk. After the show, we went out for some pizza and beer, and then back to the Lyons' house. Exhausted, I crawled into my comfortable bed in my quiet room, and was asleep immediately after an eventful day and a successful second show.

jbg