4/19/09 State Theatre, Falls Church, VA

We had to hit the road to Falls Church at 9:30am, so I basically rolled out of bed at the hotel right into my bunk on the bus, with a quick stop at the hotel's free continental breakfast...an occasion that I am usually never awake for so I try to take advantage of it when I do happen to be awake.

The trip to Falls Church was quicker than we expected, and I spent most of it in a half-slumber in my bunk. When we arrived, I walked around the town a bit with Charlie, stopping at CVS and a Chinese place, with my 4th dog pet of the trip on the way.

While awaiting soundcheck, I grabbed a shower in the venue's green room, and was faced with the daunting decision of which venue-provided towel was the least disgusting option to dry off with....yikes.

At soundcheck, we worked really hard on the actual stage sound, trying to use as little monitors as possible so we could all be in a similar sonic space on stage. I had a good balance of the other musicians and was not experiencing any of the venue's notorious "slapback" echo from the back wall, but the sound was slightly wimpy with not a lot of bottom end. We checked out a new reggae-ish tune called "Premature" (which we later performed that night, prematurely, pardon the pun. It didn't totally suck, but could have benefitted from a bit more rehearsal time.)

After soundcheck, I had dinner at an Italian place down the block with my parents, sister, and a few of my sister's friends, who had all driven down from Harrisburg and Philly.

The first set of the show was a little tough for me, since the set was mainly comprised of tunes that the band had either never or rarely performed live. The second set was a little more locked, and we closed with a raging version of "Down By the Riverside" with Melvin taking the lead on getting the band and crowd fired up.

After the show, I got to hang out with Ted, an old friend from college, and then the band crashed at a nearby hotel.

Btw, a new addition to the blog is the inclusion of free streaming audio from the shows, which will be posted after the fact if/when it becomes available. A few recent additions include 4/18/09 NYC, 4/16/09 Burlington, 4/4/09 Eugene, 4/2/09 Bend, and 3/26/09 Crystal Bay. Jump to the blog postings from that day to click the audio link and listen while you read!