4/20/09 Ram's Head, Annapolis, MD

Click here to stream free audio of the show!

We woke up to a rather dreary and rainy day in Virginia. Charlie had sneakily scored us a late checkout of the hotel by dropping the manager's name to the hotel's night clerk when we checked in late the night before, so I was happy to get a decent night's sleep.

We made the short drive over to the Ram's Head in Annapolis. It seemed like a quaint little town, but it was too rainy to do much exploring, so I just camped out at a table in the venue with my laptop while the crew set up the stage.

This was another seated venue like the Fairfield show. While I usually prefer a crowd that is up and dancing, I'm kind of warming up to the seated venues, because you get the crowd engaged in more of a "jazz club" type of way.

We had a substantial soundcheck, which we have renamed "Rehearsal" on the itineraries, working on a few new tunes including a silly post-show bus sing along from the night before. We'll see what happens with that one!

Dinner was served at the venue, and once again I continued to eat very well on this trip with a tasty veggie burrito as my meal of choice.

The house got fairly full by the time we started, and we opened with an appropriate jazzy number called "Soul Roach." Highlight from the first set was "Tangled Hangers" which had a very open and conversational jam and pushed some boundaries of what we've normally been doing. Second set featured a new tune, Charles Mingus' "Better Get Hit in Your Soul," a jazz blues in 3/4 with a very catchy melody. Johnny played a very tasteful drum solo on this one!

The show wrapped up on the early side, and then we hit the bus for a 6 hour drive to Greensboro, NC for a day off. After a few episodes of "Family Guy," I hit the bunk and crashed the rest of the way to NC. I think I'm getting better at this sleeping-on-the-bus thing!