Chuck’s Tour Diary

10/19, 20

We said our last goodbyes to Seattle…getting in one last lunch at Shuckers. I think that made 5 times we ate there…but it was convenient and we just didn’t feel like going out of the hotel. Then we met everyone in the lobby at the appointed time, 2:30 to load up and make our way to the airport. Wheels up was by 4pm and we were winging our way to El Paso, Texas. It’s been 12 years since we played there…on the Voodoo Lounge tour. And then it was a hit and run show, so we didn’t have a chance to see anything. While this will be a quick trip, at least we’ll be able to explore a little bit tomorrow (show day) and before we leave on the 21st. We landed in the early evening, about 7:30.

Our hotel was the Camino Real in the downtown area. There were a good many folks there that were obviously coming to the show, and we were greeted to lots of hellos and good wishes for the concert. Rosie and I made our way to the room and unloaded our carryon bags…hooked up the computers and checked emails for about 45 minutes and then went down to decide on dinner. We were not really up for going out, so we wound up at the casual restaurant of the hotel. There was a more upscale restaurant there that might have been better, but it was right next to the bar which was teeming over with people and had a band playing…and we were in search of more peace and quiet. We both went for the chicken fajitas, which were fine, if not fantastic. Then back to the room we went to ease on down for the night.
The next morning I did a little workout in the gym, trying out some light weights to see if my shoulder was ready to go or not. It still felt sore, so I backed off the weights and did an hour on the treadmill. Rose Lane had read up on a few of the shops around…one in particular that made custom boots called Rocketbuster Boots (www.rocketbuster.com) sounded interesting to me, so I called them. They were open and told me how to get there. Luckily they were within walking distance. But before we went there, I wanted to see if there was a western wear place nearby. The concierge directed us to a place just two blocks away called Starr Western Wear. So we hoofed it over there first.

I loved it right away…a typical cowboy type place that had lots and lots of denim clothes, western shirts, western belts and the like. I went straight to the Wrangler section to look for some new jeans and bought three pair of slim cuts. These jeans always fit me well, and I was due for some new ones. They were certainly reasonably priced at $25.95, which made me happy! I also bought a black denim Levi jacket in a small, which was something else I had been looking for. Rosie also bought some jeans and found a couple of really cute western children’s shirts for Miles. We looked around for a while, but that was the total of our purchases. Then we headed to Rocketbuster Boots.
It was about 8 blocks away and it took us a phone call to them to make sure we were going in the right direction, but we found it ok. A girl named Nevena greeted us and invited us inside. The place was just one big room…. on one side was a showroom area, and the rest of the building was taken up with the tables where the craftsmen worked and an office on the far side.

Nevena was very nice and showed us some of their work…and some of the historic boots that they had from famous people like Roy Rogers.

She explained the process…that they take an outline of each foot and several measurements of the feet, ankle and calves. Then you decide on what type of material (they had tons of choices) and a design.

The design is usually something personal to each individual…for instance, she showed us a pair being made for a Wall Street broker that had a bull on one boot and a bear on the other. There were more similar examples she showed us as we soaked it all in. But we were both pretty hungry…we had not eaten yet…so we told her we’d like to go get a bite and then come back to look and talk some more. She directed us to a place called La Nortena, a little Mexican cafe not far away. We thanked her and walked over there for lunch. It was a neat place…very simple but with an air of authenticity. One fellow recognized me and said he was coming to the concert, saying how excited he and all his friends were that the Stones were in town. We ordered our lunch, some burritos, rice, beans…typical fare. It was all very good. Feeling better, we walked back to Rocketbuster and started looking in earnest. We were both measured and Rose Lane ordered a pair of boots in black with inlayed and outlaid roses on them…mostly in red. She had seen a pair on the shelves that she used for a sort of model. But she put in her own touches…. with her name on the sides and some other details. I saw a pair of stingray boots that I inquired about, and Nevena asked me if I had ever seen polished stingray. I had not, so she went and fetched some material to show me. It was really interesting and unusual and I liked it straight away. We talked about what to do for the uppers…I told her probably a tree or two, bird dogs, horses, music notes and probably the Stones tongue logo…but I didn’t have a definite idea as to how to tie it all together, so she suggested I think about it and email her later with some pictures and further details. She also gave me a drawing of a boot that I could make copies of and play around with ideas…and then fax to her later. So we left it at that and thanked her…. and headed back to the hotel.

I went down to the show with most everyone else on the regular van instead of the early one. There I wrote up the set list and had a bite to eat at the Rattlesnake. I didn’t have any guests, so I just relaxed in our dressing room for a while until Keith wanted to do our usual little rehearsal/warm up in his room. We went through Shattered, She’s So Cold and Mick had suggested we do a few lines of the Marty Robins song “El Paso”, so we went through that. Soon it was time to suit up and hit the stage.
The gig was fun and the crowed loved it…we got a big response for the four short lines of “El Paso”. The Sun Bowl is a nice stadium to play…and is in a neat setting nestled in the side of a hill overlooking part of the city. After the show we chose to stay in..besides, we knew that the bar would be packed and crazy…and we didn’t want to deal with all of that. So we surfed the tube for a while and called it a day.

10/21

Before heading out I wanted to make one more trip to Starr. I had looked at a couple of belts there and wanted to go back for a second look. On the way there we ducked into a few other stores…one was a pawn shop that had some musical instruments strewn about. There was nothing all that interesting in terms of the guitars and such, but in a counter I noticed they had a few of the Leatherman “Juice” tools. These are multi-functional tools that have knives, screwdrivers, pliers, corkscrews, awls and the like all in one instrument. What I like about the Juice models is that they are pretty small and don’t feel like you have a hammer in your pocket when you carry them around. I have a model that is about worn out…and have not been able to find a place that carries them, so I was pleased to see these. I looked a the models he had and picked one out that suited me, making me a happy camper. We left there and walked around some more, taking in the flavor of old El Paso and it’s citizens.

It was Saturday, and a lot of folks had come across from Juarez, which is just across the Mexican border, to do some shopping…so the streets were buzzing with trade. One other pawnshop we went in was really bizarre…with these weird models of human heads in glass boxes, mini human skeletons and other unusual fare.

It also seemed to be a place where people could cash their paychecks or get advances…there were two teller type windows where people were lined up. We enjoyed looking around and being in this wacky scene.
Finally we made our way back to Starr. Rose Lane helped me to pick out two belts and while I was tempted to buy some more jeans, our bags are about to burst at the seams…so that was all I bought. When we get to NY and have some time, we’ll be sending some more things back home to lighten our load.
By then it was time to get back to the hotel and get ready to leave. We settled the bill and pack up the carry-on bags and met everyone downstairs. Then it was on to Austin. I had made arrangements to meet Joel Babett, a friend from Atlanta that is the US CEO of Gray Communications International (GCI) and some of his friends. Jeff Hunt, the International CEO lives in Austin and was hosting a party of some of his clients and GCI staff. Joel and Jeff had kindly made a donation to AFF recently…$5,000…and I was anxious to thank them in person and spend some time with them. We were also to get together with Brenda Elliott (our good friend from the Temple-Inland Co.) and her daughter Alison. So after we arrived and checked in to the Four Seasons we met Joel, Bren and Alison and Jeff’s wife Ann in the bar.

We had a cocktail and talked for a bit, then headed to Matt’s El Ranchero (one of the largest and best known Mexican restaurants in Austin) to meet up with the crowd. Matt’s was a pretty loud and lively place, and we were put in a large room with very long tables. I had never met Jeff, and he arrived shortly after we did, and he found me and introduced himself. We talked with him and met several other of the invited guests as we mingled with the group. Finally we were seated and served. Food was ok, but typical of one of these really large restaurants that serve big crowds. But we enjoyed meeting the GCI folks and chatting with them. After dinner Jeff had suggested we all go to a historic club not far away called “The Broken Spoke”.

So Joel, Ann, Brenda, Alison and Rose Lane and me rode together to the famous Honky Tonk. This place has been in business since 1964 under the same owner. As we walked in, we were greeted by Jack White…the owner.
There was a band playing…Alvin Crow, a fiddle player and singer with a sort of western swing/rock sound. We talked to Jack for a while about all the folks that have played there through the years. He talked about Bob Wills, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and more. He said that Willie used to play there way back before he had long hair and the beard…when he was just breaking on the scene…clean shaven, hair slicked back. The place looks like it hasn’t changed since those days…there is a generous dance floor and it was getting some good use.

There was a pretty good crowd there…not totally packed, but a respectable number of folks there. Lots were dressed in typical attire of jeans, western shirts and string ties…ladies in their Saturday night party dresses. We loved the whole scene and vibe. Soon Allan called me up to the bandstand and we did a couple of Stones numbers…Under My Thumb and Its All Over Now. Good fun.

After my little sit in with the band I pulled Rosie aside and said let’s head back. So we got Ann to take us back…Brenda, Alison and Joel with us. Goodnights were said and we headed up to the room for some rest.

10/22

Time to make the doughnuts (ha) yet again. Tonight will be show number 107 on the Bigger Bang tour. Eleven to go. Austin was all excited about the Stones playing there for the first time ever. Interesting that somehow the band has never played here, but that’s a fact. Ian MacLagan will open up…which is great. Los Lonely Boys will follow his band, then us. I did my treadmill thing and then went to lay out by the pool for a while. Tim Ries was there hanging out and I pulled up a lounge chair next to him. It was slightly “airish”, but the sun warmed us up. We talked about what we would be doing after the tour was over…and if the band might go back to Europe next summer. We talked about our homes and families and how it was good that we were coming to the end…we all need some time at home. One more month and we’re there. But of course the thing is that after about a month at home, we’re wishing we were back on the tour! That’s just the way it is with musicians. Still, it will be great to deal with some different challenges for a bit, and if we do go back to Europe that would be perfect. We’ll see.
No need to rush to the gig, so I took the regular van again. Mick and I had already written the set list because of the filming. Still, we went over it one last time making a slight change to put in Bitch in place of Midnight Rambler. I think we put together a nice set that will be different from the Rio show and will work well with the DVD package.
There were some guests for us to see in the Rattlesnake…the GCI folks that we had hung out with the night before, and of course Brenda and her friends. Among them were David and Barbara Hill. David is a really creative and talent land developer and is working on a huge project a little outside of San Antonio. The Hills visited us at Charlane a few years ago with Brenda…. we had a great time…. hunted some, rode around, and talked by the fireplace. It was good to see them again. John Lynsky was there as well as Gary Giller. It was a pretty crowded room, and I didn’t get to spend much time with all of them, but did my best to be as social as possible. Bobby Keys introduced me to Richard King, who is one of the famous King family of the King Ranch in Texas. This is one of the largest ranches in the world (www.kingranch.com) and certainly Richard and I share a love of the outdoors, conservation and so forth. He was a very nice guy and I was grateful Bobby introduced me.
Chris Jagger, Mick’s brother, was also there. He was working on some radio/TV program about Texas blues and had brought Pinetop Perkins to the gig. Pinetop is one of the pioneers of the blues piano. Born in 1913, he is now 93 years old. I got to meet him, talk to him for a while and even sit at a keyboard and play with him some. A great honor and pleasure! He was really sweet, and in spite of his years he still has a special touch on the keys.

I went out to catch some of Mac’s (Ian’s) set. He was tearing it up, and the crowd was loving him. Mac is a hell of a player and singer and had a tight band, which included Mark Andes on bass. Mark was one of the few players that auditioned for Berry Oakley’s position with the Allman Brothers after Berry’s death. We had all really liked him and he was on the short list at the time…but Lamar Williams proved to be the right choice for us back then. It was great to see him after all these years.

We had a short rehearsal in Keith’s room, mainly to run over two songs that we’ve never done. One was a song that Mick found and wanted to do for this gig…a Waylon Jennings song called “Bob Wills Is Still The King” and the other was a Buddy Holly song that Keith wanted to do called “Learning The Game”. By then it was time to get ready for the show and after one last quick Rattlesnake visit I went to dress.
I thought the show was pretty good…although I had some challenges of my own that didn’t make things easy. I’ve been having some difficulty lately with my rig…and unfortunately tonight was no exception. There were no total disasters, but I couldn’t hear like I wanted, and I had some trouble with the Leslies that amplify my Hammond B-3. But I grit my teeth and tried not to let it bother me too much. However, I have to say it’s disheartening that the technicians can’t seem to get things right of late. Also, there were some flubs here and there that shouldn’t have occurred which frustrated me. Nevertheless, the show came off fine. There will certainly have to be some editing done for the DVD, though. The Austin audience was fantastic and they loved the two special songs…hooting and hollering their approval to the Texas references.

Back at the hotel we joined Brenda and the Hills for a few glasses of wine. This gave us an opportunity to talk to them some more…as the Rattlesnake had been so crowded and crazy. We had a wonderful time catching up, and David said he was going to try and bring a group to hunt at Charlane this season. The bar was very full and festive…and there was a piano player that was playing lots of rock songs…Beatle tunes, Elton John, Bruce Hornsby and other stuff. I was sort of listening to him out of the “corner of my ear”, and judged that he was a good player. Towards the end of the evening he started playing a boogie tune, and I couldn’t help myself any longer and had to go join him. We did a fun fourhanded blast…both of us grinning through it the whole time. That made for a nice closure of the night and we bid our friends adieu and retired. All in all a great stay in a great State over the last few days!

SYNCLESS IN SEATTLE

10/13

Even with the early rise I made myself hit the fitness room again. I wanted to have a longer workout, but at least I got a good 45 minutes in. Rose Lane dealt with the items we wanted to send back home and got a box from the bellman to put it all in. She had bought a new computer handbag at the Apple store and wanted to send her old briefcase along with some of our clothes, paperwork and other fluff back to Georgia. With that done we didn’t have much time before our departure to Midway Airport. She checked us out of the hotel and we went outside to feel the “hawk” of Chicago one more time walking to the bus. It ain’t called the Windy City for nothing!

Our flight would be a long 4 1/2 hours….but that was good in a way, as it gave me time to write in this journal and to deal with my speech…as well as some time to review the Rio and Saitama shows that Lisa Portman, Mick’s assistant, had gotten to me a couple of days ago. Having dealt with these things, we arrived in Seattle, loaded up on the bus and headed to the Fairmont Hotel. We had been here last year on the tour, playing at the Key Arena.

It was almost a year to the date…just a week or two short. This time we would be playing at Qwest stadium, where the Seattle Seahawks play. But it would be several days before we’d get to that. Being on one of our “mini breaks”, Rose Lane and I had a little time to ourselves. Of course we have the AFF fundraiser coming up the day before the Stones gig, and I would be working some more on my presentation as well as rehearsing the band that will play with me there. Still, there would be some down time for us here.
We settled in to the Fairmont, feeling the familiar surroundings. We were slightly weary from the travel and decided not to go out, but to have dinner at Shuckers, which is a seafood restaurant on the lower level of the hotel where some shops were. Going down there reminded us of when we were here a year ago and bought Rose Lane’s evening gown at Luly Yang’s, a designer boutique on the same level. This was the gown she wore when we had dinner at the White House in honor of Prince Charles and Camilla. We enjoyed the fare at Shuckers and remained about the White House experience and how hectic it was…finding the gown at the last minute in Seattle, going to Portland, Oregon the next day and from there to Washington, DC for the dinner only to get up the next morning and fly to LA. Whew!

10/14

Had a nice little work out after morning coffee, and then Rosie and I went down to the famous Pike Place Market on Seattle Sound. This is a wonderful market…lots of fish venders, flower venders, trinket shops of all types and some restaurants as well.

We had lunch at the Sound View, which as the name implies offers a nice view of the water. It was typical Seattle weather…damp and a little drizzly, and it had rained earlier…but now it was just that moist humid crisp feeling. After lunch we walked through the market and took in all the sights and sounds of Pike’s. Rose Lane saw some flowers that she wanted…a nice bouquet that was placed in a pumpkin that had been hollowed out. As I wanted to work some more on my speech, I left her there and took the flowers with me back to the hotel. There I dove into the speech I had written, editing it and trying it out a couple of times. We were to have a rehearsal later that afternoon…with Matt Jorgenson (the drummer that Tim Ries had suggested) and Myles Corbin (bass player that Matt had suggested). But I had a little time before Myles was to pick me up. Rosie got back to the room and we went out again for a short walk, poking our heads in to a few shops. Finally it was getting close to the time for Myles to pick me up and we walked back. Rose Lane went up to the room and I waited down in the lower lobby for Myles. He showed up and found me…us meeting for the first time. He drove us to the home studio of a fellow named Chris ?? who was to play guitar with Tim Ries on a club show the night after our AFF luncheon gig. There at Chris’ house I met Matt for the first time…and after a quick setup we started our rehearsal. Matt and Myles proved to be excellent musicians and had done their homework on the songs I had sent them, making for an easy run through. We finished up after about two hours and Myles drove me back to the hotel. On the way, he pointed out a restaurant that he said was really good…and it wasn’t far from the hotel. It’s called Wild Ginger. I took note for our dinner plans.
Back in the room Rose Lane and I fooled around with emails and talked a while, and I called the concierge to check on Wild Ginger. I was told that it might be tight, but that they would take us at 8:30. We decided to go down early and have a drink in their bar, and left the hotel around 7:45. We were lucky that they had a table ready, so we took it and settled in for an amazing dinner. Wild Ginger is sort of an Asian fusion place, but with it’s own unique flair. We started with some lettuce wraps for starters that were very tasty. The main courses were full of flavors that included lime, coconut and of course ginger…and they were perfectly blended in the haddock that I ordered, and the mango chicken?? that Rose Lane had was also a great dish.
We finished up there and walked back to the Fairmont, making for a needed early night.

10/15

I’ve had to back off the weight routine due to a sore shoulder, but managed to get in some treadmill time after our hour wake up routine. Then Rosie and I went out to explore some more of downtown Seattle. Again, the weather was typical of the city…threatening rain with a few sprinkles here and there, cloudy and damp. But it didn’t really pour, so while we took an umbrella from the doorman of the hotel, we never really used it. I was halfheartedly looking for a fancy pink shirt to go with my Ralph Lauren western jacket…and we looked in every men’s store we could find but never saw anything appropriate, so we gave that up. In the search, we had lunch inside one of the malls at a food court…some Indian food. I had the tandoori chicken and Rose Land had some other dish. Then we investigated the mall, not finding anything terribly interesting. We messed around downtown a bit longer, and then I went back to the room to run through my speech a final time or two, making some last minute edits.

We are to have dinner with some of the AFF folks tonight at a place called Brassa. So we took some down time in the room before the hour came for us to go. We were the first ones to get to Brassa, but shortly afterwards Colin Mosley, a fellow Trustee of AFF and his wife Martha arrived. We ordered drinks and just as they came all the other folks came in. There was Larry Wiseman, president of AFF, Pamela Rockland and Vanessa Bullwinkle, two of the staff members and Bob Simpson, president of ATFS (American Tree Farm System) that is one of the programs run by AFF. We all had a nice time talking about the event for the next day, and the general state of AFF (which is very good at the moment) and other matters related to family forestry and conservation.
That wrapped up the day, and Colin and Martha were kind enough to give us a ride back to the hotel. There we shut things down, getting ready for tomorrow’s event.

10/16

I had to get up at 8:15 to get ready to go to the Bell Harbor convention center for a sound check and quick final rehearsal. Tim Ries wanted to go with me, so we met in the lobby at about 9:15 and took a cab to the center. We found our way to the room…seeing Larry and the others in the process. They had done a great job with the setup…nice big posters that depicted the programs AFF is responsible for, a video of some of the ATFS field days and such. Matt and Myles were already there setting up their equipment. The piano tuner was finishing up, so while we had to wait on him I found some coffee and a muffin to get myself going. Soon we convened on the stage and went through the rehearsal, working on the sound in the process. They had provided me with a Petrov piano…about a 6′10′’ model…which was nice and bright sounding.
The guys were well prepared and we breezed through the six or seven tunes I had selected. At the end of the rehearsal, folks had begun to show up. I think the final count was something like 220 attending, which filled the room we were in nicely. The AFF staff had bought a few boxes of my children’s book The Tree Farmer, and had put them on the tables as part of the decoration. We all got settled and Larry got up to welcome everyone and announce that lunch would be served. Rose Lane and I were sitting with Penn Seigle, who is the outgoing chairman of our Trustee group, Larry Wiseman, Pam Rockland and a few others.
We chatted through the lunch for about 45 minutes, and then Colin took the stage to do a second welcome to the group and to introduce me. I took the stage on my own first…delivering my speech, just short of 20 minutes. Mainly I talked about my and Rose Lane’s history…how we got into being Tree Farmers, the heritage of stewardship that goes so deep in her family…and how we found the ATFS and were eventually certified Charlane Plantation as an official Tree Farm, and how we have depended on and learned so much from AFF through the years. I also talked about the virtues of the other two main programs run by AFF…Project Learning Tree and Forests for Watersheds and Wildlife. It seemed to go well, and at the end I called up the band. We wound up doing six songs…”In The Night”; an old Professor Longhair New Orleans tune, “Route 66″, “Alberta, Alberta”…two songs off of Southscape, “Tomato Jam” and “Savannah”, ending with Honky Tonk Women. I felt good about the performance…the guys played brilliantly. I was pleased and surprised to get a standing ovation after “Savannah”…very moving. We had a couple of other songs worked up, but ending with Honky Tonk seemed to work well and we had played a good 40 minutes or so.
After that we had a few raffle drawings for Stones tickets to draw, and announced the auction on eBay of a Gretsch guitar that has been signed by the band as well as two tickets to the Oct 31 Beacon Theater show in NY. Then final thanks were given and the party broke up. I went to a side room to sign some books and CDs, which lasted for about 30 minutes. That wrapped it up.

All in all the event was a total success…and I think we raised upwards of $150,000. A great thing for AFF and its programs…and a great thing for sustainable forestry and the environment in our country.
After the event we had an emergency meeting of the Trustees in a separate room in the convention center. There were about six of us there in person, and another six or so on a conference call with us. The main topic of discussion was to sort out plans for the recent endowment of $150 million dollars coming from the US/Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement. This is an incredible time for AFF, and will allow us to do so much good for America’s family forests and for the education of our young people on environmental issues…and will also help so many timber dependent communities. Just fabulous!
We said our goodbyes to everyone and Colin gave Rose Lane and me a ride back to the hotel. There we decompressed for a bit. I had a package that had come from home….which was a Palm Treo 700p phone that was given to me by Iris Goldschmidt, a woman that I met in Reno when Rose Lane and I was there for the HMS Host event. Iris had kindly offered to send me the phone, as mine was so old and outdated. She runs a company called Airport Wireless and has a few stores that sell Palm devices in airports. So I was all excited about my new toy and began to try to figure it out. One of the features is that it will “sync” up with the address book in a computer, making it easy to get all the phone numbers and email address into it. I tried my hand at making that work, but after a couple of hours of error messages and failed attempts, I gave it up. Syncless in Seattle. But I vowed to try again!
Tim had invited us to come to his club show in the evening at Tula’s
and suggested we make the second set that started at 10pm. His first set was at 8. So we made our way down to the club a little early…just after 9…and Tim was still playing. The show was sold out and they couldn’t allow us in, so we went around the corner to a place called the Flying Fish to have a glass of wine and some hors d’ourves to kill time. That was just right, and we were back at the club just before 10. Tim asked me about sitting in later and I told him of course I’d love to. As usual for Tim’s club shows there were lots of Stones fans there…mostly from the “Shidoobe” fan club. My tech Will Alexander was there as well as was a handful of the AFF folks. Tim and co. played a really great set, and he invited me up for two songs…Honky Tonk Women and Ruby Tuesday. The latter was played with just me and Tim with Bernard Fowler singing. Michael Davis was there as well…as he has been for most all of Tim’s shows. I can’t say enough about Tim’s talent…and of course Bernard’s…he sang beautifully on all the songs he performed that night. Michael tore it up, too…and is without a doubt the best trombone player in the world today…at least in my humble opinion. Amazing musician.

Tim has worked incredibly hard on these club shows…putting together the bands, booking the dates and making it all happen. This was something like his 30th set of these type shows since the beginning of the Bigger Bang tour. He was gracious to all the guys playing with him, thanking them and complimenting them on their musicianship. A fun night!
We stayed for a little while after he finished, eventually making it back to the hotel near 1am. This finished out a truly wonderful day, and I was grateful that all had gone so well.

10/17

Back to the “office”! It’s been nice to have a few days off…and even though we had the AFF gig going on, we were doing something different and now when we get back to focusing on the Stones, we will have somewhat of a new perspective. After our normal daily routine I went on the early van to the show to set about my set list work and to practice some. I also wanted to get one of our computer techs to help me with the new Treo phone…and try to get the sync function to work. I had tried it again earlier in the day, but had again failed. So I reached Cory (one of our tour technical personnel) and asked him to come see about it. I showed him what I was trying to do…and he said to leave it to him…which I was glad to do!
Then I turned my attention to the set list. I reviewed the show we did here a year ago at the Key arena and made sure we did some different tunes. Mick and I have also met a couple of times about the Austin and Beacon shows…. and have pretty much closed in on what we want to do in Austin. The Beacon is also getting closer, but until we get into rehearsals in NY and try some things out we won’t be able to finalize the sets. But for now I was just concerned with the Seattle show and wrote it up, presenting it to Mick and gaining his approval. We would have quite a few guests in the Rattlesnake…Colin Mosely and his family (total of five), Marshall McReal (friend of John DuPree’s that works for Goldman Sachs) and his friend, Tom Knudeson (Nobel prize winning environmental journalist from the Sacramento Bee and a good friend…who had come to the AFF event the day before) and his friends. I went to greet them all and was able to take Colin and his family on a quick tour backstage. They were very appreciative…especially for letting their son Will and his friend Jack and their daughter Ellie having the experience. I gave them some guitar pics and copies of the night’s set list as souvenirs, and they liked that.
Back in my dressing room I saw that Cory had been successful with the sync function from my Mac Powerbook to my new Palm Treo…the Treo was all loaded up with all my phone numbers, addresses and email addresses. Ah, it’s so great when the technology works!
Then it was time to get down to biz. The show reflected the fact that we’d been off for a short time…meaning that we all had a fresh feeling and it went really well. The Seattle audience gave us inspiration and encouragement…and it felt great to get back in the saddle!

10/18

Our final full day off in Seattle. We had talked about renting a car and driving out of the city for a bit…but the weather wasn’t really great for that and we decided just to have a day of rest and relaxation. I booked a massage for 6:30 and we just killed the day by another lunch at Shucker’s and a final walk around the area. My massage was great…a petite young lady named Shara (I think that’s right) that had some very strong hands rubbed out the stress and afterwards I was really relaxed and feeling good. We did dinner at a nice spot called The Dahlia Lounge that chef Tom Douglas offered what he called Pacific Rim cuisine. Excellent food and fine wine topped off our Seattle experience. We went back and did our packing for the next day’s travel to El Paso. This last week has really been an interesting, fun and fruitful one and I’m grateful that it all went so well.

10/10

An off day. The weather prediction for the next couple of days did not look good for us. Temps still dropping and possible rain. But for the moment it was at least tolerable, and by about 1:30 we were headed out for a bite to eat and to do some shopping on the marvelous Miracle Mile of Michigan Av. We ate at a place right next door to the hotel called Pierot Gourmet. They offered both breakfast and lunch, and I opted for the smoked salmon frittata while Rose Lane went for the grilled chicken salad with butternut squash and pumpkin seeds. Both were good choices. Then we walked up to the corner and turned on to Michigan. We hit Sax Fifth Ave first, and then spied an Apple store. I bought a 120 gig Lacie hard drive so I could back up my Mac, and Rosie got some CD roms. We killed some time there and then went to Neiman Marcus for a short look, and on to Ralph Lauren. Rose Lane wanted me to buy some black pants to go with my new RL western jacket that I would be wearing for the Seattle event, and in addition to that she suggested a nice sweater that she picked out for me. From there we went to the Water Tower shops and hit Macy’s. I needed some sox and underwear and found most of what I wanted there as well as a neat black suede shirt that was on sale. Rosie scored a scarf and a couple of other things. By then we were shopped out and went back to the Peninsula.
For dinner we wanted to go to one of our favorites…the 110 Bistro. The concierge made us a reservation and we had a drink in the bar before our 8pm seating. We had a good meal, in spite of the fact that they were out of the two dishes I really wanted. We both wound up getting a steak. It’s a really good place, and we try to eat there at least once every time we’re in Chi Town.
Being pretty tired we made an easy night of it, surfing the tube and reading some before bed.

10/11

Well, it looks like we’ll be paying some dues at the show tonight. Prediction is for 33 degrees and possible rain. It was raining already. Not good. Also, they were looking for a windy night with gusts up to about 30-mph. Not good. Rose Lane had arranged to have lunch with a couple of our friends…Pat Boyer and Kris Collum. I would skip that and work on my speech a little bit, then go to the show early. I wanted one of the techs to help me back up my computer with the hard drive I had purchased. I got Dave Rouze and Will Alexander to help me with that, although we could not get the software that Dave had to work on my Powerbook. We wound up using the software provided by Lacie, but it does not allow for “incremental backup”, meaning that the next time I wanted to back it up, instead of just “seeing” the changes made on the computer from the previous backup, it would want to go through the whole procedure of backing up from scratch. But Dave said he would make sure we had the software the next time and in the future would have the incremental backup feature. The good news is that now I’m all backed up and won’t be worried about losing my data.
Our guests tonight would be many…Pat and Kris; Dave Schumann and his friend Andy; Bill and Kathy Doyle (Bill is CEO of the Potash Corp and a good friend) and their guests; John Malloy, a friend and client of Charlane Plantation; Brad Hall, a friend of our pal Bill Miller and also a hunter; and Dan Joyce from the HMS Host company. There were a few other “friends of friends” attending as well. We made the rounds to say hello to as many as we could. It was really crowded. I had done the set list with Mick earlier, and convinced him to finally get “She Was Hot” in there. So we had a little rehearsal in Keith’s room to run over that and a couple of other tunes. We would be pretty adventurous tonight…. starting with “You Got Me Rocking” and doing songs like “Sway”, “Live With Me”, “Monkey Man” and “…Hot”.
When we hit the stage, we knew we were in for it. God was it cold! Luckily the rain had spared us and the skies were clear, but the temp was brutal. It was freezing right from the start, and my hands (as well as everyone else’s) went numb by the third song or so. The audience looked more like they were dressed for a Bears game than a Stones show…with lots of knit hats, heavy coats and scarves. But we all braved it and put on a damn good set. The wind was really whipping around, and there were times when I literally shuttered from head to toe from the chill. Riding out to the B Stage was the worst…with the wind hitting us hard. It was without a doubt the coldest show we’ve ever done…. and there have been some other cold ones!
It took a while to thaw out afterwards, but thaw out we did. Pat and Kris wanted to hang out with us some, and we went down to the lobby to meet them. For some reason even though it was only about 11:30, they would not serve us drinks in the Lobby restaurant. There was a cigar bar open, but there was no way any of us wanted to tolerate that, so we went up to our room. I had scored several bottles of wine at the gig and we popped them open. Tim Ries called and was looking for a hang…so we invited him as well. He came down and said he had some friends coming and would we mind them joining in….it was a couple of girls that he had involved in one of his recent shows…a flamenco dancer/clapper named Grace and her friend Tara. We all had a grand time talking and listening to music…and at one point Grace even did a bit of flamenco for us as we clapped out a rhythm she showed us. It all made for a very fun if long night….and by the time we called it off it must have been close to 4am. Great fun!

10/12

One more off day in the Windy City. I did the gym…and a really nice gym it is…for a good hour and a half. Then we did lunch at the Pierot Gourmet again. We ventured out for a little while, but the winds were so bad that we didn’t last long. We hit Borders Books and Rosie bought a few things to read and went over to Neiman’s again for a while. I left her there as I wanted to go work on my speech some more. I tackled that for a while, trying to edit it down with some success. Still need to cut some lines, but will get that done in plenty of time. When Rose Lane got back we just relaxed for a bit doing emails and watching the tube some. At dinnertime we decided on the Ralph Lauren Grill. She had had lunch there with Pat and Kris and wanted us to try it for dinner. It was very good…but quite crowded and loud. The decor was as you might expect…very “Lauren” country classic. I think this is the only restaurant he has…. but can see that it’s very successful and I would imagine there would be more to come.
After that we did our packing in the room for the departure the next day. Spin would pick up the bags early…at 9:30 and we would leave at 12:30 headed for Seattle.

10/6-9

Up and after coffee, hit the very small gym at the Radisson. We had all been worried about the weather for the show…originally rain was predicted with very cold temps. But at least for today, it looked like we’d be lucky. It was actually a beautiful fall day. Looking out the window of the hotel, there is a nice park right across the street from us. The leaves of the trees had changed into their bright colors…one in particular was a sparkling yellow…beautiful. Rosie and I had lunch in the hotel, and then took a walk up the street to a big shopping mall. Everywhere you looked there was something about the Stones…. signs in all the stores, banners everywhere, and Stones songs pumping out doorways. The local paper had a huge section dedicated to the band…with pictures of our arrival and a history of the band, what to expect at the concert and so on. It was definitely Stones Mania!
After a time I headed back tot he hotel and prepared to go on the early van to the show.
Knowing that this is the first time the band has played here, I drew up a fairly predictable “greatest hits” sort of set for tonight’s show…and that would give us a chance to mix it up for the second show here two days from now.
We don’t really know anyone in Regina…except for a nice person named Shelly Lafluer who had hit us on our website a month or two earlier, telling us about a program for kids that she is involved in called Ecoquest. It’s quite an interesting and admirable program that gets school children out into the woods and nature as part of their education. Shelly also spins discs at a jazz station in the area and had asked me about playing some of my music on her program. So I arranged for a couple of Rattlesnake Inn passes for her and met her backstage. We had a short chat and I gave her my Southscape CD, which she promised to get on the air soon.
The show turned out great…and the weather cooperated with us…it was a little “crisp”, but not at all uncomfortable. The fans were great…they sang along, roared their approval of the songs and had a big ‘ol time. Mick always finds something funny or interesting to say about every city we’re in. and at one point in the show he acknowledged to the audience that this was the first time we’d ever played here…said how happy we were to be in town and then said…”Regina…. it rhymes with…FUN!” Of course that got a good laugh…
The venue was very close to the hotel, so it was a short ride to get back after the gig. Rose Lane and I made a soft landing, deciding to stay in our room, sip on some wine and watch TV for a while before retiring.
The next day was a day off, and there was a party planned for the evening. This was put on by our Production Crew and would be a “Wig Party”. The location had not been decided as of last night, but we would find out about that later. In the meantime, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, with some colder temps and wind swishing about. After the usual “morning routine”, we thought we’d at least poke our heads out to see what it was like…and immediately came back inside, as it was pretty rough. So we stayed in for lunch again and killed time in our room on our computers. I was to meet with Mick later in the evening to discuss the Austin, TX and NY Beacon Theater show set lists, so I spent quite a lot of time preparing for that. I went over all my lists…and a wad of lists that Michael Cohl had passed on to me. One was basically all the DVD or VHS releases the band has ever done…another had a list of songs that the band has never performed live, and another had a list of songs that had rarely ever been performed or filmed. I poured over all of this while Rose Lane went out to the hotel spa for a manicure and pedicure. In the meantime, Tim Ries called me and invited us out to dinner with him. He said he had met the Mayor of Regina at the show and asked him what the best restaurant in town was…and got the name of an Italian place. So we accepted his invitation, telling him that I was to meet with Mick for an hour or so at 7 and suggest we target 8 or 8:30 for dinner.
I went in to see Mick at 7, and we looked at all the lists we’d made and discussed the situation. There is talk about a package that will include some shows we’ve already done on the tour and adding Austin to the package. Then of course Martin Scorsese will film the Beacon shows for a separate release…so we had a lot to go over. I presented him with a second draft for both Austin and the Beacon, and he seemed to be pretty happy with it, but still wanted to look at some more options. In any case we’re making progress and I think we’ll settle on something solid soon.
Rosie and I went down to the bar and had a drink while we waited on Tim to meet us…and one of the folks that has been with us out on tour for a while named Woody Glessman a friend of Ronnie Wood sat with us. Tim showed up soon and we invited Woody to go with us to dinner. So the four of us headed out together. The folks at the restaurant, which was called Casa Italia, were all ready for us and seated us at a nice table. Our waiter was very accommodating…and said something about how “Mama” was excited about us being there. We asked if his mom was the chef, and he replied yes, and would we like to meet her? So we walked back to the kitchen and met her…seeing that she was surrounded by all manner of pots, pans, sauces and spices and was hard at work. We took a couple of pictures with her and went back to our table.

The food was quite good…if a bit rich…but we all enjoyed the experience and the company.
We called for a cab to take us back to the hotel after dinner. In the lobby there were some of our folks getting ready to go to the party. Rose Lane and I had not been able to go out and look for any wigs, but one of the hostesses from our private plane had an extra one and gave it to Rosie. There were some vans waiting to shuttle us back and forth the party, so we loaded up in one and headed to the place, a club called ?? We weren’t sure about how this thing would turn out, but figured we’d go see about it for a while anyway.

We were in for a surprise!!!!
We arrived and walked in…of course there was music playing and a good many folks had already showed up.

As we mingled around we saw the hilarious wigs that people had come in…it really was fun and we had a blast going around, taking pictures and just howling at some of the really good ones. We were so glad we had decided to come!

I never did get a wig, but Tim Ries had managed to get one and gave me his pork pie hat, which I wore for the night. Rosie and I had a couple of drinks, danced on the dance floor and talked with whomever we ran into. We stayed for about an hour or a little more, and decided to head back. It had been a great time, and a nice opportunity to share some fun with our wonderful crew folks.

On the second show day, the weather continued to be unfavorable. It was raining most of the day and the temps dropped even more. I felt bad for the crew, having had such a wonderful party only to have to wake up to dealing with some rough weather at the venue. After my workout I took the early van to the show. As there was no good place on the interior to set up our backstage area, they had set up a few tents for us. That worked out fine for the first show, but today with all the rain, the water had run under the tents onto the temporary carpeting that was set up, creating quite a mess. But as always, our team dealt with it admirably, keeping everything as dry and as comfortable as possible. I did the set list, adding in some different tunes from the previous show, and presented it to Mick. He suggested a couple of changes and we settled on the final and turned it in for printing. Backstage, I had arranged for a few passes for Shelly’s sister and her family that were coming and went to meet them. They had two young boys with them, and I went and scored a few copies of the set list as well as some guitar picks to give to them. The rain finally subsided by the time we went on, thank heaven….but that didn’t help the temperature, which was about 35 degrees. In spite of that, we made a good presentation and the fans were again totally with us all the way.

Mick made another funny remark during the show…saying something to the effect of …”…we are so pleased to be here for our second show in Regina…and I want to apologize for any silly remarks I made on the first show about what rhymes with the name of this city…I promise not to make any more comments like that…I certainly don’t want to offend any of the fine folks from here. (nice pause and then…) I just hope that doesn’t make me a pussy!”
Back at the hotel we turned in our clothes to the wardrobe and then attended to our packing for the travel the next day. We have seen our bags swell lately with some purchases and some things given to us, so we planned on sending a box home when we were in Chicago, our next city to visit. We packed up everything but our carryon bags and set the suitcases near the front door for Spin to pick up the next day…then put ourselves to bed.

In the morning we poured some coffee in us and dealt with the usual hour or so of emails. I had a nice one from Steve Graham. Steve is in television production and is one of my partners in an effort to land a TV series that we call “Love of The Land”. During our last break at home we had shot a demo explaining what the show would be and also shot a couple of short snippets of stories that would give an example of the show. Steve had finished the final editing for it and had emailed me to say that he’s now ready to start pursuing potential sponsors for the show. We have a good list of contacts that include companies like Wal-Mart, GM, Bass Pro and others. So now we have something to show these folks and we’ll see what kind of reaction we get. Since we’ll be out in LA soon and will base there for some of our shows, I’m hoping that we may be able to meet with some potential sponsors in person there. We may also be able to work in some meetings in NY. I have no idea how our demo will be received, but I think we’ve put together a pretty smart package and we’re ready to roll with it. Now, with a bit of luck…..!
Finishing up our communications, we went to the club lounge on the second floor. While we’d been told that there was a club lounge there, we had both forgotten about it and not used it until now. We entered it to see it was totally deserted, but there was a coffee machine and some food items about. I made a bowl of cereal and Rosie found something to her liking and we sat for a while reading the paper and sipping coffee. Then it was time to travel. On the plane I started working on my speech for the American Forest Foundation fund raising event next Monday in Seattle. That kept me busy for most of the flight.

This will be our third trip to Chicago on the tour. We’ve played one show at Soldier Field early in the tour last year and two shows at the United Center this year in late Jan and early Feb. This time we would not stay at our usual hotel, The Ritz Carlton…as they were booked up and couldn’t accommodate us. So we would be trying out a new hotel, the Peninsula, which is sort of around the corner from the Ritz on Superior St. near Michigan Av. We arrived there in the late afternoon, about 5pm and checked in. It’s quite a nice hotel…very modern with a lot of class. Our room was a gracious size with doors separating the bedroom from the sitting room, which we don’t get at the Ritz. So we settled in to our new Chicago digs. Our message light was on, and I called to see about it. We had a couple of packages waiting on us, and I had them sent up. One was a beautiful bottle of wine sent to us from our friend Dave Schumann. It was a bottle of Lynch Bages, one of the finest cabernets known to man. I had arranged for a couple of passes for him and this was his thank you. Very nice! The other was a magazine sent by a friend of Herren and Susan Hickingbotham. On the cover was a great picture of Herren and on the inside was an article about a fund raising event he had chaired on behalf of music education in Little Rock, Ark. There were also some wonderful pictures of Herren with their beautiful two children, Hayden and Christian.
I had some calls to make before dinner…. mainly to Larry Wiseman of the AFF to alert him I was sending a copy of my speech to him to review. So after sharing the news of this phone call with Rosie, we went down to celebrate with a cocktail and to decide on dinner. Chicago was it’s usual windy and cold self…even flirting with record low temperatures…so we decided to stay in and try out one of the hotel restaurants, called the Lobby Restaurant. It was fine, and we enjoyed the meal, some nice wine and talked about the good news of the endowments.
We ran into our friend Scott Jones who had come to see the show, and talked to him briefly, inviting him to the Seattle fundraiser. By then we were tired and went back to the room to visit dreamland.

10/3, 4 and 5

Being in this place of such beauty is about like taking a week vacation! In some ways it reminds us of home…at least in the way that we live in the country and have the outdoor lifestyle. Also, while these pines are a different species than the loblolly, slash and longleaf that we have back home, they have a similar look that is reminiscent of our territory. Here they have larch, lodgepole and ponderosa pine along with the quaking aspens and some western cedars that dominate the landscape. The fields of grass in the valley provide a golden touch, and the surrounding mountains dotted with the green of the trees round out a perfect picture. The cabins we are in are spread out at a comfortable and reasonable distance, about 100 yards or so apart. They have a main compound that has the reception, bar and restaurants as well as some of the maintenance and utility buildings…and a separate area they call the “Wilderness Outpost” where the Tour Office was located, and just behind that is the large corral for the horses. In another area they have “Spa Town”, a series of about 7 or 8 white canvas tents that are used mainly for the massages. They have one tent set up with a couple of aerobic machines and a small set of dumb bells. In addition, although we never got to see it, they have another set of tents they call “Tent City” where people can stay. We were told that the capacity was about 100 at present, but they are planning to expand and build some more cabins as well as a proper exercise facility. For outdoor adventures they offer horseback riding, mountain biking, fly-fishing, ATV riding and more. Truly a beautiful, interesting and lovely place.
Rosie and I made our coffee, built a fire in the fireplace and hooked up on the DSL line using my Apple Airport Express that we carry to make it wireless throughout the house. We had booked a horseback ride for 1pm and massages at 4:30, so we had the morning to ourselves just to enjoy the views and do our own things. It was a beautiful day, brisk but not cold. Just a fine “crispy” feel to the air… which as you might imagine is pristinely clean. After our leisurely morning we made our way over to the Trough restaurant on our “mountain buggy” and had something to eat. I went for the breakfast, even though it was about noon. Pancakes, scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. Oh yeah. Rosie opted for a lunch dish, and we were both very happy. We strolled around the facility taking some pictures and just checking things out, then went back to the Panfish Popper to get ready for our horseback ride.
Along with us, Bernard, Lisa Fischer, Helen Knox and Val Adamson were going as well. We all met at the Tour Office and did the necessary paperwork of waivers and charges, then went out to meet our steeds. I was a little embarrassed to be given a horse named “Lollypop”…but he turned out to be a good ride, and not as wimpy as his name implied.

There were three women acting as our guides, all very nice. Loraine, Valerie and ??. After introductions and the expected instructions we mounted up and headed out single file. Rose Lane and I are experienced riders and we really wanted to cut loose, but of course given the situation we understood that we had to go along with the program and keep to a walk and in line. They took us through the valley up to what they call Elk Mountain. The trails had been well established and maintained, but were very natural and not too “obvious”. We wound up and around the mountain, enjoying the scenery and chatting along the way. It turns out that they lease quite a lot of their land from Plum Creek Timber Co., a company that we are very familiar with. As a matter of fact, Plum Creek has a lease on about 200 acres of our land in Ga. and own timberland all throughout the US. We also know some of the people in the company, six of which would be coming to the show. The good stewardship of the land showed, and the woods were nothing short of beautiful. At one point along the way, a deer spooked Lisa’s horse which in turn spooked all the other horses. Lisa did a great job of not getting upset and holing on, regaining control of her ride very quickly and it was a minor incident. We didn’t see any other wildlife, though…except for various birds and squirrels. I did, however, spy a lot of signs….deer droppings and scrapes, bear sign on some fallen trees, and lots of gopher holes. The gophers are hibernating apparently, and don’t come out until spring.
We continued to ride; soaking in the amazing surroundings and feeling the stress melt away. The guides pointed out a spot where there used to be some gold mining going on many years ago…and another place where there used to be a railroad track that connected with the mine. Eventually we came back down into the valley crossing a grass prairie and then up to a bluff where we stopped for a moment to take in the view. No words can really describe it…but it makes you understand the term Big Sky. A fellow bird hunter once told me a little funny phrase about this territory…that it’s so big you can watch your dog run away for three days!
From the bluff we made our way back through the valley to the corral, ending a wonderful two hours. I would have easily been willing to do another two, but was grateful to have had the experience. We dismounted and thanked our guides, and Rosie and I went back to the cabin. There we stoked the fire back up and relaxed for a bit until our massage time. Spa town was only about 500 yards from our place, and we headed over in our golf car to check in. The setup was really cool…with the tents having a heater hung from above as well as electric blankets on the tables to keep you warm and comfortable. The flaps of the tent were open to reveal the view of the valley and mountains, making for a very unique massage experience. We both did an hour each and I could have probably gone on for another hour…. it was truly heaven. We took our time getting up from the tables and after thanking the girls that had worked on us and settling up, we went back to shower up and get ready for cocktails and dinner.
We had our usual one drink each…Rose Lane likes a dry vodka martini with olives, and I go for vodka on the rocks with olive. Blondie Chaplin was the only other person in the bar, and we chatted with him for a bit before walking down to the Pomp. I had the bison steak and Rosie had the beef tenderloin. The Woods showed up again, this time with Charlie Watts and Bernard with them. We enjoyed our steaks and talked to them and to Paul the manager of the restaurant, until we started to feel the activities of the day and drove back to the cabin. Rose Lane poured me a glass of wine, but I don’t think I had but a sip or two as I was fading fast and headed to bed. She stayed up for a while longer…. and we both slept very well!
The next day was show day. While I know we all would have loved to have another day to explore, duty called. There was a huge buzz throughout the city about the show, and it had been sold out for weeks. All the staff at Paws Up had told us about how excited everyone was, and the folks that I had arranged tickets for had said the same. I don’t think Missoula has ever had a show of this magnitude, and it would be another historic gig for us. We had another leisurely morning and afternoon, having lunch down at the Trough again. The bus to take us to the show left at 3:30. On the bus we all talked about what kind of adventures had been experienced…our horseback ride, and us Darryl had gone fly-fishing and skeet shooting (another activity available). Some had tried the ATVs…. all had huge fun. Bobby Keys had his Stryker F-27C Radio Controlled Airplane. He had a blast flying that thing all around the compound. It flies up to 80 miles per hour, and he buzzed everyone’s house.

At the show I did my thing…. and wrote the set list with a lot of well known numbers as we’ve never played here before and we knew they would appreciate hearing mostly familiar songs unlike in some cities where we’ve played many shows through the years…and even on this tour!
Back stages we met our friends that had come…Terry and Monica Anderson who both work for PERC (Political Economic Research Center) were there. I have given two speeches to PERC over the past five or so years. A great group of folks that do wonderful work for private landowners on all kinds of issues. With them were some of Terry’s family and some friends. Bill Posseil and his wife Claudia were there…Bill is President of the National Forest Foundation which works hand in hand with the US Forest Service on issues concerning our National Forests. Dennis and Brenda Berkheartsmeir that own the Mountain Mudd coffee house chain were also there and kindly gave Rosie and me some Mountain Mudd t-shirts. We spent time with all of them as best we could. One big surprise was when some fellow tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around to see Huey Lewis! I’ve met Huey before, but it had been a long time since I’d seen him. He lives in Montana now for the best part of the year. We have some friends in common…Mike Duke, a great piano player, singer and songwriter originally from Alabama, and Bruce Hornsby. We chatted for a while, and I told him how much we had been enjoying Montana. He said we should buy a place out there…and man, it would be a dream to do that. He also told me that he’d been doing the musical “Chicago” in NY for a couple of years in addition to some scattered shows with his band, so he’s remaining very active with some cool projects. Huey is good people…solid guy, fun to be with…and it was a fantastic surprise to see him. Between all of that going on and the others in the Rattlesnake, it was really a jumpin’ place. Finally we had to say goodbye and get ready for the show.
Backstage we had a little rehearsal in Keith’s room…and this time Mick had agreed to join us. I had pressed him to do so in order for us to go over a couple of potential songs to add in to the mix soon. So we went through She Was Hot and Loving Cup. Hopefully it won’t be long before we can give them a try on the stage.
As we walked to the stage and the lights went down, the crowd roared in anticipation. My keyboard tech, Will Alexander, had told me that they had been going crazy all night…doing the “wave” several times and just dying to see the Stones. We got lucky with the weather…there was a chance for rain but it never really happened…and although it was a little on the cool side, it was ultimately very pleasant. We rocked Grizzly Stadium all night, and the fans were right with us every step of the way. Fabulous show.

10/5

The last few hours at Paws Up, and we were all very sad to leave. I got up about 9 and made the coffee, put a fire in the fireplace and did my emails for an hour or so. Rose Lane got up about 45 minutes after me and joined in. Our bags had to be ready by 11, so we both finalized the packing and set them out on the deck for pickup. I held out my workout clothes and went to the little tent that had the exercise equipment. It was extremely limited…one treadmill, one elliptical machine and one set of “Power Block” dumb bells. But there was no one else in there, so I used the dumb bells for working chest, biceps and shoulders. It was great looking out at the view and going through the routine, and afterwards I decided on a run. By then it had warmed up considerably. There was a long road that ran away from the compound…and it looked like a good prospect for a jog. So I took off on it. Man, it was soooo great. Only three or four vehicles passed me…work trucks mainly. And running out in that incredible valley with the views was refreshing for the mind as well as the body. I made a good 50 minute cast out of it, soaking in the scenery.
When I got back to the cabin, Rosie told me that Lisa Fischer had called and invited us to breakfast at her cabin. So we showered and took the mountain buggy over to her place, just about 500 yards from ours. She and Val Adamson had shared a room, and they had a full kitchen…and had scored some groceries from the show the night before…eggs, bacon, bread, tomatoes, and some cheese. Lisa cooked it all up and Bernard, Rosie and me, Val, Caroline Clements and Lisa enjoyed it.

It was a cool groove and a nice way to end our stay. Then we went back to collect our carryon bags and on to the reception to check out. The bill was pretty hefty with the activities and the expensive restaurant/bar charges, but we closed our eyes and signed on the dotted line. It was worth it…a very unique and wonderful three days.
We all talked on the bus and the plane about our experiences at Paws Up, everyone agreeing it had been a great place and a great time.
The flight to Regina was only an hour and twenty minutes, and before we knew it we were at the Radisson hotel. We got to our room and goofed around for 45 minutes or so and decided to check on dinner options. Regina is not exactly known for it’s famous restaurants, though. We settled on an Oriental place called Saigon By Night, but it was a disappointment. Very casual, which is fine….but the food had a good bit of MSG in it, and about halfway through the meal we were both fairly flushed in the face from it. Ah well, you can’t win every time!

That wound up the day, and back at the hotel I was pretty tired and hit the sheets by 11 or so.

9/30

This would be the first time ever that a concert has been held at the famous Churchill Downs in Louisville. I hit the gym at the Seelbach around noon, and then went back to the room. I had quite a lot of emails to go through, and worked right up until it was time to head down to the gig on the early bus. Rose Lane would come later on the late van. We had decided that we should send a box of stuff back home as we had accumulated some things during the course of this leg of the tour and needed to “lighten our load” some. So we started a stack of items to send back before I left for the gig. At that point, the weather looked good. Clear skies for the most part, with a few scattered clouds. Down at the gig I took my camera out to take some pictures of the beautiful grounds of Churchill Downs. Rose Lane and I had been there many years before when the Allman Brothers Band had played at the coliseum in Louisville a day or so after the Kentucky Derby ran, and had attended the Derby with Bunky Odom, who was working on tour with the band at that time. It is a fond memory. The Downs have been renovated in recent times, and the place is just beautiful. I walked around taking some shots for a while, enjoying the scenery. Then went to have a bite to eat and work on the set list before the rest of the guys showed up. By now some dark clouds were forming…but the weather forecast still said no rain. I met with Mick on the set list…and of course put in Dead Flowers with it’s reference to “…making bets on Kentucky Derby day…” in the lyrics. I also had an idea about having the famous and familiar “Call To Post” played before the pre-show music and video would start, and Mick agreed to it. So I had our soundman Dave Natale set that up. It would be just 12 seconds of the bugle call while the stage was dark. I knew that folks would go crazy when they heard it. With that done, I went to look for friends in the Rattlesnake.

My pal Damon Johnson would be there as Alice Cooper was opening up the show, so I saw him and met his lovely wife Lynda. We talked for a while, and I made some other rounds seeing Neal, Lee, Kennedy and Sarah. I had arranged 10 passes for my pal John Dupree, but couldn’t find him. Eventually Keith wanted to do the warm up thing, and I went backstage to play. We went through Dead Flowers and a few others for a bit, and then I went back to the RI. Rosie and I decided to go catch some of Alice Cooper’s set, and went up for a while enjoying watching the band. Afterwards we caught back up with Damon and Lynda in the Rattlesnake…and Alice Cooper. We talked with them for a while and took some pictures with them. It had begun to rain a little during their set (they had been soaked on the Halifax show a week or so earlier), and it looked as if it would be even worse for us. I went back to make final preparation for the show, and Arnold Dunn came to me asking if I had talked to Keith about the Call To Post thing. I told him no, that I had assumed Mick would tell him. Apparently he had not, so it fell to me to go discuss it with Keith. I gave it my best shot, trying to convince him that it would be well received by the crowd…but he vetoed it. Ah well, no matter…it would have been a cool thing to do, but if he didn’t dig the idea, then that was that! I went to tell Dave and the others to cancel it.
Finally it was time to hit the stage…and indeed, the rain had increased. But that didn’t stop what would be a great performance…and while the rain persisted for most of the show, it did stop a few times, giving us all a break from it. The band grooved through it all, and the audience was with us all the way from the beginning. Great fun, great show. Another first for the Stones.

Back at the hotel Rosie and I decided we’d have a look at what the bar scene was…. thinking that we might look for some of our friends and have a drink. But as soon as the elevator doors opened we could see that it was just too nuts to get into it. Some well meaning fan came up to us immediately wanting to talk…and there were tons of people all over the lobby and in the bar. So we politely said a few words to the guy and turned right around, going back up to our room. I was starving and while I usually don’t like eating so late, ordered up a club sandwich which we shared along with some wine I had brought back from the show. So we packed up our bags and nibbled on the sandwich and sipped on the wine for a while, finally hitting the sack about 2am.

10/1

The reviews of the show in the papers were all great, talking about how wonderful it was that the Stones had finally come back to Louisville. The last time we played there was on the Steel Wheels tour back in 1989. Both Rose Lane and I had wished we could spend at least one more day in the South…but today we would be moving on to Wichita. So after getting ourselves going, we dealt with the box of stuff we were sending home, checked out of the room and loaded up on the bus with everyone else to do the travel thing. We lifted off about 4pm for the hour and a half flight to Wichita. As we gained an hour, we landed earlier than usual at about 4:45. I had accepted an invitation from Jason Johnson, a fellow that we do business with for Charlane Plantation. Jason bought a company called Quail Restoration Technologies. They make a very clever system for re-stocking quail and pheasants on suitable lands. I had heard about the concept from my friend Roy Fickling a few years ago. Basically, the concept is that you buy one day old chicks (in our case, quail chicks) and put them in what is called a surrogater. This device is about 4′ by 8′, and is like a large box that holds the birds. Inside is a special feeder and waterer as well as a heating system to keep the chicks at the correct temperature during the critical time they will raise in the surrogater. The device is placed at a predetermined place in the woods where you want to populate. Each box can hold about 125 or so chicks. Then the chicks are raised up to about the age of five weeks, at which time they are released into the wild. This process can be repeated about 4 to 5 times during the nesting season. We have three surrogaters in operation at Charlane, and we can release about a thousand birds during the season. We’ve found that it has been very successful…but like anything else, you have to carefully follow the process to do it right. We have also found that these birds….unlike adult released birds…will form coveys with wild birds, and even survive beyond the hunting season and will breed with our wild birds. It’s a great way to help increase the population, and we’ve been very happy with the results at our place.
Anyway, Jason had contacted me a few weeks prior to us coming to Wichita and had invited us to come have a home cooked meal at his place there. He picked us up at the Hyatt hotel about 8pm and drove us to his house. There we met his wife Wendy and her sister Haley as well as their parents…and Jason and Wendy’s beautiful three kids. Wendy had cooked a nice meal, and we enjoyed the food, wine and the company for the evening. Jason and I talked quite a lot about outdoor issues, and of course about his system and how the company is faring. He mentioned some good ideas about trying to improve it, and said that he was pleased with the way things were going. A lot of wildlife biologists have been somewhat negative on the concept of released birds, but with this special system, many of them are taking a close look and some believe this concept has merit. There are some studies going on where the “surrogater birds” are banded, making it possible to some degree to track them. It’s a bit early to say what the studies will find, and a lot more research needs to be done. But I am personally convinced that this system does work and does help populate birds into the wild….as long as the habitat is there to support them.
Anyway, after dinner we thanked the Johnsons for their hospitality, and Jason drove us back to the Hyatt. We had an easy night, watching tv and reading before bed.

10/2

Another historic show for the Stones. This will be the first time the band has ever played in Wichita. We could feel the excitement of the city, and there had already been some press about us coming to town. Jason had told us the day before that there was an undeniable buzz throughout the whole area. The concert was sold out, and there would be more than 30,000 attending.
By now Rosie and I had shaken off the “road dust” of our previous week with the travel to Reno, the Giant stadium and Churchill Downs shows and were feeling sort of back to normal. It was quite warm in Wichita…in the upper 80’s. Our hotel, the Hyatt, was right next to the Arkansas River which had a nice sidewalk running down the side of it, making for a great jogging track. So after hitting the fitness room I decided to take a good jog along the river. It was glorious…there were no clouds in the sky, and the sun’s velvet rays rained down on me as I ran. I managed close to an hour, basking in every minute of it. Back at the room we showered and went down for a quick lunch. Rosie and I had noticed a Gander Mountain store just three blocks from the hotel, and decided to walk there for a look around. Tim Ries went with us, as he had seen us during lunch and wanted to tag along. The three of us hoofed over to the store and looked around for 45 minutes or so. It was refreshing and fun for me to be in a store like that, and I enjoyed seeing all the hunting and fishing gear, the canoes and kayaks, the ATVs and such. We didn’t buy anything…it’s just too much to try and deal with carrying around items like that….but it was a groove just to see it all.

By then it was time for me to leave for the gig. Tim had already left the store to take a walk, but as I was on the early van I had to go back to the hotel. We left Rose Lane at Gander still browsing…
At the gig I did my usual routine…set list and such. We had the little warm up in Keith’s room. I had put in Let It Bleed for the first time on the tour, so we went over that and jammed for a bit. Then I went to the Rattlesnake to try and find my only guests of the evening, Andy Hansen and his family and friends of about 12. Andy has hunted with us at Charlane and is a great guy. He works in the health care business and has a company called Western Associates. We found him and chatted with him and his group for a while. one of his friends had brought his son with him..I would guess the age was about 10 or 12. His dad said he was learning to play the drums….so I excused myself for a minute and went to find Charlie, asking him for a pair of signed drumsticks to give to the boy. Charlie was happy to oblige, and the sticks made the boys night….which made my night!
The concert was fun. Mick had thought about doing a chorus of the famous song “Wichita Linesman” by Jimmy Webb…and we had thrown that in just before Let It Bleed. It made for a cool little moment and the crowd loved it. I spied Andy and his friends out in the audience when we were rolling out to the B Stage, and we waved to each other, making for a fun moment. The band was tight and groovin’, another great one.
Returning back at the Hyatt, we went to the room and decompressed. Rosie took my stage clothes to the wardrobe room to give to Isobel, and then we turned our attention to the packing job. While we were doing that, Val Adamson, Michael Cohl’s personal assistant, came by to drop off some paperwork that Michael had for me. It was a list of all the songs the Stones have released on film or DVD, as well as those never done or never released. This is good info to have for our upcoming shows, and no doubt Mick and I will be consulting this list in addition to the one we already have going. Val hung out with us for a while, then we said goodnight and finished our packing, turning the lights out about 2.

10/3

One more hit at the fitness room in Wichita…then I wanted to do another jog along the river. But it was really windy outside, so I opted for the treadmill instead. Then back to the room to do final emails and get ready to move on to Missoula. We’ll be staying at a unique resort called Paws Up. Rosie and I had called it up on the web and checked it out….looks fantastic. On some 38,000 acres, it offers all kinds of activities from horseback riding to ATV riding to hiking, fly fishing and much more. We have an off day there tomorrow, and we decided that it would be great to try and get in a little horseback riding and a massage. On their website, you could actually make reservations for these things, so we did exactly that. I did a follow up call to them before we took off, and we confirmed the details….ah, this will be great!
As we were loading up for the bus, Mike Hattaway called me. He was in South Georgia looking at some pointers that are for sale from a breeder/trainer down there. He gave me a report on the dogs he saw, and based on that I told him to buy a young black and white female he had liked. The guy had several dogs for sale, but this one had especially caught Mike’s eye and was actually less in price than some of the others. This fired me up a bit….thinking about getting back home in December and getting our young dogs in the field for training. I love doing this, and with a new one to fool with, I’m pumped!
It’s quite a flight from Wichita to Missoula…about three hours. This gave me time to work on this journal and to do some more homework on the upcoming filmed shows.
We landed in Missoula and were met with the usual bus to get us to the hotel. Paws Up (www.pawsup.com) lived up to it’s promise, and we were checked in to our really cool digs…a huge private cabin they called the Panfish Popper.
Rosie and I nosed around a bit, enjoying exploring the beautiful grounds of the place and having a cocktail in the bar and dinner in the restaurant called the Pomp. We were about the only ones in there, which made for a nice and relaxed meal. Ronnie and Jo Wood did come in as we were about finished and we had a nice chat with them.
We took our “mountain buggy” (a three seat golf car) back to the Panfish Popper and lit a fire in the fireplace, winding down in the wonderful Montana woods.

9/23, 24

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROSE LANE! My baby’s birthday. We’ve been moving around so much I barely had time to get her a card, but couldn’t find a suitable present. But I’ll get her fixed up somewhere along the line in the next week or so. We took our time getting up, eventually going down to the hotel restaurant for some lunch. We were hoping for a bit of luck with the weather today, but to no avail.
Clouds covered Halifax, and while the rain held off for a good bit of the day, by the time we got to the gig in the afternoon, the bottom dropped out. This would be our first of a few shows with Alice Cooper opening up. A band called Sloane was the first to go on, followed by AC, then Kanye West and then us. I was surprised to learn that my old pal Damon Johnson was playing with Cooper. Damon was the main man in a band called Brother Cane that I did a record with. They had a hit called “Got No Shame” that I was on. They eventually broke up and Damon did some solo stuff, and now has the lead guitar position for the current Alice Cooper tour. We were reunited after their set finished, and Rosie and I enjoyed seeing him and catching up on his life and career.

It was also good to see Alice again. Way back in the early 70’s we did some gigs together when I was with Alex Taylor, and also when I was with Dr. John and later with the Allman Brothers. They had been hit by the rain and were soaked after their set.

Kanye also got rained on during his set, and we thought it might let up by the time we went on, but no such luck. I have to say we were definitely due for a soaking…. we’ve been more than lucky so far on this tour and have only had three or four rain shows. There should have been many more…but the Gods have smiled on us! There is something special about rain shows anyway…everyone gets wet together and it’s endearing. Of course I have to confess that Charlie and I don’t really get too wet. Both the drums and the keyboards require being covered as they can suffer severely if they get really wet. Anyway, it was a fun show in spite of the rain, and a great time was had by all.
The next day we had just enough time to have a little walk-about in Halifax before our departure for NY. We went down to the harbor area and had lunch at a casual seafood place near the water. We both tried the lobster rolls…somewhat different than what we expected, but nevertheless they hit the spot. Afterwards we walked back up the steep incline of streets to the Lord Nelson and zipped up our carry-on bags, met our group in the lobby and loaded up for the ride to the airport. Being an international flight, the logisticians had arranged for us to make a short stop in Portsmouth to do the customs and immigration, and then it was on to NYC. We landed at LaGuardia and were bussed to Manhattan to stay at the Palace, our usual NYC digs. But Rose Lane and I wouldn’t be there long…we had a commitment that had been on the books for quite some time…before the extension of the tour was announced…to go to Reno for an event. But we would spend the night in NYC, and after consulting with the concierge, we had dinner at a Mexican place called Mama Mexico. It was very crowded and loud…not exactly what we had intended. The food was ok, but we weren’t exactly blown away with the experience. The waiters seemed to all be in a big hurry and we felt rushed during the meal. No matter, though. We finished up and went back to the Palace to unpack and relax a while before bed. We love the Palace…we always get a really nice suite with two large rooms…a living room and nice sized bedroom. There is also a small kitchen and a second bathroom, which is cool. The staff there are very nice and remember our names. A few of the guys at the bell desk are Chuck fans and have followed me with the Allmans, Clapton, Sea Level and Stones…and even know my own solo music as well. But like I said, we wouldn’t be here long. The next two days would be quite interesting!

9/25, 26

We were able to have a leisurely morning on the 25th, as our flight to Reno wasn’t until about 2. So we took our time getting up and getting ready for the travel. Reno is a long way from NY, and there are no direct flights, so we’d have a good bit of travel on our plate. We left from LaGuardia and connected in Denver, then from there to Reno arriving at 8pm. The Reno event would be for the HMSHost Company. HMS runs many different concessions at airports and roadways all over the US. Anything from their own brand stores to Starbucks and other brands. Our friend Bob Morrison from a public relations and ad firm called CMT Advertising based in Virginia Beach had made the arrangements and hooked me up with them. I was to be a featured author at their booth at the ACI (Airport Council International) show, which was being held in Reno this year. They had purchased about 250 copies of my autobiography, “Between Rock and a Home Place” and my children’s book, “The Tree Farmer”. They would be giving them away at their booth, and I would be signing them. Bob had thought that it would be a good match, and he was right. The HMS folks are really great people and we all hit it off right away. But before we were to meet them the next day, Bob would pick us up at the airport and take us to dinner. We were staying at the Nugget hotel, and as there were several restaurants there and it was getting fairly late, we made it easy on ourselves and had a casual meal at a steak house in the Nugget. Bob prepped us on what to expect at the event the next day, and after dinner we headed up to our rooms to get some rest.

We didn’t have to be at the show until noon, so we were able to sleep in some and take our time…which was a good thing considering that it would be a very long day. We met Bob downstairs about 11 and had a quick lunch before going to the show, which was at a different hotel. We arrived, and introductions were passed around. We met Sheila McGee, Les Cappetta, Joan Ryzner and other members of the company, all of whom were really gracious and friendly, making us feel right at home. Sometimes these kinds of events can be unpredictable, and I was unsure of how I would draw for them at their booth. But I was really pleasantly surprised when we got underway…the line to meet me and get the books signed was very long…winding past the HMSHost booth and around several others. I signed for two hours straight, and in the end we ran out of books with probably 75 or so people still wanting them. A huge success, and we were all pleased beyond our expectations.
It went so well that Joan told us she wanted to get the books and perhaps my CD’s as well in some of their stores. This is great news for us, as we believe this kind of marketing is just right for our situation. We enjoyed some social time with them before saying goodbye and heading to the airport for our red eye flight back to NY. We had a 6:30pm flight that connected to Phoenix, had a short layover and then a direct from there to NYC, getting in at 6am. Ouch! At the Reno airport we had some time before the flight and spent it with Bob having a light bite to eat. Joan and her assistant from HMS also had a flight out and met us for a short time before we all headed our separate ways. It had been a win/win/win situation for which we were all grateful. Now, the hard part!
The first part of the flight was about an hour and twenty minutes…not too bad. But then we had the red eye from Phoenix to NY, which was close to 5 hours. We managed to get a bit of kip on the plane, and arrived in NY a little early, around 5:45. Luckily the traffic wasn’t bad and we were back at the Palace about 6:30. We crawled into bed and slept until noon.

Headed down to the stadium around 3:30. We couldn’t get in a sound check due to the early opening of the doors. I went to my dressing room to work on the set list, which would be similar to the Boston one, but with Only Rock and Roll as the opener, and Far Away Eyes before the ballad and Just My Imagination in there. Then went to see about my guests that were coming. Fred and Dinah Gretsch would be coming…. Fred had graciously given me a couple of guitars that I have signed for charities, and I wanted to make sure they were well taken care of. I found them in the Rattlesnake and chatted for a while; eventually taking them back to meet Ronnie, Keith and Charlie. Fred had evidently met Charlie before, and they had a nice long conversation. I was able to get a photo of them with Charlie and Ronnie, but when we went to do Keith, their camera had run out of film. Anyway, they had a great time.
I checked in on some other guests I had arranged passes for…Dan Beeson, John Dewberry, Peter Newcomb, Wally McLallen, Jon Weisswasser, David James, Tyson Blue and some others. Found most of them, but couldn’t find Wally even though I peeked in several times. We also had the usual little “warm up” time in Keith’s room, going over Far Away Eyes, Just My Imagination, You Got The Silver and Sway. Then it was Showtime, and we moseyed on down the hall to rock NYC for the sixth time on the tour. And that we did!

9/27

Travel day to Louisville. But before we headed out, I had a luncheon with Leslie Cauley. Leslie is an excellent writer that works for USA Today. She and I have been in touch several times over the past year about her doing a feature on me, and while we haven’t nailed it yet, I’m hoping that she will come down to Charlane when we’re off tour and be able to see what we do there first hand. She has also been gracious to help me with editing an op-ed piece I tried to get in USA and some other places. Dan Beeson had arranged a lunch for us at a place called Lever House that was just around the corner from the Palace. We had a nice light lunch and a great conversation, with Leslie asking some good questions. That wound up at a little after 2, and we were slated to leave at 2:30….so I said goodbye to Leslie and Dan and I headed back to the Palace. Rose Lane had checked us out of the hotel, and after we said bye to Dan, we got on the bus for LaGuardia and the flight to Louisville.
On the flight, Mick asked me to meet with him for an hour or so in his room that evening to work on ideas for the Austin, TX show and the Beacon Theater shows, both of which are to be filmed. That sort of blew out a dinner that Rose Lane and I had planned to have with the Kennedys and Simpsons. So when we landed I called Neal to apologize about missing the get together, and after settling in our Seelbach Hilton room, went to meet with Mick. We covered quite a lot of territory, but still have a lot of research, work and rehearsals to do to prepare for those shows. Still, we made a good start.
After that, Rosie and I went out on our own to the Red River Tavern for dinner, which is in the City Life section of Louisville, just around the corner of the Seelbach. By then it was about 10pm, and we were pretty wasted from the activities and travel of the last several days. We had our light dinner and walked back to the hotel. There we saw the Corys and the Simpsons, and talked to them for a few minutes before saying good night and heading up to the room…. having no trouble falling asleep.