Date
  Title
  Another fine day...
  Thank you..
  Dream Weekend
  Opening Night
  Vegas Baby!
  REO ROCKS!
  Thank you, Survivor...
  On the road--OFFICIALLY!
  The Today Show Odyssey
  Another Day in the Life
  Last night at Pine Knob...
  The Day After Springfield, MO
  Morning in Minnesota...
  Land spreading out so far and wide...
  Pursuing perfection in the prairie...
  Thinkin' of Lincoln
  On the road...
  Smiles, Hemlock and Magic...
  Psyche Delicacies...
  Roll Them Bones...
  The road to 47...
  Helplessly Hopped...
  Laughing at land mines
  Happy, nappy people...
  Delawareness
  Jumpin' & Jivin' in Jersey Baby...
  Another day in STYX...
  Konocti to Canada...
  Benjamin Orr...
  North Bay newcomers...
  North Bay to Quebec City...
  A rite of passage...
  Train kept a'rollin'...
  That voodoo that we do...
  Day off in Munich...
  Last day in Germany
  London today, LA tomorrow ...
  Looking at you from Lowell
     

8/31/00 - On the road...

Greetings from highway 80,

We left Pueblo, Colorado last night around midnight for Appleton, Wisconsin. 1,200 miles away if I 'm not mistaken. So far it is just Billy and me--Todd and Glen are still sleeping. We are about to pull into a Flying J to refuel and at that point George will take over for Bobalou and I will sit in for Billy behind the wheel for a couple of hundred miles. JY went home by way of denver this morning, otherwise I am sure he would be driving instead of George.

Yes, friends, it feels like we are on a fishing trip, or as if we are going camping. I'm sitting here grinning as I write this--it is still pre-breakfast and it is a brand new day. This life on the road is very much the same as when Keroac and crew took off on their legendary trip in the 1950's. It is as fun as you are willing to let it be. Soaking up the American life exponentailly.

As I was out walking through the center of the revitalized historic district of Pueblo yesterday, it occurred to me that we had never played there before. All the years we have toured, and somehow we missed this town. Actually, we are discovering lots of towns these days. But last night it was Pueblo. We were indoors and it was "An Evening With STYX." We have been messing around with little bits and pieces of "Sing For The Day" but never really getting an arrangement together for playing live. For some reason, like "Man In The Wilderness," we never got it together to play live in all the previous tours. So, yesterday when I ran into Lawrence in the hotel restaurant, we go to talking about it and I said, "Let's play it tonight..." He agreed. We finished our lunch, then Lawrence and I went to the bus and grabbed the Harmony acoustic I had just bought in Lincoln and we went to his room to work it out. We hammered out a nice arrangement and on the way to the gig a couple of hours later, Glen and Todd and I went over it on the bus. In the dressing room before the show, JY and I talked it through. We told Gary (sound) and John (lights) what the arangement would be, and who would be singing which parts, and that was that! During the show, I explained to the audience that since we had never played there before, we wanted to give them something extra, and away we went. We were at full attention. Lol. It was a lot of fun and the fans responded with what seemed to be a real appreciation, even if it was not as polished as the rest of the road-tested songs in the set. I love that everyone was willing to do it. I don't think any of us will forget it.

(10 hours later)

Just as I was finishing the previous paragraph, we stopped and I took over driving the bus. I drove for 300 miles while Billy, our driver, slept a little while. I have to say, the necessary concentration required to keep this big beast between the ditches was a welcome distraction and helped break up this 1,200 mile trip to Wisconsin. No, I am not driving now... We are now getting a little punchy (Todd just stopped by and said to me in a Carey Grant-like accent, "Tell everyone how much I love them...") and are ready for this trip to be over. Kind of like a one day cruise--we are ready to see the lights of the bay as we approach the shore.

One good thing that came from this long day was that Todd and Glen got a chance to go over the album graphics and found several glaring omissions and mistakes which we were able to call in before the "Arch Allies" CD package goes to print. There seems to inevitably be someone who falls through the cracks when it comes time to give due credit and special thanks. We are crossing our fingers that we got it as right as we could.

Tomorrow night in Appleton is another "Evening With" and who knows what surprises there could be?

As I read through this, I am wondering, "Was there a point to this letter?" Then again, this is a day off. Do I HAVE to have a point today? There, THAT is my point.

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