My full band (aka Van Kaelin) played a rockin' show at the Highlands Festival on Saturday. It's my favorite festival of the year, and Peter Searcy, Steve Cooley, and Scott Lankford let me go through all my crazy antics, from saw-playing, to accordion/piano wielding, to yodeling Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."
I forgot how much energy I expend during a show, especially when I play for a full hour in 90-degree weather in Louisville humidity. I was shaking after my show, but I downed several bottles of water. I had at least eight bottles of water between noon and 5.
Then I rocked out during Peter's set and immediately passed out in the back of my Volvo.
And do you know what I was most worried about? That I wasn't finished playing. I was supposed to play with Love Jones at 9:15, and I was sweating profusely, clammy, shaking, dizzy, nauseated, had a major headache, and couldn't muster the energy to talk. Several people thought I was really really drunk.
My drummer's amazing wife, Ashley, saved the day. She's a doctor. A REAL doctor. A surgeon, actually. And she ran to Walgreen's, got me all kinds of OTC amazing drugs, and fed them to me in the proper order. I puked after the Pepcid. But then, I was better. Weak, but better. It was awesome.
Love Jones was a few songs into their set, but I snuck onstage. I was weak, and Ashley continued to bring me club soda between songs. But there is NOTHING like playing music -- and especially playing fun, pop, jazz, swingin', happy happy happy tunes like Love Jones music -- to make you forget that you just threw up.
And after they finished, we broke down the set, and I bolted over to the Monkey Wrench to play an after-party jam session with Shannon Lawson and Love Jones.
I think it was the multiple Excedrin Migraines and the caffeine within that kept me going until 5 am. But I played my ass off, and I had a blast.
Thanks, Ashley.
****
And now ... I'm at Heine Brothers, which is apparently where everyone in the Highlands spends the end of the world.
It doesn't quite have that apocalyptic feeling up here because everyone is in a good mood.
For those of you not in Louisville:
Yesterday, I woke up, glanced at the clock, and saw it was 10:40. Then when I looked at the clock a few minutes later, the clock was off. No power.
I went outside and it looked like the beginning of The Wizard of Oz. I've never seen the trees bend like that, and the wind was singing like [insert fabulous simile. i'm too tired to come up with anything].
The plan was to head to the Monkey Wrench to retrieve my accordion, etc., but I ended up staying at the Wrench until 5ish. It never rained, but the wind was amazing.
Wow, I'm really not feeling bloggy today, so I'm going to cut this short.
Quick facts:
%75 of Louisville electric customers are out of power.
Seventy-five percent!
School's are closed.
A tree fell on a moving car, on my street. The person walked away with a scratch.
Everyone is out of batteries.
There was a line out the door of Heine Brothers Coffee.
People are freaking out because they can't charge their cell phones.
I brought two power strips to the coffee shop about an hour ago, and they are all filled up already.
Everyone is in a really good mood.
The electric company says it'll be two weeks before everyone's power is back on.
I'll be in Europe by then.
Crazy!
My dad is sitting next to me in Heine Brothers, waiting for me to post this blog. And probably waiting for me to unplug my laptop so he can plug in his cell phone.
I forgot how much energy I expend during a show, especially when I play for a full hour in 90-degree weather in Louisville humidity. I was shaking after my show, but I downed several bottles of water. I had at least eight bottles of water between noon and 5.
Then I rocked out during Peter's set and immediately passed out in the back of my Volvo.
And do you know what I was most worried about? That I wasn't finished playing. I was supposed to play with Love Jones at 9:15, and I was sweating profusely, clammy, shaking, dizzy, nauseated, had a major headache, and couldn't muster the energy to talk. Several people thought I was really really drunk.
My drummer's amazing wife, Ashley, saved the day. She's a doctor. A REAL doctor. A surgeon, actually. And she ran to Walgreen's, got me all kinds of OTC amazing drugs, and fed them to me in the proper order. I puked after the Pepcid. But then, I was better. Weak, but better. It was awesome.
Love Jones was a few songs into their set, but I snuck onstage. I was weak, and Ashley continued to bring me club soda between songs. But there is NOTHING like playing music -- and especially playing fun, pop, jazz, swingin', happy happy happy tunes like Love Jones music -- to make you forget that you just threw up.
And after they finished, we broke down the set, and I bolted over to the Monkey Wrench to play an after-party jam session with Shannon Lawson and Love Jones.
I think it was the multiple Excedrin Migraines and the caffeine within that kept me going until 5 am. But I played my ass off, and I had a blast.
Thanks, Ashley.
****
And now ... I'm at Heine Brothers, which is apparently where everyone in the Highlands spends the end of the world.
It doesn't quite have that apocalyptic feeling up here because everyone is in a good mood.
For those of you not in Louisville:
Yesterday, I woke up, glanced at the clock, and saw it was 10:40. Then when I looked at the clock a few minutes later, the clock was off. No power.
I went outside and it looked like the beginning of The Wizard of Oz. I've never seen the trees bend like that, and the wind was singing like [insert fabulous simile. i'm too tired to come up with anything].
The plan was to head to the Monkey Wrench to retrieve my accordion, etc., but I ended up staying at the Wrench until 5ish. It never rained, but the wind was amazing.
Wow, I'm really not feeling bloggy today, so I'm going to cut this short.
Quick facts:
%75 of Louisville electric customers are out of power.
Seventy-five percent!
School's are closed.
A tree fell on a moving car, on my street. The person walked away with a scratch.
Everyone is out of batteries.
There was a line out the door of Heine Brothers Coffee.
People are freaking out because they can't charge their cell phones.
I brought two power strips to the coffee shop about an hour ago, and they are all filled up already.
Everyone is in a really good mood.
The electric company says it'll be two weeks before everyone's power is back on.
I'll be in Europe by then.
Crazy!
My dad is sitting next to me in Heine Brothers, waiting for me to post this blog. And probably waiting for me to unplug my laptop so he can plug in his cell phone.
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