Atlanta, Georgia 24 October, 2015

Yesterday the 23rd was a day off here in Atlanta…. breakfast, gym and shower.  Glenn W. and I did some lampshade recording in the afternoon with John McCusker producing a Christmas song for Heidi Talbot.  We both overdubbed on the basic track with Mike McGoldrick engineering.  The reason I call it lampshade recording is that’s Mike’s method for position a microphone.  Every hotel room has a free standing lamp and Mike loops the mic cord around the lampshade frame, positions it in front of the instrument and it’s a done deal.  The song was beautiful and sounded even better when we’d finished.

About three in the afternoon I met Nigel, Ianto and Ian’s drum tech Gary Grimm for lunch and drinks at an Italian restaurant near the hotel.  We weren’t exactly three sheets but definitely had a buzz after a long lunch.  

Last night was the last night of the tour that the crew and band could get together and so we did in a big way at the bar of The Intercontinental Hotel.  Hard to say how many drinks were consumed but I shudder at the thought of the bill.  It was a grand few hours.  As it drew on, Glenn Worf, my guitar tech and wing man Tom Calcaterra and I drifted to the same Italian place I’d had lunch several hours earlier, ordered dinner at the bar and continued there.  A great and grand evening was had by all.  A grander evening was had by some.

I woke early today reasonably undamaged, ordered up a pot of coffee to the room and spent the entire day ’til 4 o’clock in the afternoon playing guitar, taking care of a few e-mails and generally puttering around.

Tonight’s gig was our usual Atlanta venue, Chastain Park Amphitheatre.  It holds 6,680 and was sold out.  I’m certain it was the largest capacity gig since the shows we played in Europe.  The catering was exceptional tonight and everyone dug in.  The show was exceptional as well, so loose and fun to play in front of that sold out crowd.  We’re heading into the final shows now, just five left.

It was a full band attendance at the bar across from the hotel for beers, chicken wings and flatbread pizza.  It’ll be hard to see this tour end.

So long,

Richard