I’ll be performing on the Paula Sands Live show at 3 PM today.  Tune in if you’re around the QC!

You can feel it in the air. The tempature’s falling. The list is being checked twice. And, uh-oh, the mistletoe.

It must be a Very Sexy Christmas.

Friday, December 23 at the Clubhouse in Bettendorf.

Come one, come all.

I really tried to take it easy this weekend.  I had shows on Friday (in the Quad Cities) and Saturday night (in Wisconsin), and my plan was to play Friday, get a good morning’s sleep, and get up to Lindey’s in East Troy nice and early.

And then someone had to go and offer me a free Iowa football ticket.

I generally consider myself a prudent decision-maker, but for some reason, sanity takes a backseat when it comes to Iowa football.   To illustrate, here’s a running diary of my weekend, starting Friday night.

5 PM – Set up for event.

8:30 – 11:30 PM – Play event.  Great crowd of folks, had a blast.  Way to go, Meg and Sarah.

12:00 AM (Saturday morning) – Load up the car.

12:30 AM – Blackhawk hotel bar.

1:30 AM – Village of east Davenport.  Pretty much dead at this point.  Don’t know why we even stopped here.  So much for prudent decision-making.

2:00 AM – Back home.

2:30 AM – Asleep.

5:30 AM – Awake; groggy; upset.  Mind you, I have a show tonight.  That starts at 10 PM.

6:15 AM – Leave for Iowa City

7:00 AM – Arrive in Iowa City, commence tailgate.

10:00 AM – Meet Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.  What can I say?  The Iowa elite start to line up once I make an appearance.

11:30 AM – 3 PM – Watch Iowa take care of biz against Indiana.  McNutt.

4 PM – Still tailgating.

6 PM – Back to Davenport, hop in the car and driving 3 hours to East Troy, Wisconsin.

10 PM – 1:30 AM – Rock Lindey’s.  Had a great time.  Kid Chris and Tahlier brought their A games.  And some girl absolutely tore up the dance floor.  Honestly, I’d never seen such dancing.  At first, I was convinced there was something medically wrong with her.  But in the end, I guess she was just really into it.

2:00 AM – Go to crash at a buddy’s house.  Apparently, he’s not as tired as I am.  So we play pool, look for an A-bar, take an ATV to his cottage, have a beer there, head back to his place for ham sandwiches.

4:30 AM – Sleep.  Dang, just missed the 24 hour mark.

I guess that’s what you get for being an Iowa fan.

We had a great time opening up for Deas Vail at Legends of Notre Dame last weekend…stay tuned for pictures!

And don’t forget – ‘Songs of Separation’ is out on October 18!

Life on the road can be a grind.  Getting good sleep is nearly impossible.  Hundreds and hundreds of miles in the car wear you down even more.  And eating well?  Nah.  I literally had Papa John’s three days running last weekend.  Three.  No human should ever do such a thing.  Theoretically speaking, I should be dead.

Miraculously, I survived.  And managed to play shows in Iowa City, Ames and Des Moines.  Gilbert St. in Iowa City was a great time.  Headliners in Ames bumped the start time up a little bit in a successful attempt to prevent the same kind of riot that happened on the Iowa /Iowa State weekend the last time we were in town. 

In Des Moines we played a joint we’d never heard of before called the Kirkwood Lounge.  Interesting place.  It’s not really a venue, and I’m not sure how often they even do music.  But what the heck.   Anyway, we did a makeshift set up (as evidenced below), played, and the sound was huge/awesome.  I can’t remember playing a show that felt better.  Funny how that works out.

So Iowa, as usual, was a great time.  There’s no place like home, I guess.