Saturday, July 08, 2006

A blur of a finish for the Dragons tour


Sorry, the last week or so of the Dragons tour went by quickly, quickly. After playing in Charlotte we played Greenville, Columbia, Nashville and Lexington before heading back up to Chicago. After the Carolina dates, our final three days had a good amount of driving added up which made us a little claustrophobic, but nothing too terrible. A blow-out in Kentucky on the way to a clinic at Morehead State put us about an hour behind schedule, but all was forgiven and we made it to everywhere we needed to make it to.
Playing in Columbia was a good time - two shows in two nights, one at the Whig and another at the Hunter-Gatherer.
Folks liked us enough to come to both shows, Ross Taylor took care of us in his special way, getting us food at the most opportune time and finding a hat for me after my hair started really fro-ing up in the humid southern regions...not that I have anything against a fro, I just don't know if it fits me that well...The Whig is an underground bar across from the State Capitol of South Carolina (and of course the Confederate flag which was recently re-moved from the Capitol dome, but is still prominently displayed on the Capitol grounds). The hunter-gatherer is on the other side of the Capitol, maybe two blocks away, we saw fireworks outside of the floor to ceiling windows at the front of the bar before we started playing.
A seven hour drive the next day got us to Deanna Varagona's place in Nashville, she took us by a cookout before the show which was at a gallery called the Ruby Green. She played the first set solo, with accompaniment by pre-recorded tapes. A large fan kept us cool that night while we were playing (relatively) but was no match for the Big Ass Fan at the new Mecca Dance space in Lexington where we played the next night. Wish I could give a link to the Big Ass Fan company, the thing was gi-normous, though still the heat of Kentucky in July took over....
We played two sets in Lexington to an appreciative crowd thanks to Ross Compton.
Finally got a relief from the heat on the way back to Chicago after a few rainstorms on the 4th of July. The tour ended up well and we're looking forward to the next one.

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