News From The Road

As you know the band plays every other night for a few different reasons. One is it gives the crew a chance to load in to a venue a day early, if possible, and it also gives the band a rest between shows. It allows the guys to either stay in the city they just played and spend the night or move on to another city right after the show. In Dallas, however, everyone stayed over and hung out the next day. Joe and his family went to the Texas Stampede. Being from Boston I had never been to a rodeo and found it pretty fascinating. Joe and his wife, Billie, have horses so they were no strangers to the sites, sounds and smells of a real live rodeo. We got to take a tour beforehand and met several of the participants. One guy was a calf roper named Joe Beaver from Huntsville Texas. Joe would be the equivalent to say a Jonny Lang of the roping world. His name to me suggests he would have made a great porn star or bass player in an 80's cover band. Nice guy nonetheless.

Houston:

Steven and Tom went by a radio station in Houston. At the station people dressed up in Halloween costumes and were judged by the guys. This was the same station that put on a Valentine's Day contest a few years ago where Steven, Joe and Tom were judges in a similar contest. If these two events are any indication we probably will be back there around the forth of July.

Joe went to Mission Control while in Houston. Back in 98' the guys got to visit the facilities in Florida and now he got to check out Mission Control in Houston. For anyone who cares after the shuttles are launched in Florida and reach a certain altitude Houston then takes over the controls. We got to go to the control room (which isn't used anymore) where all those great Apollo ships were piloted from.

Back at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion there was another rocket sighting. This time it was New York Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens. Roger and his family came back and hung out with the guys before the show. He passed out autographed balls and showed off his World Series ring for all to try on. Being a 100% Red Sox fan I had to decline the offer. It would be sacrilegious. I can't wait to get this 1918 tattoo removed from my ass.

The night did end on a sour note when news about Jam Master Jay was brought to the guys attention right after the band left the stage and before the encore. Production manager, Charlie Hernandez, told the guys the news. The next two songs must have been painful to play and after a moment of silence and Walk this Way the guys left the stage somewhat subdued. Here is a guy that I got to watch from 10 feet away every show and now he is gone. Steven being somewhat clairvoyant at the last Run DMC and Aerosmith show in Indy said "Your witnessing something special that you will never see again." Sadly, he was right.

Joe travels by bus and is constantly looking for the biggest ball of twine or some wacky attraction on his cross-country jaunts. Why should Houston to Phoenix be any different? Enter Roswell, New Mexico. We only had to drive about 6 hours out of the way but there it was in all it's glory. Not being a staunch believer in aliens, I passed the time amusing myself in the gift shop of the "International UFO Museum and Research Center" and picked up myself a nifty alien shot glass. Joe bought a few signs and stuff for his dressing room and also got Steven a few T-shirts.

--John B