We're a long way from home.

For the last six years I have tried video recording every show I played. Mainly to observe how the show went musically for me and some times as a way to gauge audience response(if there was even one). During the Humador years I always thought some these videos would find their way on to some sort of DVD that we could sell at the merch table. Unfortunately the video quality was never really worth putting in the time to make available for someone to buy or even put on youtube. Most of the video ended up on a hard drive, never to be see the light of day again. After awhile the quality of the camera got better and I was able to get decent video in low light situations. I took a pair of GoPro hero 3’s with me on one the longer Humador tours we did during the bands tenure. I always had the goal of capturing all the shows and then making some sort of video collage. My computer was pretty slow at processing and editing video and so the project stalled and by the time I had a better computer a year had passed, the band had broken up and the better footage tucked away on an external hard drive.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2018, I was going through my old hard drives and came across the folder that had all of the tour videos. I contemplated deleting them, I didn’t have any use for them but something in my head said that I needed to finish what I started and see what came out of it. I sat down at my computer one bitterly cold day and within about 12 hours or so finished the video below. I chose the song “Don’t Take Me Now” for a couple of reasons. It’s about being on the road and secondly, it’s the only song I have video of from all nine shows due to complications with both cameras which is slightly evident in a couple of the shots. Yeah for movie magic!  

Here are just a few memories, I can recall from this tour.

We left Bloomington for the greater Detroit area at around 10 or 11am. Sound check was supposed to be at like 5:30, the drive was rather uneventful, which for day one of a tour is a good thing. I remember us getting to the venue before anyone else. The venue didn’t seem to have any windows, no one was at the venue yet so we went to a Wendy’s and I had the worst baked potato ever all in the name of trying to eat “healthy” on the road. The show went well, but the crowd mainly consisted of the other bands and maybe one or two friends they brought. I don’t remember where we slept that night but it was most likely a motel somewhere between Detroit and Columbus. 

We got to Columbus around mid afternoon, tossed the football around while we waited for a decent parking space in front of the venue. Then venue had a pretty nice stage and a green room. After we got set up and sound checked, I took a nap in the green room I think.  The crowd was better than the night before as far as the crowd went. We stayed at our friend Micah’s place if I remember correctly.    

The next day was a show right out side of Pittsburg. It was fun to go through the tunnel and upon exiting the tunnel you get this huge panoramic view of the Pittsburg, including PNC park. Yeah baseball! The venue was a huge barn like bar out in the countryside. I remember a guy in the audience paying me a super nice compliment after the show. Which was nice cause I had been venting to the guys in the band about my personal playing earlier that day.

New York city was the next stop. This was supposed to be the highlight of the tour. We based this tour off of this date. After getting though all the mid day traffic, we pulled up to the venue. There was already a pretty decent group of people hanging in the bar at the front of the venue. When doors opened I thought they would start flowing in. I was SO wrong. Only three people came to see us play. It was the most disheartening feeling of the tour. People/fans who asked for the group to come out didn’t show up, heck even the bands that were supposed to play after us didn’t even show up until we were all loaded out. We went out and had dinner with the three that came to the show and left the city. I don’t remember where we stayed that night, but it most have been the usual motel du jour.

Washington D.C. had an almost full house of people that sat and listened for the whole set. Something you don’t witness as much if the venue is connected to a bar. After the show we bounced to an open mic to see if we could make a little extra gas money. We played a couple songs and made a few new fans. Afterwards we headed to a gifted hotel which was nice to be able sleep on a more comfortable bed but not until we had switched rooms due to the furnace in the room being stuck on 80 degrees. 

Blacksburg VA was another gig that didn’t have an actual stage and we had to wait for some tables to be cleared so we could set up. The happy hour crowd stuck around and watched us play which was nice. Viginia Tech which was right across the street had just had graduation the week before so it was just us and the locals. We walked around and got a glimpse of the campus. 

Louisville was a pretty quiet gig with no other acts sharing the stage with us. We played to about three people plus a bartender if I remember correctly. The owner of the venue had a condo that he lets all the bands that play his bar use. It was not in the greatest of shape but it didn’t cost us anything to stay there so you go with the flow. The condo had one room with a couch and tv, the other room had three separate bunk beds stuffed in it. The shower in the bathroom barely got warm if my memory serves me but again. Free housing on the road equals you not being crabby about the situation. The next morning before we left for the next stop I went over to the Louisville Slugger factory for a tour. We never did much sight seeing while on the road because most of the day was spent driving. When we did get to any venues we never went too far for fear of being late to sound check. 

The band had played at the Indianapolis venue a couple times before so we were familiar with the area and it was good to see some of the people we knew from the area. The only thing I really remember from this show was almost falling asleep while playing because I was so exhausted. You can kind of see it in the later part of the videos. I remember thinking to myself how am I going to drive the band home being this tired. After the show I went and took what had to have been a five minute nap before the guys hopped into the van and we took off for home. The thought of being home and sleeping in my own bed must have been the fuel to get me through that three hour drive.

The next day was a day off but luckily we were at home, the following day was a street fest in Lexington which is close enough to where a lot of our friends and family came out to watch making it feel much like we were playing in Bloomington. 

The tour was taxing but it sure was fun getting to play music every night!