Day Five

I take a nice morning walk to the Donut Castle, get a coffee and plain cake donut and talk to Traci, which makes me feel better after a long rough night. Donut Castle sells Crème Rammed donuts, which reminds me of a few tour stories to tell my wife.

Phil, Malcolm, and Fresta pick me up to go to The Mojo Room for soundcheck.

"Florida is like Long Island but with better weather," says Malcolm.

Soundcheck seems really promising. The stage is big and everyone is nice. I learn that my second bass drum resonates at 80 hertz. Our runner Chris gets us Chicken Caeser salads. Malcolm's wife calls him from a wildlife preserve and lets him hear the sound of a legion of frogs over his cell phone.

The show is in some ways another step forward for us musically, but the stage sound ends up being so bad that we are robbed of feeling good by the end. Afterwards, I stay in the band room and play Tetris. Fresta walks in and hands me a photo that a fan has asked me to sign. it is a panoramic photo of the drum kit I used to tour with. From the way the drums are set up I can tell it was taken during an early Green album tour.

I follow Fresta out the back to meet the owner of the photo and am reunited with Steve, one of the most memorable people I ever met while touring. He has brought his son Connor to the show. Before I get around to asking Steve about another of the most memorable people I ever met, he tells me that his beloved Ginger succumbed to cancer three months ago. I don't know what to say. I feel so sad for Steve – even in my eight year old memory, I know he and Ginger were full of love for each other. They deeply enjoyed being together. Meeting their son Connor for the first time was powerful. I wished I could get in their red van that was parked nearby and go to the beach and talk, but time was tight. Another time.

Parts of me had been road buggered enough to forget that most of what we'd been worrying about was insignificant shit. Everything comes down to the moment and what we do with it. I don't know that I will ever stop needing to be reminded of this, but the memory of Ginger brought me back to reality. I am very happy to be back in touch with Steve and to meet Connor. Such things are, for me, the blessings of the road.

"Travis' songs help me," Steve says in a way so real I am humbled. He quotes Dirty Road. "Get up and open your eyes. Don't let yourself ever fall down."

I go back to the hotel and sleep for 11 hours. Malcolm drives around Port St. Lucie looking for a lost jacket which he finds in the passenger seat of the van. Travis stays up for most of the night in a meditative state that he later says puts him back in his pure and best state of mind.

Set List

Flight Response
Touch Peel and Stand
Shelf in The Room
Dirty Road
Dancing With The Wind
Touch Of Anger
Downtown
Perpeuate R. G.
Die Born
Provider