August 2008 - Posts
As you may have read below, Andy and I completed our first Chicago Triathlon this past Sunday along with KB for his fifth, I believe. Just wanted to share a few highlights from my perspective on the race. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get ready to ride my bike down to the transition area to set up my gear for the bike/run portion of the race. What a sight it was to see 8,700 people unloading their race gear in the dark. Since my race time wasn't until 9:30 a.m., I had some time to kill and going back to sleep was not an option due to the excitement and adrenaline that was consuming my body. So I decided to join KB and Andy and watch Kev's wife Shea start her swim at 6:01 a.m as well as enjoy the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Then I decided I should get some fuel in me and went home for an hour to wash down a hearty breakfast. Back to the race to watch KB crush his swim at the 7:30 wave start. Now I had 2 hrs. to kill before my race, no phone to find Andy, so I posted up on the dock and watched and studied wave after wave of tri-athletes begin their swim. Quite interesting to watch a hundred people fight their way to the lead for a mile swim.
Finally 9:30 came and I was treading water with about a hundred other guys thinking wow, it's finally here! BEEP, everyone goes from vertical treading to horizontal swimming! I'm not sure what word describes the first 200 meters of the swim, it was a bit comical the way I was trying to avoid bodies, taking the occasional foot to the face or arm on my leg, but after a few hundred meters I really fell into my groove and just swam like I had trained for all summer. Swim conquered, next the bike. I didn't realize how hilly LSD is nor did I realize how many potholes and bumps existed either. Well, my ass should did when I was finished with the 24.8 mile bike ride. I could barely walk my bike to my transition area while all these people were running past me to get changed into their run gear. I thought how the hell am I going to run 6 miles with my butt this sore and my legs feeling like jelly. Off to the run, I just kept telling myself "you're 2/3 done, buck up and knock this mother out." The run went rather quickly to my liking since I despise running and am yet really to find that so called "runner's high." Nothing can express my excitement and joy of crossing the finish line! My goal was to finish under three hours with a smile on my face. I said I was going to do this, I trained for it, and now I accomplished it! Bring on the next one baby! Tri-umph!
Tri-Umph team KB, Ryan, and Andy preparing for the triathlon
at Bonnaroo in June
As most of you probably don't know, the triathlon bug has caught on inside the UM family. This past Sunday Andy, Ryan, and I raced in the Chicago Accenture Triathlon, the largest triathlon in the world. Needless to say, triathlons and rock 'n roll don't outwardly appear to go hand in hand but I'd argue there a perfect fit.
I started doing triathlons 3 years ago for a slew of reasons, one being to combat the helatious lifestyle that is touring. With many a late night and our fair share of celebratory libations, I think it's safe to say you can all imagine how taxing the days can become on your mind and body. It's easy to find yourself engaged in a state of lethargy, unmotivated by one too many Budweisers the night before. But we are slowly trying to break the traditional mold of your 'average' day in the life. I'm a firm believer that your body wants at least one good sweat every day.
Training comes in all shapes and sizes and could be (is) the subject of a blog of it's own but a typical week may look something like this. Running is by far the easiest and most conducive event to train for on the road. There is virtually nowhere you can't lace up some sneaks and pound the pavement. 2-3 runs a week comprised of various distances and intensities will fill that quota. 2-3 bike rides a week, again varying in distance and workout intensity, can prove slightly more difficult depending on our location but is certainly achievable. Thanks to our truck driver Dave bikes have been easier to tote around this past summer. Swimming is the most elusive event to train for on the road as there isn't a lap pool around every corner. That said, we manage to plot and scheme our way into a variety of YMCA's, local gyms, lakes, oceans, sewers etc. 2 one mile swims a week is a victory during a busy tour. Mix a little yoga and/or strength training in there and you've got yourself a solid plan for finishing a Tri.
After last year's Chicago Triathlon, I emailed the boys to see if I could get a few takers to join in the reindeer games. Sure enough, Ryan and Andy couldn't resist the challenge and got bit by the Tri bug. I know it may sound ridiculous to lots of you but these things are a ton of fun. The feeling of crossing the finish line after months of training is one that I have yet to replicate in any other way. Plus, the multisport lifestyle is a perfect fit for our ADD personalities. Just when you're tired/bored of one discipline, it's time to train for something else.
The Chicago Triathlon comes in two sizes, the sprint distance and the olympic distance. We raced the olympic distance which is a 1500 meter swim (.9 of a mile), followed by a 40 Kilometer bike ride (24.8 miles), and finished with a 10 Kilometer run (6.2 miles). I also would like to give a huge shout out to my wife who raced the sprint distance (no walk in the park) for the first time and actually had a ball doing it. Hopefully, we'll get a few more of the guys in for one of the two distances next year and soon we'll have our own race team, Tri-umph!
Day breaks over Lake Michigan as the first wave of swimmers hits the water. Alarm clock frequently goes off around 3:45 am on race day!
Reaching for the ripcord on my wetsuit as I head towards the transition area.
Could this guy be having any more fun? (Especially given that he stepped on a nail 2 days before the race!)
Ryan, Andy, & I at the finish line.
Over the last couple years the thought of having a (one off) guitar, made specifically for my needs, is making more sense, given the demanding style changes in our music. I really love the differences in Strat versus Les Paul tradition. Finding similar traits in one ax can be difficult. Intonation and tour stability is crucial because we find ourselves in every type of weather and travel condition possible.
When Jon Gutwillig (Disco Biscuits) contacted me about this cat Dan Becker, the vibe seemed that Dan really has some of the most awesome wood work, tone wood knowledge and foreward design I have seen, or played. We had a chance to get Dan and company out to the show in Boston, and Dan brought his whole collection for Bayliss and me to try out. Wow! You can really feel the countless hours put into each fiddle. I loved the differences in neck width, pickup configurations, and overall bad ass quality in every sense. #7 seemed to scream at me the right way. Being the 7th one in Becker’s production line, this ax really resonates for a solid body. Fralin pickups with rosewood sides and birds-eye middle. Jazz tail-piece set with bone nut and saddle, very classy. Now with a couple weeks off to write and record new ideas for the band, this new ax is a very inspiring tool.
The theme for this year’s Halloween show started with the germination of our “new cover every show” West coast tour that opened 2008 for us. We debuted a mash up of the Beatles’ “Come Together” with Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” and have since played it a handful of times live. This got us thinking, what other possibilities are out there for potential mash ups? Other covers? Possibly originals of our own? A mix of the two? We’ll leave some of it to the imagination, but suffice it to say that this year’s Halloween concert will feature Umphrey’s McGee forging into some new musical territory, and, of course, throwing the best Halloween party we know how to. As part of it, we are encouraging people to dress the part. What does this mean? It means that you too can come as some sort of “mash up.” Let me give you some examples of what might work. Want to come as a group? Here’s an idea for a boxing match theme for three: you’ve got the promoter of the event, Don King Kong; and then a curious bout which history could have never predicted, the formidable young sensation Cassius Clay Aiken vs. the champion powerhouse smart-ass, Muhammad Ali G. This year is all about your own creativity, whether you want to be Boy George Bush, Roseanne Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Uncle Jesse Jackson, the world is your oyster.
Happy mashing.
As the distance between the ground and the band grew by the
second, I could see the Pentagon and our nation’s capitol in the distance. The plane from D.C. was 4 hours late,
and would hopefully land leaving us the exact amount of travel time required
for Jake, Kris and I to make it to our side gig right when we were supposed to
start. Trying to relax with so
many factors out of our control, I retreated into The Last Campaign, a compelling book documenting the 82 days from
Robert Kennedy’s entrance into the presidential race of 1968 to his untimely
assassination in June of that year.
It’s a powerful, striking account and certainly helped put things in
perspective as we prepared to deal with a near impossible scenario on our
end. At 3 pm CST, we landed at
ORD. Fortunately, our gear arrived
safely and some was even on an earlier flight, waiting at the baggage claim for
us. As we walked through the
concourse, a sense of relief hit us, as we passed hundreds of people stranded
and waiting in enormous lines to try to get to where they wanted to go. We were lucky: we actually got through
the flying portion of our day.
Michael (bus driver), Vince (manager) and Lizzie (Kris’ girlfriend) had
the bus and our cars ready, minutes from the airport. Their caravan pulled up together perfectly in time with our
exit from the bottom of the O’Hare into a warm, humid Chicago afternoon. We executed the gear exchange pretty
well for a bunch of sleepless musicians, and just like that, we were on our way
to Iowa and the bus was on its way back to the office with the rest of
Umphrey’s McGee.
Jake and I somehow averted most of the rush hour traffic and
made our best effort toward getting there efficiently (safely, but
efficiently). We had less time than
what our trip detail indicated.
This was not a good sign.
My car started out a little bit ahead of Kris, which we figured was ok,
as Jake could finish building the drums and start the gig on drums if Kris was
15-30 minutes behind us. The trip
that followed featured Jake as deejay and me as the driver. We actually had a blast and listened to
everything from Blue Oyster Cult’s first album, to Deep Purple (Jon Lord, not
too shabby on the organ) to Can.
As we passed over the Mississippi, ominous clouds loomed just to the
north of us; running headlong into a monstrous storm seemed almost expected
this point. I would later learn
that a tornado ripped through my neighborhood on the north side of Chicago and
that lightning struck 10 feet from my father’s head as he tried to sleep,
charring a tree and the ground surrounding it behind my parents’ home. Another
footnote, O’Hare was also forced to send EVERYONE in the airport into the
basement during the same tornado that went through my neighborhood (Wrigley Field
also evacuated during a game that night…..where did those 40,000 people
go? So crazy). The O’Hare evacuation occurred about 5
hours after we landed there. We
learned all of this later, but at the time, we weren’t so sure about feeling
“lucky” to have made it out. The
fact that the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake was the last place Buddy Holly,
Richie Valens and the Big Bopper played started making me think I should really
just stay focused on the road and not think about anything but driving for a while.
Miles from nowhere
391 miles by car, 950 miles by air, 40 miles by van, 6 hours
waiting in an airport and a total of 19 travel hours later, we arrived in Clear
Lake, IA with 15 minutes to spare before we had to start our show. I grabbed the Moog and looked for the
Motif (88 key polyphonic keyboard/workstation) that had been advanced as
provided backline. Unfortunately,
the Motif had already been packed up and sent away by the powers that be. Not good. While that cut down my set up time significantly (joke for
the crew here), it also meant I was about to play a 2 set show with a
monophonic keyboard as my only instrument. What that means is, the Moog was my only keyboard and it is
designed to play only 1 note at a time.
I figured the evening would turn out much better if I just looked at it
as an experiment and opportunity to work exclusively with the Moog, and
actually, I think it turned out a lot better approaching my situation from that
perspective.
But before that occurred, we had yet to hear from Kris as
his phone had died. Would there be
a drummer tonight? Jake was
totally prepared at this point to be behind the kit for the whole night, and he
was warming up and making adjustments accordingly as the rest of us finished
setting up our gear. We were so
delirious in the car that with about 50 miles left to go, we actually laughed
heartily at the possibilities the show might have in store for us. Lo and behold, Kris ambled in not ten
minutes after we arrived, and we officially had a band with 5 minutes to spare. What a champ.
The sets I thought went really well, with the exception of
that time Jake was on stage getting punched by a girl in the back because she
wanted him to switch from the Kaos pad synth back to guitar. What was she doing on stage you
ask? Oh, I don’t know, but when
there’s no security and you have been through what we went through that day, it
seemed fairly normal that there would be people onstage attempting to dance and
sometimes punching band members.
For a night of improvisation, it was there on some truly unexpected
levels.
Our 2nd set ended around 12:45 per venue request,
and we headed out back to exhale at the culmination of an incredibly long
day. As I walked out back, I found
myself suddenly listening to an exuberant gentleman riff on how we just started
teasing “Fade Away! You guys were
just doin it, I heard it!!!!” Upon
asking him what exactly what he was talking about (shortly after this, he did
the same thing to Tony Franklin, the NIAS bass player, and he had no idea what the
guy was talking about either), it became a little more obvious he was trying to
reference “Not Fade Away,” the tune made famous by Buddy Holly, that mimicks
the Bo Diddley beat perhaps a little too closely. Even after we figured this out, none of intended to play any
cover, as that’s something that’s out of bounds for the vision of the band
(every note of music is improvised).
Which of course made the interaction all the more hilarious that we had
someone insisting we played “Fade Away!”
I mean, he was really sure he was right. Wow.
We packed up our gear, said goodbyes to friends old and new,
and ventured onward to the local Best Western and settled in for the first time
in 3 days. All we needed was a
quick shower, and then a few hours of sleep called. Except that this particular hotel didn’t offer us any hot
water. And we left it on for a while. Nothing. What are the odds?
We were so tired at this point that it was actually more funny than
anything. After 4 hours of sleep
and 391 more miles by car, we found ourselves back at the office in Chicago,
ready for home and a day where instead of moving about the country, we moved
about the couch.
Delirious at the Best Western
Touring is a lot of fun most of the time. You just have to be ready for
curveballs. If you’re not ready,
you’ll strike out a lot, like Sammy Sosa did in his later years. And even though steroids are legal in
music, they’re still a bad idea.
But you ask, what’s the real lesson here? Well kids, delirium has its perks.
Sporting my new tie dye tank once we finally made it home. "Good keyboardist, Great Look"
Sometimes, things don't go as planned. As I sit in front of my computer and contemplate everything that's happened since Saturday afternoon, it's somewhat mind boggling to even think about where we've been. Well, as Kevin has already documented, the fiasco that ensued following the torrential storm in Atlanta started things off on a disappointing note for all of us. After a fantastic summer tour with STS9, we wanted to finish things off in a monumental way in Atlanta. Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans. As a musician, there's not really a word to describe the feeling of not getting to rock out for some of your most dedicated fans for reasons out of your control. We were all devastated and frustrated that we had absolutely no way to get up on stage and share music with all of the folks that were there on Saturday. The odds of us playing that night decreased with every minute past 7:45, when the power went out (it didn't come back on 2 hours after curfew). We sat on the bus trying to conjure scenarios in which we could return to Atlanta and make this up to the folks who have supported us there for so many years. While we tried, we couldn't completely solidify a deal that night to announce at our recently canceled show. We're almost there with something for you guys as I write, so hang tight.
As the night came to a close for us without live music, we prepared for our next move, which was to leave for the airport at 6 am and board a flight to White Plains, NY (never heard of that airport? Neither had we). Exhausted from 4 shows (should have been 5) in 4 days, and exhilarated to get one more show in, we made our way through the airport at 6:30 am and awaited our flight. Little did we know this would be the smoothest part of the whole process. We arrived in NY without a hitch, hopped into two vans and headed toward Bridgeport, CT for our first appearance at Gathering of the Vibes (which, incidentally, had also suffered through some adverse weather the previous evening). The Merritt/Hutchinson Parkway is a beautiful road to drive in the summer, if you're ever out that way, and we saw some verdant scenery on the side of the road as we approached our destination. Checking into a hotel can occasionally provide for interesting interactions (Spinal Tap viewing required here), and this scenario proved to be one of those. As Don, our tour manager, attempted to check his sleep-deprived band and crew in around noon, he was told there were no rooms ready, even though their mandatory availability had been advanced weeks ago with the hotel and festival. We had about 2 hours to catch up on some sleep, but no place to sleep. So a few of us headed to the local Italian joint for lunch, while Brendan made the further trek to satisfy his craving for a Panchero's Burrito. Coming back to the hotel, we had just enough time to lie down for about 30 minutes before hopping back in a van for another short trek to the venue. The site, a pretty cool city park in the classic albeit somewhat ramshackle downtown area, lies adjacent to the Long Island Sound, providing for excellent views from the stage. We landed a gorgeous summer afternoon and delivered a 90 minute set of music to the festival goers there. My favorite part of the set came during the second half of Wife Soup, where we've recently inserted an open-ended improvisational section where the second piano solo used to be. I recall about eight to ten minutes of some really focused improv, and the cool part was that the audience seemed to really enjoy it as well.
Preceding us were Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, whose performance was both soul-infused and inspiring. Great, great sounds. Equally impressive were the Neville Bros., who concluded the fest with a funky and passionate set.
As the sun descended to the west and the sounds of Jerry Garcia's guitar blasted away (I swear it was as loud if not louder than the Neville Bros. over the PA), we hopped back into our vans and headed to the hotel. We arrived at our rooms around 10 pm, had a little night cap and some conversation, and by midnight, we were all sound asleep. Not particularly impressive for a rock band, I know, but we had a 4 am pick up to take us back to the airport and send most of us home. We awoke to darkness outside, but by the time we'd boarded our plane, the sun was up and it was another beautiful morning on the East coast. We had a 3 hour layover in front of us at Ronald Reagan International Airport in D.C. Not too much pressure to make the connecting flight, which is usually a good thing. Jake, Kris and I, had a side gig on Monday night in Clear Lake, IA, a 7 hour drive from Chicago. As everyone else headed home, our tour continued for one more day. This was certainly on our minds as we began what would be one of the longest travel days I can ever recall. While we landed in DC without incident, a monstrous storm was brewing just west of our beloved home of Chicago. We sat at the gate and watched our connecting flight be delayed in 15 minute increments over the next few hours of time, as a ground stoppage at O'Hare waved its fateful hand in our direction. As our window of opportunity dwindled away, we realized that the side gig in Iowa was in serious jeopardy. Our 10:30 am departure from D.C. finally ended up being a 2 pm departure. (One footnote - Cubs' catcher Henry Blanco was also on our flight, trying to make it back to the game. We didn't want to bother him, but must compliment him on his sweet look, with a semi-mullet rockin in the back.) As the flight became further delayed, we went from being able to have time to sleep at a hotel in Clear Lake before the gig (so needed), to taking our bus and being able to sleep on the way there and back (not a bad option for a little more overhead), to not having time to take our bus (this is starting to suck really bad), to trying to have Vince and Kris' girlfriend drive our cars to the airport and meet us there so that we could depart immediately (seriously?). You're probably wondering, why didn't we just change our flight to a different destination? Great question, great question. Well, we had already checked gear that we needed for the show that night on the Chicago flight, and we had gear we had to pick up at O'Hare (our bus met us there with all of our bags from tour after driving up without us from ATL) and get into our cars. So we had two different sets of gear arriving from two different places. As we accelerated on the tarmac in Washington D.C., we wondered how in the world we would make it to our gig that night, both awake and on time. What happened next? Did we make the gig at the legendary Surf Ballroom? Did we end up at a Motel 6 in rural Brandon IA (home of the world's largest frying pan)? Or did we drive into a tornado and see cows flying around like they did in that terrible movie Twister? What transpired were some of the most implausible and unbelievable things I've ever seen while on the road. To be continued.........
Kris catches up on sleep and tries to make some spare change at Reagan Int'l.
...have been eventful. Yesterday at this time everyone was resting up for the final show of the UM/Sts9 tour, going about the proverbial 'business as usual'. About 20 minutes before the scheduled show time the band was talking over the set list when we finally accepted the fact that a heavy but brief storm was about to roll through downtown Atlanta. No problem we thought, we'll just push back the start time 15-20 minutes once the heavy stuff passes. None of us were so lucky.
The massive lightening that danced around the Atlanta skyline hit two separate power transformers and knocked out electricity in much of the downtown area, including all of Masquerade Park. The winds blew so heavily that several of our lightning trusses came crashing to the ground along with a plethora of microphones and instruments. The integrity of the stage was compromised as one of the support towers showed signs of bowing once the rain began to collect in heavy pockets on the roof. Tarps proved no match for the wind gusts that filled them like kites. Darkness began to fall with out a single light on in the entire venue holding 4000 people.
A team comprised of various personnel from UM, Sts9, the show's promoter and local production crews immediately began strategizing how we could still manage to pull off a show. Every scenario possible was considered and reconsidered. Jake and Brendan even contemplated pulling two acoustic guitars and sitting at the lip of the stage for an impromptu sing along but the stage wasn't even deemed safe for that. Ultimately every scenario revealed itself impossible as the reality of a powerless venue sank further and further in. At that point, we were entirely dependent on the City of Atlanta and the electric company. It was frustrating for all of us as we couldn't even make an announcement over the PA to loop the fans in on what info we had. We were all bummed that the run had to finish like this and we are already strategizing on how to make it up to all of you who tried to come out and support us.
With the venue empty and the stage pitch black, a generator finally showed up to provide some light for a uber s l o w load out. The power company finally got the electricity back on around 1:30 at which point most of us were already asleep trying to squeeze in as much rest as we could for our 6:00 am bus ride to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. We caught an 8:30 flight to lovely White Plains, NY before a 45 minute van ride to Bridgeport, CT for the Gathering of the Vibes festival. An hour of downtime in the hotel is a glorious respite at this point but I wanted to at least try to fill you in on yesterday's happenings. Stay tuned for more odds and ends from the tour. We all had an outstanding time with Sts9 and all of you that came out to catch a show or three. Plenty more pics, audio snippets, and general ramblings to come. I think everyone just needs a few days at home to catch up on some R&R.
This was the view behind the stage after the storm had passed. Sorry there's no great storm pics at this point, our system tech Peter George got some great pics on his camera that we'll share when we can.
This is a picture of lightning (that didn't occur anywhere near atlanta yesterday evening)
The aftermath. Note the torn blue roof at the top center of the picture. It continued to rain on various parts of the deck throughout the night as roof drained.
Joel weeps as he reflects on what could have been.
"Please turn off all electronic devices at this time"
Andy enjoys the crisp air on the tarmac while Don is TCB
Off to the festival...
These virtual tours are the second attempt (first was the Big Summer Classic in 2005; see below) at creating a live image that brings the fan up close and personal to the band. Thanks in part to Steve Mappa and his virtual tour setup we were able to photograph seven shots and stitch them together to create these in the moment virtual tours. Each tour, in a live setting such as a concert is extremely challenging due in part to the band member's movements, the extraordinary lights, and of course the fan's movement. Therefore, you may find small anomalies in each tour due to these constraints. So take a spin on these Umphrey's Virtual Tours and see if you can find yourself grooving out there!
Enjoy,
Adam George
July 2005; Schaumburg, Illinois
July 19, 2008; Chicago, Illinois