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January 12, 2007
Nashville, January 2007
Friday night, January 5, 2007.
It happens every time. We're getting ready to leave for Nashville, and we plan to leave at five o'clock in the morning. (Yes, there is a 5:00 a.m.!)
So, the night before, I promise myself that I will be in bed at a reasonable hour, and be well rested for the long drive. But it never happens. Perhaps it never will happen. We always seem to be up as late as one o'clock in the morning, trying to tie up all the loose ends, pack all of our things, and make sure that we haven't forgotten anything important. (I always manage to forget at least one thing, however).
Anyway, we managed to leave on time with my mother-in-law in tow. We then went over to Oviedo, picked up Asli, and took off for Nashville. I drove the first leg, fortified by copious amounts of coffee.
It was a rather uneventful drive, although as usual, we hit traffic around Atlanta. We arrived safely and went to our usual place for dinner, The Blackstone Brewery.
On Sunday morning, we slept in, and then went for breakfast at Noshville. Noshville of course, is a Jewish delicatessen, right smack in the middle of Nashville!
We then went shopping at Opry Mills Mall and my mother-in-law bought an amplifier at the Gibson Guitar Showcase store. Who would've figured?
That evening we left to play at the Bluebird and while we were hurtling down Highway 65 at 70 miles an hour, our van died! It was the strangest thing, it was as though someone simply reached over and turned the key, shutting off the engine! Suddenly I had no headlights, no power steering, and no power brakes, and so I had to wrestle the van to the side of the road. We called AAA and proceeded to wait. Before long, Sheryl had the bright idea of calling Mike Ward (works with us in BurnLounge), and he and his wife came and rescued us. AAA arrived, the van was towed to an auto service place near our hotel, and then Mike and Laurie took us over to the Bluebird.
Sheryl also called the Bluebird to let them know that we were having car problems. They were kind enough to put her on last in the songwriter showcase.
In spite of all the problems we had getting there, Sheryl did a marvelous job. We'll be going back to play the Bluebird again this coming July.
So, early Monday morning I was at Firestone Auto Care in Brentwood Tennessee, waiting to find out what was wrong with my van. Fortunately, the only problem was that I needed a new battery. It seems that Dodge Caravans have this unique “safety feature” whereby when the battery drops below certain voltage, it shuts the engine off. A strange design, when you consider that I had to drive a suddenly disabled car without power steering or power brakes while going 70 miles an hour on a rain slicked highway. Anyway, I was glad that we were all safe, and that all I needed was a new battery. We were soon up and running again vehicle wise.
On Monday night we attended a BurnLounge meeting. Sheryl had a chance to play a couple of songs. We also met some other members of our BurnLounge team.
On Tuesday night, Sheryl and Asli played at the Hall of Fame Lounge. The main problem with playing this particular venue is that it is not a non-smoking venue! Consequently, we all smelled like cigarettes upon exiting the club. Poor Asli even wound up choking on the smoke during her last song.
We left on Wednesday morning, dropped my mother-in-law at the airport, and came home. It seemed like a very short trip!
I’ll have some pictures soon!
Posted by leon at January 12, 2007 02:30 PM