AG's Journal #14

day 39- 2/23-tap house-memphis, tn.- we spent the last couple of days in memphis since we had no show until today. chad, alley, heidi and the kids went to graceland and ran into the band agent orange, an old school punk band that chad and sean are big fans of. we also sampled some of the local memphis barbecue which is some of the best anywhere! we spent some time at the tap house and got to know everyone there. the owner, brian, plus bartender eric, and clay and waitress emily were extremely hospitable, feeding us and making us feel at home. the show that night was a lot fun. bruce had just flown back in from arizona, where he went to his brother's wedding, so it was good to have him back. some of the crew from the tap house are going to drive to oxford, mississippi to see us saturday. tomorrow, on to new orleans!

day 40-2/24-funky butt-new orleans,la.- this is the city i've been waiting for! for a musician, especially a horn player, this is what it's all about.we get into town at 5pm and unload at the club. the funky butt is a cool little jazz club a couple blocks off bourbon street. we have some time to freshen up before the show and our good friend wallace, former drummer of zuba, is kind enough to open up his house to us. about 8 o'clock we head back down to the club and immediately go down to bourbon street. tomorrow is the first day of mardi gras, and it might as well be today because bourbon street is packed with partyers, freaks, and women baring they're breasts for anyone who cares to watch. we check things out for a good hour or so and then it's time to go back to work. oh well! the show is actually pretty good considering all the hub-bub on bourbon st. the thing about new orleans, as i'm sure you know, there's so much good music here that unless you are already established, you've got to pay your dues. the crowd is! a mix of monkeyfans that have seen us in california and colorado, who are up front shakin their asses off, and locals who are casually checking it out. the second set we stretch things out and get spacey. we bring up a local kid on sax named devon, who goes to the local music school here, and he just tears it up. he's 18 and plays like he's 30! we talk for awhile after the show about music and he tells me about all the local guys he's played with around town. the marsalis brothers, roy hargrove, you know, nobody that big! he really liked playing with us and we exchange numbers for future reference. tomorrow we have to drive 7 hours to huntsville, alabama, so we decide to skip the late night scene and get some rest. hopefully next time we can spend some time here and really do it right! thanks to chris and all the guys at the funky butt and also to our buddies from the band tunji for helping us get this gig.