Hey all y’all! I know it’s been a while but the beginning of the tour has been pretty hectic. After only three days of rehearsal for sixty songs, we got on the bus to head up to Hughesville, PA. We did two days there, the second one being a Difference show (oldies and country). I’m going to be honest, I totally bombed the first Elvis show. I mean completely, from one end to the other. If I had been the MD, I’d have fired myself. Thankfully, Mickey Springston is more forgiving, and so is Ryan himself, and they gave me another shot at it. The next night, I nailed pretty much everything, and I got to stick around for another Elvis show up in Hoboken, NJ.

That show went really well, and the crowd just loved it. Saint Anne’s (the show’s sponsor) treated us like royalty. We had a full home-cooked meal, including home-grown tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil leaves, which I just LOVED. They also provided us enough beer that we’re still enjoying them.

From there it was a race to Chicago Ridge for another show. In between “sets” they had a humongous fireworks show, and it was one of the best I’ve seen. They had bursts I’ve never even seen before, and it was immaculately timed, and choreographed to music.

We then had a day off for laundry and rest, then on to Troy, PA. We arrived in the middle of the night and didn’t know how to get to the fair site. Everyone was asleep except Ryan and me, and we parked downtown to light up the laptop to figure out how to get to the fair grounds. While the laptop was coming up, I stepped outside to have a quick smoke, and was met with blinking red and blue lights. Thankfully, it was the night shift sergeant who had no need to harass visitors to boost his ego. He was extremely friendly and helpful, so within minutes we were at the fairground and crawling into our bunks.

We had two days with three short shows each day, and they all went extremely well. So did the live on-site radio interviews with Mayor Mike. Yes, he’s the mayor and owns the local station. Yesterday, Ryan and I took part in a “Got Milk?” photo op with local and state politicians. Milk didn’t show up in the photos so we used vanilla milkshakes. Everyone said my photo was best because my mustache held extra milkshake. I still politely refused the offer to enter the Moo-off. I had no desire to see myself on You Tube trying to bellow like a cow.

As soon as the last show of the day was done yesterday, we had to load and run… but only after autographing about 20 T-shirts for fans. I thought it was pretty cool that they wanted everyone’s signature, not just Ryan’s.

Oh! Another thing that was really cool was that, after the first show, one of our Pennsylvania fan club members brought everyone a small photo album of the best shots they had taken during the show. I mean, I only had one show under my belt and already the fans were treating me like I was family. That’s pretty darn cool.

I’ve got to say that Ryan’s fans are really nice, and very appreciative. Sure, they all love Elvis, but they also love Ryan, and that love runs off onto the band as well. They’ve given me rides from where we’re playing to go into town for errands, and showed real interest in who I am and what I’ve done. I’ve even sold a handful of CDs, even though they have nothing to do with Elvis.

So… we rolled into Holland, MI, about 10:30 this morning. Mickey and I headed straight for the showers, then over to the restaurant for breakfast at noon. I’m now on the bus with Ryan, Amy and Mickey, running some errands while Darcy, Bret and Jared are getting showers and food. I’m going to close this out for now because I need to get some things done. However, I’m hopeful that, as I get more settled into the routine, I’ll be able to post more often. Don’t forget that you can follow my Twitter stream for constant updates.

See you again soon, and…

Keep Thumpin’!

Lane on Bass