Somewhere in Rainy Pennsylvania…

Hey, y’all! Hope everyone is doing well, and having fun! The band is doing great and currently we’re enjoying two REAL days off… meaning we’re doing a whole bunch of nothing.

Last Friday we played the Middletown Grange Fair in Wrightstown, PA. It was a special show for many reasons, not the least of which was that Irv Cass joined us for his tribute to Tom Jones. Ryan and Irv go way back, and have done many shows together. (Both are represented by American Icon.) This was my first chance to meet Irv, and I’m so glad to know him. He’s a total sweetheart of a person, and he has Tom Jones flat-out nailed down! (The fact that I grew up on TJ doesn’t hurt, you know?)

Anyhoo… the show was outstanding, and also a ton of fun! I also got to meet Tiny… a really fun performer. He does a thing with keyboards, samplers and such… creating a full band feel all by himself. The cool thing is that he knows about eleven billion songs and has great rapport with the audience. Tiny is another long-time friend of Ryan’s, and another really great person.

You know, this is one of the really cool things about working with Ryan — he knows a lot of really, really cool people. I’ve met so many wonderful folks that it’s hard to keep track of them all! They’re all tops at what they do, and are very down-to-earth, good-hearted people… just the kind of people you want to know.

After the show, we headed to a local pub to hang with some of the fan club. The highlight there was Ryan being the prankster. (Note to Self: Never, and I mean NEVER, let down your guard when Ryan is in a playful mood!) Kathy Kalish – one of Ryan’s most loyal fans, got roped into a “Quarter Roll” game, in which she and Ryan tried to roll a quarter down their faces to make it land in one of the circles Ryan had drawn on napkins. The only thing was that Kathy was using the same quarter that Ryan had used to draw the circles!! That meant that every time she roled the qurater down her face, she left graphite behind… which eventually turned into a big ol’ racing stripe down her face!!!!

The rest of us – fan club and band members alike) were doing our best not to laugh… biting our lips, and turning away when we couldn’t hold it in. Little Miss Bev couldn’t stop laughing. In fact, I thought she was going to fall right off her bar stool at several points.

Finally, D’Arcy took Kathy into the Ladies’ Room to show here the damage… but not before we’d gotten photographic prrof of the event. Although a bit embarrassed, Kathy was a total Good Sport about it, and joined in the laughter. That made it all OK, and a ton of fun. But she has promised to do here best to get Ryan back. (We’ll see… Ryan isn’t an easy target, if you know what I mean.)

Moving on… Yesterday, we slept in late so we could catch up on all the sleep we’ve missed. Well, not catch up, really — that would take more than one night — but at least we all felt a lot better for it. We then headed into town to do laundry, an evolution that many of us were in dire need of accomplishing. I had so much to do that it seemed I was washing more clothes than I had brought with me! After that, we headed to Wally World for some shopping, then on to Applebee’s, where the outstanding staff – especially Kathleen – treated us like visiting royalty.

Then it was back to the campground to end the night by watching Dumb & Dumber before climbing into our bunks.

This morning it’s raining on and off, and it looks like it will continue throughout the day. So far, only myself, Mickey and D’Arcy are awake, and I’m going to catch up on some work while I can. Later, if the rain lets up, we’re going to the store for hot dogs and such so we can make good use of the fire pit later tonight. Now, if the rain goes away, all the guys will fight over being Pit Boss. But if it’s raining, I’ll probably be the only one out there burning meat over the fire. That’s something I’ve done before, and I’m not afraid to do it again. Now, if it’s pouring for all it’s worth, that’s a different thing… but a slight drizzle won’t keep me from the fire.

Anyway… that’s about it for this time around. Here’s a shot or two for now… but I’ll be adding more to the galleries soon.

Until next time, and as always,

Keep Thumpin’, y’all!!

Lane on Bass (and Bus!)

Lane heats up the stage w/ Fever

Throwing down at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Cafe