SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY, A TSUNAMI OF RELATIVES, AND HOT 'LANTA
Hey folks ......It has been a while since we last spoke . Man it has been a full blown sweaty week on the ol' Nicks/Isaak caravan! We started out at Red Rocks which is ,maybe, the most beautiful venue in the world . It is above Denver and is actually made out of Red Rocks and was built like in the teens , last century. It is where U2 made that famous video "Sunday Bloody Sunday " but that is just one of its accomplishments . Every band imaginable has played there ....the people of Colorado are lucky to have it . In my kitchen I have a picture of the Isaak band circa 1990 when we played Red Rocks with Bonnie Raitt . And we are on the side of the stage ready to go on and we have on our Red suits that we had just bought in london .....We was fab !!!!!! Course I prefer the Mustard Yellow suits that we got in Louisville Kentucky . You could hear an audible gasp when we took the stage in those babies !!
Next stop was Oklahoma City . Now we have never played in Oklahoma in the 22 years of this band . But man o' man did the relatives come out . My Dad's family grew up in Gotebo Oklahoma and most live in Tulsa now . When I was a kid we used to go to Ok city and Tulsa all the time . But not in a long time . We had a great time with my Uncle and cousins at the show at the Oklahoma City Zoo....It was so humid I thought I was in Rangoon!!!!
My good friend Jimmy Pugh, who plays with Robert Cray , told me not to miss the Oklahoma City bombing museum and monument . I was hesitant,but, WHEW..........it was quite simply AMAZING....It is tough emotionally at times but if you ever get a chance you must see it . It is actually uplifting in the way people came together in a time of crisis .
On to Dallas ......I had a day off so rented a car and drove out to see my mom who lives about an hour a way , that is as the crow flies ...not how the renta car flies on Interstate 35 . What a mess. But I got there in one piece and had a nice visit . It is interesting to go to small town America . It is so completely different than anything I am used to.No traffic ! On the way back to Dallas, on show day, I am on a two lane blacktop by Decator Texas and I see a historical marker so of course, I pull over and it says that Frank and Jesse James used to hide out there . What is the deal . Just a few miles from here Bonnie and Clyde robbed the Ponder Texas bank . Must be the water.....So on the way back I am listening to this incredible classic country station ..."Pop a top again " and a guy comes on and says that there has been a wreck on I -35 and I did seem to notice I had not moved in some time . Just one big parking lot . I know dallas ,sorta, but I called johnny Reno in Palm Springs and said if I get off on Valco parkway and take surface streets I can make it back to McKinney street right ? And he said Yes so I took a bittersweet ride thru the streets of Dallas. I used to come here when I was in high school . My buddy Kelly and I would save up our money and drive 7 hours, from Borger, and see all the concerts that we could in a weekend . Even if it was jo Jo Gunne and Wishbone Ash !
I had some other rough patches in this time and this town but I wont bore you with the gruesome stuff.
At the show in Dallas I had another run of relatives ,these on my mom's side . About 20 showed up and then we went to Houston . That was one of the better shows of the tour . That venue sounds great . When the sound is that good the drums seem to play themselves and I am just along for the ride ......Next Atlanta.........Man we have played Atlanta so many times I have so many memories of the place . "Wicked game " broke out of Atlanta so we owe the city heavy . Seems like we have played Chastain Park 10 times and been rained on 3 of them . Right before showtime there came a cloud burst that just soaked the place . A t#rd floater as they say in Texas,
We all had a great time in Atlanta, tip o' the tam o' shantern to Fat matt's , then we overnighted to Chicago where I am now and this is one of the greatest cities on the earth .That is one thing Sinatra and I agree on ......
IT'S A TODDLIN' TOWN
KENNEY DALE
Next stop was Oklahoma City . Now we have never played in Oklahoma in the 22 years of this band . But man o' man did the relatives come out . My Dad's family grew up in Gotebo Oklahoma and most live in Tulsa now . When I was a kid we used to go to Ok city and Tulsa all the time . But not in a long time . We had a great time with my Uncle and cousins at the show at the Oklahoma City Zoo....It was so humid I thought I was in Rangoon!!!!
My good friend Jimmy Pugh, who plays with Robert Cray , told me not to miss the Oklahoma City bombing museum and monument . I was hesitant,but, WHEW..........it was quite simply AMAZING....It is tough emotionally at times but if you ever get a chance you must see it . It is actually uplifting in the way people came together in a time of crisis .
On to Dallas ......I had a day off so rented a car and drove out to see my mom who lives about an hour a way , that is as the crow flies ...not how the renta car flies on Interstate 35 . What a mess. But I got there in one piece and had a nice visit . It is interesting to go to small town America . It is so completely different than anything I am used to.No traffic ! On the way back to Dallas, on show day, I am on a two lane blacktop by Decator Texas and I see a historical marker so of course, I pull over and it says that Frank and Jesse James used to hide out there . What is the deal . Just a few miles from here Bonnie and Clyde robbed the Ponder Texas bank . Must be the water.....So on the way back I am listening to this incredible classic country station ..."Pop a top again " and a guy comes on and says that there has been a wreck on I -35 and I did seem to notice I had not moved in some time . Just one big parking lot . I know dallas ,sorta, but I called johnny Reno in Palm Springs and said if I get off on Valco parkway and take surface streets I can make it back to McKinney street right ? And he said Yes so I took a bittersweet ride thru the streets of Dallas. I used to come here when I was in high school . My buddy Kelly and I would save up our money and drive 7 hours, from Borger, and see all the concerts that we could in a weekend . Even if it was jo Jo Gunne and Wishbone Ash !
I had some other rough patches in this time and this town but I wont bore you with the gruesome stuff.
At the show in Dallas I had another run of relatives ,these on my mom's side . About 20 showed up and then we went to Houston . That was one of the better shows of the tour . That venue sounds great . When the sound is that good the drums seem to play themselves and I am just along for the ride ......Next Atlanta.........Man we have played Atlanta so many times I have so many memories of the place . "Wicked game " broke out of Atlanta so we owe the city heavy . Seems like we have played Chastain Park 10 times and been rained on 3 of them . Right before showtime there came a cloud burst that just soaked the place . A t#rd floater as they say in Texas,
We all had a great time in Atlanta, tip o' the tam o' shantern to Fat matt's , then we overnighted to Chicago where I am now and this is one of the greatest cities on the earth .That is one thing Sinatra and I agree on ......
IT'S A TODDLIN' TOWN
KENNEY DALE
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