philadelphia (the state, not the movie)

Yesterday was a tough one. Shara woke up feeling like pooop, and had evidently lost the battle to escape the grips of a wicked flu. As I opened the blinds at around noon, the sky was grey, and it was raining hard and sideways. Ick. As we got down the lobby to rendezvous with Shara and James, Shara was huddled in her hoodie, looking like she had seen a ghost. She had been up with a fever for much of the night; some of the medicine had made her sick to her stomach; things were not looking good.

I've been playing with Ms. Shara for about a year and a half now, and she is without question one of the tougest people I know. So, I had no doubts that we would still do our in Philly. She hibernated in the back back seat while James, Brian, and I pressed on towards the city of brotherly love. For much of the day we were driving through an actual snowstorm, the first of the year for me. After a couple hours, we were in the clear, and the skies were beautiful. After sound check at the North Star bar on 27th and Poplar, I headed to my friend Charlie's bar, called Doc Watson's.

I got a ride there from the promoter, who gave me the lowdown on Phlily bands right now. He mentioned MAN MAN, which i've heard a lot about, and the band ILLINOISE. Er something like that. Charlie treated me to a DELICIOUS philly cheese steak and a beer, and showed me his awesome place. i went to high school with Charlie, and he has really done well for himself here in Philly. The place is three floors, with a nice music venue and a room for private parties here. He lives in a loft on the 4th floor, so he basically wakes up and works every day of the week. I commend the man for his work - it's a great place. Check it out if you're in Philly.

Our set at the North Star was at midnight, a fact which didn't help Shara's condition. We rallied, however, to a small but lively (too lively, perhaps), and overcame a pretty wicked flaw in the bar's sound system. The place itself was a little weird, too. When i got there initially, they were playing "Braveheart" with subtitles on mute, and when i left, the movie was "A Night at The Museum." We got done around 1:20, finished our load out at about 2:10, and arrived at our hotel at around 2:40. Foolishly, Brian and I stayed up a while watching crap tv and breaking down the evening, finally calling it a night at around 4:30am. Luckily, our van call was 1:00pm the next day for the drive to Arlington, VA.

I ended up taking the last leg of the drive, which meant I had to master the friday night beltway NIGHTMARE. The I-395 of the DC area is notorious for its friday evening traffic, and I nearly lost my mind getting to the venue. Somehow, we arrived only 30 minutes late for load-in, and soon thereafter had a low-key sound check for the 10:30 show. Tomorrow I will be New York, and I can't wait to come home!