The Tale of The Great Wolf, Bunk Beds, and The Jersey Shore...

In the lobby at the Great Wolf Lodge in KC.

May 13, 2011

Always eerie to start off a tour on Friday the 13^th… But we did it anyway! I was actually in Kansas City, I had driven in very late the night before. I stayed at an awesome resort called Great Wolf Lodge. I loved it! Can’t wait to go back and spend some more time there! But I was there for a purpose; I had some work to get done in the morning before I flew out of town. (I won’t go into detail yet, but I’m sure I’ll be talking about it very soon!) It was a great productive morning though! I even got to have lunch with one of my closest friends before I had to leave for the airport. I was pleasantly surprised that I had extra time for that!

But alas, I did have to leave around 2:30pm. I arrived at the Kansas City Airport just before 3pm, and I parked out in the economy parking and had to wait for the bus to come get me. (It was unseasonably cold that day, and of course it had just started to rain when I parked my car!) Luckily the bus didn’t take too long.

I was at the terminal and checked in at the US Airways desk rather quickly. Security was a breeze too. (I do love that the Kansas City airport is big, but yet still super easy and quick!) I waited at my gate for my plane; it hadn’t arrived yet. Always scary! But it did get there by about 4:10pm- however, my flight was supposed to take off at 4:15pm. They got the plane turned over rather quickly; I was in my seat, and up in the air by about 4:30pm.

My awesome hotel room in Wildwood!

It was around a two hour flight to Philadelphia. I just did some reading and writing, and then suddenly we were about to land! I love that! As everyone was getting off the plane around 8:10pm, I couldn’t help but sing the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme song. “In west Philadelphia, born and raised. On the playground is where I spent most of my days…” I didn’t ask, but I’m sure the people around me appreciated my rapping skills.

I found my way down to baggage claim and I saw our soundman Bill waiting. We went over to get my bags, and then him and I had to wait for the van to come get us. Everyone was confused and lost. It is a very confusing airport! After about thirty minutes or so, finally a van pulled up with Gabe and Tim inside. Bill and I jumped in. Then we had to try to find Larry, but we spotted him pretty easily with his guitar sticking up from his back. (Dad and Bob got in another car and left a few minutes ahead of us.)

Tim, Gabe, Bob and Larry hanging in Gabe's room.

It was about a ninety minute, or maybe even two hour drive to the hotel in Wildwood, New Jersey. (Actually, our hotel was the Pan American in Wildwood Crest, but we were working in Wildwood.) We were all starving! Tim informed us that the restaurant at the hotel would be closed when we got there, and the driver informed us that there wasn’t any place close enough to walk to. No one was informing us with any positive information! Plus, the driver said she could not take us to get food anywhere because it wasn’t pre-scheduled.

Once we got to the area of the hotel, we stopped at a liquor store for the fellas. The people at the cashiers desk in there told us about a place that stays open late- and will deliver late! That sounded like a plan to us! We went to the hotel and got checked in. The band and I were all on the third floor, and all the rooms were awesome! Each one was a bit different! Mine had a full kitchen- with a stove! And also a queen size bed and bunk beds! I was loving it!

Bill and I hanging in Gabe's room.

We all ended up in Gabe’s “bachelor pad” so we could have a couple drinks and order some food. It took us until around 11pm to get an order in- pizza and some sandwiches. We noticed a coupon on the menu that said two large pizzas for seventeen dollars, seven days a week. Bob quickly quipped, “With our luck it won’t be one of the seven days…”

It took about forty five minutes for the food to get there though- which normally wouldn’t be too bad, but we were all starving! And when the food arrived, it did not disappoint! It hit the spot! We were all like animals going after the pepperoni and garlic pizza.

Finally we began to retire for the night around 1:30am. I was pretty tired. It had been a long day! I crawled into bed and was a goner in no time!

May 14, 2011

I got up at 9am- naturally. Which surprised me! I thought I would end up sleeping all day, it had been a very busy couple days- or actually weeks, before I got there. But I jumped out of bed and got showered and ready for the day. Our hotel was on the water, and the boardwalk was right in front of me. I couldn’t wait to go explore!

The view from the balcony in my hotel room.

I was out of the hotel by 11am. I went to my left towards all the action. I could see amusement rides out on the piers, so I figured that would be a fun place to go walk around. And I was right! I had a great time! I did a little shopping, (I even found some candied apples!) and I was loving it! It was just like a fair. You can’t beat that!

I got back to the hotel around 1pm and met my dad downstairs for lunch. (Well, it was his breakfast…) Then I went upstairs and got ready for sound check. Dad and I left the hotel at 2:30pm for the venue; making a quick stop at Walgreens first. But we got to the Wildwood Convention Center by 3pm. The show that night was The Contours, Dad and The Spinners. The Spinners were still sound checking when we got there. But they got off the stage pretty soon.

However, when there is an event like that with a few different bands, sound and such ends up being a nightmare. It took them an hour or more before we could even start running anything. There were a few problems they had to sort out, and lots of cables to be dealt with. But after a while of hanging out on stage, we finally got to run a song or two. Then we had to pass the stage along to The Contours.

There was actually a little reunion between my Dad and one of The Contours- Sylvester Potts. Dad and him had been on the Dirty Dancing tour together a little over twenty years ago! They were so excited to see each other and catch up! I don’t think they had seen one another since the tour ended, and I know they had a great time together on that tour… I’ve heard all the stories!

I got back to my room at 4:45pm. I hung out for a bit, and had a snack. Also got a little bit of work done. Then Dad and I met down in the lobby at 7pm. They were a bit late to pick us up, so we started to worry. But they did make it eventually. When we got to the gig we went to our dressing room for a while; The Contours were still on. Then they ushered us over to another room closer to the stage.

Wildwood Convention Center

We waited there for a bit, and then the band was on stage and starting our part of the show just after 8pm. I have to say that hearing 5,000 people screaming like crazy for my own dad is incredibly amazing! I even started to tear up a bit! I waited for my cue, and then I went and joined the boys onstage. It was an awesome crowd. They were there to rock! And they loved the show! We did a shortened show- only about an hour. But we kicked butt!

Afterwards, we walked back to the dressing room area and waited. The Spinners still had to do their set, so the guys and I hung out back there until they were done around 10:30pm. At that point, there was a little meet and greet in one of the green rooms. Luckily, that moved along quite quickly, but everyone was very sweet and excited to meet us. After a few minutes, we were taken out of there and put into a van that took us to a local Italian restaurant owned by Joey D.

Gabe and Dad at Joey D's Italian place in Wildwood.

When we pulled up, two younger guys stopped my dad. They had a bunch of records for him to sign, probably about thirty or so. But they were actual fans! They told Gabe that they knew who he was because of my blog! (Always good to know someone is reading all this stuff!) And so when dad walked into the restaurant he told me about the guys and I went outside and took a couple pictures with them. Very nice guys too! (My dad needed some Tums and they actually went and bought some for him!)

The restaurant was a lot of fun, it had a DJ going and a dance floor. Our group had a big table in the back. The table next to us was filled with other people from the same show we had just finished. The food was awesome! Dad got up at some point to go to the bathroom, and we all looked over a few minutes later to find him dancing out on the dance floor! Quite the scene! All of us were busting up!

Once we finished, we started to head to the van and then back to the hotel. I was up to my room and all cuddly in my bed as quickly as possible! I was exhausted; it was already 1am or later, and we had an early morning the next day.

May 15, 2011

My alarm buzzing at me at 7:30am was extremely annoying. I was loving the idea of sleeping a bit longer, but no such luck that day! I got dressed and zipped up my suitcases as quickly as possible. Our call time was 8am in the lobby, and I got there right on time.

Dad and Sylvester Potts of The Contours.

However, my dad was not down there. I had called him (as requested) at 7:30am to wake him up. He didn’t answer the first time, but the second time I called it said he was on the other line. Tim asked if I had spoken to him yet that morning, I said no. Apparently he had been trying his room too and no answer. We both started to worry a bit. So by 8:15am Tim went up to my Dad’s room to knock on the door. Thankfully Dad came to the door rather quickly. He had just been in a deep sleep, and the phone by his bed was unplugged. But all of us admitted that he gave us a bit of a scare!

He made his way downstairs by 8:45am. The cars got all packed up- in the rain! So everyone got a little wet getting their bags packed in, but we made it. The band rode in a limo- which was a very snug fit with all their suitcases and them. (Also, it was decorated as a bridal limo. Too much fun!) Dad and I were in a town car leading the way. He was very apologetic about scaring everyone that morning.

It was a ninety minute drive. I was half asleep part of the time, and texting a friend of mine the rest of the time. When we got to the Philadelphia airport, we had to go to the Delta terminal to drop dad off first. (He was going to be cutting it close for his flight since he overslept!) When we made it there, we said our goodbyes and he got on his way quickly. (Dad was the only one on Delta. The rest of us were all on the same flight to Nashville.)

After that my driver had to circle back around the airport to get to my terminal. But somehow he went the wrong way. He was also giving a speech that had to do with singing and horses. I was half asleep and couldn’t really follow; but from what I picked up on, I don’t think I was missing much.

He dropped me off at the US Airways Terminal. However, when I got out of the car, I found the boys waving me down, taking my bags and throwing them into their limo- along with me. Apparently there was another terminal that we needed to go to for US Airways Express flights. We were all so glad that someone caught that! It would have been quite a hike to the other terminal without a car.

We all got checked in and started to go through security. Gabe got stopped and felt up by the TSA agents. That was entertaining for all of us! Once we made it through that, we gathered in the food court area. I got myself a Philly Cheesesteak. (Because after all, we were in Philly!) And I spent my time booking my hotel and car rental that I needed for that afternoon. (I know, I was very behind on my scheduling!)

Gabe being felt up...

Then we headed over to our gate around the time we should be starting to board. But our plane was nowhere to be found. So we just sat there patiently; and we were happy to see our plane arrive just around the time that we should have been taking off. We were all excited at that sight! They actually got us on the plane very quickly though, and we weren’t running too far behind.

We were in the air by 12:30pm. The flight only took about an hour and a half. I did a bit of reading and writing; and then we were on our decent into Nashville. Once we landed, we all headed straight down to baggage claim. It took a few minutes for our bags, but eventually we saw them flowing towards us on our carousel.

Then we all went over to the car rental desk. We were all renting from the same company; and apparently it was a very popular company, because it was the only one with a line! But we were standing there with keys in our hands by around 3pm. We walked out to find our cars parked right next to each other. I ended up with one of the guy’s suitcases in my trunk because their car was too small for all of them and all of their stuff!

We headed our separate ways for the time being. I had to run to Best Buy- which was not exactly close by. Then I went downtown to my hotel, the Hotel Indigo. Very cool hotel. I loved the funky vibe of the rooms, and the location was killer! I got showered and ready to leave as soon as I could. By 5:30pm I was on my way to Burger Up to meet Tim, Bob, Gabe, Larry, and Larry’s wife Susan, and daughter Lauren. Awesome food! When we finished up there we went to Larry’s studio for a while. I had something I had to record real quick when we got there, then we just hung out the rest of the time.

I made it back to my hotel room by a semi-reasonable hour. I was excited to get a few things done before I passed out. But it had been a long day; in fact, it had been a long few days- or weeks depending how you want to look at it! So I didn’t last long before I melted into that extremely plush bed. The sleep was well deserved; and there was a long week and a half of work in Nashville about to begin.