Tour Diary - Part 10

About halfway through North Carolina en route to Richmond VA...

Yesterday, we posted up at some kind of Marina Resort complex on Mount Pleasant in Charleston, SC. - We had vague talk of heading to a minor league game or dipping into town for dinner, but ended up having lunch at the very good, but overpriced Fish House Restaurant on the complex (one of the finest Shrimp Po Boys I've had)  and then, later, the pretty good, but very overpriced Fish House Restaurant for dinner.

A little funny, financial talk here, that may cause some debate... but on the tour it's established that part of the deal is on show days, dinner's on the the tour - so, ultimately... me.  Which is fine. It's baked into the costs... every day we decide on where to order, JP makes the call and we all eat Thai or Mediterranean or whatever the local fare demands.  You're on your own for your other meals. On off days, you're technically on your own, but on the first off night, I took everyone out, as a KICK OFF THE TOUR treat.

I wanted to have dinner with everyone, and Fish House was really the only choice, so I suggested The Very Good Band Dinner Deal. Everyone Venmo me $20 and I'll pick up the check, knowing it'd be more than that, but I wouldn't be sacked with a huge bill and it wouldn't be awkward and confusing when the bill came. I added, 'You could always send me MORE if you feel like it.'

Well, we started ordering... there was a bottle of wine, I didn't look too closely at on the wine list, appetizers, oysters, desserts, and more drinks...  the bill came to over 700 bucks!!!  My plan blew up in my face!  Everyone huddled and sent me more than the 20 minimum and whatever, we had a fun time. I will have to rethink the VGB Dinner Deal or avoid overpriced resort dinner locations going forward.

FISH HOUSE NEEDS BLINDS!

In the afternoon, we took a dip - showered up in the day room, and chilled on the bus, watching Columbo. Ellie had not seen Colombo before and we got her hooked. It was the cruise episode - Columbo and his wife (who of course we never see) were on a cruise where a MURDER takes place! Robert Vaughn did the deed and it was a good one.

We ended the night, hanging out, and listening to music - Luke had a few good recordings of the shows and we listened to our new track "Why Am I Like This" still figuring out a tricky count in where the audience joins me in singing and I think we cracked it... Then we traded our favorite tunes from the 2000s indie rock era - Solo Malkmus, Yo La Tengo, Granddaddy, Elephant 6, Rufus Wainwright's excellent Out Of The Game Record...

Having completed Warren Zane's Nebraska book, I'm listening to the audiobook of Joe Boy's White Bicycles... a rock memoir from a dude who seemed like he was everywhere at once in the mid-60s. It's pretty good and it konks me out every night.

PS, after my fountain goof in Tampa, I wrote a quick little country song about it and performed it at the VIP Q&A. I think we'll attempt it again so we catch the beginning... but here's an early version! 

Se you tonight, Richmond!