The Tour Winds Down & The Techs Wind Up

Dan, Wil, Cole & myself

For myself & Dan, we've had a good run of crews to wind up the tour - not just in regards to the venues themselves but in regards to coming out and having a few beers. In Danville, Kentucky we witnessed and almost nearly took part in Kareoke Country Style - I was going to sing "The Gambler" by Kenny Rodgers but by the time I had enough Dutch Courage, the playlist was full & final!! Wil, one of our techs, got up & sang 'Black' by Pearl Jam - complete with knee bends & authentic yowl!! Was a really interesting night out.

The only other really memorable thing about Danville was waking up at 0100 to the Tornado Warning aka Siren!! Which, although not scary, is scary when you have no idea where the basement is and there's a decent pool forming in your hotel room from all the rain pouring in from under the door!! The rain was bucketing down, on all angles and the wind was howling!! The next day we found out that 45 people had died due to numerous tornado's in numerous local counties.... May they rest in peace.

The tour wound up in Louisianna - firstly in New Orleans & then Lafayette. As our Tour Sched goes in regards to missing local events, we arrived in New Orleans approx 28hrs after Mardi Gras finished..! D'oh!! Oh well, them's the breaks!! It was also interesting seeing New Orleans after Katrina & actually meeting people who were affected by it. A few of the crew lost their houses - they saw their houses 40 odd feet under water... Alot of local New Orlean-ians had moved away into local counties or across State lines.

There is definately a sense of pride within the community. They are even even promoting to themselves - as in there are numerous billboards stating that "We're Back In Business", "2nd Store Now Re-Opened". The town has quite a relaxed feel to it. It has inklings of Melbourne about it. There are still parts of New Orleans that are still devestated & there are Tent Cities underneath the Interstate where families reside, still awaiting shelter. There was also a sombre mode over the whole Tour Bus as we drove past the Superdome...

Where we were performing, Dixon Hall, was the only theatre left in New Orleans that wasn't either wiped out or still under major repair. The lower seating was a different colour & had been replaced due to water damage. The crew were a good bunch & in amongst them, we found the US version of Kevy O'Brien. It was Toad in the UK from Malvern & here, in New Orleans, we found Chainsaw. He was a great character to meet & then he and Rebecca, one of the spot ops, took us out for a night out on Bourbon Street....

Christian, me, Rebecca, Dan & Chainsaw

Bourbon St is basically like Koh San Rd in Thailand - both are areas that are unlike anything I've experienced in Australia. It is basically a long street that has bar after bar after bar after... There is a tonne of live music around. Some of it is pretty decent & some of it is loud, drunk 'pub' kinda rock. The first thing we had to do was try both a 'Hand Grenade' & a 'Hurricane' - 2 local drinks. I didn't ask but I'm assuming the 'Hurricane' was made after Katrina..? The 'Hand Grenade' was kinda like a Midori Illusion, nice but not really my style. The 'Hurricane' was... Pretty much like a Long Island Iced Tea but with red soda/cordial as the mixer... Dangerous but quite nice.

Razoo was the place where Chainsaw & Rebecca

unleashed a true New Orleans style carnage upon us - mainly in the form of 'Tooters'. We were told that we had to have a shot from the bar, to which we agreed. We got to select our shot from a rack of test tubes. Once I'd selected one the bar girl pulled out the tube and I went to reach for the tube but the girl hoped up onto the bar - at this point I was thinking "the bar is quite wide but I'm sure she could just pass it to me" - and then she put the round edge of the tube into her mouth, put her hand on the back of my head, lowered her head til it was lower than mine, lined up the open end of the tube with my mouth and then raised her head up & emptied the shot down my throat!

And from there on in, a true Bourbon St experience was born! Chainsaw spun a story to one of the Tooter waitresses (they walk around with trays all evening) that Dan was an Aussie Celebrity, possibly from a band. Chainsaw made the lead, Rebecca backed him up, Dan started to get embarrassed and walked away so I decided to join in the game. The Tooter Girl started to ask me questions about how Dan was 'famous' & then determined, and unfortunately this is true, that "you don't look like you'd be in a band" (few seconds of gears whirring) "Ooooooh, you must be his minder!! Oh my God!! Where did he go...?" Game on! The more embarrased Dan got, the more he behaved like a celebrity wanting privacy!! Gold!!

Next stop was the Bourbon Cowboy where I did something that I always knew I'd try if I ever came upon one... a Mechanical Bull. It was $5 for three attempts & my third attempt, can be viewed here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmTkdRj2RAM !! Aparantley my efforts weren't too bad!! Either way, I was quite impressed with my efforts!!

One of the main things I enjoyed about New Orleans was the food - it was different & it had flavour!! Gumbo, jimbalaya, red beans & rice & SO many other things. It wasn't unitl here that I realised that SO much other American chow is pretty much the same - everywhere!! Alot of it has to do, I think, with the fact that there appears to be very few supermarkets or places where you can buy fresh produce. Also as we've mostly been eating in Diners so it's been pretty standard fare everywhere we go. The Mexican in California was GOLD but pales to 2nd after Louisianna tucker. High up there on the list!!

Anyway, that's enough of me rambling for the mo'. A full photo entry to follow & then more to come about New Orleans as I meet up with my Brother and we begin a whole new chapter....