The Rocky Road to Raleigh

I've had family visiting in the last couple of cities so it's been a few days since I've updated my journal. The last three shows have been great fun as we've headed south and east of the Mississippi after leaving Champaign. We're in the middle of a five-in-a-row group of shows. We'll have one day off during which we'll travel for 11 hours and then do five more shows in a row. Needless to say we're into the hardest stretch of the tour.

I'm having a great time though and it was nice to see my mother, sister and her children in Louisville. They drove all the way over from Kennett, Mo. to see the show which was a particularly good one. After the show they met all and band members and Yanni.

Angie joined me in Knoxville and we spent the day together. It was hard to say goodbye to her and get back on the bus to head to the venue.

I had 30 or so friends, students and former students at the Knoxville show last night and it was incredibly encouraging to hear them cheer. For those of you who couldn't make it - the rumor of hearing Rocky Top at a Yanni concert are true. After Yanni announced that I was there "All the way from Chattanooga Tennessee!" The crowd made me feel great with a rousing response. Yanni then said "Hey, can you play Rocky Top on that thing?" I don't know what got the bigger response, hearing me play it, or hearing Yanni say it. Either way it was a moment that I'll never forget and one that Yanni fans in Knoxville will probably be talking about for a long time.

David and I headed out to meet friends and fans after the show and got lost for a few minutes in the catacombs beneath Thompson-Boling Arena. I was on the cell phone with various groups of friends trying to get all of us together in one spot. I lost David in the process and eventually found a group of about 20 friends. Once again, thanks guys for coming. I miss seeing you all and can't wait to be back home in a few weeks.

I made my way back to the busses shortly before departure time. We had a planned six hour overnighter to Raleigh. It was windy and raining and Lance our bus driver told us to put on the velcro pajamas for this trip as we were crossing the Smokies. His prediction was correct. We got tossed around a lot and it was a sleepless night for just about everyone until we were about 150 miles from our destination. All of the sudden it felt like the bus wasn't even moving for an hour or so and I fell fast asleep. It wasn't until we arrived in Raleigh around 6:30am that I learned that a drunk driver had sideswiped one of the other busses! The collision was minor and didn't require any immediate repair so we were on our way in about an hour and the guilty party was presumably on his way to jail.

I have more stories to tell but I've got to get cleaned up and ready to go to lunch with one of my favorite hammer dulcimer luthiers, James Jones, and Steve Schmania who is a partner in the development of the linear chromatic HD.

I posted a few new pictures today as well on the Photographs page. ¶ 10:51 AM