God and Montana's blessings

Billings, Mt 

Aaron mixing at 104db's, baby!!!

The days they all start the same at this point. You wake up and head out early not really thinking about the town you’re heading to.  We opened for Dierks Bentley last week so I expected more of the same. We then pull up to a big ass arena in Billlings, Montana (thought it’d be just another dusty and hot stage) but it ended up being (to me) an imposing  building. Our van looked like a matchbox car beside it. Walk in and it’s the same. I felt tiny and a little lost . Where’s the “grandstand” and the place to put up my little plastic table (and where’s the smell of cow and horse shit)? They point me in direction of my “merch place”. It was across the BIG ass arena and up an elevator . I walk that mile, go up that elevator but THEN, I see a guy (who ends up being  a nice guy) who wants all of our merch. He works for the venue. I end up having to give all of Jason’s “product” to a group of people that was "to sell for us".I can’t touch it, they tell me. Well THAT sucks! They don’t know who the hell Jason is nor do they probably care. I told them about the single and video and everything that I could think of to make them interested (one of the girls then started watching the “Ferris Wheel” vid on her phone). I just basically tried to get them to like me (and  in turn Jason and his music).You know, after a while they actually seemed to show interest. Still I hated the idea and getting them to understand that what we needed was to sell as much as possible at the “signing table” and for them to help us out with that, which they actually did with 2 cute girls (which always helps) walking up and down the line selling CD’s and pix (ran outta ALL of our pix and almost ran out of CD’s).

Show started. HOLY SHIT, it was just really something to watch unfold. How the guys responded I did NOT expect.  I didn’t realize that Jason had never played in an arena of this size (probably held 10,000- 15,000). He said (to the crowd) that when he first walked in to the building that “his heart sank”. It was imposing to him. But then it became indescribable to say what it was like to watch the guys shine from the FIRST to the last damn note.  I’ve seen it go either way, some get swallowed up or they get inspired and you just don’t know until it all goes down. I could hear the crowds response and (later heard) that there were a BUNCH of them on their feet during the last song but I was in the middle of getting all of the signing shit ready (uh, they didn’t know he’d actually need a table)L. Hell I’m just their merch guy, but I felt so proud for the few songs that I DID get to watch.

 Signing table. HUGE  and seemingly endless line that we had to “cap” as soon as we could because it was SO long and around a corner.  After a while, Jason looked up and then looked a little helpless at how much was left to do. It was SO great to watch happen. Everything, from the line to the people’s comments to Jason about his music and his show and his band.

The freakin endless signing line

You know, you could not have asked for a better way to end 3 ½ weeks on the road. In looking at the “flipcaming” this morning it was SO great to watch the guys see how great they really played. More times than not you look at stuff in the morning and it just don’t play back the same as you’d remembered (or maybe had created) in your mind. Last night really happened. The crowd response, the performances and all. Maybe it was God’s little present I guess for all of the dusty stages, the never ceasing dirty sweat, the times where the “green room” was a scalding hot van in the middle of a dirt field. Don’t get me wrong and crazy as it sounds, I actually enjoyed those days and I think without them you would  NEVER appreciate this kinda night. Thanks to God and Montana for that gift to the band (and me).  Don’t even  think that we took any of it for granted.

Post show beers with Cassidy (current Dierks Bass player/ex JJ player) 

The Big ass building

Justin and the girls selling some JJ merch :)

SOMEbody can't wait until they get to their room

Now the LONG 24 hour drive home… finally.  

Losing my shit and porn star fantasies

Our "Green Room" for Friday night. Seriously, this was our "green room".  Stage is 10 yards to the right of this.

Charly Salvatore-helping a poor guy out... me!

Leaving shit behind is my life as of late. I went on a 6 month trip all around the damn south and literally left a tooth brush and phone charger (traveling by myself). In the last 12 hours, I’ve left a (Jason Jones) banner AND my glasses somewhere in the last 120 miles! Yesterday, we made our next to last show in Ogallala, NE. ran into a friend who’s doing what I’m doing, managing a new act while selling merch for a label act. Good to trade ideas in how to develop a new artist in today’s new world (basically, building an artist's following outside of the traditional “Record Business’). Charly also told me little tricks to being a “merch guy” as little as how to arrange money in your pocket. You get a few hundred dollars in your pocket and it just becomes a wad of money. Shoulda asked him a system for NOT losing all of my shit!). Thanks Charly. Stopped at lunch and Matt had his first taste of “Rocky Mountain Oysters” (Bull gonads). Actually, bout everyone had a sample ('cept for Jason/wimp). It tastes like Chicken……balls. Actually, not that bad but I won’t be ordering some for lunch today. Show went fine sales were average (which now I’m unhappy with). Here’s to getting the banner back, finding my glasses and getting laid by a porn star all in one night (a man can dream can’t he?).  

How fast is $77?

Coincidentally it's 77MPH. Well, I lived to tell the story Wed. night . Actually there’s no story to tell. My B&B owners were not mass murderers  :( or if there were they were kind enough to spare me. I had to cover 500+ miles to pick the band up which was going along smoothly (minus the hellacious cross-winds of southern Wyoming) until officer Jeff stopped me north of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Apparently I was going $77 over the speed limit, which was nice of him seeing I couldn’t find the insurance OR registration! 

A few more miles of Tony Lane songs later got me to Denver to pick up the band. There were BIG hugs ALL around and Matt (always the tough guy just "broke down"). It was a touching reunion. The band then subtly fought Jason for where to eat but given it's "Jason Jones" (that's reason we're all out here) we stop at his suggestion. Actually, it was a good choice. I guess I was still buzzed from all the caffeine and decided to keep on driving on to Ogallala (good GOD what a town name), NE. It's a buzz kill leaving Colorado for Nebraska but gotta get back to work.  

 2 shows (plus two days of travel) left on this blog trip. So far, so good. Jason’s getting his "Ferris Wheel" video played on GAC and CMT. Hopefully it'll help the damn single on up the charts. I'm just hoping in the immediate future that we'll sell a SHIT load more of merch! You can't eat with "airplay" but you can eat with cash :). All about cash, baby!

Hefeweizen,howling coyottes and my dying words

Tetons

B&B for the night

Stayed under the blankets for as long as I could this morning then got my weenie ass out and into a pretty damn cold morning (probly in the 40’s still). I said screw it, with ALL those people at that KOA, I’d just as soon head on down the road. Driggs,ID, and the incredible Teton Valley led me to Jackson Hole where I decided to stay for the night. Had a nice local Hoback Hefeweizen and pizza at the Snake River Brewery. Blogged about the day before at the bar while furiously looking for a cheap place to stay and NOT finding a camping area available but I did find a “somewhat cheap” B&B (Priceline sucked the BIG one this time around). I have been the last to discover that Jackson Hole,Wyoming does NOT have an “off season” and a coupla hours down the road gets me to the middle of nowhere. Gonna have to be an 8+ hour drive tomorrow to Denver. No biggie. Least I won’t have crying babies, THREE different snorer’s in the nearby tents (one guy I assume was SO low, I seriously thought it coulda been a bear) or buffalo, grizzly, howling coyotes/wolves or something that was eerie as shit or snakes to worry about. That is, unless my B&B hosts are mass murders. They seem sweet enough but I guess that’s always an option and would make for a mighty entertaining blog (if I lived to tell, that is).  Then again, if I don’t I’m staying in the “Twin Mountain River Ranch” in Jackson Hole, WY. Somebody make it a dramatic article and obit where I fought tooth and nail down to the last and my dying words were “Why didn’t I have that sex change at 16!” Surprisingly enough said his friends, family and ex-girlfriends (his ex-wife only saying that she was glad that he was dead). 

I bet the band is SO excited to see me tomorrow!!! I can tell how Jason and the band have grown SO emotionally "attached" to me. It's obvious. 

Yellowstone "Ain't That America, For You and Me"

 Well the northern bastard U.S. Grant did a great thing. He made "Yellowstone" the first national park and  that was a great thing! In the few days away from my merch gig, Scott Kernahan asked me if I wanted to "stay out there" (don't think he meant it figuratively) while the band had other things to do and to do what I did a year ago, blog and shit. Well, it's been a great thing (oddly enough, exactly a year later). It made me do what I did last year, pay closer attention to things that I'd otherwise ignore. Well I stopped by Yellowstone maybe because me and my family went there 30+ years ago. It was about a year or so after my mother had passed away on like a "Brady Bunch" vacation around the country. Don't know if that's why but I knew that I had to try and do it. Anyways, here's what I did:

Holy SHIT, the prices have went up in 30+ years!

Checked in to the 'Mack Daddy" of KOA's! I don't know how many tents there were but it was HUGE!

Had a great pizza and beer at "Wild West Pizzeria" in West Yellowstone. Checked the weather and realized the forecast for the overnight was 37 degrees and thunderstorms!

Set up my tent,  and in driving in to the park, this mid 60's serious looking "Park Ranger" asked me if I was on business (seeing the trailer behind me, I guess). I said that I was killing time between here and Denver to pick up a band (I guess I should said the "kids"). He looked at me hard (for a "Park Ranger", that is) and said, are you HERE for commercial business. All I knew was to repeat what I'd said the first time (didn't seem that tricky). Anyways, he said that because I seemed to answer him "honestly", I was allowed to go through but otherwise NO commercial vehicles were allowed inside (still don't know if I was commercial or not, it didn't feel like a commercial to me). Whew, I'd made it through "customs", of sorts I guess. Anyways, once inside it was one of those times where you feel SO much like an american for some cheesy ass reason. I was listening to a 920AM station play "Pink Houses": "Ain't that America, for you and me, Ain't that America, Something to see baby, Ain't that America, Home of the Free..." Those specific lines couldn't have been more fitting. As stupid as that sounds, that's actually what I felt. Well, I made the predictable pilgrimage to "Old Faithful". Watched it "go off",  walked around the area and just watched the people. People from all other the world were there. Stopped by the big ol' Old Faithful Inn.

This is how you take pix while driving (I KNOW I'd cleaned those damn windows!)

If only I knew how :(

Old Faithful Inn Lobby

I SWEAR be damned! I checked their license plate and they were from Louisiana! Cyndi won't believe me but it's true!

Another drive-by shot

this car in front of me actually passed me. There's like a dozen cars in front and the speed limit is 45. Can you say "Type A"?

Tent City

That dude on the right got HAMMERED!

After driving back in the afternoon, seeing Elk, Moose and buffalo along the way, I got back to my tent, warmed up some soup over my Coleman burner. Looked at ALL the literature about how many ways you could get killed in the area: bear, buffalo (who apparently gore a shit loada people) and rattle snakes just for starters. Well, I started a fire, blogged about "Kostas and Custer" drank some box wine, pulled everybody's blankets out of the van, crawled under them and waited for whatever animal chose to "do me in" (local options seemed to be endless). I have to admit, there was a family behind me with crying babies (most of the night) and I was hoping that the bears would be more willing to head that way seeing as I had a damn gun (which I'm not sure would really help against a grizzly) and they in turn had helpless, defenseless babies (it was a NO brainer, to me!). Well, I woke up (alive) and headed out. ON to another day before I get to Denver. 

Custer, Kostas & Blogging by the campfire

da man himself, Kostas (pickin steak outta his teeth)

Kostas' Antique Store

Custer's last stand

I saw these horses on the next hill over from "Last Stand" hill

Driving to Custer's last Stand/Little Bighorn. I expected what I hear of Gettysburg. A modern world built around a civil war site. Little Bighorn is nothing of the sort. Check it out if you're ever in Mid-Montana area. Great! I'll post a coupla pics.

Kostas. If you don't know him but listened to Country Music in the last 20 years, you've probably loved a lot of  his songs: Timber, I'm Falling In Love", "On Down The Line" & "Blame It On Your Heart"-ALL great Patty Loveless hits,  "Ain't That Lonely Yet" & "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose"-GREAT Dwight Yoakam hits and one of my faves EVER "Lord Have Mercy On The Working Man"-Travis Tritt. Those are just a few. It's just laughable that this guy AIN'T in the “Songwriters Hall of Fame". Anyways, that ain’t my “card game”.  Well being in the land of Kostas, I thought I'd give him a ring. We meet at his place and head out to this GREAT steak place in his area (Manhattan,MT) and this is some of what we talked about (aside from Greek Orthodox Church history):

Born in Greece but moved to Montana with his dad, mom and aunt when he was young.

I made Kostas stop to take a picture. Guess he sees it every night, I don't.

His first job at 7 was “cleaning the chicken shit off of the eggs” for $2 a month.

His mom bought him his first guitar when he was 7 or 8, which was a Harmony Sovereign. He said they were “industrial strength” guitars that she’d probably paid around $35.

Grew up listening to Greek, Middle Eastern and Baltic music while in Greece. After moving to the US (in the mid 50’s) he and his dad listened to Faron Young, Kitty Wells, Elvis, Buck Owens, Wanda Jackson, Fleetwoods, etc….  

Kostas moved to Nashville in '89 and felt REALLY outta place winning the NSAI "Songwriter Of The Year" that year. He'd never heard of the organization long before that and felt outta place as hell at the awards. He said, I'm sure they were like "who the hell is Kostas?" (as he was thinking what the hell is the NSAI). He'd given some music to Claire Lynch back in the 80's and a few years later she'd given the music to Tony Brown (successful A&R guy and Producer) and the rest is what you'd call Country Music history.

Bloggin by the campfire

 Kostas still writes and played me a song “Indigo” I think he’d call it. It was more of a Samba typa song and was cool as shit! Kostas said he never wrote "for Nashville" and said he was never good at “copy-cat writing”. He wrote more based off of inspiration, I guess. Seems to have made him a good retirement. If you want to hear one of the most unique writers of the last 25 years of Country music songwriting, Kostas IS a must listen. No one else wrote, sang or played like him. He now lives above his antique store outside of Boseman. He seems happy. Kind and VERY wise man. Kostas makes me glad to have been lead down the road that I was lead down. I've learned something from every visit with him.
Onward to Yellowstone... en-route to Denver to pick up the kids.

Dropping off the kids

Me withOUT the whiny ass kids in the backseats a bitching and a moaning. 

I've GOT to get this windshield cleaned! East of Billing, MT

Back to camping with some storm clouds looking west

Another early morning yesterday so we could drive the 4 hours to Bismarck,SD to drop off the kids (band) and leave me to myself until Thursday afternoon. Had a plan to camp at a KOA in Mile City, MT., no luck. It was full and they recommended another "campground" that looked more like a field beside the interstate. No thanks. I thought I'd go ahead and head toward Billings and see how far I got. Googling, map searching and 120 miles later I found this KOA (I'm bloggin from) around Hardin,MT. It's close to "Little Big Horn" and driving in looked JUST like the terrain of my early memories of watching the (now) cheesy Fess Parker and Ed Ames/Lone Ranger landscape. Bluff's where the Indian's would come over to attack the poor harmless cowboys in other old movies. Today I'm gonna go see where that old Union bastard died (Custer, that is).
Spent last night laying in my tent like old times. Why JUST a year ago today I was spending two hours trying to grill a potato at an oilfield campground in Odessa,Texas on my original blogging journey (last years blog). Oh how time flies and who knew (AND the last potato I've grilled)?