5/6/00 - Vegas Baby!

Hello Friends,

We just finished playing Mandalay Bay on the second night of the tour. For three bands who cut their teeth in arenas, it was only fitting to put this show in one like the new venue here at the Mandalay Bay. Talk about a comfort zone!

We are already in a groove, and now that REO and us have both played the middle position of the show, we have got the sets timed to fit everything into the time allowed. Think about it--it really is a lot of music to squeeze into one night.

An interesting thing happened to me during the guitar solo on "Too Much Time" tonight. All of a sudden my in ear monitor went dead. So I went from having a beautiful stereo mix in my ears to having these solid ear plugs blocking out everything. I yanked them out and listened to the reflected mix from the main PA system to get my bearings to finish the song. Our stage left techs could see that there was a problem so when the lights went down at the end of the song, I yanked the transmitter off my belt and handed it to JJ and said "I think I need a new battery!" I figured we would play the next song and once it was over I would get hooked back up and once again be able to hear my mix. But no more than 20 seconds after I yanked off the pack, suddenly JJ was hooking it to my belt again at the exact moment I was starting "Miss America!" Whoa! It felt like the equivalent of those lightening fast tire changes at NASCAR races. Even our seasoned crew was impressed and JJ was being applauded all around as the word spread of his insanely swift response! We are pretty easily amused I guess, but at the same time, our crew really is a black belt ninja force. They never stop amazing us with how easy they make this look.

On another subject, as soon as we arrived today and looked out the window, we realized that among the many different swimming pools here, there was a wave pool like none I had ever seen. So once we had breakfast, we headed down there. While Jeanne laid out I hit the pool and body surfed for the next two hours, alternately riding the man-made wave all the way up to the man-made bank, which is actually a grate--not the most comfortable landing--and hanging out in the deep end treading water, getting lost in the cycle of the waves. I was not the only guy my age behaving like a kid--riding the wave, turning back around and getting back into position for another and another wave.

Our life is really hard, as you can tell.

Next stop--San Bernardino!

See you there...