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i didnt take nearly as many pictures as i should have on my trip. Still kicking myself that i dont have a picture with Randall and Andy in the Velvet Eagle…that’s almost unforgivable. oh well. here’s a few of the times that i did have my camera handy. i guess i’ll do these in somewhat chronological order. (thanks to geof for taking most of these pictures)

here’s jeremy casella and i enjoying good coffee and good conversation at Bongo Java in East Nashville. I really enjoyed hanging out with him and talking. It was definitely something I’d do more of if i lived there. Jeremy’s working on a record now that i will be pimping very hard here once it is finished.

here’s me in the bathroom at Bongo Java (not going to the bathroom, just in the bathroom…that would be gross). I just thought it was a cool bathroom wall so i snapped a picture of it. That news reporter in the background is saying something to the effect of “there are aliens jumping out of urinals in Nashville”.

Here’s Derek Webb and me hammering tacos from the San Antonio Taco Company (SatCo if you’re cool). I’m rocking the chicken taco in that picture i think, though i also had the pulled pork and the beef. Not the best decision at 11:30pm, but they were worth it.

Before we left Derek’s house i had to snap a picture of his guitars. pretty maids all in a row. you can even see the infamous guitar with a hole in it there towards the back.

visual proof of the breakdown. That’s Geof standing by his truck while Butch loads her up onto the wrecker. I-65 will always hold a special place in my heart after that incident.

Derek Webb, yours truly, and mr. new york times best-seller list himself, Donald Miller. apparently right before this picture was taken the photographer (aka geof) said “derek and don, try to look unamused”. they captured that sentiment quite well. even still, i was happy i got the picture because catching up with the two of them was basically the reason for the trip.

there’s a few other photos that might show up later…but those basically summed up what happened. although, like i said, i’m pretty ticked i didnt get a photo with andy and randall. but that’s neither here no there.

back at work for two days…next week i’ll actually be up in Massachusetts for a work-related conference. should be a hoot.

bry

my gosh it has been a long day. where do i start? i suppose at the beginning.

woke up this morning in the spare bedroom at derek’s house. we were up talking until 2:30am or so, which was fun. Derek’s into LOST now, so that’s always a plus. Talked about lots of random stuff, as folks tend to do when they’re tired.

Speaking of where i slept, Derek was telling us about their friend Allan Heinberg, who lives out in L.A. Allan writes for Grey’s Anatomy, writes comic books, used to write for Gilmore girls, and is obviously cool. He’s actually the Co-Executive Producer for Grey’s Anatomy, the #1 show in the country right now. that makes him me pretty cool in my book. and the fact that i thought it was cool to sleep in the same room he slept in a few weeks ago when he stayed with derek and sandra basically makes me uncool. and i’m ok with that.

so we left the webb house with derek still sleeping. geof and i went to Pancake Pantry at 10:30am but the line was out the door, so we opted for Cracker Barrel.

Sometime after Noon on I-65 about 45 minutes South of Nasvhille the temp of Geof’s truck starting to go up and the the gage was pegged. We pulled over and smoke/steam billowed out from under the hood for about 15 minutes. We were broken down on a major interstate. 30 minutes later Butch showed up to tow us into Pulaski, Tennessee. We sat at the local mechanic’s place for over an hour while they figured out that the belt that drives the alternator and water pump was gone. Quick fix right? yes, until they found the huge crack in the radiator. ouch. these were not the best times.

an hour later we were back on the road in a rental car. Geof decided to get his car fixed and then i think he’s gonna sell the thing. We stopped at Chik-Fil-A for some energy and made it to the venue an hour before the show. Snuck backstage a few minutes before showtime and got derek to burn us a copy of his new double-disc project. no new songs, just different versions of other songs. a few from each of his discs. the same 10 songs will be on each disc. one disc is an acoustic recording, done in derek’s house, and done well. this one is for in-store sales. the other disc features the same ten songs completely broken down and remixed for an itunes only record. also got to say hi to donnie miller again, so that was cool. he was like, “wait, you dont live around here.” and i was like “yeah.” then we had a long fistfight and i won.

Derek’s set lasted an hour and was pretty good. highlight was “What you Want”. Don spoke afterwards and it was intriguing as always. lots of good stuff to think about.

Funniest moment of the night was some guy who recognized me from pictures online because of the Caedmon’s Ecuador trip. He was even wearing a caedmonscall.net sweatshirt. haha, thats my website! i was obviously loving it!

so now i sit in a Sleep Inn in Alabama. excited about flying home tomorrow to see my best friend and my kids. Being away from home so much reminds me how much i love being there. These trips are fun for sure, and I’ve got some great memories and some pics to share, but there’s nothing like being with my family. man i cant wait. seriously, i cannot wait.

i’ll post Pt 5 of the Nashville trip - the picture post - once I’m home.

bryan

ok, quick recap of the day. this post will feature copious amounts of name-dropping, and i know noone cares about any of these people, but this was my day was made of so this is what you’ll get.

11:00am - leave for nashville a little late. 2-hour ride isn’t too bad. grabbed a Coke Zero for the ride, which gave me a nice caffiene boost.

1:00pm - get to Andy O’s, head out to this southern cooking place called Monell’s with Andy and Randall and meet Jeremy there. The food was amazing. and we were stuffed. Lots of great convo. Lots of good food. I enjoyed the meatloaf, which is something that i dont think i’ve ever said before.

3:00pm - back to Andy’s house for a few minutes to hang. Say goodbye and head over to Katy Bowsers so geof can take a few pictures for her website.

6:30pm - spent a half hour meeting Katy Bowser and her husband Kenny Hutson. They were really cool. Then we met Jeremy for coffee at Bongo Java. We got to talk and ramble about lots of stuff for a while, which i loved being able to do. He’s a cool guy, and he’s probably reading this, so let me also say that he is a wonderful human being. Before he left, he played us a few tracks from the CD he’s in the studio recording now and it sounded amazing. really cool and really different from what i expected. so i’m really excited to see what the finished product sounded like.

10:00pm - after driving around Nashville for awhile, we met up with Derek at this cool place called Fido’s for a beer. We were all hungry so we headed over to the San Antonio Taco Company for some grub. It was incredilbly good. i had a pulled pork burrito, a beef burrito, and a chicken burrito. And then i was stuffed and not so hungry anymore.

12:30am - so now i sit, stuffed to the stinking gills, on derek’s couch as derek, geof, and i all check emails on our laptops. their Mac laptops are giving my PC laptop dirty looks. the jerks. We’re going to crash here tonight and then head south with derek tomorrow around lunchtime. It’s a 4-hour ride to birmingham. should be fun. looking forward to hearing derek play and seeing don tomorrow.

really miss the fam…cant wait to see them. later gators…

well, i slept great last night in my arctic hotel room. slept in until 8am EST, so the alarm clock here said 7am, but i was rested…and my headache was gone. thankfully. checked my email and watched SportsCenter without getting out of bed. if only every monday morning was so relaxing.

i’ve got one cup of coffee in me, and i’m going to shower and shave because Geof will be here to pick me up within the hour. We’ve got a 2-hour drive north to Nashville. It’s raining pretty steadily now and it won’t stop until tomorrow. it’s actually a little cold here as well, good thing i brought my Brasil Track Jacket that i picked up at Target for $12 a few months ago on the clearance rack. gotta love the Target Clearance rack…it’s a thing of beauty.

i was reading the green section of the USA Today this morning. lots of interesting things. I hate this whole fight between HD DVD and Blu-ray. It sounds like it’s halting the technology of high def DVDs from getting into more people’s hands becuase folks are waiting to see which format will win out. no one wants to be stuck with the wrong format. my money is on HD DVD. i think it has a better name, there are currently more DVDs available for it, and it’s less expensive. I was also reading about E85 automobile fuel, which is 85% ethanol and 15% gas. sounds like a move in the right direction once auto makers start producing cars that are made to run well on it.

talked to erica for a while this morning. sounds like a few girls are coming over tonight to make pumpkin rolls. guess what i’ll be putting to my lips as soon as i walk through the door on wednesday? erica’s lips. haha. but after that, a piece of pumpkin roll won’t be far behind.

time to get moving…more updates later…