9/13/98 ~ Cleveland, OH

We arrived in Cleveland at about 8:00 am, after driving all night and checked into the hotel to try and get another few hours sleep. Bob Birch reminded me that the last time he and I were there in Cleveland was when we rented a car and drove up to visit my friend Howie Epstien/ bassist for Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and see them play out at the Blossom Ampitheater on the Made in England tour in '95. The afternoon was spent working on the computer, and catching up with some friends in the area. The venue was right next door to the hotel, so we didn't have to leave for the show until quite late in the afternoon. The crew had arrived later than usual because of the long drive, and was barely ready for us to check our gear when we arrived. We didn't rehearse at all, just individually check out our setups and played whatever instruments that Clive needed to hear to tune up the house PA system. It was going to be nearly impossible to top the energy level of the Madison show, and the initial response when we went out onstage was pretty underwhelming. The acoustics of the hall were excellent however, and soon the energy of the music started that synergetic feeling with the crowd. There was at least one guy in the crowd dressed up as Elton, circa 1975, with a gold top hat and big glasses. We all got a kick out of that - not sure if Elton saw him though. There was also a young boy who for most of the show I could only see his hands on the stage, except when he would hoist himself up to watch for as long as he could hold out. My favorite audience member had to be an octegenarian - a little old lady who was barely tall enough to see over the lip of the stage, but she was on her feet rocking out during the whole show. Some people in the upper section were motioning me to throw them some picks, and I tried to, but there is only so far a pick can be thrown! I do wish that everybody at a show would get the chance to be up front at least for a song or two, just to be up close and personal with the band. After the show was done we hurried back to the bus to get back to the hotel, and since it was so close to the venue many audience members were in the lobby and around the hotel as we came in, congratulating us on a job well done. It was nice to see some folks after the show, except when someone stuck a camera right in my face and flashed it in my eyes with no warning! Now, I don't ever mind stopping for a photo, but it is nice to be asked. We now will have two days off before the next show in Albany, then it is off to Hartford where Davey and I will do an in-store appearance to play some of Crop Circles at Culter's Compact Disc store in New Haven at 1:00 in the afternoon, then will play with Elton at the Hartford Civic Center that night - another busy day.
 
 
 

After the show in Cleveland we had the choice of driving on to Albany or going home for a couple days. I opted for going home, as usual. Most of the rest of the guys stayed in Albany except Guy, who has been going to Atlanta to work on "Elaborate Lives". He is the Music Arranger / Orchestrator, and has been working with the live musicians to recreate the sound of Elton's demos. The guys who stayed in Albany said that I made the right choice by staying home! My flight connected in Pittsburg, and I took advantage of the 90 minute layover to visit the Skymall for some shopping in the airport, buying jeans at the Gap, a video of the Last Czar from the Discovery store, and Beanie Babies for my young relatives. I arrived in Albany and met Jack at the Taxi stand, and we shared a cab to the hotel, where we met DC and our bus. The venue was quite near, and as we would be driving on the Hartford overnight, we left for the gig quite early. When I arrived at the venue, Fergy informed me that he had been having some trouble with the TC Electronics G-Force while loading in some new software. I went in and we spent nearly 2 hours trying to get it to work, and couldn't get it going properly. We ended up setting up some individual effect pedals to use for the show, and I had to quickly set the tone settings on each pedal to get as close to the sounds that I was used to using normally. By now it was almost gig time, but we did have a few minutes to listen to some old Four Seasons cuts in the bus before changing for the show! Billy Joel's guitarist Tommy Burns visited us backstage, and it was nice to see him as we hadn't seen him since the last EJ/BJ show in June. We were again performing in the round, and the crowd was rockin' pretty early on in the show, down in front about 3 or 4 songs in to the set. The sound in the hall was very echo-ey, making it really difficult to hear the timing well. I asked to have some of the house speakers turned down, which seemed to help, but playing in time required alot of concentration, when normally it is an easy, natural thing to do. By mid-set the band seemed to come together and overcome the sound problems, and played well for the rest of the show. I think I went for a new record in pick-throwing, causing Fergy to have to refill my pick supply four times during the show! As we drove away in the bus after the show we were greeted by cheers from the audience members who were out on the street walking to their cars. It was kind of nice, a bit like a parade! Tomorrow will be a busy day, with the in-store Crop Circles performance at Cutler's Compact Discs in New Haven, then the EJ show in Hartford, so I will attempt to get some sleep in the bus bunks.

9/18/98 ~ Hartford
We arrived in Hartford at about 1:30 am after playing in Albany and driving on the bus, and tried to get as much sleep as possible for the busy next day. Davey and I were picked up at 11:30 in the morning by a staff member from Cutler's Compact Discs, a huge store in New Haven where we were scheduled to do an in-store performance to promote our CD Crop Circles. About an hour's drive later we were loading our guitars into the store, and getting aquainted with the store cat "Wally", who took a special interest in our guitars. The performance was a very intimate one, with no amps or mics, and the audience was gathered around where we sat playing very closely. We did about eight numbers from the CD, then signed a few discs before it was time to head back down to Hartford. Diane Jubrey, who is an artist rep for the Kaman company (Davey and I play their Takamine and Ovation guitars) came down to see us, and we are always happy to see her. As soon as we arrived back into Hartford we had to pack our bags and check out of the hotel, as we would be driving down to Boston to spend the night after the show. Davey and I chose to have a leisurely late lunch at the hotel, then walk over to the venue which was right across the street. I arrived to find that Fergy had solved most of the problems that we'd had with the G-Force unit, and best of all that Diane had brought me a new guitar! It is a beautiful Takamine Limited Edition '98 model, with the sun and moon inlaid in wood and pearl around the soundhole, and beautifully figured rosewood back and sides - just stunning to look at and to listen to! I had some family visiting, plus some other folks from Kaman as my guests for the show, and I even got the chance to introduce one of my family members to Elton, as we ran into him entering the venue backstage. The show itself started out OK, then quickly rose to be one of the most fun ever for me! The folks directly in front of my area onstage were so nice and supportive, and again I threw out a record number of picks. I was even presented with gifts from the audience - a rose, a guitar pick and a U-Conn Beanie Baby! I really wished that I could've just hugged all the crowd that night - they were just the best! The sound was so much clearer onstage, and that made it so much easier to play and perform than the night before. Even though all the arenas look about the same inside, they can sound very different from one to the next. People often ask me how we can keep our level of enthusiasm up night after night doing the same show. Well, the songs may be the same, but the audience and venue is different each time, so it really is a different "show" each time we do it!
 
 

We arrived in Detroit late afternoon, after flying from Boston following the Hartford show, with the evening off. Jack and I had some Japanese food at a restaurant near our hotel, then it was an evening in for me, watching my favorite show "ER" on TV. The next morning I was taken out to lunch by local luthier Gary Zimnicki, and I also stopped by to see his shop and try some of his newly built guitars, which were very nice. As the venue was quite a ways from the hotel, and we would be dealing with Friday afternoon traffic, we left rather early for the gig, riding the bus for a good hour until we got to the venue. Time was short for Clive to get the PA tuned, so there was no time for a soundcheck. I worked a little more on the settings of my G-Force, and checked all my gear for the show. Davey had some guests at the show - his songwriting partner Steve Trudell and his father, who played trumpet on a lot of the original Motown hits, and their friend, author Elmore Leonard. Fergy is a huge fan of Elmore Leonard, and was thrilled not only to meet him, but to have his picture taken with him too! Lyricist Tim Rice and "Elaborate Lives" director Robb Roth came up from Atlanta (where rehearsals are going on) with Elton to see the show. Tim sat back with Clive at the mixing board, and Robb rocked out down front. It was nice to see them both enjoying the set so much. I had met Tim for the first time during the sessions for The Big Picture and he is a very nice man, and Robb worked at Disneyland back in the early 80s when I did - what a small world! Another guy who I worked at Disneyland with way back in 1974 is Gary Grim, who has been filling in for drum tech Pete Mills while Pete has been on a leave of absence. I have really enjoyed having Gary as part of the crew and will miss him, as this was his last night with us. We do welcome Pete back though, and it was great to see him again. The crowd was more of a listening crowd than usual, and I was kind of suprised to see them sitting down, even during "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", but when it was through they really went nuts. Detroit being Bob Birch's hometown, Elton gave him a big introduction, and the place went crazy - screaming, clapping and for a long time too -it was great to see Bob get that kind of recognition from his hometown crowd. Once again I had some great folks down on front of me, noticing all my guitars, giving me lots of energy and smiles. It makes such a difference to have those kind of people there up close, and every night I really appreciate them so much - so all of you who were there rockin' with me, a big THANKS and a cyber-hug for all of you!
 

As we had two shows in Detroit, we had a morning off and DC and I went over to a nearby mall and did some shopping. I found a couple cool outfits and some gifts for my relatives, plus a great deal on a beautiful, big amethyst, crystal formation. Got back to the hotel just in time to have lunch with Tom Stanton, editor of East End Lights (the U. S. Elton fanzine) and contributing writer Jim Turano, who was in town to visit with Tom and of course to see the show. We had some good Middle-Eastern food, as there is a large Middle-Eastern community near Detroit. After lunch it was time again to head out to the venue, and on the way we watched a video of Elton playing with the Royal Philharmonic in 1972. It was a great concert, and Elton was singing really beautifully. When we got to the venue I did my "chores", checking on all my instruments, and went back out to the bus to just hang out and wait until showtime. Every once in awhile I will get a little blue out on the road, sometimes for no apparent reason and sometimes from an accumulation of things that have built up for awhile. Today was one of those days, and I just didn't really feel in the right frame of mind to perform to my potential. I started the show pretty low energy, and with a not-so-great attitude, but once again the people in front of me were so nice that I just couldn't stay in a bad mood. By the fourth or fifth song I started to feel really great, and the love and positive energy from the audience was very healing feeling to me - thanks to all of you out there tonight Nothing too out of the ordinary happened during the show itself. It was a good crowd, who again gave Bob Birch a nice hometown ovation, and the only funny thing that happened was that someone threw a gift of a joint onstage for us! I personally don't smoke, but that was a nice gesture anyway. Being as our next show isn't until Wednesday in Philly, we once again are going many different ways on our days off. I will enjoy my days off at home, and see everyone again next week. Bye for now...
 

We all came back together in Philly after a few days off, and as always it was nice to see everyone again. Elton and his party are staying over also, so I will get to see some folks that are not always at the shows every night. Howard Rose, Elton's agent, and Colin Bell, his manager, rode over to the venue with Davey, Billy and I (the rest of the guys went earlier) and we all watched a bit of an episode of "The Prisoner" - a great series from the 60s made in England. It was a short trip so we only got to see about half the show! I did my "chores" and visited a little with Jerry, the guitar tech who had filled in for Fergy once or twice. He has been out working for John Fogerty, and told us how that tour had been going. My guests for the evening were Daren Lewis, his fiancee Sarah Lolley and Daren's parents and sister, who were vacationing from England. I met Daren last January when he was working for Creation Records - he is now running his own promotion company up in Pittsburgh. The show started off well, but the sound really took some getting used to. We could all tell that we had been "off" for a few days, as musically we were a little ragged. Davey and I even bumped into each other a couple times, which is very rare for us. We were laughing at ourselves, and at some of the little things that went differently than normal. The audience was pretty good, and during "Rocket Man" someone threw a long pink boa onstage between Davey and I. He was busy playing the slide, so I picked up the boa and wrapped it around his shoulders! Then a few bars later a blue one came flying up onstage and I put that one on myself - we laughed at how were were becoming "Spiders from Mars", recalling the Glam days of the early 70s. Later someone threw up a pair of cool blue sunglasses and I put those on for the rest of the set too. I normally change between the encores so we can leave immediately after the last song is done to avoid traffic, but this time my clothes were so far away that I didn't get back in time for the first few measures of "Bennie and the Jets"! Plus, when I got back onstage I was so out of breath that I could hardly sing. Oh well - another day in the life of the touring musician, or like Rosanne Rosanna Danna used to say on Saturday Night Live"It's always something!"

9/27/98 ~ Philadelphia (2nd show)

 
After our first show in Philly, we had a day off there before playing another show. I went down to South street for some great crepes, and some great shopping too. I found a life-sized talking cardboard standup of Austin Powers that I just had to get for Fergy, who is a big fan of that movie. The area has lots of shops with things that I like - crystals, funky clothes, Tiffany-styled lamps, etc., and I spent the afternoon lunching with friends and browsing through the stores. In the evening I went over to Cherry Hill, NJ to to a great Middle-Eastern restaurant called Norma's, where the food was great and was treated really well, too. The next day was a show day, so I spent most of it resting up for the evening's performance. As everything was still setup from the last show, there was not much to do to get my instruments ready for the show, so I just took in the Austin Powers standup and set it up near Fergy's station. When he saw it he was suprised and just loved it. The show started well, and folks started coming down to the stage pretty quickly. Davey had some trouble with his wireless transmitter and his guitar wasn't on for a good part of "Grey Seal". Later in the set he broke a string on a guitar that doesn't have a fixed bridge, and the change in tension puts the whole guitar out of tune! These things will happen from time to time, but Davey didn't let it get to him - he just soldiered on and performed as well as always. Elton's piano needed some repair work done to it, so his "second" piano was setup onstage and his "first" was sent off for repairs. Although they are supposed to be the same, each one has a slightly different feel, and Elton wasn't happy with the way that it played as the show went on. By the end of the set Elton was really worn out from playing, and opted not to do "Bennie" as an encore. We were all a little confused and unsure of what song was coming next, and all the techs had to be on their toes to be ready for anything. We ended up reversing the order of "Great Ball Of Fire" and ended the show with "Lucy in the Sky with . Diamonds" for the first time. Elton apologised to the audience about the piano, but even when he is having a hard time playing he sounds better than most people on a good day, so the crowd certainly got their money's worth!
 
 

We checked out of our hotel in Philly about noon and got into the bus to head out to the night's show in St. College, PA. This is our second visit during this tour - we played there in the late fall last year too. The drive took about four hours, and Davey, Billy, John M. and I used the time to go over some vocals for more possible additions to the set in Europe - "Hercules" and "Nikita", as well as brushing up on some of the parts in songs we are currently doing. I always enjoy vocal rehearsals, and it seems to make the time go by really quickly. We were all hungry and stopped off at a Wendy's to get some lunch. Phil, our bus driver was going to try and go through the drive-thru, but the bus was much too big! We of course got lots of curious looks from the other patrons there, wondering just who these guys were getting out of this huge bus in the middle of the Pennsylvania countyside. We finally got to the venue, and ran through "Hercules" onstage with all of our instruments and it sounded quite good, even without Elton's vocal and piano parts in there yet. It should be a fun one to play, if it ends up in the set for awhile. I was supposed to have a couple guests from Fender who were nearby helping out on a K2 sporting event, but thet were unable to make it, so I just hung out and waited for showtime. Although the venue is relatively new and quite nice, when the show started it got quite hot and humid feeling, even with my floor fan going. The audience again was warm and receptive, if not the most rowdy crowd. Elton got his #1 piano back, and was much happier playing on that one. We did the full set with all encores, but tried switching the order around just a bit, and it seemed to work well. I was happy to see a few familiar faces out in the crowd from other shows. I sometimes can't believe the great support that we all get from the audience, and how some people come to multiple shows, spending lots of time, energy and money to come out and cheer us all on. To all of you who do that, we truly appreciate it, as we know how difficult it is to get tickets just for one show!
 
 

We had a couple of days off between the St. College show and the Richmond show, and some of us went home, others stayed in Richmond, and Guy went down to Atlanta to keep working on "Elaborate Lives". He says it is coming along well, and I hope to be able to see it on a night off coming up. The stage was a 360 degree one, and the crowd was literally surrounding us. The sound in the venue was very echo-ey, and Clive said it was like mixing a gig from the floor of the Grand Canyon. Elton had played the same venue on the same day and date 25 years ago. The crowd was good, and especially the people in front of me really kept me going with their support and energy. I can't believe that we have been touring for almost a full year now, and will continue until mid December. I can tell that some members of the tour are a little tired from the constant travel. Our New York visit is coming up soon, and Davey and I have an in-store clinic performance at Sam Ash on Friday the 16th at their 48th St. store, so if you are in the NYC area come on down at 6:30 to hear some music from our CD Crop Circles as well as some Q & A and demos of the Sony MDMX4 Mk II that we used to make the CD on. I will also go see The Lion King on broadway for the first time, so I am looking forward to our stay in the Big Apple.
 

We had an overnight drive after the show in Richmond, arriving in Greenville at our hotel at about 5:00 am. I had slept a few hours on the bus, and was able to fall back asleep pretty quickly. That is one of the hardest things about constantly touring - trying to get consistent sleep. I got up and spent a while answering emails, and before I knew it, it was time to head over to the venue. After doing my chores, I got a haircut from Paul, who would be leaving the tour soon. He and Ron alternate as Elton's hairdresser for three months at a time, and Paul's turn was ending so I had him trim my hair before he left. After a little time visiting with Elton in the dressing room, it was showtime. We hit the stage to a warm reception, but almost immediately the crowd sat down and stayed seated for quite awhile, but really got going towards the middle of the show. A young boy about 7 years old was put up onstage, and Elton sat him down on his piano bench. Elton was standing up and not playing at the time, but his monitors have all the other instruments coming out of them quite loudly and the expression on the kid's face was quite funny - he probably had never heard anything that loud in his life! Two or three other people tried to run up onstage and hug Elton - one girl even tried to jump on him when he was under the piano playing his solo on "Bennie And The Jets"! The Greenville crowd did SC proud - by the end of the show they were wilder than we have had in a long time. Fergy played a great trick on John Mahon tonight. Just before he comes down to play his drumsticks on Davey's guitar, he normally grabs one of my picks and throws it out to the crowd. Fergy put some honey on the last pick on my mic stand and told me not to use it, and when John came down he did grab it, and when he tried to throw it... it just stuck to his finger! I had told Davey to watch for it and we just laughed our heads off!
 

We got to Orlando at about 8:00 am after driving from Greenville, SC overnight following our show there. I went back to sleep for awhile after checking in to the hotel. I awoke midday to find a message that a package had been delivered for me to the hotel, and was waiting to be delivered to my room. To my delight it turned out to be a Danelectro U2 guitar in a really cool aqua color! Paul Moses, whom I'd met when he worked for the Matchless amplifier company, had sent it to me as a gift from the company. I had played a Danelectro six string bass on lots of the Desert Rose Band songs, but have never owned a standard Danelectro guitar before. The guitar looked great, and played even better, and I ended up spending a large amount of the afternoon just playing on it! I met a friend for dinner, and we ate at Wolfgang Puck's over at an area called Downtown Disney, where I had first visited as a guest attending the grand opening of Guitar Gallery there. Back to the hotel for my favorite TV show, and an early evening in. The following day I spent at Epcot Center with another friend who had come down from NYC on business, and also had the day off. There were absolutely no lines for any attractions or restaurants, so we were able to see most all that Epcot had to offer. It was interesting to me that since the last time I had visited Epcot, many of the "futuristic" things were now in common usage by the average American. My favorite attraction there is always the beautiful film in the French pavillion, showing the character of the country accompanied by the classic music of the French composers - a truly awe-inspiring look at France. After the two days off in Orlando, we were all ready to get back to playing some music again. Elton wanted to rehearse "I'm Still Standing" in the afternoon at sound check, and we did run it down a few times until he and the rest of us were comfortable with adding it to the evening's setlist. Elton had decided to replace "Sad Songs" with "I'm Still Standing", and we tried that during the evening's show. We did quite well, I thought, even though both Davey and Clive were caught off guard and didn't get an updated copy of the setlist. The audiences in Florida tend to be pretty wild, and Orlando's was right up there in the wild department. There was one girl in front of me who only wore an Elton sticker underneath her jacket! I did see some familiar faces down front and over on my side of the stage, and one fan waved a "Reghead in the House" banner from the first level of the side seats. The crowd did just get wilder and wilder as the show went on, and by the last 20 minutes of the show and through the encores it was pretty much pandemonium. A few people jumped up onto the stage to grab picks that had fallen short of my target and were out of reach to the people on the floor in front of the stage. Elton was very pleased with the show, and told us so in between encores, so that is a nice feeling to know that is was a good show for Elton as well as a great show for the audience!
 
 

Our last overnight drive for awhile, we ended up in Ft.Lauderdale at our hotel by 3:30 am and checked in to get some sleep. Our bus driver for the tour had recieved a call that his wife was delivering their baby earlier than expected, and he had to fly immediately home. We were driven by one of the crew drivers, and one of the sound guys with a bus license drove that crew bus, so everyone was taken care of. We have heard that mother and child are both fine, but our driver experienced the birth on the plane's airphone en route to the hospital! It was a really nice day in Ft Lauderdale, and a friend drove up from Miami to visit. We had some lunch by the pool, and then went to hear a swing big band playing nearby at an afternoon session. On the way back to the hotel, I spotted a shop full of coral, shells and the like. I just had to stop and get some things for my studio at home. I love minerals, abalone shells, coral, crystal, etc., and this shop had a great selection of these sorts of natural beauties. I also got two kitchy snow globes for DC, who collects them. We then were driven out to the venue, about 40 minutes away by car. Ours was only the second show in this new arena sponsored by National rental Cars, the first being Celine Dion a couple days earlier. It was a nice venue, but not too different from all the others that we have played on this tour. My friend had invited some guests, friends of hers that she had been wanting me to meet for quite awhile, and small world - it turns out one of them had stayed at Elton's house as a guest a couple years ago! The audience was a little quiet at the starting of the show, which prompted Elton to say to them after the first song, "You can get up and dance if you want - this ain't a Celine Dion show!" The audience (and band) got a kick out of that, and from then on the show loosened up quite a bit. By the end of the show, it was as all the other FL shows have been - wild and exciting! We have replaced "Sad Songs" with "I'm Still Standing" permanently now, and it seems to be working well for the shows flow. We played it much more confidently this time too, and I used my new aqua Danelectro U2 guitar on it. After the show we again split up, each going to a different place to spend an unusual four days off in a row. I am planning to see "Elaborate Lives" in Atlanta on one of my nights off, if I can get tickets! I do want remund all you NYC readers to come down and see Davey and I peforming some of the songs from our Crop Circles CD at Sam Ash's music store on 48th St. in Manhattan (212-719-2299) on the 16th of Oct at 6:30 pm. We will have some CDs for sale, and will gladly sign them for you if you come out!