That's a Hell Yeah.

April 3rd & 4th-Lake Norman, NC

***

Wow this was a another point of the tour where we felt extremely spoiled. I had several moments throughout our 2 days at Red's Place on Lake Norman where I thought about how blessed we are to be experiencing this, or participating in that. The drive into Lake Norman was  fascinating. Just like a movie. 

Cute little farmhouses with their perfect pastures and their chickens and cows in the yard with blossoming trees of all colors whirling around in the breeze. 

The backdrop for our show at Red's Place (Red is Blvd Park's mandolin player's father who has a crazy obsession with the terms "Hell Yeah or Hell No" Some people even think his name is "Hell Yeah") was the gorgeous Lake Norman.

lakefront houses, boat docks and lanky east coast pine trees lining the shore. 

Red built his own bar on the property and hosted a huge potluck with us and Blvd Park as the afternoon entertainment. Red's neighbors and friends flocked in with open ears and open arms listening to us as they drank deep and ate homemade mac n cheese, beef stew, pork loin, fried chicken, lasagna and potato salad. This afternoon get together extended late into the night with more music, more food, and more good times. 

Blake and I got the itch to go fishing out on the dock, so we strung up some worms and waited for a bite. After a little while with not even a nibble, we gave up and decided to head back up to the house. We had previously turned off  the lights on the dock so as not to scare the fish, but this meant it was very dark, and being that I have very bad night vision as it is, I had myself a little splash in the lake. 

Peacoat, boots, dress and all, ker-plunk off the dock I went and into the icy cold water. 

I walked the plank into the place where one would park a boat so it was 14ft deep and I had a heck of a time scrambling back up on the dock. Not to mention I lost my breath from the sheer shock and cold of the water. Blake was just ahead of me when he heard my dreadful splash and ran over to my rescue, grabbed me under the arms and heaved me out of the lake all 

dripping wet and reaking of fish. 

(Too bad I couldn't catch one instead of smelling like one) But he was nice enough to tell me that I looked like a mermaid. After a few moments by the fire, Blake and Red's granddaughter's wrapped me up in blankets and towels and then I went inside to change into dry clothes. When it comes to fishing…if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

The Carolinas

March 31st-Charleston, SC 

***

Continuing on into uncharted territory for the Charis, we made our way to South Carolina, Charleston to be exact. At this point in the tour, some of the days seem to blend together. Because of the discount we get from our buddy Patrick for Choice Hotels, we find ourselves checking in and checking out of a Sleep Inn or Comfort Inn several nights in a row sometimes forgetting that we're in a new city everyday. Some cities stand out more than others but 

it's pretty cool to look back at the places you've traveled just in a few days. 

Charleston is one of those cities that we probably won't remember much about the venue, the city, or the show itself. But we will remember the people we met here. Moe and Isabel ventured out to flyer before the show and they came upon a bowling alley where they met a group of kids about our age. They ended up coming to our show at a fun little place called Jimbo's Rock Lounge that was within walking distance of our hotel (Sleep Inn #12) and we had a great time hanging out with our new Charleston friends.  

April 1st-Charlotte, NC

***

The moment we drove into the neighborhood where the venue was located (The Evening Muse) we were in love. 

It was a condensed little pocket of all things artsy. 

Several art galleries lined the streets as well as a vintage clothing store where we got a pair of Charlotte Hornets suspenders for Blake and a black straw top hat for me, and a Yarn Shop! Many of the walls were covered in 20ft tall murals exhibiting the city's love for art, music and community. I've never seen a neighborhood with so many outlets for artists. 

Around 6pm the streets started to fill up for the bi-monthly gallery crawl. This event is similar to the Second Saturday Art Walk in downtown Sacramento, except that it is jam packed into one neighborhood. There were vendors outside and bands playing inside and outside up and down the street. We played at the Evening Muse and it happened to be their 10th anniversary celebration. 

We met a lot of folks who really have a deep appreciation for music 

and it was an honor to be so well-received by them. 

After the show we went to a college party hosted by a kid that Moe met earlier that day. He invited us to come over  and bring our instruments in case we wanted to play a few songs at the party. When we arrived, everyone was very warm and welcoming. Byron played his congas along to the DJ's beats and we accompanied him with our tambourines and egg shakers. 

Thank you Charlotte, NC for showing us a good time. 

April 2nd-Asheville, NC

***

Asheville. Cool town. Cool promoter. Cool venue. Party bus that picks up 40 people at the venue you're playing at to take them to another venue across town during your set and drops them back off at the venue you're playing at for an after party after you're already finished with your set….not so cool. But hey, we still had fun with the handful of people that stayed behind to watch us play, the promoter Vairme was a sweetheart and earlier in the evening 

Blake and I got to eat some good sushi at a Japanese Hippie Restaurant. 

Can't complain about that!

Tree Beards A Plenty

March 30th-Savannah, GA

***

Savannah is like a story book. Beautiful lush land with ancient tree canopies over the streets and the cute little southern houses all lined up with their own stories to tell. Blake appropriately refers to all the Spanish moss hanging from the trees  as "tree beards".

We got to town a little early and had to putz around town before we could check into our hotel. So we went to a huge music store and we bought Tekla a new tambourine with double jingles and raw hide for improved sound quality. I bought a mandolin and she's a beauty. I've been wanting to learn to play for awhile and I almost bought one in San Antonio, but I'm glad I waited because this little Epiphone mandolin is awesome and it already has a built in pick up. Moe has been helping me with some chords and I also downloaded a cool mandolin chord app for my ipod.  It even made it's on-stage debut tonight. I played "Ring of Fire" on the mandolin during our set and Blake played "Tricky Love" with Blvd Park which sounded really good with the banjo. 

We played at the Wormhole and at midnight it was officially 

Brian Ballentine's birthday! Cheers to him! 

Jimmy and Anthony met back up with us after a few days off the tour and they brought a whole gaggle of new friends with them. 

Lights in the Dark.

March 29th-Jacksonville, FL

***

It's officially our last day in Florida and tomorrow it's onward and upward! This afternoon we met up with Blake's mom, Jan. She took us out to a big BBQ Feast at Sonny's. I've never been to a real BBQ place before and let me tell you, this was overwhelming. Smoked ribs, chicken, roast beef, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, texas toast AND sweet tea! Not to mention the 4 different types of BBQ sauce. Thanks Jan for the gigantic BBQ lunch. It made our tummies full and happy!

Today we played at a place called Brewster's Pit that reminded us of the Boardwalk in Sacramento, except the sound guy was a lot nicer ;) Blake's friend Jeanetta's band Wormzilla, performed as well as her friends' band I-vibes. The bill in general was an eclectic mix of genres but it was a complimentary combination. Wormzilla was an unexpected surprise for me. I've seen Jeanetta perform in an acoustic setting showcasing her amazing voice, but this was a whole different story. Wormzilla was weird, crazy, fun and high energy with Jeanetta cracking me up with her 

flowin' and oo-ing and aww-ing and jack-rabbit "AWWWWW-ing"   

("Jackrabbits in the night be like awww awww awwww!") 

It was great and we had fun even in a big black box that usually hosts metal bands. Sometimes you just gotta bring a little light & color to a dark room. 

My mama always told me to live life in color…and that's what we do :) 

Relax.

March 27th-Astatula, FL

***

Today we drove to the Orlando area to play at Blake's Dad's little get-together in a little town called Astatula, FL. Carol and Jay had everything all set up for us when we got there. Hot dogs on the grill, appetizers on the counter and the furniture all pushed out of the way for a little stage area for us to play. It was a relaxing day spent mingling with Blake's family and their friends. A very special thanks to Carol and Jay for having us!

While Blvd Park stayed in Astatula for the evening, the Musical Charis gang went to Blake's older brother Brian's house in Eustis another little town in Lake County. Brian's girlfriend Toni is a mean pool playing machine so they have a nice table in the living room which got a lot of use and they have a whole room dedicated to crafts! 

All the Abbey boys are so creative! 

Brian built these crazy giant people made out of doors and window frames in his front yard with moveable fingers and arms…it's pretty silly really. He also made us some custom stenciled posters and t shirts to add to our homemade merch collection. We ended the evening with a game of scrabble and Moe learned that you can't use abbreviations and you can't use words that go completely off the board either….

March 28th-Eustis, FL

***

The next day we woke up and retrieved the Blvd Park gang and had a family style meal at the Crazy Gator Restaurant. Blake and I shared the 

Cajun Gator Bites…Tastes just like chicken…no really it does! 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at Brian's, crafting, catching up on laundry, burning tour dvd's, ripping cd's on my laptop from Brian's extensive music collection, and watching movies (with delivery pizza of course!)

It's nice to have a day off once in awhile ;)

Hard at Play.

March 26th-Flagler Beach, FL

***

This is the life! We played on the second floor outside deck of Finn's Beachside Pub with a 

perfect view of the big blue Atlantic Ocean 

for 6 hours! We were scheduled to fill up about 4 hours but apparently Finn's hasn't seen folks dance around and actually pay attention to a live band in over 8months, so they told us to keep rollin. And we had the best time. Flagler Beach is where Blake went to high school, so some of his old friends and his mom came out to see us too. There was an air show going on overhead, and it was spring break so there was all sorts of excitement going on, not to mention the weather was gorgeous and the beach was only about 30 ft from the venue. We felt pretty spoiled 

playing music all day on the beach. 

After a good days' work (play) we went to our lodgings for the evening just down the street about a mile. Blake's cousin Daryll and his wife Theresa invited us all to stay in their beach house (again, feeling spoiled) We played some music, got some grub at Snack Jacks, and took an evening walk on the beach. (Well a couple people took an evening swim...) And after all that, we still got to bed before midnight!

American Honeys

March 25th-Tallahassee, FL

***

Hello Florida. We played our first of 4 Florida shows at Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack just down the street from Florida State Univeristy. It was a fun little restaurant with a marquee above the stage with "Musical Charis" spelled correctly (surprising) 

Isabel and I indulged in some yummy fresh oysters.

Isabel ate hers raw over ice with lemon and I created my own combination of baked oysters with blue cheese, bacon and jalapenos. I know that sounds a little fishy but I think I may be onto something. It was oh so delicious! Maybe someday I'll be a professional oyster combo inventor and open an oyster shack next to our soul food restaurant/bowling alley/music school.  

We invited a local band called American Honey to play with us. They were adorable. cute. funny. and sweet ladies (and one guy too) Their set up was a ukulele, keyboard and electric guitar with some rockin' female harmonies. Ladies & gent, you rock. As soon as they get some recordings, I'll get their link up on here.

After the show, we packed up and drove another 4 hours to Blake's mom's house in Palm Coast, FL because we had to play at Finn's in Flager Beach the next day at 2pm. We arrived at 330am to a house full of beds all ready for us to crash in. Thanks Jan!

To be continued!