Bushwaller's - 4/21/06 - Frederick, MD

I have to admit, this one had me worried for a little while. First off, our load-in totally blew. The rain was relentless and the side alley where we load our stuff into the back of the club was like a lagoon. By the time we had all our gear in we were soaked, with the exception of Boy Scout Ken Deater who had intelligently worn a gore-tex jacket.

The pouring rain and the fact that our friends at The Bush forgot to hang up the posters I gave them (weeks ago!) initially seemed to cast a bad omen on the night. Things started off pretty slow and we were getting nervous. All of our shows at Bushwaller's have been pretty wild and very well attended, so I had been fearing an "off night." I even got a little down when early in the show they threw out a guy who was "woo"-ing and dancing because he was apparently too drunk. (Yeah, he was. But he was a nice dude who wasn't causing any trouble. We enjoyed his company and were sad to see him go.)

BUT.....once again Bushwaller's and our Frederick fans came through! As we got into our second set, people started filling in and before we knew it the place was packed again. Our now trusty "Hot Bus" pulled up once more and the scenery from the stage was wonderful (check out the photos on the Freddie Long Band website). Whew! I now consider our earlier anxieties nothing more than a rain delay.

A lot of memorable moments at this show. Let me share the first that comes to mind: At an early part of the show a nice young lady came on stage to dance with the band. I made a comment on the mic about our lovely stage dancer and an older, more serious lady in front of me yelled, "Hey! That's my daughter!" So I said what I think anyone would have said in that situation: "Then let's make it a family affair!" Next thing you know we had a mother-daughter team getting down on stage with The FLB. Check that one off the career goals list.

As the place filled up, we had more and more stage dancers and the crowd reached a fever pitch. I even stood up while playing "Jump" so that I could partner up. Man, this crowd could rock! I dropped out and they sang the chorus to "Hard To Handle" like a mob of pros. Simply awesome. I talked to a lot of folks on a break and many of them said that they had seen us play before and had fun so they came back for another dose. It's so hard to tell sometimes if people are getting hip to the band at all, so hearing things like that really made me feel good about what we're doing.

It was Ken's birthday (and Chris' birthday last weekend) so we were glad that people came out for the celebration. Ken received a lot of liquid gifts from fans and friends and had a great birthday show. I actually received my share of gifts as well--and it wasn't even my birthday!

In fact, the whole show seemed to be unofficially sponsored by Crown Royale. This really nice group of girls who had seen us at Bushwaller's last month decided to buy the whole band not one, but two rounds of Crown. Since Frederick Co. liquor laws prohibit groups from drinking while on stage (where should we hold the rally to defeat that horrible piece of killjoy legislation?), we had quite a horde of alcoholic tidings to drink on our break. Even Chris stepped off the wagon to have a few. A big crunkin' "thank you" to all the generous folks who bought drinks.

After the show we were amped and a very kind group of ladies invited our entourage back for some cards and beer at their apartment down the street. We hung out there for a while and eventually I crashed on a sofa at a friends house a couple blocks down to sleep off the good times before driving home. (Party hard, but you gotta be responsible. My friend's dad always used to say, "If you can't be good, be careful.")

Thanks to everyone for another memorable show at Bushwaller's. It wouldn't be the same without you all, I hope you realize that. Keep coming out and we'll keep having fun. See you soon...