Pittsburgh was last night and was a hoot. Another show at Mr. Smalls. Lightly attended (it marked Patton’s second time missing a COC gig), but still a great crowd and it wasn’t raining this time. My old Atlanta buddy Tim showed up and I fed him a big cup of 12 year old scotch as the show went on. After the show, I dragged the comedians to the old neighborhood I lived in and we went to the Original which is right across from the Quad at the University of Pittsburgh. They all cursed me the entire drive home claiming that the food’s "ick factor" would stick with them for the rest of the tour. Oopsie! Maybe I just remember it being good when I was 21. Got back to the hotel, the William Penn Hotel, which was particularly swank and immediately crashed out.
The drive to Cincinnati was uneventful. We all went to Bob Evans for the first time. Compared to Cracker Barrel, it was pretty damned good. I think we’ll be going there again. And yes, even though it was our only day off, we still managed to squeeze in some Comedians of Comedy action for good measure at the always incredible Shake It Records in Cincinnati.
Billy called when we were 10 minutes out to tell us to park in the back. When we arrived, I could see why. The place was slammed with people there for autographs, although some boneheads thought Brian and Maria would be doing stand up for some odd reason.
My usual gauge for going to Shake It is how often I say "Wow!" while I’m there. This time? I think I stopped counting at 6. Scored a bunch of great vinyl, a handful of CDs for the van and a killer Iron Maiden back patch for Brian P.
Our awesome host Billy took us for food across the street afterwards and then we had to immediately duck back to the hotel so Brian could finish this screenplay he’s been working on before midnight due to a writer’s strike that starts at midnight. I tried to convince everybody to go see a movie at 8pm, but came up with no takers. Lame.
So now I’m back at the hotel (which Brian’s convinced is haunted courtesy of Patton’s "choice" in hotel….ha!) doing laundry and watching Ken Burns’ "The War". Party hard.
Chicago is tomorrow after a five hour trip. We’re at the half way point.