The boys gathered in Raleigh at the end of May to prepare for 2 shows June 3 at the Live Bar in Greenville NC and June 5 at the 2nd Annual Michael Gardner Benefit for Parkinson’s Disease at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.

Kelly arrived on Friday, May 27 after a marathon cross-country flight from Seattle and Sean arrived on Monday, May 30 after driving up from Atlanta. Once again, our friend Terry kindly allowed us to set up shop in his garage where 3 hard, hot (and we mean HOT—temps in the mid-90’s) days of rehearsal ensued. It never ceases to amaze us how easily things come together for us in a short period of time; we had 3 days of rehearsal to work up a nearly 2 hour show complete with several things we had never played before. I guess that means that the chemistry is still there—or at least that we all did our homework before we ever got to practice.

Friday, June 3, we make the trek from Raleigh to Greenville and set up in the Live Bar for our show that night. After setting up, we got out and about for a bit since it had been some years since we’d been in Greenville, always one of our fave places. Kelly was making his return to his home so of course we had to hit the high spots—where The Attic used to be, where Kelly’s house is (was), and Parker’s Barbecue for some 'home-cooking'…Mmmm—barbecue. Actually, we gorged on barbecue while we were in NC since you definitely can’t get Eastern NC style BBQ in the far outreaches of Seattle WA and you can’t get it anywhere in Atlanta, either (there was a place close to Sean’s house that served it up and it was mighty tasty—but we think that Sean and his wife were the only ones who ever ate there. It only lasted about 6 months and then was gone). What we do get in those respective places is pretty good, but it ain’t NC (home) style.

Cranking up at the Live Bar around 10:00, we saw many old friends and made some new ones, too. Thanks to Jay for making our night at the Live Bar a success.

Sunday, June 5, after a day off in between to recover, we set out for the Lincoln Theatre for the 2nd Annual Michael Gardner Benefit for Parkinson’s Disease. We were honored to be asked to share the bill for this worthy cause with Brimstone, The Moans, Medusa Stone, All My Rowdy Friends, and PKM and Friends. If y’all haven’t checked out any of these other bands, you should.

Brimstone opened the show and rocked. These are the kids from the 2112 Percussion Rock School and be glad—rock and roll is alive and well and has a bright future if they keep it up. The Moans came next and had a great set. We hit the stage next and had a blast playing primarily our original stuff with a few choice covers. Medusa Stone was next and absolutely killed. All My Rowdy Friends gave everyone a stellar set, as well. PKM and Friends were awesome.

You should definitely check out this worthy cause. Thanks to Jill Gardner and Chopper Kovach for inviting us and thanks to the crew for making the show run so smoothly and everyone look and sound great and a huge success. We were honored to be included in this great event and we’d do it again in a heartbeat.