Gloucester & VT with the Dudes (5.20 - 5.21.10)

Returning from a crazy tour around the USA, hi8us was back in New England this weekend playing a sweet pair of shows. We hit Captain Carlos in Gloucester on Friday night. The sets were fun and we all felt good about our playing. My friend Blackie came out to the show which I was psyched about. Blackie can sometimes get aggressive at shows, but was relatively well behaved on this evening in May. My cousin Billy and his boy Mark and their other buddy also rallied out. Bill had tuna steak for dinner at Cap’n Carlos, and said it was the best he has ever had. Billy is a big time foodie, so that is saying a lot for him. This is a shot of Billy and me helping Roland cut wood back in the 80’s up in NH. Good times!

The next night we shot back up to Red Square in Burlington, VT. We played their excellent outside stage this time around. Our good friend Mark had his bachelor party in attendance and the crew of dudes were all fired up. These guys all got front and center and whooped it up for us. The rest of the folks in the audience all soon followed suit, and before we knew it, a crowd formed out on Church Street as well. With the PA pouring our stuff out onto Church Street, we finished the show out strong, and felt like champs as we exited the stage.

After the show, we returned to the Bachelor party pad on Lake Champlain and partied til the wee hours. The collection of friends at this gathering was awesome. I had the best time catching up with my old school buddies, and the Fisherman’s VW was pouring killer brew all night. I took a 3am plunge into the lake which allowed me to extend my party endurance by at least another hour. When it was all said and done, I retired to the bus for some much needed pass out action. We had actually planned on camping that night, and in the late-early morning cruised back to our campground a short distance away so we could chill there later that morning. It was a beautiful day in heady VT for sure.

The weekend was such an unexpected surprise after the highly anticipated tour, and one of the best hangs I can remember having. Looking forward to Mark’s wedding in July. That was one hell of a sendoff buddy!

jim