Same zit, different day!

So, Nashville pretty much rules. We had two shows at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ole Opry. The place was beautiful and I swear I could hear the other worldy echoes of all of the amazing folks who had played there over the years. Oh wait, that was just the country radio that the venue pipes into every room.










During the day, the auditorium is a museum and there is tons of memorabilia all over the place and cool stuff to look at. Lots of little old ladies work there as tour guides and such. The crew rolled in off the bus early the first morning looking raggedy and generally sketchy (seriously, its just how you look when you tour, you cant help it) and these little grandmas had no idea what to make of us. They were really, really adamant that we not disturb the patrons and wanted us out of public view as fast as we could get there. It was sort of hilarious. I wasnt even offended. I know what I look like when I get off of that bus. It goes a little something like this:
It was a great room. I got to see the whole show from my office!


After the show we went across the alley to Robert's Western World. The coolest thing about Nashville is that day or night, there are bands playing in pretty much every bar. The band at Robert's was, at first glance, just four dudes jamming out to covers like 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'.

Then the fiddle player sang a Gram Parsons song. And he was amazing. I think he thought I was in love with him or something. I was totally awed by his old timey, smooth as butter, mahogany voice. I couldnt resist snapping many photos. 




We all surmised that even though this cowboy was a little paunchy, he must still be a big hit with the ladies. It just goes to show you what being in a band can do...

This guy was way into it. He danced so hard he lost his shoes!
Will picked up this awesome beer koozie 

This was also the night we inadvertently invented the "hamburger bed". This is when you have two beds in your hotel room and you use one to, say, eat a hamburger in at 3 in the morning. You then sleep in the other so as to keep the dirty and the clean separate. Hence one is the hamburger bed and the other is the sleeping bed.

Anyway. The next day I made a quick trip over to Hatch. They are kind of a big deal in the history of country music posters. They are one of the oldest and last letterpress print shops in the country.





Although a lot of these posters are not graphic or artwork based, there is something really fascinating about the technique and time involved in making one of these suckers. I wanted to snap some shots of the printers in action, but I could tell they were a little shy.



Atlanta is next. Two more shows and then sleepy-time in my own bed.