"Why oh, why oh, why oh.....

Billy Bob and Kelly celebrating their 1,700th show of MDQ on the same night we celebrated 450 performances on tour

 



The Ohio Theatre; not where we played, but the first theatre I ever played on tour....12 years ago....

 



The beautiful Palace Theatre

 



Ben and his pig

 



Some of the cast and crew as we are preparing to watch Cody on Letterman

 



Waiting for soundcheck at the Thunderstudy promo

 



Riverside recording #3

 



"Especially not ole Liberace, here"

 



A blackjack table at Harrah's in Las Vegas, where our fellow MDQers started previews this past week

 

 

 

 

That's right, kids, we're in Ohio!  Or, at least, we were. 

 

Now, to preface.....Columbus didn't have a whole lot to offer as far as excitement, but it was a pretty big week in the world of Million Dollar Quartet.  So, on to the week....

 

We left Hershey, PA on Monday morning, and found a huge snow storm awaiting us on our 8 hour trek to Columbus, OH.  Tired and bit road weary, we all found our cozy hotel rooms, and awaited what we had all been looking forward to all week: Cody Slaughter on Letterman.  Now, I should say, that this wasn't some random occurence.  It was Elvis tribute week, so he had quite a few Elvis tribute artists on, including Brandon Bennett, who is Elvis in the Chicago company, and Lance Lipinsky and his band the Lovers; he plays Jerry Lee in the Chicago cast.  So, on Monday night, we all gathered round the tv set, and watched our buddy perform on Letterman.  And let me tell you....he nailed it.  He is just unreal.  And anyone who doubts that should see our show and watch clips from Elvis in the 50's.  If you don't see the uncanny resemblence and sound, you are not playing with a full deck (see photos above, and videos below).  That night also marked the first night of previews for our boys and m'am in the brand new Las Vegas company of Million Dollar Quartet.  We know they killed it, and can't wait to wish them well on opening night on the 18th (pictures above).

 

I walked around a bit when time and weather allowed to take in some of the interesting architecture and Captiol city sights, and of course take pictures.  It was pretty cold there, so I didn't do a whole lot of exploring.  We did however, have a great unofficial opening night party at a local bar, and that was pretty awesome.  We hadn't had one in a while, so it was fun to be out with everyone and get to let loose a bit. 

 

Thursday marked the first time the Thunderstudies and I had done a promo in quite a while (pictures above, and videos below).  In fact, by our estimation, the last time we had done a promo together was when we performed at half time at the Miami Heat just before New Year's last year.  Along with that, Katie had NEVER done a promo before.  So, it was a great experience for us all to be able to get up there and do it again.  That afternoon, I met up with Billy and Rosie for dinner at one of our haunts, Potbelly Sandwiches, and then headed to Sugar Daddies; an amazing brownie store.  The woman who worked there was nice enough to give us 15 BAGS of brownie pieces for the cast......damn, they were good. 

 

On Friday, Billy, Rosie, Jam, Ben and his wife Lizzie and I took a trip to a trendy part of town, Short North.  It happened to be the area that housed the bar where we had our opening night party, and an establishment we had been to the night before.  After a failed attempt to eat at a highly regarded restaurant, we decided to walk a bit....and freeze...and ended up at The Press Grill where I had a fantastic meatloaf sandwich; perfect on such a cold day.  After that we stopped in for some gourmet coffee at Union Cafe, which was pretty amazing, and much needed as we braved the cold walk to the North Market.  Filled with different shops and vendors, our favorite stop was Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream; yes, it was freezing outside.  But no temperature stands between me and good ice cream.  I had Ugandan Vanilla Bean, Salty Caramel and Black Coffee.  Hell Yes.  After wandering a bit, we took the frigid walk home, and then defrosted in our rooms until the show that night. 

 

On Saturday morning, Jam and I headed to another part of town to get hair cuts at easily the coolest and best barber the cast has visited on tour: Old Familiar Barbershop.  If you are in the area, it is a must.  Just really rad guys, and the best hair cut I've had, maybe ever.  We stopped for coffee at Upper Cup on our way back for the matinee. 

 

Sunday seemed to go pretty fast, and before I knew it, I was on the bus headed to yet another city I had never been to, Louisville, KY. 

 

I'm writing you from our theatre here, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, and in a couple days we will be making our way to Cincinnati.  So, I hope you enjoy this week's blog, and trust me, there is more to come from Louisville in next week's!  Take care!