With the last note of Marines’ Hymn echoing across the Mall, the summer concert season comes to end. The Labor Day 96 is ahead, and beyond that, Tour looms on the horizon.Behind the scenes preparations for this Tour began last year, and while all the groundwork has been laid for some time, only now do the musicians set to travel on the 2007 Annual Concert Tour have the time to focus on their personal preparations for Tour.
There’s music to practice before rehearsals begin, uniforms to clean and repair, tickets to be requested, last minute appointments to squeeze in, packing lists to be made, shopping to fill the holes in the Tour Wardrobe, Room Food supplies to be laid in for the long haul, freezers to be packed for the family left behind, carpools to be arranged for school activities, and numerous other tasks that will crop up at the last minute.
Granted, some people have already let some of these tasks trickle into their busy summer schedules, but now it enters full swing.
This year, at least, I am not packing my daughter for college while I am packing for Tour. For the past two years, the opening of the dorms coincided with the first day of Tour rehearsals. I would spend my time split between my Tour preparations and her college packing.
This year we have already packed her off to college, for her Junior Year Abroad. Jenna will be studying for her Diploma in Traditional Irish Music at University College Cork in Ireland. The family traveled together to Ireland in August to see a little of the country I have always wanted to visit, while helping her settle in a foreign environment.
So the extra challenge this year will be finding a way to stay in touch while she’s in a time zone five hours ahead. It was so much easier when she was in Evanston – an hour behind at most, depending on our time zone, and often in the same one while I was touring.
John and Jamey will be left to their own devices once again. They haven’t starved yet (although you’d never know, looking at Jamey – he just keeps growing up - never out), so I have every hope they will survive another year.
As you can tell, this year my TourSpam has morphed into a Blog. A little more journaling, a more frequent peek into life on the road with the band, complete with photos and other little treats along the way.
