Um, yeah, I LOVE the Randy Rogers Band

I'm sitting at home right now, watching SNL for the first time, in a long time. Great jokes on Barack Obama and "World's Oldest Living Person" during Weekend Update. I just got in from playing shuffleboard at Cricket's and going to Manuel's graduation dinner. Fun, but I didn't feel like hitting the Depot District tonight.

Friday night, we started off with drinks at the house and headed to the Blue Light/Tom's Daiquiri Lounge. Getting out of the car, I saw a guy I could have sworn was Matt Powell, walking down the street. Turns out, I was right. We entered the patio and Les Lawless was waving out the window of Tom's at us. They decided to stop by before moving back to Wild West for Brandon's set. Sounds like they had a good round of golf following their early morning bus call from Midland. Brady said the first few holes were rough, Geoff said that's just because he kicked his ass.

Watching the RRB show, I was a little overwhelmed. It was their 255th show of the year. Isn't that amazing? There was barely any breathing room in the place. From having only 129 tickets pre-sold, to having a sold-out show is pretty great. Randy's voice has gotten so much stronger, his command of the crowd is great. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand. The show had a different vibe than Thursday night...definitely more their kind of crowd. During band introductions, Randy looked up and smiled and shook his head at us when he heard the crowd's response to Brady. He truly is the most beloved person on that stage when they play here.

Talking with Randy afterwards, he was telling me about the tour and what he liked/didn't like about the experience. He was relieved it was over. He equated it to overnight camp. He said they're happy to be back home and don't plan on leaving for a long stretch of time, again, anytime soon. He said they had a good time, but sometimes you just want to be home. He'll be a busy boy in Steamboat. He said if we see him, chances are he'll have his guitar in hand and just have time to say hi. He's booked for SIX shows! He's playing with Lee Ann Womack, the Leon Russell tribute, Ray Wylie Hubbard, two full band shows and one that I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE: him and Chris Knight. He told me, "You can bet your ass Micky ain't playing six shows!" HA HA HA! I remember why I love Randy so much. He always makes me laugh.

We talked about the Joe Nichols thing. He told me he had to keep himself from telling the guy, I'm gonna f*cking kill you! He was going to take the picture as a sort of mugshot, then added the arrow at the last second.

We talked about how great, yet challenging 2006 was for the band. With two babies on the way, a growing audience and their hard work, I hope 2007 will be their best year yet.