Mat d. and the Profane Saints:

 We pulled into the Hotel and Casino around 1pm on Friday afternoon.  The skies were overcast and made the prairie look a little bit foreboding in a good way.  We all checked in and were pleasantly surprised how nice the rooms were.  They were comped as well along with two meals per guy.  We could get used to this.    Surrounded by the typical casino fare of elderly gamblers, hundreds of ashtrays, plastic cups and the smell of meat and potatoes and cigarette smoke hanging heavily in the air; we all went down to the lounge and the crew started unloading the gear.  We got everything loaded in and waited for our sound tech to show up.  After about an hour of dead time, hanging out and joking about Jeff's new pants (a pair of grey stone washed skinny jeans we was incredibly proud of - one of the central topics of the weekend) our sound man Little Bull showed up and got us a few monitors onstage.  We weren't going to be playing through a PA.  He piped my acoustic and vox through the house mains and everything else would be coming from the amps and drums onstage.  We flew through "Austin Texas" to set levels and the reaction from the staff was TOO LOUD.  The bartender and waitress immediately told Little Bull that we were way too loud and we needed to come down.  They then informed us that they needed to maintain a volume of 90 decibels during the show and that we were well over a hundred.  Bob and Kurt turned down their amps and Jeff opted to use his stick/brushes to help.  This was situation we were not used to.  We would be playing as quietly as possible.  I began to think they hired the wrong band!  As show time approached Little Bull spoke to me backstage and told me that once the new casino was finished- (there was a huge addition being built onto the old building) that volume wouldn't be a problem.  He explained that since the casino was wide open, they had to respect the gamers.  One thing I will say is that all of the staff at the casino was very helpful and friendly.  We performed for perhaps a total of 25 people over the course of the evening (including three crew members)  I told the other members not to push it and to play it nice and easy seeing as we were heading to Rapid City the following night and since there was virtually no crowd, I held back vocally.  I t was a lot like getting paid to practice, and we were cool with that.  After the show Little Bull showed me to the cage where we were paid cash and paid well.  Even though the crowd was virtually non-existent we still managed to sell a few shirts and CDs.  All in all an okay night all things considered and the hotel treated us very well.  Our crew member Missy and I gambled for an hour or so following the show where we both lost a whopping ten dollars to the one armed bandits.  We had an early departure the next day...I texted Mrs. D that I loved her and hit the sack- falling asleep to "Son of Chucky"...B movie dreams ensued till morning.  I woke up to the sound of Monty knocking on the door.  I got dressed and went out to the hall where we were met by Bob who declared that he had a confession..."Last night I snuck into Jeff's room and had sex with his jeans...he'll never be able to use his change pocket again."  Nice to see we were in top form so early in the morning.

We struck out for Rapid City at 9:30.  Headed up a rural highway that connected to the interstate that was a straight shot to the beautiful Black Hills.  We stopped off at Wall Drug a few hours later.  Taking in our fill of Midwestern Americana, souvenirs and roadside attractions at their finest, we headed for the venue to drop off our gear with 50 miles left of a 250 mile drive.  We pulled into Sally O’Malley’s around 2pm and loaded in.  One of the cool things we were looking forward to is that Kurt's sister Mary lived in Rapid and came down to the club to greet us.  She started snapping pictures as the crew hauled our stuff in.  Once everything was set up we all headed back to the hotel- a little gun shy from our stay in the "We'll leave the light on for you" hotel chain- we all checked in and found we were all put in newly remodeled rooms.  A pleasant surprise.  Super clean, very nice.  $48 well spent.  About this time it hit us as to how high gas prices really were.  Hauling a trailer burns fuel and it burns it fast.  I was thinking I'd appreciate some investors right now, but that's the name of the independent game.  Of course gas prices were more than a dollar cheaper when we booked this tour.  Ouch.  It's clear that this tour wasn't making money; it's costing the crew and all of us an arm and a leg.   Oh well.  We were here.  We went to Arnolds Diner, modeled after the whole Happy Days 50's themed restaurant, and proceeded to watch Missy eat the hugest chili dog we have ever seen.  Impressive.

After some down time at the hotel, the crew and I; with the other band members a good hour behind us went down to Sally O’Malley’s to watch the opening act the Beerslingers- an all acoustic quartet that featured three guitarists and a bass player.  With solid vocals and off collar bar room humor the 'slingers wrapped at 7:30pm, an hour and half before we were scheduled to take the stage.  At around 8pm the band showed up ready to go.  I started the night off acoustic with "Metropolicana" a John Prine cover "Angel from Montgomery" and a request for "House of the Rising Sun” After a few more numbers the band kicked things off with "Austin Texas" to an enthusiastic crowd that began two-stepping right away.  Let me say there is no shortage of GREAT dancers at Sally O' Malley's!  We performed new material from our upcoming album to hoots and hollers.  From time to time the band would leave the stage and I'd do the solo thing for two or three numbers.  During "Ford Marriage" a gal walked up to the dance floor and stood about three feet from me.  Real drunk, real weepy.  She stood there and stared at me tears rolling down her face.  I'm not known for being Mr. Sensitive so I got through the song and went into another acoustic number doing my best not to pay close attention to what she was doing. As soon as I began the next song she sat herself down on the edge of the stage, about 12 inches from me and began swaying and crying, to which my crew began snapping photos.  At the end of the song security came up and asked her to not sit on the stage during the show.  Last I heard she was seen urinating between two cars in the parking lot in front of a crowd of 20 or so people including Bob's wife and our crew.  The party never ends folks.  Everyone at Sally's was very supportive...lots of dancing and good times for sure.  Our friend and fan Sam approached me at the end of the show and asked if I'd sign her hip.  I asked "Why?"  She replied "Make it look pretty-it's getting tattooed on me tomorrow."  After a few minutes of me reminding her that it will be there forever she told me to shut up and sign her, which I did...,I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result.  We all headed back to the hotel, crashed woke up and headed home. 400 miles to Sioux City.   One more date in South Dakota with Bob Wayne and Wayne "The Train" Hancock on the books...Next up- Nebraska in May.  It was great to get back home.  Sleep came on fast.