It’s been a while…

Came home from Hawaii and over scheduled ourselves to the max. I have a feeling that is how this year if going to go. We are finding that traveling often results in being very busy in between at home. 

Last weekend we loaded up in the big white band van (pictured below) and headed northeast.

First stop was down the NYS thruway I-90 to the original Dinosaur BBQ. If you ever find yourself in Western/Central NY this is not a place to pass by. At this point in my music and travel career I have eaten a TON of BBQ…and this is THE place. You would think that the best should be in Memphis or Austin…nope, it is here in Central NY.

The band and I have had a resident gig for the last 5 yrs or so playing once a month at the Dinosaur BBQ Rochester location. Once every couple months we load up the van and head to Syracuse to the original location. We make sure to get there early enough for a couple drinks, dinner, another drink, sound check and a long set of tunes.



Right across the street from Dino is a new joint that I need to mention. Dinosaur BBQ owner John Stage and long time Dino bartender icon Paul Messina opened Apizza Regionale. Our buddy Scott Sterling ran across the street during our set and picked up 2 pies for us to bring back to the hotel for a late night snack. We could not believe how delicious they were. They use fermented dough and top notch ingredients, baked in an oven constructed out of clay imported from Mt. Vesuvius. We had a potato pie and a flagship Margherita pizza. Can’t beat it. I will be thinking about it until we are back there again.

Rise and shine. We hit he road and headed even farther into the most rich fall colors you can imagine. The farther north we drove the brighter the oranges and reds became. We arrived in Portsmouth with enough time to catch some dinner and check in to our hotel to get ready for our gig at The Press Room.

We pulled Wilma up outside of The Press Room. The streets of Portsmouth are narrow and quaint, decorated with old brick buildings. The Press Room was no exception. You walk inside to the cozy and historic New England bar to a familiar social scene of happy people, friendly craft beer drinkers. We learned that we were playing upstairs…what? The last word a 6-piece band wants to hear when entering a new venue is “upstairs”. The bar tender assured us that we would be pleasantly surprised by the space up there and the crowd that they expected for the evening.

And so we lugged our stuff up the old steps piece by piece. Sure enough we found a nice open room with a tavern-style bar at the back, wood floors, concrete ceiling and a stage. We had a house sound engineer and lights for the night. Not bad. But it got better…

After soundcheck, I went downstairs w Katy to grab a drink for Sarah and I. We met a few locals that had looked us up on YouTube before coming out. They were friendly and excited to see us, asking questions about our set and where we were from. I was relieved that there would be at least a few people upstairs listening. 

We started promptly at 10pm. A few people had started to wander into the space, our new local friends included. Then the music started. I sang one song, 2 songs, 3 songs and then it was like someone had pour water on the crowd and they were instantly multiplying – like one of those tightly packed towels that expand with moisture. Amazing. The energy was turned up and the atmosphere was alive and inspiring.

We left The Press Room hot, sweaty and musically fufilled. New friends chatted with us as we packed up our instruments, sharing and suggesting other venues that we should play in the northeast. Though our time was short in New Hampshire, Portsmouth took a little peice of my heart. Plans are in the works to return in the spring. 

And now we moved onward from Fall Foliage to the crystal blue Caribbean. See you soon Domincan.

-Teagan