Wow, what a weekend! Not only did I have a four day weekend (I took off work on Friday and Monday), but it was fun-filled and action-packed.

It all started on Friday, when I went out to Indiana to visit my good friend Melanie and the new addition to her family - Meaghan Sue. I hadn’t seen her or the baby for over a month, so the trip was past due. Meaghan is as cute as ever and was very well behaved, even when I was holding her!

Saturday rolled around and James, Tammy and I hit the road with only a destination - Asheville, NC - and a time - 7pm on Sunday, Sep 25 - as our goal, for one of the final concerts of the O.C. Supertones!

We had plenty of time to get to Asheville, so we took our time and enjoyed the trip. Windows down, sunroof open, music cranked up - nothin’ like it! Ah, boy!

We headed down I-75 and eventually stopped in Corbin, KY for some grub and a side trip. We ate at O’Malley’s (wow, they had some surprisingly good food!) and watched part of the UK/Florida football game. Well, more of the Florida football game. The score was 21-7 when we got there and 49-7 when we left at halftime. Ugh! Florida is #5, so we didn’t expect to win, but I was hoping for it to be a little closer. Final score was 49-28, so at least we got a little closer and held them scoreless in the second half. But I digress…

After dinner, we headed out to Cumberland Falls. The weather was gorgeous and we had the time, so why not! I had been there several times before, though not in recent years, so it was a good stopover. Nice, peaceful and relaxing. On the way back to the car, we stopped by the gift shop, where James’ eagle eyes saw shining bottles of Ale8 staring at us from the cooler. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this KY born and bred drink, so James bought us a “round.” (Ale8 is a ginger-based soft drink, for those of you who may be wondering…) It was at this point that I remembered and mentioned something about having a drink of Ale8 after downing some pixie sticks. Gives ya quite a little high James wanted to experience it, but they didn’t have pixie sticks. FunDip would have to do! We each got a section of the FunDip packet, downed it, then followed with Ale8. Well, sort of… After the FunDip and Ale8 went in, I looked at Tammy and James, started laughing and ended up spraying it everywhere. Of course, James and Tammy followed suit. We got some interesting looks from passers-by!

After this brief stopover, we hit the road again, heading south towards Knoxville. We still had plenty of time to make it to Asheville that night, but James suggested we spend the night in Knoxville and check out the local music scene. And that we did! Once we reached Knoxville, we checked out the local entertainment newspaper for music and decided to head down to Preservation Pub on Market Square. Upon first hearing about Market Square, and then seeing it, I thought it would be like Newport on the Levee - lots of people, shops, entertainment, music, etc. It was practically empty, though! The entire downtown was, for that matter. Saturday night at 11pm and there was no nightlife. Surprised me!

What few people there were on Market Square were at Preservation Pub, though. The two bands playing that night were Shirock and Popular Genius. Shirock, a self described progressive pop group, was playing when we got there. Their set only had a couple songs left, but that was okay since I didn’t really get into them.

During the 45-min “intermission” between bands, James, Tammy and I walked around downtown, specifically to the World’s Fair Park, an incredibly beautiful area in the middle of downtown. This was the site of the 1982 World’s Fair, though it’s been updated since then. Lawns, waterfalls, steams, fountains, the sunsphere, etc… Very nice!

Back to Preservation Pub for Popular Genius, an “alterna-pop-rock” group who had some good stuff. They had a girl who played everything under the sun - sax, flute, accordion, glockenspiel, tambourine, etc! We had a fun time watching them, but the main attraction of the trip was still to come.

Sunday dawned on another gorgeous day and we started out again towards Asheville. Well, after my first experience at IHOP, that is. They don’t have them here in Northern KY, so I’ve never had the chance to eat at one. We’ll be getting one soon, though, so the rumor goes… Anyway, I had the Colorado Omelet, which was loaded with meat. Mmm! Not bad for my first experience. I just love breakfast foods in general, so it doesn’t take much to get my mouth watering!

After breakfast we hit the road. Not for long, though! Unable to resist, we decided to stop by Gatlinburg. We parked and walked around for a while, stopping at some of the shops and just enjoying the fantastic day. Mmm, Oreo fudge rocks my face off! We also got an “old time” photo, another in my growing collection from Gatlinburg. The weather was nice, but it was getting a little windy and cloudy as a result of Hurricane Rita. As nice as it was, there’s nothing like Gatlinburg in the fall! Maybe I can make another trip down there this fall

On the road again! Still having plenty of time, we decided to take the scenic route to Asheville, so we followed the Smokey Mountain Parkway to the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville. Wow, what a drive! Wonderful views the entire way, much better than the interstate. Well worth the extra time it took.

Right on time! We got to Asheville exactly when we wanted - 6pm. Enough time to get our tickets, grab a bite to eat and get pumped for the show! Man, we were stoked!

First up was Seeker’s Planet, a Croatian Ska band. Yeah, you read that right - a CROATIAN SKA band. Croatia and ska may not seem like an everyday combination, but these guys were awesome. They definitely showed up the other opening acts with their energy and audience interaction, not to mention they were having fun while performing. It’s not everyday a young Croatian ska band gets to tour in the US with the likes of the Supertones and they were living it up. Be on the lookout for some of the music in the Spotlight channel of DW radio in the coming week

John Davis was next in the lineup. He hails from Nashville and had some interesting music. Not quite sure if I liked his music, but he looked like he was having a good time and the Supertones thought highly of him.

The Evan Anthem was the third act and I didn’t like them at all. I couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage. They had a horrible stage presence, with the vocalists having their eyes closed most of the time, barely any interaction with the audience, spoken or otherwise, and I don’t think I saw any of them smile. Self-absorbed and in their own little world. Blah, get off the stage and give me THE SUPERTONES!!!

Mojo, the lead singer of the ‘Tones, came out solo and kicked off the Supertones portion of the show with So Great a Salvation, a slower, but awesome song. The rest of the band joined him throughout the song and it started rockin’. We were going nuts. This was it - the last time we would see Supertones in concert and we were going to make the most of it. It wasn’t long before the entire crowd was jumpin’ and skankin.

Here’s a run down of the Supertones set, as much as I can remember at least, in no particular order:

• So Great A Salvation (Opener)
• Supertones Strike Back
• Transmission
• Go Go Go
• Jury Duty
• Wilderness
• Prince Of Peace
• The Shepherd Is The Lamb
• Little Man
• Adonai
• Louder Than The Mob
• One Voice
• Sure Shot
• Chase The Sun
• O.C. Supertones
• Grounded
• Unite (Encore)
• Come Thou Fount (Encore)

What made my night was that they played my two favorite songs - Jury Duty and Wilderness. I had heard Jury Duty live several times before, but never Wilderness. Yes! Thank you ‘Tones!

Over their 9 albums and almost 10 years of music, no matter how popular they became, their message remained the same. While other bands gave into mainstream pressure, the Supertones never compromised their lyrics or message. While having fun with their music, there is a deep message behind it. I think the chorus from one of their earlier and still popular songs, Supertones Strike Back, says it best:

We want this whole band to be a big love letter
so we play the ska and it makes you feel better
God’s got love for us, so we got love for you
It’s your life, so what you wanna do?

It was an awesome concert, and we were definitely sweaty and worn out by the time it was over. Totally worth the drive! The venue itself was small, so we were able to hang around after the show to meet the band, to thank them for all the awesome music and memories and wish them the best with their next phase of life. After handshakes and with autographs in hand, the three tired fans made their way back to the car and their next phase of the journey.

We decided to drive back as far as possible, so we could sleep in the next morning and take our time (James needed to be back in town no later than 4pm for work). We ended up making it back to the Knoxville that night and the same hotel we were at the night before, though just barely. I was starting to drift off behind the wheel, so I subjected Tammy and James to my “classical/band” music. For whatever reason, Bugler’s Holiday, the Irish Washerwoman, Funiculi Funicula, Marriage of Figaro, and other music along those lines kept me awake. Go figure!

The next morning, we started the last stage of our journey, heading back to Northern KY. For the first time on the trip, it rained. And rained… It rained practically the whole way back Hard to jam to music properly when you’re all closed up in the car.

To see pictures from the trip, check out the Gallery. The pictures come from both my digital camera and my new camera phone (yes, I ended up getting the RAZR - more on that later.) This was my first time using a camera phone and the pictures didn’t come out as clearly as I had hoped they would (especially when blown up), but at least it’s something. It was a lot easier to carry around my skinny little phone than lug around my seemingly monstrous digital camera

Next up - RelientK and MxPx in concert at Paramount’s King’s Island. Woohoo!

Farewell, Supertones - Mojo, Dan, Ethan, Beatty, Brett and John, as well as former members Darren, Jason, Tony and the rest! We will miss your music and witness. May God bless whatever road you find yourself on next!