Day 20: Charleston, WV
Welcome
Yesterday we performed a very short set for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
One of the things I have found myself increasingly unable to do in recent years is to not construct Kenny Rogers’ masterpiece The Outrigger when I find myself in possession of a pineapple. Yesterday was a perfect example of this. There was a pineapple leftover from the rider that was brought back onto the bus, and it was just sitting there on the bench, completely intact.
We happen to have a pretty decent chef knife on the bus and this was essential to do a tidy job of quartering this very well protected fruit. In New Zealand the pineapples don’t come with leaves so it was a new experience slicing through that section. Luckily we also have a nice, sharp paring knife and I used that to first perform the lateral cut underneath the core, and then run along the inside of the skin to detach the bulk of the flesh.
Kenny Rogers’ masterpiece, The Outrigger.
The results speak for themselves. I left this arrangement out on the bus table for everyone to enjoy but if I’m honest I probably ate about two thirds of the pineapple myself.
The plan was to go bouldering after breakfast but unfortunately the place we had scoped out was a members-only establishment. Tristan and I instead opted for a run and set out along a nice track on the northern bank of the Kanawha River. It was the warmest day we had experienced in a while. It felt pretty good to be hitting this nice streak of weather and even getting to enjoy a sweat again. There were plenty more folks out exercising, and even a trio of fisherman on the river, their boat adrift in the current as they cast their lines.
After twenty minutes we had reached the West Virginia State Capitol building which we stopped to admire before we turned around. It was a building in the typical State Capitol style; a huge gold helmet supported by an array of columns. I’m always impressed with how they keep the gold so shiny on these things.
The afternoon hours passed quickly and before we knew it it was time to head to the venue. A cheerful man arrived to pick us up from the bus and took us to the Culture Centre Theatre, right in the middle of Charleston. The Mountain Stage radio show is somewhat of an institution, having run roughly twice a month since 1983. It is a two-hour live broadcast, recorded in front of an audience, and usually features five musical guests, either supported by the house band or performing under their own steam.
I was excited once I saw the stage. I had never played on one of these TV broadcast stages where there everyone has their own riser and there are about twenty amps and several keyboards. There is a very specific look that is generated by this amount of stage clutter and the way these shows are shot, a look I was excited to tick off.
The playing experience was straightforward. The audience were given some instruction on when to deliver applause, and then Mountain Stage host Larry Groce went out with the house band to sing the theme song. We performed next, four quick songs with minimal banter. The lights in the theatre were blindingly bright which hopefully made us look nice for the cameras.
Let’s play a game. One we all know called Bus or Submarine.
Yesterday morning Golden Sparkle Face broke down. We were about an hour from Charleston and luckily Rob managed to nurse us into the hotel at a greatly reduced pace. Sadly repairs could not be conducted in place so Rob and Golden Sparkle Face will be headed off to the bus hospital in Nashville where we will rejoin them in a few days.
Awaiting us when we returned from Mountain Stage was this new and extremely luminescent vehicle.
