SE Spring Tour

[Weather Command]

Over the years, I have seen a ridiculous amount of shows but have only done one entire tour start to finish. The most recent SE tour was the one!! 

3 of us did the entire tour along with the band and crew. BTW, before I go any further, thanks to DSO for all that you do. Its' not easy! Yes, you get paid but it is a grind! Truthfully, I am blown away with their amazing attitude and willingness to put on excellent shows night in and night out! AMAZING!

 

 4400 miles give or take, starting in Wilmington, DE, 14 shows total to include Bobby and the Wolf Bros ( Jacksonville, Florida ) the night before DSO's opener in St. Pete, Florida. My favorite venues were St. Augustine, Florida, Pompano Beach, Florida ( been there multiple times to see DSO before ), Tallahassee, Florida and Wilmington, NC ( been there for DSO as well ). Of the 14 venues, St. Augustine, Tallahassee, Birmingham and Nashville were the only new venues for me. Alabama and Tennessee were 2 states I had never seen DSO in ( after 18 years ) ! 3 venues I did not care for were Asheville ( Orange Peel ) and Charlotte ( Fillmore ). Asheville's employees are cool but the place is always packed with little dance room ( boo ) and Charlotte's employees are a mess but overall room is ok....Raleigh also has employees I am not fond of but am okay with the room. The rest of the venues I like! My favorite show was St. Augustine. I felt the band was feeling it that night and after speaking with a few band members to include Cotter, they felt the same. All the shows were good but that was my favorite. 

 

The trip was shared with many friends. My best buddy was with me the entire time, Luna, my pup. She is a kind dog, loving and patient. She was ready to be off the road at the end as was I.  Luckily for both of us, she and I share an RV which gives her a comfortable place to rest during the shows. The weather was unbelievable the entire time. Never a night did I need AC at all and only checked into one RV campground in Nashville. Thanks To Chris and Nina for being around for every show as well... These two kids are good people and fun to be with and truly DEADicated. I met 4 new people on this tour who apparently do their fair of shows but had never met them before for some reason? Cynthia, Renee, Tatiana and Adrian, I look forward to dancing with you all again...Thanks for sharing your space with me!! It meant a lot! Sammy, Aaron and Carl all drove down for the first 5 shows in Florida which were my favorite shows for so many reasons. Scotty flew into south Florida to hook up with Tatiana and Adrian. They did the 2 Bobby shows to include the first 5 DSO shows as well! My great friend Kevin and his wife were at St. Augustine only but I was able to stay with them for several nights in Jacksonville so that was nice. Rick and Whitney did several of the Florida shows and had their beautiful girl with them..OMG!!! The Perrottis were at the majority of the Florida shows ( love this family so much ) but had to run their deli each day so talk about a grind, back and forth from Orlando to each show each night!!! I put so much value on the Florida DSO runs because of my long friendship with this amazing family! Steve, Carrie and a bunch of other Sand Jammers were along for a few of the shows. I run into Sand Jammers everywhere... They must think I'm crazy, seeing me pretty much everywhere? Nantucket, John and Debbie all flew in for one show..Nantucket, St. Pete, John and Debbie, Pompano!! Awesome!! My buddy Gary from Jam Cruise, his cousin David Jonas ( friends with John, Debbie, Jeff Mattson and Cotter ) both went to Pompano as well...Nice meeting David and having Gary along. Gary and I played golf the next day which was superb. Brian also flew in for first 4 shows as well. THANKS so much to Jay Price for his kindness and generosity. Jay was able to do the last 8 out of 9 shows. I have an amazing time with this guy every time. He is a GRATE guy. His favorite show was Raleigh! ...Mar, Jerry and his wife were at several of the Florida shows....also, Frank...he flew in from Colorado for the first 4 shows as well. I love our family! I have met hundreds of people over the years and funny enough, have introduced many of these awesome people to each other and feel lucky to know each and every one of you. Rude and Meli made it to one show. Jen and Joe were at a few. Tea was at a few..Steph at one... Geez, I know I am forgetting some folks and feel bad about it   Anyway, I felt like I had to put this together after doing my first entire tour in 18 years...I figure I have seen somewhere between 500-600 dso shows...I know, big discrepancy there but its been so many...only 239 GD shows but dso has been an obsession but pleazin...

 

BTW, the best dancing along the way....St. Augustine, Orlando ( Matt and Elle were both rocking it hard in Orlando ) and Atlanta.....so much good!!!!  BTW, thanks to Matt, the new tour manager...what a GRATE guy. DSO is lucky to have him and so are all of us...  LOVE you all.. Peace.

[acududeman]

Wow, that's true Deadication…...you will never forget your experiences on the road......terrific!

[Greg from Chestertown]

Damn, Bix! Congrats. Halfway through reading your post, I told myself you should write a book. I think you just did. 

[Tom Banjo]

Delilah made her first show. 

 

She has now done skull and roses festival too. 

 

Shes jubilee ready. 

[BillK522]

Fantastic read, Scott.

You are an inspiration.

 

Praise DSO.

[LangeradoSoul]

Sounds like you had a great Spring! Not jealous at all

[Mango]

St Augustine was the best dance party and venue. Tallahassee my fav show....love those middle school electives.

 

Thank you Bix for linking so many of us together. You truly are a butterfly 🙂

[chuckvegas]

For the first several years of my DSO career I either traveled solo or with my LV buddy Eric and otherwise didn’t mingle much. I talked more to band and crew than I did to other fans.

 

That began to change thanks to the earliest iteration of this forum. Through TR’s masterpiece here I came out of my shell and sought folks out. The first ones were Dr V, Looky, the Herd, and Scott. Then Doc, Teacher Matt, the China Cats, James, August West, Susan Angelina, Dr Barry, the Steves, Christophe, Blythe, Jordan, and it was off to the races. Mango, MC, SVT in all her incarnations, Man in Green, Hypnotist Collector, and so many more! 

 

Many shows and a couple of full tours later I’ve come full circle. I treasure those times more than words can tell.

 

New ones come and old ones go, most can still be seen if you poke around, but Scott is the true constant. I owe a debt of thanks to so many here that can never be fully repaid.

 

Scott embodies the best of the best. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

 

[Weather Command]

thanks chuck!! love you buddy...

[Rude]

I don’t think I’ve hardly seen a show in the last year you weren’t at. I love how you’ve picked up the pace, not that you ever really slowed down. 

[LIkeEveryOne]

3 years into DSO and your 500 shows will be tough to catch.

do you wish you’d captured more pictures of the people u met along the way?  I think I do. 

[Greg from Chestertown]

When I first started catching Dark Star shows, I was always reporting to my buddy John Devine. He told me, if you’re always going to Dark Star shows, you gotta meet Bixby. He goes all the time too. (We’re all from Wilmington) I was at the Grand Opera House In Wilmington, De. Before a show way back when. I’m standing next to the will call window and I here a guy say ‘ yea, ticket for Scott Bixby.’ I introduced myself, that’s where it all began. Whenever I’m at a show, we always seem to find each other, if only for a minute. He has introduced me to all of his friends every time. (I remember nobody’s names. I’m like that.) 

 Bixby is the quintessential Starhead! Keep up the good work! 

[Weather Command]

On 4/21/2019 at 2:48 PM, LIkeEveryOne said:

3 years into DSO and your 500 shows will be tough to catch.

do you wish you’d captured more pictures of the people u met along the way?  I think I do. 

I'm not a big picture guy...learned that from the GD days..always avoiding pix...not so much anymore but don't take many..

[Rude]

I’m not a big taking pics guy. The gf is and I’m glad she is. She has all these great albums on her Mac of each of our tours and it brings the memories back to life. I sort of chastise her for getting on her phone taking pics but after last year’s jazz fest and Cali tour I’m so glad I have those great pics. Most of the pics aren’t people but we have a pic of almost every marquee. I also have to accept having 1 pic per show taken of us by someone. But it makes her happy and even though posing is torture for me it’s something I have to go. But in the winter with nothing to do, streaming those albums through the tv snaps me out of the winter duldrums. And we never take pics of any compromising situations. Almost exclusively dinner pics and venue pics with people in it. 

[Tom Banjo]

The Perotti’s are the ultimate group shot team. I sometimes get in their group photos but no I don’t like pictures. I’m rarely in them. Sometimes forced to take them. I don’t think I wish there was more of them. However som of those Perotti’s group shots you feel like you did something wrong if you didn’t get in the shot. Some epic photos of some of DSO most dedicated fans.