Just Peachy

A "We are actually here!" photo!

Well, we did it!

After 28+ hours (roundtrip) in the car, we made it to Atlanta, Georgia, and back. And what an adventure!!

What a band!! We agree with Kiefer that Rocco Deluca and the Burden are definitely worth seeing live! He (and Jude Cole -- though we never saw him) came along to help with the promotion. You can't help but catch Kiefer's enthusiasm!

And, no...I didn't take this photo. (I wish!) We never got that close.

Stuart and I were really really glad that we did go. Not just because of the excitement of having a roadtrip, but because this band is truly very talented!

We left for Atlanta on Saturday at 2 a.m. We figured it might be easier to start during the dark hours so that the kids could sleep. (Hahaha!) We rented a very cool Toyota Matrix -- which we nicknamed "Zippy."

The drive took us through another part of the Appalachian Mountains (we live near the upper end of this chain), down through the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge. FANTASTIC! Especially this time of year. The scenery was exploding with color! And I felt powerless to capture it with my camera.

We arrived in Atlanta around 3:30 p.m. and headed to the Plaza Atlanta theatre to get tickets for the rockumentary. The owner had promised to set some aside for us since we were coming from so far away. (Gotta love that Southern hospitality!!)

The rockumentary and concert were sponsored by 99X, a local Atlanta radio station, to promote its new morning show.

The inside of the Plaza was a bit dark, so I couldn't really get a good photo of Kiefer and Manu Boyer, the director of the film, during the Q & A, but the atmosphere was cool! The theatre dates back to 1939 and has been restored by its current owner. A cool tidbit we learned from Kiefer about the band's debut album title: The name of the album is "I Trust You to Kill Me" which stemmed from a conversation between Kiefer and Rocco. Kiefer joked that they'd better make it with this album, or he'd "kill him." To which Rocco replied, "I trust you to kill me!" And, oddly enough, the album doesn't include the title song (apparently that's not unusual so we'll look for it on another album).

Afterwards, we headed over to Smith's Olde Bar for the concert at midnight. We're not usually "night owls" but both of us were going strong on excitement and adrenalin.

When we finally got to the room and the band came out, it was electrifying (no pun intended)!! You could feel Rocco's passion for his music. And his guitar and dobro playing!!! All I can say is: WOW!

I'm not a rock music fan, per se, but I'm a definite fan of this music! It was so cool to see the group in the film, then go and watch them LIVE! Stuart and I found ourselves pinching each other again.

The band's mascot, and a photo of Kiefer as he was "fleeing" the throngs.

You could tell he really didn't want to overshadow Rocco and the band.

We left at the end of the show, tired but exhilarated. It made you want to learn to play a guitar or bass or drum....

Stay tuned for another new rock band? Right....

More about the rest of the trip tomorrow.