Return To Rockford

Thursday August 28th, 2008 - Rockford, IL

Back in Rockford again only this time someone was expecting me. I was going to drive home from Decatur last night but then I asked myself why and couldn’t come up with any good answers so I stayed and used my hotel room. I’ve had enough drives lately thanks.

There’s no hotel for the Rockford gig anymore so I stayed as late as I could at the hotel and then took a leisurely trip up US 51 to I-39 and listened to Steve Martin’s audio book ‘Born Standing Up’ which was about his comedy career. I had read the book but this was a treat because he actually read it and it really flowed well. I enjoyed it all over again.

His father and he had a tumultuous relationship and one of the lines he said that stuck to me was ‘I’m qualified to be a comedian.’ I am too. The dents in my can are both deep and plentiful and so far this has been the only thing I’ve been able to find that eases the pain. I know I’m not alone and hearing of Steve Martin’s father/son pain made me feel for him.

Getting to Rockford was a breeze because I was immersed in the audio program most of the way and it made the time fly. I was still early for the show so I stopped at the studio of WXRX to hang out with my radio friends Jim Stone and his partner named ‘Double T’.

It turns out they were at the Rockford River Hawks baseball game so I went over to join them on the air for a while. They let me come on when I want and that’s always a blast. If Bob and Tom would give me as much of a push as Stone and Double T I’d be a huge star.

There were a bunch of other guests on the show today along with me. I didn’t tell them I was coming but they put me on anyway and that was very classy. One of the other guests was Rick Neilsen’s son from Cheap Trick. He sang a few songs and was very good and a nice guy too. I love hanging out on fun radio shows and this is another one I really enjoy.

To make the whole trip worth it the guys let me throw out the first pitch at the game. I’d never done that before and it was a fantastic experience. I walked out to the mound when they told me to and they announced my name and I could see the crowd gawk at me but it was still fun to wind up and let one rip. I didn’t bounce it and the crowd popped nicely.

I shook hands with the catcher and he gave me the ball and I waved and walked off with a huge smile on my face. That was one of the most unexpected fun things I’ve done in my life and if I never get to do it again I still really enjoyed it. It was the highlight of my day.

The lowlight was going to do the show at LT’s. There was an extra small crowd tonight because of baseball, Obama’s speech, the Bears game, the Packer game and Styx had big show in town. I was lucky anyone was left over to see comedy at all. It was a bad night.

The opener was just as filthy today as yesterday but I didn’t even bring it up. I shut my mouth and just ignored it. Hopefully I won’t have to work with him for a long time but if I do I can see it will be an issue. I hope I can avoid it. I’ve got important things to get to.