Colorado

After leaving our bus in Maryville, we packed all our essentials into the van and made our way towards Colorado for the two biggest shows of our collective careers yet, opening for blues rock legends, ZZ Top.

Our first night with them was at the Belly Up in Aspen, a smaller more intimate venue with the most incredible stage sound I've ever heard. The crowd was responsive and very into the music. We had the honor and privilege of meeting Mr. Billy Gibbons after the show was over. He was a humble gentleman and the coolest guy you'll ever meet.

Our second night with them was at the Paramount Theater in Denver. One of the most beautiful theaters I've ever seen. Growing up, I had always wanted to play a theater like this, especially after seeing Alice Cooper a few years back at the Akron Civic. Now this was a stage. The spotlights on us made it hard to see the crowd but around after the third song, I was able to sneak a peak underneath the lights at the front of the stage to see a sold out, packed house making me a VERY happy musician.

After we left the stage, we couldn't walk ten feet without someone from the crowd giving it up for us, shaking our hands or asking for pictures. It was the most 'Have a Cigar' moment I've ever had. Thanks to ZZ Top for having us and the crowds in Aspen and Denver for being so responsive and supportive.

Mark

Rushmore/Des Moines

It has been a crazy last few days for the boys in 28 North. Traveling in our bus with no heat and freezing our butts off, we made it to South Dakota and had the privilege of visiting Mount Rushmore. Seeing it in person is truly incredible. To think of all the work put into a monument like that with no power tools is truly mindblowing. Seeing this beautiful work of art and piece of American history will stay with us forever.

We hit the road towards Des Moines, again with no heat and everything seemed to be alright until the sun went down. It was so unbearably cold, we all had on multiple layers of clothing, covered in blankets and we were STILL freezing. I put my headphones on, tried to make myself comfortable, tuned out the world and tried to sleep through the cold. Not two minutes later, the unthinkable happened. A towbar malfunction nearly caused us to lose our van which we were towing behind our bus. Miraculously, instead of losing the van (which also had all of our equipment in it) the van crashed into the back of our bus, damaging the van's radiator and Rick's bike. Again, miraculously we were able to reconnect the van to the bus and instead of stopping, we decided to high-tail it to Des Moines, get there early and assess the damages.

We did a radio interview and a live acoustic performance the following morning with KFMG, Des Moines, the first radio station in the country to play "Call Me Up" and that evening, we played a show at the KFMG Seventh Anniversary party in the Fort Des Moines Grand Ballroom. A beautiful venue, we all had a great time performing. Thanks again to Ron at KFMG for playing our single and bringing us to Des Moines. We had a blast here and we're all looking forward to coming back for another show.

After the show, we spent the following day at West Side Auto in Des Moines having our bus worked on. Word is we FINALLY have heat so we won't all have pneumonia before the tour is over. Thanks to Bill at West Side Auto for coming in early and helping us out!!

After a few more days on the road we have run into some more bus issues which are being currently worked on. Unfortunately, we had to cancel a few shows along the way, but the good news is we’ve had more ads in more radio stations and we just booked two shows in Colorado where we’ll be opening for ZZ Top in both Aspen and Denver. As for now, we’re spending the night in Maryville, Missouri awaiting on our bus to get fixed so we can get back to the grind. See you all on the road.

Mark