I Caught A Foul Ball/"There Once Was A Gig In Nantucket"

I got back from tour yesterday. It was only three cities but it was pretty eventful. The first gig was in Houston, we played for the Mayor's birthday party for the city. Lot's of rich folks and local celebrities and after four songs we were done. Not bad. And the following day (last Wed.) we had entirely off. This is a rarity on tour; no travel no gigs no rehearsal, nothing. We took advantage by having lunch at hands-down the BEST barbecue place I've ever eaten at, Pizzatolla's. Jerry Pizzatolla is a childhood friend of Steve's and invited the band over (Steve flew to NYC to do some business). We had a great time and some great food.
The secret to Jerry's barbecue brisket is this brick oven/smoker. Ovens like these aren't allowed in Houston anymore because of fire codes, but since the restaurant has been there so long (he procured the place from Houston barbecue legend Johnny Davis) its been grandfathered out of the laws. No secret rubs or sauces in his brisket, just salt, pepper, and about 10 hours of brick oven smoking. There is none better.

Here's a pic of the guys and Jerry:


That night our trumpeter Matt and I went to a Houston Astros game. And you won't believe what happened. After scalping some tickets (for face value as the Astros are kind of sad this year) we sat down to a local guy who goes to a lot of games. After the game starts he leans over and tells me "a lot of foul balls come up here so be on the lookout." I was skeptical. We were on the club level directly to the left of and behind home plate. It seemed like a long distance backwards for a ball to travel. Then in the fourth inning Cardinals Left Fielder Chris Duncan comes up to bat and *WHACK* a ball comes sailing up for us. It is coming towards my left where the local guy is sitting, he jumps up but misses the ball (this I found funny since every time a ball would go in to the stands and a fan would miss catching it he'd shout "GOTTA GRAB IT!") and it bounces high off of the concrete steps to my right. Well, Matt is sitting to my right and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you he's every bit of 6'7". I thought "there's no way I'm grabbing this ball before Matt." But sure enough the ball slips through his fingers and plops right in the unoccupied seat in front of me and I scoop it up.

I'm not sure if you can appreciate how rare catching a foul ball is, it doesn't happen to everybody and I kind of figured it would never happen to me. But the way my luck has been going this year I shouldn't be surprised. Here's my ball which I will of course give to my son (coincidently that day was also his first day at day care):

Matt and I after the game:


The Astros were celebrating the 80th birthday of their broadcast announcer. Guess what his name is?


The next day we flew to JFK and stayed at a hotel by the airport (yuck!) and the next day played a nice theater in the Hamptons. The gig went really well and the crowd had a lot of energy.

The next day we played a private event on Nantucket. I'd never been before and my first impression is this: if you've ever seen the Nantucket/Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard-look in fashion magazines and said to yourself "people don't really dress like that" let me tell you, they do. I saw a 60-something year-old guy in teal and white seersucker shorts, a pink polo shirt with the collar popped, and a blue blazer. There are guys like this all over the island. We played a wedding (rumored to cost $1 million) and the groomsmen all wore blue blazers and khakis. Too funny. But we had a good time and Nantucket even has some pretty cool nightlife.

Home finally. I'm watching Milo all week. We're gonna find some trouble to get in to.