Friday, August 27, 2010:
Today I leave for Chihuahua, Mexico with Danni Leigh. This will be her first performance since she gave birth to a beautiful little boy, Hudson, in July; and she is performing as the entertainment for the PBR Chihuahua. We all met at Customs and registered the equipment and went straight to the airport for check-in. Everything ran smoothly, no problems checking in or with any of the flights. Danni and I joked around about “weren’t we a good pair”, she and I and the many “pleasantries” of before and after of childbirth. J Very short layover in Houston and a quick flight to Chihuahua. Landed in Chihuahua and Armando was waiting for us. Short ride to the hotel, got everyone checked in, freshened up and headed out to dinner. We had the best Mexican food, it was all authentic and so fresh. I had chicken quesadilla and it was more than enough to 2 people. YUM!! Back to the hotel and time to get some rest. ~ Penny
Saturday, August 28, 2010:
Got to sleep in a bit today. 🙂 Driver was scheduled to pick us at 9:45 AM, but didn’t show up until about 10:15 AM. Found out later that the van had a flat and that was why they were running late. Once I realized the driver was running late I sent Armando a text asking to make sure the production company and set up and ready for when we got there. We arrived at the venue about 10:30 AM and not a single thing was on stage. I could not believe that NOTHING had been done. It appeared as though they were just getting there themselves. The band guys were wonderful and they began helping get their gear set up. Armando took Danni and I to the dressing room to hang while the band got set up. I had a little talk with Armando about the driver and the stage situation. Danni was scheduled to be done with sound check by 11:30 AM and do a press conference at 12 Noon. Since we were running so late, we ended up doing the press conference first, short m&g and photo session, then straight to sound check. They are all such “pros” that sound check took all of 30 minutes, maybe. The band headed back to the hotel, while Danni, Mike and I went to the radio station for Armando to tape a short radio interview. Armando has his own radio show in Chihuahua that airs 1 hour, 5 days a week, and 3 hours on the weekends. Got back to the hotel and the band was just sitting down for a late lunch so we all joined them. We all had the most amazing meals and the freshest guacamole that I have ever had, and different kinds of salsa. OMG, it was so good. The band should have arrived much earlier than they did, but as they were leaving the venue there was a wreck and was stuck in traffic. They told us that it looked pretty bad. A vehicle had hit another and ended up running into the corner of a building. Part of one of the vehicles was blocking part of the road causing a traffic jam. The band said their driver got out of the van, picked up the bumper, scooted it over and jumped back in the van and took off. Hilarious!! I do hope that everyone in the wreck was ok though. We all took short naps and was ready to go back to the show by 7:30 PM. Driver was early and we made it to the venue. 8 Segundos, the Mexican opening band, was performing. They are great, and full of energy. They are very popular in this area. Danni and Renee of 8 Segundos had spoken earlier and decided to do a song together during Danni’s set. Danni took the stage about 9:15 PM and had a great crowd. They had all of the metal gates in front of the stage where the PBR had taken place earlier. The crowd started coming through the gates to get closer to the stage. One young guy ended up climbing up on stage and professing his love to Danni. One of the production guys had to come over and end up making him get down. He was up there a good 2-3 minutes and Danni said he was trying to have a conversation with her about how much he loved her. About ¾ the way through Danni’s set she invited Renee and Alex up on stage from 8 Segundos to do a song. The crowd went crazy!! They performed “Streets of Bakersfield” by Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam, then another song. Renee and Alex sang vocals with Danni, and Alex also plays a mean fiddle. They sounded great together. After the show Danni signed autographs and took photos with fans. 8 Segundos has a sponsorship with a boot company in Mexico and Renee was able to get Danni a pair. How great is that??!?! Renee came backstage and brought Danni a new pair of short cowboy boots that are high heeled. Very cool boots. Short ride back to the hotel. Got in bed by 12:30 AM and up at 3:30 AM. ~ Penny
Sunday, August 29, 2010:
Left the hotel by 5:15 AM for the airport. Our flight is at 7 AM and I was allowing plenty of time to check in. Had I have known it would take all of 5 minutes for us all to check in, we could have left much later. I cannot even tell you the last time I traveled and there was no “security” that x-rayed your luggage. There was these 2 little women that would open your suitcase, feel around in your luggage and zip it back up, and put a “security checked” sticker on it. They did this to the checked equipment too, only they put about 30 “fragile” stickers on the guitars, ALL on one side and nothing on the other. LOL We joked with Mike that he would be taking stickers off his guitar for weeks to come. Again short flight back to Houston, which I think we all slept most of it. We had a quick lunch at Chili’s and another short flight on to Nashville. All of the luggage and gear arrived. Said our good-byes and I caught the limo for the Parking Spot, got my car and made it home in time to watch the last half of Andrew’s Little League ballgame. Was a short trip, but a good one, and my last for a while……can you say “maternity leave”? Penny