artmosphere
4 days in the gulf coast; lafayette, nola, pascagoula, mobile
Facebook event invites for New Orleans and Pascagoula!
Thursday April 15 @ Artmosphere in Lafayette, LA
Friday April 16th @ Coach’s Corner in New Orleans, LA (technically in Metarie), 10P – 2A
Saturday April 17th @ The Celtic in Pascagoula, MS 10P – 1A
Sunday April 18th @ Alabama Music Box in Mobile, AL 9P
I’m really excited that for the first time, someone else made a Facebook event for our show without us even knowing about it! Our friend David, who we met through Couchsurfing and christened Ryan as “Hooch” back on our East Coast tour in 2009, took the initiative to make the Pascagoula show packed. This is our third time there, so it should be charming.
In general we’re pumped to take a little weekend jaunt out on I-10, play some great places in Louisiana and Mississippi, and play in Mobile for the first time. We’ll be seeing old and new friends, and we’ll be playing a few songs that have never been heard in these states. Hope to see you there!
Ryan’s First Show: The Artmosphere in Lafayette, LA
Today was the first day of our winter tour and we couldn’t have started it off any better. With a great crowd we had a blast in Lafayette, Louisiana at ‘The Artmosphere’. The Artmosphere just oozes soul. It has a nice laid back feel including a section where you can kick back on a couch or recliner. They also have great food. We had a pizza that was amazing. All fresh ingredients made it one of the best I’ve ever had. The music lineup ended up being great as well.
We played with two great bands Sequoya Prep School and The Magnolia Sons. Sequoya Prep School is an Americana band with great lyrics and soul out of South Carolina. The Magnolia Sons are a southern rock band that knows how to rock a crowd and bring a crowd. Gotta give them some love for helping bring out the crowd from their neighboring hometown of Lake Charles.
This was actually my first show with the band playing bass and I had a blast. I love playing for new people that really appreciate music. The crowd in Lafayette was very receptive and energetic. Let’s just say we had them calling our name by the end of the set 
We had our first experience with “couch surfing” in Lafayette. For those of you who don’t know, couch surfing is way to flop on a random stanger’s couch and not end up in jail. There’s a website couchsurfing.org that allows you to find places to flop, rate the flopper, and rate the place of flopping. It’s pretty amazing really. Our host was awesome and allowed us to flop even though he had prior commitments and really couldn’t hang out. Really it was all around a great trip to Lafayette and now we’re off to New Orleans! Thanks for reading and keep it funky! Achachay!
- Ryan Stallings (aka “Hooch”)
Marooned in the land of the Ragin’ Cajuns
The basics of this story, our night in Lafayette:
- Get to the Artmosphere, turn around to park and the car stalls. I realize immediately that we’re out of gas
- Listen to some kick ass music from Teddy Lamson and Leo DeJesus (his first solo show, clearly an old hand on the stage though)
- Play a great show
- 1AM: Get gas, but it won’t start. Run down the battery trying to get it to start.
- Get more gas, get the manager Chantel to jump us. Still won’t start
- Call AAA to get a jump. They send Pop-A-Lock. Still won’t start.
Charlie reflects the causeway over Lake Pontchartrain, the longest bridge in the world
- Call AAA to get towed from Lafayette to New Orleans. 130 mile tow (free, thank goodness for the AAA Premier + RV card).
- The Tow truck tried to jump it, still won’t start. It is now 5AM and we’ve been at this for 4 hours.
- Get towed to Metarie (Don’t tell the tow guy that Charlie was sleeping in the back of the bus cause it’s technically illegal)
- 730AM: Sleep.
The glorious sunrises of arriving in metarie
- Call AAA again, they send an automotive God who knows everything about Diesels and what happens when you run out of gas. Hooks up to a commercial battery charger and does a little trick with a rag soaked in unleaded (regular gas) pressed against the air intake. Tells everyone to back off in case of an explosion.
- The trick works, we’re back in business.
- Oh the Ho Bus. This time, it was our fault. Granted we don’t have a gas gage. At least it makes for some good stories and video.
