| Well, I didn’t think taking the whole family on the road would be possible til we buy an RV somewhere in the future (it’s going to happen) but we were actually able to make it happen twice over the last month! Javi had one whole week of break between his spring and summer semesters at Vanderbilt and Humming House happened to have two relatively close-to-home shows over the first weekend of his break, so we figured out a way to make it work to bring the doggos with us on tour. | Bueno, nunca pense que salir con toda la familia a un tour seria posible hasta que compremos una casa rodante en el futuro (lo haremos) pero aun asi pudimos hacerlo dos veces el mes pasado! Javi tenia una semana de descanso entre semestres y Humming House justo tuvo un par de shows relativamente cerca ese mismo fin de semana, asi que planeamos una manera de poder traer a los perros con nosotros. |
| Back in April we played at Tuckfest at the White Water Center in Charlotte, NC. The drive to Charlotte from Nashville is about 6.5 hours long, so Javi and I left extra early in the morning to give ourselves a little extra time to make sure we could stop and let the doggos have a break on the way. We put their crate pillows in the back so they’d be extra comfy – we had never been in the car this long with the dogs so we weren’t sure how they’d do. Turns out they are great at road trips – or rather, they are great at taking naps and it doesn’t matter where they are as long as they have room to curl up and fall asleep. Every now and then Chori would pop up and put his head on my shoulder like a good little companion doggo; my sweet pup. | En Abril tocamos en Tuckfest en White Water Center en Charlotte, Carolina del Norte. El viaje es de 6.5 horas desde Nashville, asi que Javi y yo salimos extra temprano esa manana para darnos tiempo de para en el camino para que los perros puedieran estirar su patas y hacer sus necesidades. Pusimos sus almohadas en el asiento trasero, asi que estaban super comodos – nunca habiamos estado en el auto con los perros por tanto tiempo asi que no sabiamos como lo tomarian. Al final nos dimos cuenta que son geniales para viajar – o mejor dicho, son geniales para tomar siestas mientras viajamos siempre y cuando tengan espacio para acomodarse. De vez en cuando Churipan se sentaba y ponia su cabeza en nuestro hombro, como buen perro de compania…es tan tierno. |
| We booked an airbnb room for the night just outside of downtown Charlotte. We hadn’t ever used airbnb before but a couple of folks recommended it after we couldn’t find a hotel without an exaggerated pet fee (which would cost as much or more than leaving them in the kennel for the night). I used the “pet friendly” filter on the airbnb site and found Ruth’s studio apartment, which is attached to a lovely house on a big plot of quiet land. The area was beautiful, full of trees, flowers, and blooming azaleas. We arrived and checked in with Ruth, a wonderful lady who had everything we could possibly need ready for us in this little apartment. It was a private space with plenty of room for both us and the doggos, complete with a mini fridge, microwave, bathroom, cable TV, armoire, and couch. She had mugs for coffee and a keurig with tea and coffee, water bottles in the mini fridge, muffins and fruit sitting out, fresh flowers on the coffee table, and extra toiletries in case we had forgotten any. It was so nice! Outside of the apartment we could walk the dogs around the front and side of the house and sit on their enormous front porch. I wish we had had more time to enjoy that porch – we basically arrived, had time to set up the dogs’ crates, then head straight to the White Water Center to get ready for the show. | Arrendamos una pieza en Airbnb por una noche a las afueras de Charlotte. No habiamos usar airbnb antes pero un par de amigos nos recomendaron el sitio y despues de no tener suerte buscando hoteles que no cobrarar un precio estupido por tener mascotas, decidimos usarlo. Use el filtro “se aceptan mascotas” en el sitio y encontramos en apartamento de Ruth, que esta junto a su casa en un sitio muy tranquilo. El area era hermosa, llena de arboles, flores, y azaleas florecidas. Llegamos y nos presentamos a Ruth, una senora genial que tenia todo lo que quisieras en el apartamento. El cuarto era bien privado con suficiente espacio para los dos mas los perros, mini fridge, microondas, bano, tv con cable, armario, y un sillon. Tenia tazas para el cafe y una cafetera, cafe y te, muffins y fruta, flores en la mesa y articulos para el bano extra en caso que se nos hubiese olvidado algo. Muy comodo! Afuera del apartamento podiamos pasear a los perros en el frente de la casa y sentarnos en un tremendo porch que tenia. Me hubiese gustado tener mas tiempo para disfrutar de ese porch – practicamente llegamos, armamos las jaulas de los perros, y nos fuimos todos al White Water Center para prepararnos para el show. |
| We arrived at the White Water Center and the guys were already there setting up at the stage. The festival is a three-day event and we were the kick-off band for the weekend. I love playing at that venue – it’s a beautiful park full of people ziplining, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, trail running, biking, or walking their dogs. Part of the reason we brought the dogs with us on the trip was because they were allowed at the two parks where we played that weekend, so it was really fun to keep them with us the whole time. I didn’t have to miss anyone while I was on tour for once! The show was really fun – it was a beautiful afternoon and we got to see some good friends that we always get to hang with when we go to Charlotte. | Llegamos al White Water Center y los chicos ya estaban preparando el escenario. El fesival dura 3 dias y nosotros eramos la banda que daba el puntapie inicial al evento. Me encanta cantar en ese lugar – es un parque muy lindo con gente haciendo todo tipo de actividades al aire libre, zip line, kayak, rafting, paseando perros, corriendo, andando en bicicleta, etc. Parte de la razon que llevamos a los perros fue el hecho que el parque aceptaba mascotas, asi que fue muy entretenido tenerlos con nosotros todo el tiempo. No tuve que extranar a nadie mientras estaba de gira, por primera vez! El show fue muy entretenido – la tarde estaba preciosa y pudimos ver a buenos amigos que siempre tratamos de ver cuando vamos a Charlotte. |
| After our show we got to see a couple of other bands play and then Javi and I collected the doggos and made the trip back to our little apartment. The next morning we took our leave of Ruth’s apartment and headed out to Cookeville, TN for the second show of the weekend at the Spring Awakening Festival on Tennessee Tech’s campus. It’s only about an hour and a half away from Nashville so my parents met us there. We set up a little area near the sound tent in front of the stage with our chairs and blankets, and eventually Ben’s girlfriend Jessica joined us with her dog and we had a great afternoon hanging out listening to other bands play before it was our turn. The Vespers played in the early evening and it was a treat to finally hear them. Humming House toured with them for a brief run before I was in the band so I’ve heard about them but haven’t had a chance to see them live. It was a fun show – I recommend checking them out if they’re heading your way! | Despues del show nos quedamos a ver un par de bandas y luego nos fuimos de vuelta a nuestro alojamiento. A la manana siguiente salimos rumbo a Cookeville, TN para nuestro segundo show del fin de semana en el festival Spring Awakening en el campus de la universidad de Tennessee Tech. El campus queda a solo 1.5 horas de Nashville asi que mis papas vienieron tambien. Nos instalamos en un area cerca de la caseta de sonido con nuestras sillas y frazadas, y eventualmente la polola de Ben, Jessica, se unio a nuestro grupo con su perro y pasamos una linda tarde escuchando otras bandas. The Vespers tocaron al principio de la jornada y fue una delicia escuchar su musica. Humming House salio de gira con ellos un par de veces pero antes que yo estuviera en la banda asi que habia escuchado sobre ellos pero nunca los habia escuchado tocas en vivo. Fue un show entretenido – les recomiendo ver su material y ver su show si es que se cruzan con ellos! |
| Now we’ve come to the part where I have to figure out a way to describe what on earth happened during our set. We were the last band to go on, so by the time we got on stage the sun had set behind the trees. We started the set and most of the folks at the festival were sitting except for one badass guy who was dancing like there was no tomorrow. Little by little the students from TTU joined this solitary dancing figure, and soon we had a crowd of students in front of the stage clapping and dancing along to the music. At one point, we started playing Tower Park and the dancing and clapping somehow became synchronized. Justin and I looked at each other and did what we could to hold it together and not burst into peals of laughter – it was just such an odd, unbelievable occurrence. These kids didn’t plan it (but we did think we were getting flash-mobbed at first) – many of them didn’t even know each other. Luckily Ben’s girlfriend Jessica got a sweet video, otherwise I might not even believe it myself. There are also videos of the group frolicking to Fly On if you search the hashtag #humminghouse on instagram and scroll down a bit. Anyway, it was an awesome night, and in the end we also got some videos of the crowd singing along to Gypsy Django with us. So fun! | Ahora viene la parte donde tengo que encontrar la manera de explicar que paso durante nuestro show. Eramos la ultima banda de la noche, asi que cuando nos subimos al escenario el sol se habia ido. Comenzamos el set y la mayoria de la gente en el festival estaban sentados excepto por un tipo muy genial que bailaba frente a nosotros como si no hubiese manana. De a poco, los estudiantes de TTU se unieron a la figura solitaria de este bailarin, y pronto tuvimos una multitud de estudiantes frente a nosotros aplaudiendo y bailando al son de la musica. En un minuto cuando tocabamos Tower Park el baile y los aplausos eran sincronizados. Justin y yo nos miramos e hicimos lo posible para no reirnos – fue un momento extrano e increible. Estos chicos no lo tenian planeado (al principio pensamos que era una broma y que todo era una coreografia) – muchos de ellos no se conocian. Por suerte la polola de Ben grabo un video, sino nadie nos creeria. Tambien hay videos del grupo actuado nuestra cancion Fly On (pueden encontrarlos si usan e hashtag #humminghouse en instagram y avanzan algunas fotos. Pero bueno, fue una noche genial, y al final tambien hicimos videos de la gente cantando Gypsy Django con nosotros. Muy entrete! |
| So that’s the conclusion of part 1 of the Los Rodriguez tour run – we’ll get part 2 up here soon, detailing our adventure to Birmingham for the recent Humming House show at Small Stages. Check back! | Asi que esa es la conclusion de la parte 1 del tour de los Rodriguez – escribiremos la parte 2 pronto donde les comentaremos de nuestra aventura en Birmingham y el show en Small Stages. Revisen el blog dentro de poco! |
Los Rodriguez Life 
One response to “Los Rodriguez on Tour – part 1”
That was great Les. Thanks for letting me in on it. Boomer and Taffy here are good dogs too…..a lot older than C and C. Glad Javi can go on the next trip but I cannot see him fitting into the van. Did u get a giant carrier for the top? M did bbcue last night for friends and D and S friends (who they’re dating) and it was a nice evening. Miss home but all is well. ❤️❤️❤️Grammy
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