I said, Florida can be warm!

Apparently, Florida read my last blog post and decided to be contrary. Hmmph.

We woke up today to a temperature of 60, which never got much warmer due to some pretty constant wind. Of all days to have three shows at an amphitheater!

We shivered through the set up and run through of the two school shows (about 2,200 kids total), which saw the sun peeking out but didn't take the bite out of the chill. Mind you, I tend to like colder weather, but the rest of the group, not so much. It was a different experience to fight being buffeted while simply standing there at the shimedaiko at the beginning of the set! Once, during a volunteer section, our large okedo took a strong draft and started to roll slowly off the stage. We managed to catch it quickly enough, but it kept us a bit worried for the rest of the show!

Not only did the wind tax us physically, it meant that we had to factor playing a little louder to ensure both us and the audience could hear the nuances of our music. We've dealt with weird acoustics, dead drums, and awkward staging, but this was the first time I've known that we had to battle wind...

The concert went pretty well despite the temperature and environmental factors. We had a lively crowd to play for, the cold kept me from sweating, and nothing went badly!

After the show, we got to hang with some of the members from Fushu Daiko, a group a little less than two hours away from here. We had a loud live-music bar, some Memphis-style ribs, and a lot of shouting as we got to get to know each other. It was a nice way to end a show and since tomorrow's a free day, we were able to just hang out and stay up late.

Sleeping in tomorrow, a rarity on tour! Sweet.