Sweetwater Junction made our way up to Charlotte last Saturday to play at a cozy little restaurant/bar called Bonterra. It was located close to the downtown area where we had rooms at the Aloft Hotel. Nice. We were the 4 piece band with Brian, Walt, and a now rare appearance by Seth. Walt and I met him at Krazy Al's Mega Music store in Commerce, which I had visited before back when I would do the Commerce run for MMS, where we all bought something - I got a pack of strings for my 6-string bass. Great to play with Seth. He seems to doing really well with his coffee house/bar Hendershots, which is getting a name for being a hip live music venue. We were also joined by another guitarist, Keith Hicks, who works with Brian at Maple Street Guitars. Keith has a massive pedalboard and played some very tasty licks that were welcome in our band. This enabled Brian to come and go, sometimes in mid song! Well, we all got paid well so it was nice to be along for this one. We didn't have to learn any tunes for it, and the bride was so laid back that I almost never saw her. We played well but nothing was remarkable. Perhaps the best was Soul Shakedown, one we can only do with Seth singing. The load out was tough, since we had to load Walt's van and the trailor appropriately to accomodate Seth's drums plus all of our gear. The hotel was really nice and somehow we all had our own room. We met in the lobby bar for drinks after checking in. Then we wandered off to some other bars in search of Brian's sister. Never found her, and I headed back to my room since I was beat from Spencer's sleep study the night before. Here a few shots of the hotel and the morning after.
They restaurant had a patio off the side but not well advertised. It was great weather and had full sun, so I hung out there for much of the break. Here we are eating form the buffet with Walt, Keith, and the photographer.
A parting shot of the patio after the sun had moved away.
My room with a nice LG flat screen on the wall and windows overlooking the main drag - it was loud for a while.
Fancy bathroom sink and shower area.
Getting coffees and bagel sandwiches the next morning. Nice complimentary expresso machine.
The front of the hotel that we must have passed 3 times when we first arrived to pick up the trailor, which I had to drive to the venue.
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