Eden Parker’s “Leaving Eden National Tour”

By Eden Parker
Contributing Writer

For the second week of the “Leaving Eden National Tour” Eden travels from Lubbock to Las Vegas and describes all of his stops in between.

5/29/2011 Day 7: Lubbock to San Antonio
It felt nice to sleep in a real bed again and wake up whenever I felt like waking up. We hit the road towards San Antonio. Passing through Eden, TX, needed a photo-op there.  We finally made it into San Antonio around 12:30 and pulled up to my Dad’s house. A strange blast from the past, as I haven’t seen him face to face since I was 18 years old. We were greeted warmly with hugs and laughter, almost as if no time had passed at all. Tomorrow, my other sisters and brother are coming over for a day of grilling and drinks by the pool. Day off! Awesome!

5/30/2011 Day 8: San Antonio
I woke up to the sound of breakfast being made by my aunt LeAnn. After a quick jog around the neighborhood the festivities began. Swimming. Bud Light Lime. Barbecued ribs. More swimming. More Bud Light Lime. A family photo (the first one ever that all the kids are here). And lots of talking and catching up. Not much else to report today.  The venue we are playing tomorrow is called “Boneshakers” and the show will be with a local band called Bob Gnarley and the Gnailers. I’m excited to see the place.

5/31/2011 Day 9: San Antonio:
Oh boy … Boneshakers is in the Ghetto. Seriously. There are houses with dead lawns and bars on their windows. Stray dogs running up and down the street. Gravel driveways. The sign that indicates the numbered address for the venue is spray painted on tagboard on a wooden post. Yikes. Show must go on.

Upon entering the bar, the inside is much nicer than the location would indicate. Small venue, with round tables and chairs. Comfy couches, and a wide assortment of Texas brewed beers. We set up our stuff and crossed our fingers that the van wouldn’t get stolen. The sound here was probably the best of the whole tour. Tomorrow we hit the road for Tucson. This will be the longest stretch of road we have on the tour. Overall San Antonio has been wonderful. Even though the venue we played was not hat I had expected, our show was great, and having family in the audience was awesome!

6/01/2011 Day 10: San Antonio to Tucson … sort of
Once on the road though, we knew there was little else to do but drive as far and as fast as we could. West Texas is enormous with very little to see that doesn’t look the same as everything you’ve seen already. Somewhere on the road, I got an e-mail from a venue called the Sky Bar in Tucson.  They had a last minute cancellation from their band and asked us to cover it! Awesome! It’s funny how life has a way of providing exactly what you need when you need it. When we reached Las Cruces, NM, we were all too tired to go on. We checked into a Super 8, and will no doubt be asleep within the next half-hour. We’re finally out of Texas. Tomorrow we conquer Arizona.

6/02/2011 Day 11: Tucson
11 AM found us on I-10 headed west towards Tucson. Upon arriving at the Sky Bar, we saw huge solar panels both in the parking lot, and on the roof of the venue. The whole venue is powered by the sun. It’s a really neat place. Located right on 4th Ave (which is Tucson’s version of Broadway) and with large open doorways, so the people walking by on the street can hear the music. We wandered down 4th a little while and decided to set up shop on the street corner and try to make some gas money. We made a whopping 11 dollars in the hour that we were out there. Better than nothing I suppose. Then, in true homeless fashion, we got ready in the parking lot of a mission. Beth did her make-up in the visor mirror and headed back to the Sky Bar to load in. The show was extremely well received. People came in off the streets to listen. They threw tips into our guitar case at the front of the stage. Purchased CDs and were anxious to talk and learn more about us after the show. It was definitely one of our best crowd responses of the tour thus far.

6/03/2011 Day 12: Grand Canyon, Las Vegas
The Grand Canyon was every bit as breathtaking and massive as I imagined. Simply something everyone must see. I was determined to do a video blog from the Canyon and of course, my camera batteries died after just a few pictures. We arrived in Vegas just after midnight to see the strip packed full of people. Street performers on nearly every corner. People wandering around, drink in hand, going from one casino or night club to another. I put on some comfortable shoes and hit the town. The strip is much longer than it looks at a glance. Everything is just so big that before you know it you’ve walked too far and it’s far too late. I finally made it back to my hotel at 6 am for some much needed rest and relaxation.

6/04/2011 Day 13: Las Vegas
I woke up around 11 and got ready to head to the casino. I set aside $20 from the tour budget to try my luck on the penny slots. I WON $160!! Thank you universe for being on my side. Tonight we are playing at the Freakin’ Frog. My name is on a marquee!!! With a picture!! You’ve got to see this (on my Facebook page). Getting back to the hotel, I stopped into the bar to finish this blog. After striking up a conversation with the bartender about our show she comped my drinks and I gave her a CD. She is now playing it over the speakers through the casino. As I’m typing this blog, “Kite Song” is playing for all the people gambling into the wee hours of the morning. I LOVE VEGAS!! Tomorrow we head to LA, and next week we conquer the West Coast. All the way up the 101 to the 405 to Seattle. More adventures to come.

Follow Eden on Facebook and comment on his travels by clicking this link: http://on.fb.me/j0GWSe . You can also email Eden at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for his latest update on the “Leaving Eden National Tour”.