The Professional Drummer Mike McCraw

Wilmington, North Carolina – Thalian Hall

One of the my favorite aspects of being a touring musician is all the interesting things I get to see, like both starting/endpoints of Interstate 40, which are Wilmington, North Carolina and Barstow, California. When I think that I have seen the ocean at the east end of I-40, all the way out to Barstow, onto I-15 through Los Angeles and on out to the Pacific through the Lincoln tunnel in Santa Monica, I get lost in thought!

This is the ornate Thalian Hall in Wilmington North Carolina and, as you can see, it is astounding! This would be the end of the tour for 2016 and would prompt me to play the song Load/Stay by Jackson Browne, endlessly, all the way back to the airport. There is quite a bit of truth in that song as I would fly home to play the next night in my hometown, more than 1,000 miles away. The only time that seems never long enough is the time that we get to perform.

And as the song states, “When the morning sun comes beating down, you’ll wake up in your town….but we’ll be scheduled to appear 1,000 miles away from here.”

I always remember the people of the Carolinas with great fondness and look forward to seeing both the people and and their wonderful state again soon!