Taylor Hicks ~~ Tales of the Tour Bus

Home with the sweet smell of success.

Taylor Hicks tweeted this week:

“Picked out the tour bus today!”

This is the third one.

The first, a shiny burgundy, maroon, and gray Prevost, joined the Modern Whomp Solo Tour in Tennessee, several days after Taylor’s opening night in Jacksonville, Florida, February 21, 2007.

The tour bus is the elusive golden ring.

In his autobiography, “Heart Full of Soul,” Taylor tells about his days with the jam band, Passing Through, and its brief encounter with the country singer, Doug Supernaw, who jumped up on stage to join the young unknowns. Afterwards they were invited onto his tour bus.

“Supernaw invited our band to come have a beer in his giant, gorgeous tour bus. It was bigger than our homes, and nicer too. He then insisted that he wanted to see how we traveled, so we introduced him to the full glory of our little old Chevy conversion van. He stretched out on the tiny back bench and said, ‘You know what—this is nice.’ We said, ‘No, this is a piece of shit. Your tour bus, that’s nice.”

The tour bus is on Taylor’s list of “you know you’re famous if…”

Taylor talked to hometown reporter, Mary Colurso, just days before his 2007 tour rolled into Birmingham, AL:

“Which events, post- "Idol," have been the most memorable and exciting? We asked Hicks to name the top five moments in his “you know you're famous if ...’ category. Here's what he said:

1. "Riding in the tour bus and getting on the Jersey turnpike, with a full moon over New York City. This happened on the "Idol" tour, when it first started coming into New York City. You make a little circle, right under the tunnel, and come out in this brand-new tour bus. And I was in the passenger seat; I wasn't driving. It was one of those moments when you know you've moved on to a different level in your career."

When Taylor returned to the Big Apple in 2007 on his own tour bus for a concert at the Beacon Theatre, he told a writer that they actually stayed on the bus.

“Just like a real rock band.”

Parked just down the street and around the corner from the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, the beautiful Prevost was a dream come true in Taylor’s home town. Ms. Colruso got a rare tour of his new home and wrote about a stunning interior in burgundy, grays, browns, and immaculate white.

“Cushy, silver-gray tour bus is Taylor-made for Hicks. When Taylor Hicks curls up at night, he's nestled in the middle bunk, driver's side, of a 2007 Prevost XLII.”

Taylor was clear about the kind of tour bus he runs:

“The first thing Hicks wants everyone to know is that he keeps ‘a sane bus.’ Not a crazy bus, with groupies and binges and wild excesses. Eight working musicians abide on the Prevost - that's Hicks and seven band members - as well as tour assistant Bill Williams, a pal of Hicks' from Birmingham.

“Crew members ride on a similar bus, decked out in blue and silver, usually parked right next to Hicks' Prevost. The convoy also includes an 18-wheeler, with a red Peterbilt cab and a white cargo trailer that contains the heavy-duty tour gear.”

But I thought the most stunning part of her interview was not the detailed description of this cushy ride, but Taylor’s reflections on riding next to the driver:

“As Hicks moves through the bus, proudly pointing to its accoutrements, it's easy to see that he regards this upscale vehicle as a status symbol - a sign that he's truly arrived in the music business.

"My favorite seat is the one next to the driver," he says. "I spent my life as a musician driving myself from show to show, dreaming about riding in the front seat of a tour bus. In the middle of the night, I get up and sit here, or I stand here, looking out. It's beautiful at night."

The tour buses were parked next to a plethora of famous, historic, hip, and eclectic venues from coast to coast in 2007. They almost blocked traffic on the narrow streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans conspicuously parked directly in front of the House of Blues. But no place was more symbolic than its stay along side the “exquisite” Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, March, 2007. There’s a story behind this one. Read Taylor’s autobiography, “Heart Full of Soul,” and this tour stop has a new and deep meaning.

“…I turned off Broadway and walked up the hill to the historic and still exquisite Ryman Auditorium, the mother church of country music and the longtime site of the Grand Old Opry a few blocks away, and then for a long time I walked in circles around the place.”

It was a cold, dark time for the young and struggling Taylor Hicks.

Sweet Karma in Nashville:

The second tour bus in 2007 was Kid Rock’s old tour bus. I recall a comment, something about “the tales it could tell…” It served the last leg of the tour that ended November 1, 2007, at Pearl River in Philadelphia, MS.

Congratulations, Taylor, on Number Three! May there be many more Prevosts in your future.

It’s home and success…

on a bus!

A very luxurious one.



Whatever we call it…

The dates keep coming and more are promised for the Taylor Hicks Summer Tour, 2010. Chicago is SOLD OUT~best buy your tickets now!

July 24~Ram’s Head Live, Baltimore, MD
http://tickets.ramsheadlive.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=281

July 25~Highline Ballroom, New York City, NY, 7:00 p.m.
http://highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=1568

July 27~Jonathan’s Ogunquit, Ogunquit, ME, 8:00 p.m.
http://tickets.jonathansrestaurant.com/

July 29~The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA, 7:30 p.m.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/search?tm_link=tm_header_search&q=Taylor+Hicks&search.x=27&search.y=14

July 30~Crocodile Rock Café, Allentown, PA
http://www.crocodilerockcafe.com/concerts-all.asp

July 31~Mexicali Live, Teaneck, NJ, 8:30 p.m.
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=2497655&pl=

August 6~Fat Fish Blue, Cleveland, OH, 9:00 p.m.
http://public.eventbooking.com/publicity_display.asp?ReturnTo=public_calendar.asp&pwl=3AE.55C39D50&EventSourceID=40807007&Month=8&Year=2010

August 7~Veterans’ Park, Bay City, MI, 7:11 p.m.
http://www.ticketfusion.com/store/one/index.html?store_id=3173&page_type=sched

August 9~Reggie’s Rock Club, Chicago, IL, 9:00 p.m. SOLD OUT
http://www.reggieslive.com/rockclub/index.shtml#x20100809210000

August 10~Sangamon Auditorium, Springfield, IL, 7:30 p.m.
http://www.uis.edu/sangamonauditorium/onstage/TaylorHicks.htm

August 12~The Annex, Madison, WI
http://www.intheannex.com/shows/

August 16~The Grove, Lincoln, Nebraska

http://www.grovelincoln.com/

August 21~Aquarius Pavilion, Laughlin, NV, 8:00 p.m.
http://www.theaquarius.com/ENTERTAINMENT_TaylorHicks.asp

August 25~The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, San Francisco, CA, 7:30 p.m.
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=2489715&REFERRAL_ID=tmfeed&crosssite=TM_US:1092763:341720

September 18~Paramount Theatre, Rutland, VT, 8:00 p.m.
http://www.paramountvt.org/shows_details.php?show_id=80

September 26~SOS Children’s Villages Concert w/Matt Cusson, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA, 8:00 p.m.
http://www.kimmelcenter.org/events/index.php?id=3814

October 9 & 10~Epcot Center “Eat to the Beat Concert Series, Orlando, FL, 5:15, 6:30, 7:45 p.m.
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/04/eat-to-the-beat-concert-series-lineup-at-epcot-international-food-wine-festival/

For compete information about each show and venue, visit our concert forum:

http://taylorconnections.com/forum/1573907/

Blog Sources:
“Heart Full of Soul” by Taylor Hicks, Random House; purchase on Amazon the rest of the story:
http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Full-Soul-Inspirational-Finding/dp/0307382435/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278778891&sr=1-1

The Birmingham News, Date Published: March 09, 2007 “Taylor looks back” By Mary Colurso

The Birmingham News, Date Published: March 10, 2007 “Cushy, silver-gray tour bus is Taylor-made for Hicks” By Mary Colurso

Photo by san: Taylor's tour bus next to the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, 3.8.07.