Lexington Ky July 1

For The WannaBeatles, July started out unusually busy, with four gigs booked the first five days of the month. 

Three of them were in two different Lexingtons - one in Kentucky, the other two in Virginia.

It wasn’t ideal routing. The Lexington gigs were separated by a show back in Nashville, so we put some miles on the 4Runner, getting up and back, then out and back again.

This blog covers the first of that batch, which was a return visit to Lexington, Ky., for a Thursday night concert at the Third Fifth Pavilion downtown.

Of course, the fourth of July is a season for selling fireworks, and we found evidence when we stopped our way up I-65. 

Newly buff David (he's been working out)
by fireworks stand

We arrived in downtown Lexington, parking behind the stage, in the familiar spot we had occupied last year, across the street from Parlay Social. That's the restaurant where, last year, we had eaten supper and changed clothes. 
(That story, of course, is available at this link:
http://thewannabeatles.blogspot.com/2015/08/fourth-of-july-pt-1_19.html)

Parley Social

Our Lexington destination, Fifth Third Bank Pavilion, 
under the shadow of the skyscraper of the same name

Unloading trailer from perfect parking place

A sign of local culture

A view of the courthouse

We were glad to see local friends we remembered, like Gator, the sound man.

Dennis and Gator confer at curb before we unload

Dennis directing traffic for our ideal parking place

Gator runs cables to monitors

Gator and David

Dennis acting up with whatever prop is available
(that's a capo changing his nose to the key of A flat)

We found a rest room in a nearby restaurant to use as a dressing room, changing into our black shirts with red neckties.

Nathan brought his new "drainpipe" trousers,
ordered from England to resemble the Liverpool style popularized by Fab Four

Another friend we saw was Skip Benton, our most loyal local eastern Kentucky fan (Skip gets more blog space later, in a visit to Kentucky in August)

Skip and Dennis setting up merch table.

We enjoyed a quick handy meal from a food truck with local flavor. Here's something that caught my attention:

“Hot Brown,” we discovered, is a mornay sauce invented in 1926 at Brown’s Hotel in Louisville. It’s very popular during Derby week, for those interested in local customs. In the interest of gastronomical research, I ordered one. The report: It makes a fine upgrade to the traditional hot dog.

Nathan and David eating before the gig
(with a better view of Nathan's new trousers)

Skip took some videos of our show, and posted them on Facebook. We were glad to see that he captured a rockin’ show. You can see and hear the excitement of Skip's video by clicking here:

https://www.facebook.com/thewannabeatles/videos/10153552131826805/

We met more fans after the show.

Four WannaBeatles with Renee,
who's seen dancing in Skip's video

Lea Beasmore in red dress with WannaBeatles backstage

We actually finished before dark. After meeting fans, we changed clothes, loaded our gear into the trailer and 4Runner, then took off for Nashville, knowing there was plenty of work waiting for us.

Nathan checking gear as we pack up

Stay tuned for the report on the remaining shows for the lengthy weekend.

-Bloggin' Bryan 5September2016