Tonight we head north for Zanesville, Ohio. It is about 45 minutes from Columbus.

As we drive up Interstate 77, we are headed for a cool place that is one of those two in one nightclubs, called The Barn. It has an outside stage, and lots of partiers like to sit at the tables and have a cold one while they watch the band.

The club also has an excellent restaurant inside where there are several huge LCD TVs in two separate rooms full of patrons. When there is inclement weather the bands play inside, in the room adjacent to the outside patio. This is Ohio, where you already can’t smoke inside. So the patio, including its own bar, is perfect for smokers. As I carry my guitars to the stage area, I smell some good food cooking. I decided to order some food, and it had to be the best ribeye steak sub I’ve had in ages. I noticed the employees are all quite busy, and in the standing room only crowd I have to try not to bump into anyone on my way to the bar. I had a feeling this was going to be a great night.

The band will be performing inside, as April showers are getting in tune for May flowers. While I am rushing in from the rain, a Zanesville musician named Greg, tells me about his own band equipment, and shows me the layout of the electric on the stage. We played outside last summer on the patio, so I appreciated his time saving tips. Plus, anybody that buys a Poobah CD can’t be all that bad.

As we were setting up, we came upon a broken microphone cable. Our new friend Greg, offers to run to his house and get us one. Just like that we get lucky, and another problem solved.

We opened with an original blues song, “Lookin’ Good,” the crowd was really diggin’ the harp and joins in the chorus of “baby, baby, baby.” It is wild to hear them all singing my song. We had an air guitarist come up and solo along with me; he was pretty darn fast. The Barn has a multi-generational clientele that packed the place from the time we got there, till we left.

After a fun and energetic evening, it’s time to reload the van. The drive is a lot easier since it stopped raining. Then, the front tire goes flat, and I find out for the first time how this vehicle’s tire jack works .The tire is history, but I got a new spare. Getting lucky.

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Contact Jim at letters@graffitiwv.com