MULEVAN.com

The Allman Brothers
w/ Robert Randolph

Tuesday 08.28.07
Minnesote State Fair
Minneapolis, MN

Complete Schedule

Good Advice for the Ohio State Turnpike
It's funny how smart everyone is after the fact. You know, the Monday morning quarterback. Everyone has great advice...when it is too late. This of course is in reference to "You shouldn't drive fast on the Ohio Turnpike. They'll get ya on that road!" Yep, we got pinched for speeding by John Law. Ouch! Not quite the conversationalists those Ohio State Troopers. We were trying to explain to them the subtleties of driving the MuleVan, but Trooper Poopybutt was just not hearing us. You see, the MuleVan only has two speeds. Idling, or pedal all the way to the floor! We don't have cruise control (sucks!) so Warden figured out how to jam his Croc in between the pedal and the firewall, and VoiLa! Instant cruise. The van is governed to go exactly 80mph,(its supposed to be 83, but we got ripped off by 3mph), and this just happened to be exactly 15mph over the Ohio Turnpike limit. So alas, with not much fanfare, tickets were issued. Really not that bad considering we've been speeding across the country for 40,000 miles in a van that says "Mighty High" on the side! It's like the FarSide deer with the bulls-eye birthmark on its chest. Nice! All's well that ends well though. We're back cruising at 80mph again. Like I said. 2 speeds. No Ohio Trooper can change that! and by the way. DON'T SPEED ON THE OHIO TURNPIKE. This has been a public service message from the MuleVan Crew. Drive fast elsewhere.

Moisture
It's raining again. Oh Lord, its raining again! Seems like I recall this same thing happening last year. Pouring a deluge water in an effort to thwart us in our ministrations. But this is a dedicated and wholly prepared MuleVan crew. Besides, we have space-age polymers to keep us dry. And the show always goes on. It's been a really fun scene at the shows depite the inclement weather. Seems like Ratdog and Allmans are a great fit together, and all of the interplay keeps things interesting. Lots of talent in those bands, ya know? But alas, all good things must come to an end, or, at least a new beginning. We're heading towards Detroit to continue with the Allman's run west. Robert Randolph & the Family Band will open the festivities throughout the upper-mid-west. And we're praying for nicer weather. Just trying to hold onto summer while we still can. It'll be over before ya know it. So go out and enjoy it suckas! See ya down the road

Summertime
August 23, 2007 - Hey kiddies. It's summertime again, okay, it's well into the summer, again, so that must mean its high time for some more MuleVan antics. 'Tis true! The Mule Boyz have been, seemingly, all over the world this summer, and seeing as how the MuleVan doesn't float, we were hindered from doing our thing overseas. But the Allman's August run has us up and running around yet again. It's so great to see sooo many familiar faces again. Many smiles, many drunken happy faces! Some want to know where the Barbie hood ornament has gone, and everyone wants to know where Warren is. Duh! He's in the back of the van doing my laundry! Just kidding, (naturally). Its great to just be a partv of it all, and thanks to the ABB & Ratdog bands and crews, for taking us all in as their own. One big happy family (and growing) out here on the road. Its just meant to be. Thanks for reading, definitely more to come. More roads, more stories. Boy howdy, we always have stories. See ya down the road ya'll

Pre-Order The Mighty High EP At The Van
August 15, 2007 - Those of you who swing by the van can pre-order The Mighty High EP. This collection of dub mixes will be out later this year on ATO Records. With the pre-order you will receive and exclusive CD of live Gov't Mule.

Mule Van V4 - August 2007
August 9, 2007 - This August the Mule Van will be following around the Allman Brothers Band (with a few detours such as the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, CT from 8.09-8.12). Stop by the van, say hi, take some photos and most importantly pre-order (and maybe get to hear some of, "The Mighty High EP." The MH EP will be released this October on ATO Records.

Parking is Tough in NYC
We followed the DMB/Mule train into NYC for a couple of shows on Randall's Island. It is always good to get back to NYC for there are so many smiling faces waiting there for us. Not to mention, overpriced beverages and vices. All the same to us though. We loaded the MuleVan into the venue the day before the show, so we were free to go crazy in NYC without having to worry about the Van. We learned a hard lesson about leaving your vehicle unattended for even a moment in North Jersey. So we felt comfortable leaving it in a secured area. Our ace DMB events person, Alyson, guided our approach and landing, and secured our parking in an agreed upon spot. Thus we flew off into the night on a whim and a pocket full of ATM receipts. By 11:00am the following day, my phone had rung 6 times from six different people who were in a panic about moving the MuleVan, because it was parked in the wrong spot. Even though I was ten minutes from the venue, and the gates were still three hours from the gates opening, they were freaking out. It was pretty damn funny. It's not like we even had anything to break down. Just turn the key, start the engine, engage the warp drive, and move it to its desired location was about the long and short of it. The power-tripping jerk causing all of the static damn near moved us outside the park, we could not have been further from the stage, however, we were content because we always create our own party anyway. Talk about making something from nothing. Our problem which was solved in 3 minutes, may just have taken 3 years off of this nay-sayer's life. Sad really. The show itself was great, with a rocking NY Mule set, and a special appearance by Warren Haynes with the DMB for yet another rousing version of "Cortez the Killer". It gets me every time. The next morning we decided to throw Mr. Man (parking engineer) a curve ball. We decided to move the MuleVan into the environmental village to be closer to our friends from Rock the Earth and Clif Bar. Hi Guys and Gals! Sadly though, the environmental village at this venue contained about one trash receptacle, and about 400 metric tons of garbage. Sad statement. So the Warden moved the Van and Mr. Man nearly lost his mind. The lovely Alyson from DMB again approved our mission and we were set to go when who shows up but the guy. Its as if he is his own enabler. This guy enables us to ruin his day, and we are here to provide this service for him. He freaked again when the Warden decided to move the van. This whole turn of events led to a pissing match between too many people, and one that we eventually won. MuleVan:1 Parking Nazi: 0. The moral of the story is: When the MuleVan is coming in for a landing, it is better just to stand clear. Lets face it, it is never easy to park in NYC. And Kudos to Alyson and the DMB crew for standing behind us. As always, its not what you know, its who you know. You know? In the end, it turned out to be a great situation for us, we gave it our best, and really enjoyed the wonderful NY crowd. Big shout out to Preston from Louisiana, who hung out all day, and who will give us free legal consultation in the great state of LA should the need arise. So we got that going for us, which is nice. You know, some days are just better than others. And we always give it our all to make them all great. We hope to make your day great too!

Cleveland. Finally, It was time for the Mule to return to the States. We had missed our band, and we're glad they were back. The Mule cruised through the opening spot in the Dave Matthews Tour. Again, we were bombarded by their boisterous fans. Cincinasty was so volatile that fans were passing out from the heat. Young ladies were offering "services" in the men's bathroom. Grown men bloodied themselves in shows of brute masculinity. We sat behind our Gov't Mule issued oscillating fan and watched the magic unfold. The Warden and I are masters of the concourse. We see everything, and we seem to know more than our share of what is going on. Many people enjoy the sage-like presence that is the MuleVan crew. We are the eyes and ears of the venue. So come on out and bathe in the glory of our wisdom. We'll set you straight. Till next time.

The Return of the Son of the MuleBlog
Okay folks, it's long overdue, but it is again time to take a ride with the MuleVan. The response to the blog is amazing. It's great to share these experiences with all of you. Every day is a new adventure, and it is great to have you along. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the in-flight entertainment. As always, it's complementary. We crawled out of Allgood with a hangover that no amount of Gatorade could quench, but the MuleVan never rests. Nothing beats that "not so fresh feeling" like 103 degree blast furnace that is Cary, North Carolina. The locals there didn't even seem to notice. They just sat on their front porches in their overalls, covering themselves with gas and setting themselves on fire just to stay warm. For us, it was the week that never was. We were scrambling to find shows to go to, to promote the Mule, who were still on European hiatus. We found ourselves in Cleveland, back at the Plains Dealer Pavilion and the famous river of fire, which literally caught fire from all the diesel tug boat spillage. Classy. Here's something even more classy. Some drunken stinker thought it would be funny to crash the gate at the Trey, Mike Gordon & Duo show. He barged through the gate and was apprehended shortly thereafter. The security guards were trying to quell his ardor, but he was incorrigible. They asked him nicely to desist, but he kept on. He took a swing at the security guy, and that's when they tazered his ass. He was electrified, flopping around on the ground for a few seconds. When the jolts stopped, this hippie tried to get up - so - they whacked him with the juice again! This seemed to slow him down considerably. The ambulance had to come and take the barbed prongs out of chest. All of this, and we never even had to leave the MuleVan. Usually, WE provide the entertainment. This time it was provided for us. Again, Thank You Cleveland. Finally, It was time for the Mule to return to the States. We had missed our band, and we're glad they were back. The Mule cruised through the opening spot in the Dave Matthews Tour. Again, we were bombarded by their boisterous fans. Cincinasty was so volatile that fans were passing out from the heat. Young ladies were offering "services" in the men's bathroom. Grown men bloodied themselves in shows of brute masculinity. We sat behind our Gov't Mule issued oscillating fan and watched the magic unfold. The Warden and I are masters of the concourse. We see everything, and we seem to know more than our share of what is going on. Many people enjoy the sage-like presence that is the MuleVan crew. We are the eyes and ears of the venue. So come on out and bathe in the glory of our wisdom. We'll set you straight. Till next time.

It's Allgood
Hello again kiddies. Although the road to the Allgood festival was dark and sordid, we kept ourselves in high spirits and finally arrived in Masontown, WV and prepared ourselves for what would turn out to be possibly the best weekend of the summer. We arrived @ sundown on Thursday night, and seeing as we had no windows, the fine folks @ Allgood allowed us backstage parking so the shuttle craft could be watched, and so its pilots could enjoy a well earned few hours away from our anchor. Easy Star All Stars were playing their Dub Side of the Moon album, as well as their new Radiodread album on the second stage as a preliminary to the weekends activities. It was amazing to see the steady stream of cars roll into Marvin's Mountaintop until the wee hours of the morning filled with crazy kids just chomping at the bit to let loose and absorb the mountains, music, and copious amount of "libations". By 4:00am the whole festival grounds were in a frenzy of anticipation for the festival to truly begin. We fought sleep until the bitter end, but alas, we were scheduled to get our windows fixed first thing in the morning. We drifted off into warm sleep for what felt like only moments, then off to battle. As I already mentioned in our last installment, the mission was accomplished and we returned to the venue only moment before Oteil and the Peacemakers hit the stage the next day(Friday). It was a bear, but it was finished, and we even had enough time to stop and get more Stoli Orange before we stranded ourselves inside the Allgood venue for the weekend. Being parked just inside the front gate had many people-watching advantages. Not to mention, we amde quick friends with all the wonderful security staff, who were nice enough to share all of their confiscated beer and Red Bull with us. It was like their "confiscation cooler" had and underground railroad to our cooler. We liberated those opressed beverages. Cry freedom. We were telling the fine security persons of our travelling woes, when they told us theirs. Some WV locals placed fake signs around the area, misleading 12 vans full of security personel trying to find the elusive venue. One of their vans slid on a muddy hill and bashed into a natural gas main. The crazy loud noise and the impending explosion sent 12 vans worth of travellers fleeing into the West Virginia forest. Luckily nothing exploded, although I'm sure it would have been a sight to see. The Friday night show finally closed out with the Disco Biscuits completely rocking the "we won't stop until they pull the plug" set. At 4:45 am they were still going strong, however, I was not. Very tired, I crawled into my tent, which was seemingly right next to the stage, and tried to fall asleep. Simultaneuosly, the couple in the tent right next to us chose this moment in time to have noisy climactic sex. Yep, the Biscuits (who are great when sleep is not an issue) on one side, and moaning and groaning on the other side, it was total bliss. Throughout the summer, we have been handing out promotional earplugs from the van, much to the chagrin of some of our fans who seem to think that earpugs are worthless to the true rock & roll troubadours who say "I won't need those". We think the plugs are a great idea, and when I finally slipped a pair into my ears amidst the raucous sex and jamming, I knew it was the best promotion around. A million and one uses! Thanks Mule!!! The funniest part of the whole weekend happened the following night after the last band had finished. There is a large, really scummy pond at the bottom of a short hill directly next to the venue. If you saw the pond during the day, you would never attempt a swim, but late at night, this pond looked calm and inviting. Someone had place a radio flyer pull cart at the top of the hill leading down to the pond. There was just no stopping the inevitable. A sizeable crowd had gathered around the area, and one fiery young lass took control of the situation. She would point at random pedestrians in the crowd and urge them into the awaiting radio flyer for the impending thrill ride into the mucky muck. Tim was the first contestant. Once the crowd learned his name, you could only hear the chant "Tim Tim Tim" eminating across Marvin's Mountaintop. "Tim Tim Tim" the crowd screamed until he found the guts to get in the cart. He then backed out of the cart thinking more clearly, which only made the crowd more unruly. The massive crowd. The sloping hill. The murky pond. He didn't stand a chance people. The radio flyer led him to his destiny. And there was much rejoicing. There is so much more to tell, but I must digress. Thank you Allgood. Special thanks to Becky from Magic Hat brewery(yum), and Rob Hunt for taking such great care of us. A big shout out also to Roach and Smitty and the rest of the security crew for keeping the peace. Thanks to Sarah and Matt from Instant Live for just being yourselves. And a shout out to Joseph from Eagles Nest Outfitters for hooking us up with the greatest hammocks and hammock accessories. We will see you all again next year, and I urge the rest of the world to join us. In a word, it was Allgood!

Fun Fun Fun in Irvington NJ
Okay, here's the situation, Gov't Mule went away on a European vacation, and they left the keys to the brand new van and to make this long story short, when the cop pulled me over I was scared as hell, I said "I don't have any windows, but i drive very well officer". We left Watkins Glen en route to Philly (Go Flyers!) for another date with Ratdog and SCI. The show was moved from Penns Landing to the Electric Factory. Something about selling more beer there or something. Thus we were given the day off yeah! two hours later our day off plans were, "slightly" modified. It all started withan innocent phone call. Gov't Mule was in Europe and all of their equipment needed to be moved from one storage facility to another. And it needed to happen now, for the old, beat down, whipped out facility was going bankrupt and our equipment was in jeopardy of being locked in and sold at auction. Could you imagine? I pictured Warren in the part of Joel from "Risky Business" where he has to buy back all of his belongings off the back of a truck from a greasy pimp. The Warden & I, Admiral Mick Ultra, being able-bodied, and able to be anywhere rapidly, decided to help our commorades in need. Unfortunately, our commorade's needs were in Irvington NJ, a very "special" place. Someone at the office said it looks like Baghdad with topless bars... And he was right. We left Philly bright and early, which is my personal favorite time of day to "get things done". Can you smell sarcasm eminating from the computer now? We arrived on time, and so did our buddy Doe (Hi Doe!), with the most vibrating box truck they had on the lot that day. It shook like a honeymoon suite bed, but without the cheap thrill. We loaded the first of two loads with equipment, left the Warden with a couple of guys to keep an eye on things, and started upon our journey. We got two blocks before we we stuck in traffic due to a high speed car chase that ended with two smashed cop cars, a smashed jeep, a smashed jaguar, and about 17 police officers just livin' in the moment. Replaying the events over and over in their heads. It was a thing of beauty, and we got to watch them enjoy it for 40 minutes. For us, it was either vibrate in air-conditioned comfort, or sweat in swampy north Jersey. We vibrated our way right on outta there once the police enjoyed the culmination of their high speed jamboree. Much respect to those guys though. I'm sure its not fun or pretty being a cop in Irvington. By the time we reached the new location, the Warden called with the best news we got all day. Some crackwhore threw a rock through both the front windows in the Mule Shuttle Craft!!! Don't even think i'm being derogatory here, when I say "crackwhore", I mean "one who engages in sexual acts to procure money with which to buy crack". You see, she threw a piece of concrete curb through the passenger window, continuing on to shatter the drivers side as well. It drown the helm of the mulecraft in a sea of shattered safety glass. Awesome. She stole the Warden's crappy I-Pod and my mini-disc player (which might get you $2.00 on the open market) and a cell phone charger. Staggering plunder. Too much broken glass in the van to even get in the thing. This ultimately saved the pillage of our other meager goods, and we counted our blessings for that. The Warden and other staff were sitting 50 feet away and didn't hear a thing. I was still hoping that the Warden was messing us when we turned the corner and saw the piles of glass aside the van. Naturally, it began to rain. We laughed it off in spite of ourselves. What else was there to do? We got to looking for glass to replace the broken mess, but could not find any windows anywhere on the whole east coast. Did i mention that this is now 4:45 on Friday? We were nearly sunk until we found windows in St Louis. Warden begged the guy to FedEx the windows to a dealership in Clarksburg, WV for we were headed to the Allgood Festival that night. That problem temporarily solved, we finished the equipment move way late into the evening, said "so long" to our compadre Doe (hi Doe!), and split North Jersey into the heart of a cataclismic storm. The rainiest-no-window drive to West Virginia EVER! Picture your Mule Shuttle Pilots haulin' down the soaking wet highway clad in full raingear with no windows. Every truck we passed sent a delightful spray of road juice into our faces. We even had the hoods on our jackets up to cover as much up as we could. We couldn't even get a hotel room, because we could not leave the van unattended. And you have never seen two freaks laugh and enjoy themselves like we did on that particular journey. We arrived at Allgood, only to have to leave it at 7:00 am the next morning to fix the windows. There are a lot of winding back roads in WV. yep. We thought we may have even heard dueling banjos. but we were commited to not "squell like a pig" and pushed on hard to get to our destination. Anyway, County Club Dodge in Clarksburg WV hooked the van up good as new, albeit i'm still pulling shards of glass from my butt. ouch. We even made it back to the Allgood Festival just moments before it officially kicked off. Lots went on... but thats wholey another story for another time. Lets just say, it was Allgood. See you soon!

Hello Again...Ohio
Holy Cow people. First off, sorry for the delay in keeping this thing updated. Finally, we have a broadband card that will keep us uplinked to the internet more often, and believe me, this was not as easy as you would think. I won't go into details, but after the stool samples were collected and distributed to the Verizon people, they "cupped" us, we coughed and we were cleared for wireless takeoff. Twice as complicated as it should be, but the rocket surgeons got us squared away. Now I can share with you the sheer hairbrained terror of our Apollo-like flight these past few weeks. We damn near crashed and burned, but alas...the shows must go on. You see, without the Mule and the Allman Brothers, we were sent out to other nebulous nubulas to promo the Mule, and thats where our story begins. We've been floating in the wind, wrapping up our short stint w/ the DMB in Va Beach and Scranton, PA, where there was at least some mud to make our evening a pleasure to watch. We also realized that only Rock & Roll can truly bring us all together. Where else can you see a 17 year old, and a 40 year old buckled over and puking over a fence. Truly bonded. Seems like evey time we get near the east coast, we have to go back to Ohio. We were wondering if are going to have to pay taxes here in Ohio because we have spent so much time here. But on a good note, we got to see our new, old friend Nick from Shartman's Dodge. It's funny who you can bump into cruising around suburban Ohio. He showed us the way to the Holidome and said we were in one of the finest retail areas in all of Ohio. It was funny to see him, for it was time yet again to get our van serviced, and there was no way we were going back to Dodge of Paramus in New Jersey. I'd sooner hire a snow-monkey to fix the shuttle craft that those fools. So, being in the heartland of American retail chains, we sent ourselves to the mall, where we clearly DO NOT belong, and were promptly kicked out by a bored security guard. You see, we had taken a moment to ride the Space Shuttle Kiddie Ride in the mall plaza so as to snap a few pictures. The guard thought we were a bit old and gruesome to be on that particular entertainment device, even though we were clearly tall enough. "Aren't youa bit old to be riding the kiddie shuttle?" He clearly didn't feel as we did, nor did he take us up on our offer to see the awesome power of a much larger entertainment device. Oh well, his loss. We giggled ourselves out of the place just the same. We were so lazy for the rest of the day, that we ordered a pizza delivered to the Holidome. Boy Howdy! shopping just takes it out of you, you know? We slept off the shopping coma and move onto Columbus, OH where we were shut out of 4 campgrounds with a cumulative total of 600+ sites.which were completely booked freaking solid. Those Ohioans really like to camp together in huge groups. Someone up there was smiling on us though, as we found a hotel room, and got bumped up to a suite because they oversold it. Not to mention the 2:00 late checkout. Awesome. Thank God for small favors. Our luck continued as we found one of the better thriftstores we've found lately. Warden found a genuine purple, Prince, Purple Rain T-shirt featuring Prince on his motorcycle. To see the Warden busting out of this Medium sized shirt is spectacle enough for any thrift store. Then he starts flexing and telling the employees that they better call a plumber, "BECAUSE THESE PIPES ARE BURSTING!" needless to say, we were a big hit at the thrift store, and the mermaid Barbie with the pink hair now adorns the grill of the MuleVan. Feel free to drop by and comb her stinky dreads. Oh yeah, speaking of the String Cheese Incident shows. (ha-ha) We were luck enough to follow SCI into Canandaigua, NY (easy for you to say i'm sure), where they joined Ratdog for one rainy, rainy night. So rainy I said it twice. Ratdog really sounded great I must admit, as we sat outside the gate and traded Old Styles for Yuenglings with some hippies we met along the way. As the night turned late, we stubled into Watkins Glen State Park, hooked up the hammocks, and drifted off into sleep. Little did we know that evil spirits were aligning against us, as we were about to find out that anything can go wrong in an instant in North Jersey. Stay tuned kiddies.

New Dates Added
Some new stops have been selected for the Mule Van have been added to the schedule. Those of you going to see some Trey Anastasio or Guster/Ray LaMontagne next week can stop by and chat with you Mule Van Pilots. See you soon.

Alpine Valley Flair
So... our higher ups at Mule H.Q. said "go west young men!" And so it was. We hurdled the "speedbumps" that were thrown in our way and headed west yet again. You see, while Gov't Mule is in Europe enjoying some old-world flair, the MuleVan is orbiting the Mid-West yet again, enjoying some roadside haute cuisine, and a wholly different kind of flair that only Shananagan's(tm) can offer. Today, our server, Brian, has 43 pieces of flair...and a terrific smile. The Mulevan, all said and done, hauled ass to Alpine Valley, Wisconsin for the Dave Matthews Band two day extravaganza. The DMB folks were nice enough to take us in and shelter us in our time of need. It was certainly an experement on our part. This is a slightly different crowd than we are used to seeing. A bit younger, dare I say, a bit cuter than the average Mule Fan. Lets face it people, our beauty is stuck on the inside. And as I look to my left to spy the Warden's mug (the weirdbeard in the gallery), I know that I am right on this. However, should there be any exceptions to this rule, then please contact me immediately for intervention. Actually, you fine folks out there can contact us directly at mulevan@yahoo.com! We would love to hear from you out there. Let us know how we're doin'! Back to the show. Well, when the gates finally opened, after much ado, the masses swarmed in, twisted by sunshine and alcohol, running full tilt, arms akimbo across the paved concourse and over the hill to the splendors of Alpine Valleys massive field and assurance that they will have a small parcel upon which to stand for the next seven hours. Both the paved area and the sloping hill proved difficult to navigate, and regrettably, there was a bit of carnage to be seen, and when I say "regrettably" I mean "it was very funny". Relax ya'll, no innocent concert-goers were harmed during the making of this blog, although there were some close calls. Especially when we found a crew of guys peeing around the other side of our shuttle craft. When the Warden (so named because he takes care of things), confronted these guys, two of them split, and the other urinator handed the Warden a $20 bill and said "don't worry about it bro". Somehow the $20 made us feel a bit better about the whole thing. We bought two 30 packs of Old Style and let bygons be bygons. Thats what I call taking the high road people. Our piousness knows no bounds!! What else is there to say? Much thanks again to the DMB, especially Alison, who took care of us, and who still needs to join us for a drink! Two days in Wisconsin went way too fast and were already off to another 1,000 mile burner to Virginia Beach. Catch ya further down the road!

Liftoff Delayed in Long Island
So again, there we were, ready to hit the road for Alpine Valley, Wisconsin for the Dave Matthews shows, when the Warden (MuleVan Engineering Chief) notices our flat tire. We also noticed that we were locked out of our friends house. Bad juju, knowwhattamean? Well, by the time I broke into the house, the Warden had already replaced the tire. He's fast. We resumed the liftoff countdown but found ourselves delayed further yet by a dead battery cell unit. After dragging our feet, we commenced liftoff and cruised out of NYC. Thats when we noticed the the smell. Oooh that smell, cant'cha smell that smell. It smelled like Atlantic City! We were basically boiling the battery it turns out, and it was releasing its fragrance out the front of the Van. Not only did this problem not stop us from continuing our mission, it made us laugh ourselves silly every time we stopped at toll booths. We'd like to thank Nick at Ed Shartmans Dodge in North Olmstead, Ohio(thats right people...Ed puts the shart in Shartman). Seriously though, they really hooked us up on a Friday eve and we appreciate it! All righty then, we're off to join the Dave Matthews Band with Umphreys McGee. Check Ya Later26

Eastward Ho!
We raced like hell out of torrents of rain in Cleveland and headed for the coast. The Allman's went to play 2 nights in Canada at a casino near Niagra Falls, however, all of this proved too complicated for our fragile sensibilities as we were frightened to travel abroad. You see, Canada has no space program to speak of, thus the Mule Shuttle Craft could have been in jeopardy should we encounter Apollo-Like mishaps. We find it is better to err on the side of caution in these instances. We layed low until the Nissan Pavilion show in norther Virginia, which proved, without a doubt, that Mother Nature is mad as hell at us! I don't know much about global warming and changing weather patterns, but i don't think it is supposed to rain that hard. The inside of the venue ran like a river and there was no hope of staying dry until you found safety under the pavillion. We found it especially funny that the front gate security was making people put their soaking wet shirts back on in order to gain entry to the show. Rules are rules I guess. Again, thanks to everyone who braved the weather for yet another great show. We would also like to send a super special thank you to the gang from Hittin' the Note Magazine. We have been pallin' around from show to show with these fine folks, and we could not be more appreciative. And you can check out Gov't Mule on next months cover of Hittin' the Note! Those guys rule! Okay, we're off to Jones Beach. Pray for sunshine.

Alabama Getaway
Hullo again folks. Well, we regrettably had to depart our loving friends in Birmingham because the show must go on and the MuleVan simply cannot sit idle during these busy summer months. Happy official beginning of summer everybody! It's truly our favorite time of year. So we finally scooted into Indy after passing it on the highway about four times en route to other venues in other cities. The Lawn in the White River State Park was the spot, and if we thought our load-ins were a pain, you should have seen the tour-bus drivers back their huge bus a hundred yards down a sidewalk amidst thousands of ABB fans. On this particular night, one lucky fan even escaped the show with an ice-cold malt beverage in his pre-order goodie bag. It was well earned, I assure you. Downtown Cleveland was our next stop, and a darn good oppurtunity to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Should you ever need to know what N'Synch or the Backstreet Boys wore on stage during their tenure as king of the boy bands, then the Hall of Fame is the spot for you. But seriously, there were some great exhibits in there to keep us busy on a rainy day. Thank you Lindsey for being our tourguide. You rule! As for that nights show. Wow. The sky turned pitch black about the same time the Brothers hit the stage, then the rain. Then the lightning. The skies performed all night alongside the ABB who kept us all entertained underneath the dry confines of the Plain Dealer Pavillion. I must admit, this night had one of the most amazing lighning and music combinations that I have ever seen, but we are getting very tired of being constantly rained upon. I just hope the inside of the van does not flood from all of our whiney tears. Catcha down the road!

Way down south with the MuleVan
This weeks antics found us following first leg of the Allman Bros. tour in Cincinatti, Ohio, chillin' by the river. Its always fun driving in to these shows with crazy fans honking and screaming at us in hopes that the Mule is somehow covertly hidden in the nether regions of the MuleVan. The van itself is quite large, but not big enough for four more hammocks hanging in the back, but... we could certainly make more room. Anyway, we left Cinci for Chattanooga, TN and Birmingham, AL for some incredibly huge city festivals. I believe someone said there were over 110,000 people in Chattanooga watching the Allman's play afloat a 30 foot floating stage on the Tennessee River. It was our absolute pleasure to meet Allen Woody's dad who stopped the van to say hello. It made our day. The city of Birmingham closed down their downtown for a massive block party with plenty of stages and music for the masses. It was one hell of a big party, even though we missed out on Snoop Dog show the night before we arrived. Southern hospitality is alive and well, so thank you to the beautiful south for taking care of us on our journeys. We would also like to thank our people for getting us some license plates for the van. It was really fun driving this crazy vehicle around with a "do it in a van" sticker where our plates should be, but it gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling to be "legal". Whatever that means. Okay... were off to Indy. See ya down the road.

Wakarusa Update
Wow! What a weekend. Sun and fun in Kansas. Wonderful people, wonderful shows. Really could not have been better, once you got past the police roadblock that is. All the musicians really poured it on all day and night. Bernie Worrell sat in with the boys on "Mule", followed by an amazing "Hunger Strike/ Mr. Fantasy/ Hunger Strike. Amazing. And Sam Holt joined in for the encore with Marshall Tucker's "Can't Ya See". A great show. Check it out on MuleTracks!!! thanks for all of the kindness from MuleFans everywhere, and thanks you Wakarusa! Kasey, you've only been gone a day and we already miss you! Next stop, Allman Brothers Tour. See you down the road.

More news from the road June 8 and 9
Thanks again for all of the support from everyone. It's great to see all of Mule supporters. The Mule rocked out a free concert for the Pittsburgh masses in the beautiful downtown Point State Park. The weather finally held out with sunshine for most of the day, much to the chagrin of the 5,000 or so fans in the park that day. Pretty sweet. Next port was the PromoWest Pavilion in downtown Columbus, Ohio, where Uphrey's McGee buttered up the crowd before the Mule ate them alive with a few special guests to boot. Well we gotta move, its a long way to the Wakarusa Festival in Kansas, with just a short time to get there. So Long!

Greetingsfrom theMuleVan
Thats right people. Much like the Phoenix, the Mule Van has risen from the ashes to hit the road yet again. We are piloting the behemouth-like Mule Shuttle Craft to the greatest places in the cosmos! great innovations have been made in tourvan technology since the last tour, so we got a bigger, more powerful rig. We spent the weekend in the Great Northeast to kick off the invasion. The massive Bank of America provided shelter from the rain in Boston as the Mule ripped tunes both old and new, gettin the tour rolling right. A special thanks to all who battled the elements to attend the Mountain Jam @ Hunter Mountain this past weekend. The rain and mud could not dampen the spirits of all in atendance. The music made it all worthwhile, with Mule cranking out two incredible nights. The vibe was awesome and we appreciate everyone hangin' in there. Also thanks to the fine folks at NORVA in Norfolk. Possibly one of the finest venues anywhere.

Mule Van '06
The Mule Van will be heading back out on the road this summer. It will be hitting all Gov't Mule Shows, most Allman Brothers Shows, and a some Dave Matthews Band, Phil Lesh & Trey Anastasio dates as well. Schedule is posted, more details on all the shows will be up by the time the van reaches Boston tomorrow evening. Also some photos of the brand new Mule Van will be added to the site.

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