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September
2000
Hey,
everybody!
I'm
back from California, where I made music, heard music, caught up
with old friends and made some new ones, saw the sights, got caught
in a canyon fire, almost drove off a cliff, and generally had a great time!
The
adventure begins: I flew to LAX on September 9 at noon, with a
full itinerary to look forward to. My daughter was afraid I'd
be lonely on my trip, so she sent her stuffed Eeyore along to keep me
company. (He perched on the armrest peeking out the window of
the planes - taking a special interest in flying over the Grand
Canyon, where donkeys abound - was chauffered up and down the West
Coast, lounged by the pool, romped on the beach, and returned a very
well-traveled donkey!)
Sunday
morning the 10th found me having breakfast on the deck of my
brother-in-law's townhouse in Hermosa Beach, watching the fog drift
over the ocean. After breakfast, I hopped in the car (thanks,
Patsy!) and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) through
Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and Malibu up to Oxnard. There I
hopped on Highway 101 to Santa Barbara, where I stopped for an
outdoor lunch at a small cafe before going on to my hotel and the
House Concert.
Interesting
things happened on the way to the show! To start things off,
there was a canyon fire that closed the highway to the show and I
spent 30 minutes sitting on the road with ashes falling on my car,
watching great billows of smoke and flame with firemen running around
and planes and helicopters flying overhead as they tried to douse the
fire. The radio said that they had closed the road, but as I
was turning around to head the other way they reopened it to let us
through. I found my turnoff, which was blocked by a huge
tractor-trailer with a house on it! Feeling as though the fates
were against me at this point and mumbling massive obscenities, I
went down the mountain to find a turn-around. As luck would
have it, I spotted one and turned on my blinker. Unfortunately,
the car behind me didn't like the fact that I was stopping and
refused to slow down, so I almost went over the side of the mountain
trying to keep from getting rear-ended - talk about an adrenalin
rush! I finally managed to make it to the house in one piece,
unscathed by fire, car, or cliff.
After
a slight delay due to the canyon fire and closed roads, the rest of
the performers and the audience made to the house and the concert
proceeded as planned. The stage was set up in a corner of the
house overlooking Santa Barbara, and the vista behind us was
gorgeous. Anastasia and John Gonzales kicked off the show,
sounding wonderful as always. It's such fun to hear them, and I
love the way Gonzo plays guitar. Then it was Kate Bennett's
turn, and it was such a treat to finally hear her live and in
person. Then it was my turn. I roped in Jeff Pevar, who
is without a doubt the finest guitarist I have ever heard, and the
fabulous John Mooy to play with me. They bravely signed on for
the duration, and we had a blast! The only thing I was worried
about was staying awake long enough to perform as it was 1:00 a.m. by
my body clock - not the best of times to be starting a
performance. But between Peev, Mooy and the (world's best)
audience, I soaked up enough energy to do a good show. And I
had so much fun playing with those guys! It was such a
joy to play with them. Next up was Doug Ingoldsby.
I hadn't had the opportunity to hear him yet, so it was a treat for
me. He had a woman named Tammy Gillespie singing along with him
that had the nicest voice. The finale was all of us singing and
playing along on A&J's It's
Not Easy.
What great fun we had! Dougie and I swapped CDs and it turns
out that in a quirky little twist of fate he has a song on his CD
called The Distance, which is themed very much like my song, The
Distance Wall - small world! The show was videotaped and yes, I
do have a copy of it. It was without a doubt one of the best
times I've had doing a show, and I heard some members of the audience
say it was the best house concert they'd ever been to. Now
that's a compliment if I've ever heard one!
The
Valley Music Festival on the 11th and 12th in Solvang was
great! I ended up with primo seats; first row the first night
and third row the second night. My seat was right in front of
Jackson Browne and then Peev and Croz, so that was lots of fun.
Jackson kicked off the show both nights. He was in top form and
he never ceases to amaze me with his songwriting prowess. He
brought up Pevar and James do The
Next Voice You Hear
with him, and then Croz joined in on the vocals. The encore was Take
It Easy.
After a brief intermission, CPR took the stage and they played some
new songs in addition to the old ones. Map
to Buried Treasure
was my favorite new one, along with Breathless.
Their next CD is going to be just as good as the first one, I can
tell. (Many thanks to James Raymond for putting his song Jersualem
Syndrome
on the set list on Tuesday night for me - what a song!) It was
so hard not to sing along with the performers; I was kind of
whisper-singing - you can't very well belt out a tune when you're in
the front row and nobody else in the audience is singing along!
(My friends said later they were watching me sing along with Jackson
and CPR, while trying not to sing out loud - apparently it was very
amusing!) The second night David encouraged us to sing along on
a song, and my singer's heart was much appeased - thanks, Croz!
The
after-parties were such fun! Great food and drink, and
wonderful company. I met Tom from the Guacamole Fund, who is an
incredible person; I finally hooked up with Stephen Barncard in
person, who is just as charming face to face as he is via mail.
I got to put lots of faces to names, catch up with Croz, meet Jan,
play with Django (who is incredibly cute and made me miss my kids
even more). All in all, the experience was energetic and satisfying.
After
I checked out of the hotel on Wednesday, I drove up to Atascadero
near San Luis Obispo and kidnapped Vic (Leslie White, former DJ on
DC-101) from her newspaper deadline and we hung out all
afternoon. We had lunch in Templeton, where I feasted on what
was probably one of the best steaks I have ever had in my life, and
caught up with each other's lives. It was so good to see
her, and she sends greetings to everyone back in D.C.
On
Thursday afternoon, I took a picnic lunch to Lake Cachuma and sat by
the startlingly blue waters with the mountains surrounding me.
(By this time I had remembered to buy a disposable camera, and was
taking pictures like crazy.) Then it was back to Kate's to get
ready for Dargan's. Dargan's is a cozy tavern tucked away in a
village square in Santa Barbara, and Antara from Red Star Productions
was there to run the show. What a sweetie she is, and very
welcoming. Makes a traveling artist feel right at home! I
had several people come out to the show (thanks, you guys!) and went
on after the Bischin' Blues Band. I was in great voice after
the dryness of California - seems my prayers for a cup of humidity
were answered! It was a good show with a good audience,
and I look forward to doing it again.
The
next day it was back to L.A. I took my time driving back,
stopping in Malibu at Duke's for what turned out to be the most
incredible teriyaki burger - yum! Make it a point to stop by
there if you're ever in town. After somehow making a wrong turn
in Santa Monica and getting lost in L.A. in Friday night rush hour
(which is a breeze compared to the D.C. Beltway), I found my way back
to Hermosa Beach. Saturday morning the 16th found me at the end
of my journey, packed and ready to catch my 9:00 a.m. flight
home. (Note: When you pack for a trip, be sure to be
awake - my brother-in-law very kindly overnighted my driver's license
and credit cards after I made them up in my bed at his house!)
The best part of the trip was when I got off the plane and Granger
and the kids were standing at the end of the gate. Heaven!
Bliss! Mom's home!
So
ends my travels for now - thanks so much to everyone who made my
trip so enjoyable, especially Kate and Jeff for putting me up and
providing me with a delightful companion in their dog Luna.
Plans are afoot to return for another visit, with more performance
dates next time around. So look out, you West Coasters, I'll be back!
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