Good morning everybody! I’m writing at ya from sunny Sacramento where we are resting for a bit before driving on down to the Bay area for our last two shows of this tour. And hey, Gert? We sure wish you were on this tour with us, buddy. We have gone from the warm, humid climes of Austin and San Antonio to blanketed rainfall and thunderstorms in San Angelo, the sere, sun-blanched borders of El Paso, the breath-taking (literally) altitudes of Santa Fe and Flagstaff, through the amazing Red Rocks of Arizona and down to the baked, uncomfortable convection oven that is Phoenix, across the dunes and spaghetti western landscape of I-10 to San Diego’s balmy Spring whispering breezes and gentle Mediterranean-like sun, through Los Angeles’ interior Hollywood heat (a heat of it’s own, entirely) and then dropping 10 degrees once we hit the salt-spiced air and tree-lined avenues of Santa Monica, all up the coast of 101 through Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz where the gentle surf, soft ocean breezes and blue blue skies swayed us into a lulled frame of mind, every one of us, up to South Lake Tahoe where the mercury hit 30 farenheit and we fell in love with such a crisp, wind-broken blue sky-branded lake and mountains, down to Sacramento where a soft sun bears down gently and we are eating Eliane’s neighbor’s oranges, then off to San Francisco where we will end our tour with two days along the long, busy Babel-tongued streets of the Mission and out to the paler neighborhoods of San Rafael. More sun, light breezes, t-shirts and shades all around.
What a tour! I don’t think I’ve ever gone to such extremes before geographically, and I have to tell you, I think that has been a bit hard on the band. We’re all in need of a long afternoon nap in a hammock somewhere. Instead, after the tour, Sean’s honey is picking him up and they’re touring up the coast for his birthday- which is the last night of our tour, by the way, in San Rafael, should anyone want to buy him a drink or three… And Jorge, Kipp and I get to drive back to the Northwest on Sunday all by our lonesomes- 12 hours to Portland, where we are thinking about dropping in on our buddies Hillbilly Casino who are all the way out here from Nashville and who stayed at our house a SECOND time without us being there (both times we’ve been on the road). Then we’ll struggle the last 3 hours home somehow so I can get up bright and early Monday morning and go earn some money to pay for this danged music habit I’ve got!
Whew. So, to catch you all up on things- Wednesday we played in South Lake Tahoe at this great little punk rock/ski bum sort of dive where, I have to say, I have now seen the most inebriated people in one place at one time! Good Lord, those folks can sure drink… maybe it’s something to do with the altitude? Anyway, I couldn’t drink that night- instead I just sang and watched the antics of not one, but count ‘em- three!- folks who fell down during our show. Seriously, whew. Fun show though, except for Sean kept hitting his head on the low ceiling over the stage- no blood, so no worries!
And last night we played at Old Ironsides in Sacramento- our friends from Rowdy Kate showed up to hang out for a bit- thanks for buying some merch you guys- that’ll get us to the Bay area! This is a very, very cool bar: built in the 1930’s, it was the first bar to open in Sacramento right after prohibition, and has been under the same family ownership all these years. They have pictures up on the walls of the many decades’ changes- and while the clientele dress manners have altered, the bar is exactly the same. It’s a beautiful thing. Next time you’re in Sacramento, stop by this place for a drink and say howdy to our friend Jerry in the cool suit and tie.
Ok, I’m off to eat some breakfast and then head down to San Francisco- hope to see all you SF cats at the KO tonight!! Until then… keep on honky tonkin’, Ruby Dee