Folklife Festival

What can I say about Folklife?! - Well, it’s the biggest free festival in the US and 4 days of insanity. A great place to listen, play and meet friends you haven’t seen for years. This year it was my home coming and I had a wonderful show with a lot of familiar faces.

That is only half the room!

Here is my old musical partner Jamie Laval


My friend Larry Wines, a journalist and radio host for KCSN in Los Angeles


Bonnie & Bruce are an asset to the folk community in Seattle


As well as my friend Warren Argo, here with Eric, Christy and my wife Abby


Joyce & Dan hosted several house concerts in Grass Valley. Abby met them for the first time.


That’s family - Mostafa and Sei - They face-paint since the beginnings of Folklife.


Here’s Cat, my friend from Ashland


What better to do for the end of a wonderful day than dancing your shoes off!


That’s it for my National Tour Journal!

Thanks to all who read and hopefully enjoyed it. Please stay in touch and don’t forget that you are that one’s the keep me going.

All best wishes to you:)

hans

Coming Home

Last day of the tour! I get up and drive a couple of miles downtown Nampa to the Flying M where I played yesterday. They are all so nice and I get whatever I want for free plus a pound of organic self roasted coffee. That rocks!

After doing some biz I say goodbye and get on the way for my last stretch through Idaho and Oregon into Washington and back to Seattle. Idaho is great and I love the views.

I’m only for a short time in Oregon and the weather starts changing.

Then I cross into Washington. Shortly after that I’m greeted by the Northwest rain - what else was there to expect?!

The rest of the drive goes by fairly quick and even the rain calms down a bit when I enter Seattle. It’s a great feeling getting home! Abby and the kids are at a performance so I just put my guitars in the house and dash out again to meet them.

Tomorrow I have my official last show at the Folklife festival and I’m already looking forward to seeing some old friends.

Last and first show

Today is my last show for the tour. I can’t believe how fast it went by and I almost feel sad but am also excited to go home again. I’m stunned by the view when I leave my friends house in Salt Lake City. Yesterday I came in at night and had no clue.

It’s a beautiful day and the mountains in the East look just gorgeous.
In the West is the great Salt Lake and I’m tempted to go there but it’s a long drive and I need to keep on going.

The landscape changes again and when I get into Idaho it feels like high desert.

Wait a moment, there are still some mountains. I just love that and their presence is humbling and inspiring.

The Coffee Garage in Nampa, ID used to be a real car repair shop and the way they renovated it and made a coffee house out of it is just amazing. It’s a great atmosphere.

They open a garage door so that I play an almost outdoor concert. I’m there first artist and it’s the first show they do.
The audience is very attentive and it’s a great last show. The owners Kevin and Liza are very nice and created an oasis with a fabulous staff where everybody is welcoming and just very positive. I make a lot of new friends. Kevin has invited me to stay at their house tonight, which is a little outside in the country. Before we leave I take one last picture.

Tomorrow is going to be a long drive back to Seattle so I go to bed right away.

Cops, Cops, Cops

It’s a 5-6 hour drive today so I get up early. It’s nowhere land and I’m glad that I stopped in Craig yesterday. It would have been hard to find a motel where I drive now.

Usually I go on cruise control but there are a couple of oversize trucks on the road that I have to pass, so I forget about it. At some point I’m going 84 mph when I ran into a cop. I can see him in the rear mirror turning around and catching up with me. Darn, my first speeding ticket since I’m in the US! Luckily it’s only $68, less than a parking ticket in Seattle. A couple of miles ahead there are tons of cops pulling people over, so I’m not alone. Once I cross over into Utah I’m passing another police car standing at the side of the road. The cops jumps into his vehicle and dashes after me. What is going on today? I’m not speeding or anything but the cop tail gates me for about 15 minutes straight. Then it looks like he’s passing me but stays in my blind spot before he finally slows down and turns around – no idea what that was about, well maybe it’s Utah.

I still haven’t had anything for breakfast so I stop at a Café. Oh my god – how can one mess up a simple omlet, I almost throw up and get back on the road – it’s a strange day. I’m glad when I arrive at the Mokka Express and it’s a very nice venue.

I have a little time and do some email. Robert Linton, a local guitarist opens for me and brings his whole family. Phils Ex wife Gail is also coming with Aaron and her boy friend.

The show is nice and Tina the owner buys a couple of Cds and supports the music scene.

I stay the night with Gail and her husband Ron. When we leave the Mokka Express I have to take a photo of the valley.

Then I follow Gail home and she drives some hot wheels!

Another Off Day

Waking up in my cabin is a great thing and I wish I could share that and stay a little longer but I need to get closer to Salt Lake City, where I play tomorrow. I drive into the village and have a nice breakfast

Then I say goodbye and take a last shot of the lake.

The landscape changes to a more desert look and I pass by a table mountain.

But then the road goes up again and all over sudden I’m in winter wonderland. Amazing how fast that changed.

Half an hour later I’m back in the desert and it starts raining. I’m getting tired and decide to stop and get a Motel in Craig, CO which is the last town before I really go into nowhere land. It’s a cheap but nice motel and I start writing some songs. I wrote a new one in the car called “We are all immigrants” and now I’m putting on the final touches. Later that evening I see “DaVinci Code” in the local theatre. It’s a great movie and it stays with for a while.

Rocky Mountain National Park

I leave early and go to an Internet Café in Berthoud where I can check my email. I have a show at 4 pm in Grand Junction today and need to leave soon. I’m glad to drive into mountains again, the flatland took certainly its toll.

I get gas in a little station along the way and call the guy I booked the show tonight. He can’t remember a thing and I should have contacted him earlier I know, but it’s fine I can use another off day. I get of the main highway and take I 40 into the wilderness and over the Berthoud Pass where I stop to take some pics.

I’m over 11000 feet high and get a little dizzy when I walk around, there’s not a lot of oxygen and I’m probably out of shape. On my way down I see some beautiful views.

Then I come to a sign that leads to the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Way to go, it’s Sunday and the next show is in Utah on Tuesday. I take this turn and come by the Grand Lake.

I decide to get a Cabin tonight and lay low. I find a nice one at the Grand Mountain Lake Lodge now owned by a family from Arkansas.
The room is nice and there is a little river next to it.

Once I got my unloaded I take a trip to Grand Lake, a little Cowboy town at the end of the valley where I have dinner in a place with peanut shells all over the floor. Later that night I sit with other visitors and the owners of the lodge around a campfire and chat until late.

Endless Drive

Most of the drive is during the day and I’m not rested at all. The few hours in the car did not do it. Kansas is as flat as it gets and I’m bored out of my mind.

It’s hot and I have to have the window wide open and the roof as well so I can’t listen to music because it’s just too loud. It takes forever until I’m out of Kansas and cross into Colorado.

I can’t express my excitement when after a long day of non stop driving through flat land I finally see the mountains in the distance,

I have a house concert in Berthoud, CO about 1 hour north of Denver and then West towards the Rocky Mountains.

Sarah and Butch have a wonderful house and are great hosts. After a beer and a little snack I take a short nap before setting up in their living room

I have a good crowd and a wonderful show.

After the show we hang out until only Butch, Sarah and her friend are left

Then it’s time for bed and I have only about 4 hours before I need to get up again.

Kansas City

Short after waking up with a slight beat in my forehead I’m on the road again. It’ a long drive and the sun is burning down. I wish I had a working AC and a white car instead of a black one but so far it’s been really good to me. Around noon I stop for breakfast in a small village about 15 miles off the main highway. Two musicians play some jazz and I enjoy listening.

One hour later I’m back on the highway. It takes longer than expected until I finally see the Kansas City skyline.

I get lost in the maze but find my way back to the Westport Coffeehouse Theatre just in time to have a Latte and set up.

It stays pretty empty most of the evening but it’s a paid show.

The barista's Will and Esther are very nice and each one buys a CD. Tom the owner also really appreciates my music and we have some good talks about music in general. I play until 11:30 pm, pack my car and am back on the highway. It’s a very long haul to Denver and I want to get in as many miles as possible before the sun comes up but after two hours I can’t keep my eyes open and have to rest a little. An hour later I’m back but only for another hour before I have to stop again.

The Great Big Sky

It’s an early wake up around 7 am. Lea and John are already busy in the garden. I visit with them and get some radishes for the road. John roasts the coffee for the Coop and they just got some Fair Trade Guatemala Beans. It’s interesting because I’ve never seen green coffee beans.

After I say goodbye I go to the Penny Lane Coffeehouse for breakfast. I meet the same people as yesterday and it is a family, Randy a schoolteacher and musician gives me his latest CD for the road

Then it’s time to say goodbye. I really like Heidi and Paul, they created a wonderful Oasis in southern Indiana.

I make a quick stop at the Library to check my email, somehow the WIFI at the Coffeehouse was not working for me. It’s a beautiful day and it’s very hot outside and even more inside my car. I wish I had a working AC. I have to have my windows and roof open and so it’s kind of loud. With my short hair flying in the wind I pass by that beautiful field of yellow again.

Then I hit I64 straight to St Louis. I don’t play tonight but want to make some miles towards Kansas City. Look at that great blue sky! It’s fascinating and I start writing some poetry in the car.

All over sudden I realize that I’m running out of gas and there is no service in sight. I slow down to make it last longer. Not one minute to late I see an exit with a gas station.

A couple hours later I’m passing through St Louis. The traffic starts to get denser and the heat drives the sweat out of me.

It takes several hours before I clear the city and I’m toast. I need a Motel soon and don’t want to drive any further. I find a cheap one with a little Italian restaurant (well, not really Italian, more for truckers.The Cesar/Chicken salad is a pure nightmare and I have to rinse it down with several Budweisers. Then I start talking to James, a highway worker who also stays at the Motel. We buy beers for each other until we sing fragments of our favorite songs to each other.

Luckily the dive closes early and before I hover out I take another photo with James and the barmaids.

I fall into bed and wakeup a couple of hours later, still in my jeans and the TV running. I’m a bit embarrassed but then again it was a great social study with me in the midst of it.