Keep the spirit up!

Dave wakes me around 6:45 am so we can go to the repair place and get my car in first thing this morning. I really hope it’s just a broken hose but they will let me know in a couple of hours. After we’ve done that we go back to the house and play some music.

I’m lucky and it is only a hose but another $100 down the drain. After we pick up my car we go and have some lunch before I pack to leave for Boulder.

It’s a grey day and even the mountains and the great view don’t make a big difference. I need to concentrate and keep my spirit up.

It should be a nice concert tonight at the Cohousing Community. But before I go there I find a little Coffeehouse and work for several hours.

After that I go over to the Common house and Linda greets me nicely. It’s a great space with a wonderful acoustic.

By 7 pm right when I’m supposed to start I have one person out of the Cohousing and a couple from Boulder. Man! what’s going on? After waiting for another 20 minutes two more people out of the community show up.

I must say that I’m fairly frustrated and know I have to get over it and just play. The concert is ok and it seems I reach them but I don’t sell a single CD which is very strange. Their guest room is occupied and I’m without a place to stay. One person from the community offers a place to crash but I’m not in the mood for company.
I call James for a pep talk and then start driving to look for a motel. It’s Boulder and there are no cheap places! I’m tired and just check in the first Motel that I come across.

For $75 it is the worst on this trip so far but I have a six pack of micro brew IPA and while zapping through the channels i find one that replays a German TV show with host Alfred Bioleck - who would have thought that!

Well, tomorrow is another day...

Darn, what's that smoke???

Some people leave around 6 am and are simply rowdy - darn it, it would have been great to get some more hours asleep! I turn and turn for about an hour before I get up. It’s another beautiful day and after a long shower I’m ready for the next adventure. Today I’m going to play at Swallow Hill in Denver and am looking forward to that one! But first a coffee. I’ll drive of and am on my way to downtown Sterling.

I spend some hours doing email and working on my tour in ‘08 before I hit the road again. It’s only about 130 miles today.

Oh how I love those yellow corn flowers. They are all along the highway in Eastern Colorado.

Finally I can see the first mountains in the distance. It’s quite misty and they are just a silhouette against a blue-grey sky.

The sun is shining towards the East and there are some dramatic cloud constellations to be seen. I should stop and take time to shoot some photos but I’m already late so I just take snapshots out of the window.

There is Denver - it’s great to be back but also a little strange after a couple of days in the prairie.

I love Swallow Hill and am glad to see my name on the marquee out there.

They have several performance venues and I’m supposed to play at the Cafe but
there is already something going on...

They offer me the bigger space which is great! I’ve played there several years ago while on tour with Jamie Laval and Jon Hamar. This is going to be a fun night.

Well, at the time the concert is supposed top start I have a single person in the audience - can you believe it, I worked hard to promote this one but you never know. I play despite that and just go completely acoustic. In the next half hour my audience grows to eight from which three are volunteers at Swallow Hill. I have a great time anyway and whoever saw the show certainly won’t forget it!
After I’m done we all sit and chat a bit. Dave, who was supposed to do sound offers me a bed at his house and I gladly accept. First we go for a beer. I follow his bike to the other side of the city. What’s that smoke? Oh darn, I can’t believe it - the car is totally overheating and now I can smell the cooler fluid and see big smoke clouds coming out of the hood. I guess when it rains it pours! I make it to his house and hope that it’s just a rubber hose gone bad! His family is very inviting and I make again some new friends along the rocky path to stardom:)

Dark Day on the Road

It’s a dark day and it looks like a storm is brewing up. I’m going to drive as long as I can today and see where I lay my head.

I’m in a strange mood and would love to just stay somewhere but I have about 600 miles to Denver for a show at Swallow Hill. I’m not going to drive all the way and am tired and cranky after only 1 hour of driving.

The hours go by like days and it seems to take forever. The car is too loud to listen to music so I can only think - think - think...
When I get to Western Nebraska I’m starting to look for a motel in Ogallala - Oh my - I only find total dives that are completely overpriced. I bite my tongue and get back on the road. There is another little city in Eastern Colorado just an hour away.

I like being in CO again and the grassy hills sooth my soul.

When I arrive in Sterling I find a motel - it’s not particularly cheap but has a nice atmosphere and is a good place to stay for the night. I find a chinese restaurant and order some food to go...

Then I hang out in my room watching some SciFi Channel eating spicy Chicken and drinking a Fat Tire before I retire.

Omaha House Concert

I can sleep in a little and realize how tired I was...
Here is the room I’m gonna play tonight. I’m looking forward to an intimate evening.

There is some prep to do and I help Roxanne and Scott to get ready.


It’s great to have the day to hang out and not sit in the car. I must say that I’m a little tired of driving, especially in the mid west where there are no mountains or forests.
Here is their daughter Emily with Flopsy.

Flopsy is the vacuum cleaner and whenever some food falls on the floor while the preparations she’s right there.
Short before the show I take a picture with Roxanne. She’s a wonderful songwriter herself and a great host.

I have a wonderful little crowd and it is an exciting evening with lots of music and chat afterwards. Again I make some new friends...

It’s late again and I can feel my heavy eyelids. Tomorrow is a long drive to Colorado so I better get to bed. Got to pack tomorrow...

And it was almost over

I get up early again after the storm kept me up most of the night. I have a little breakfast at Joelyn’s and MIke’s house before I get on my way. It’s another long drive from Minneapolis to Omaha all the way from Minnesota through Iowa into Nebraska. It feels good to keep moving.

After about an hour my battery light comes on and I get a little worried

Once I have cell reception I call my friend James and quiz him about cars. He recommends keeping and eye on it and getting it checked soon. While on the phone the speedometer and rpm gage die right in from of my eyes and shortly after that the car starts stuttering. I barely make it to an exit and that’s it!

I fear the worst after 206760 miles. It takes about an hour for a tow truck to come.

There is a little city with a Honda dealership and they were so nice to squeeze me in to check the car. I’m lucky and it’s only the alternator and the battery but it takes them more than three hours to get the parts and job done. While that I play a song for the folks in the dealership. Here I’m with Kerri and a friend of hers.

Wow - that tour was almost over - they are very forthcoming and bring the cost down quite a bit but I still lose everything I made so far but my humor and positive outlook! After all I’m so glad of being back on the road.

Soon I pass into Iowa and am getting closer to my destination.

It’s getting dark real fast and I barely catch the sunset in the West.

while on the other side a huge full moon starts rising.

I arrive late at Roxanne and Scott’s house. I’m totally wiped and tired. We sit for a little and chat and i have something to eat before I drop into bed

Mayo land and Thunderstorm

I have an early start this morning and drive to the UU church. The building looks very interesting from the outside.

I wish I hadn’t forgotten to take a shot of the inside - quite stunning including a wonderful pipe organ. It is amazing how different the UU churches are depending on where I am---- I’m in Mayo land - it is the world famous Mayo clinic, founded by the Mayo brothers - a facility that host the presidents and other high profile people in case they need medical attention. The atmosphere in the church is dense and not as relaxed as I’m used to. After the service I get my stuff and am on my way North to Minneapolis where I play a Co-housing community this evening. The drive is not so long and I enjoy the landscape which is mostly farmland and endless corn fields.

The concert tonight is in a very nice part of St Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis and the Co-housing common house is an old brick building that reminds me of places in Europe.
.
I love the look of the room where I’m going to perform tonight.

I will stay in one of their guest rooms which is a small but cute place with a bed and a desk. Just the right thing to take a little nap...

Joelyn who organized the concert worries a little about the attendance but all works out and I have a really nice crowd that is totally into my music. Two friends of mine that I met in Seattle at the National Guitar Workshop show up as well and I’m in heaven. I have to play two encores and after that we sit around and chat for a good while.

I sure made some new friends that I can return to next year!
I’m in bed before midnight because I have a long drive to Omaha, NE. During the night there is a thunder storm that outdoes everything I ever experienced. The first hit almost throws me out of bed and I thought for sure that lightning had hit the building. It goes on for hours and starts pouring down as well. Oh my - I’m not getting a lot of sleep but at least I’m safe in my little bed here. After I get used to the roaring thunder I crawl back and pull the cover over my head...

Deeper into Minnesota

This morning I spend some time at the local coffee house in Pipestone doing email and answering myspace stuff.

I’m still waiting to hear from the Ginkgo in St. Paul but there’s nothing coming my way - I’m not going! No way - So I’ll have a Saturday off which feels very strange while on tour. After several hours of online work I’m ready to hit the road. It’s supposed to be a three hour ride to Rochester, MN where I play tomorrow in a Unitarian church. It’s a nice day for driving and I take it slow!

My bud starts hurting after half an hour and it’s not easy to keep up smiling - actually I’m cursing full out loud - yes! that feels goooooooooood!!!
I find a little motel not far from the church and get myself a pizza (Anchovies, Pineapple, Greek peppers). I earn some strange looks for that combination and they probably will remember me as the nurd form the Northwest. I get a couple of bottles of beer and go back to the motel to hang in front of the TV. I eat and drink until my eyes close...

Sacred Places

My concert this morning is at the Old Courthouse Museum which is a very impressive building downtown Sioux Falls.

This time a year they have it in the courtyard outside and an hour before the show people start gathering.

It is nice and I have a good crowd that loves what I do. I feel somehow crappy and my stomach is aching badly - no idea what is going on but I have to really concentrate to get through the gig with a smile. Here is a goodbye shot with Marty Davidson, the organizer.

My mood gets worse when I think about the next show at the Ginkgo Coffeehouse in St. Paul. Despite multiple emails and phone calls I cannot figure out if I play or not. I’m not listed on the website and none of the barristas has a clue what’s going on. I was looking forward to that one despite the fact that it is a tip jar, which I usually don’t do anymore but now I feel pretty crappy about it - they don’t seem to give a sh.. at all. The feeling that I’m about to throw up doesn’t help. I have the rest of the day off and a phone call with my friend James gets me a little back on track. I decide not to decide anything quite yet and start driving North. I want to go to a Sacred place called Pipestone, where Indians from all over the country came to quarry pipestone, a soft reddish looking petrified clay that was crafted into peace pipes. It’s a little community in Minnesota, just 30 miles North East of Sioux Falls. When I get there I visit the local museum and get oriented. After I sign into a little motel down the road I visit the National Monument, the Pipestone quarries. Walking around this sacred place quiets me down a little. In the distance i can see a decorated tree that has a part in the “Sun Dance” ceremony.

It is very quiet and I can feel that this place is special.

I sit down close to a waterfall and let the water wash away all dark thoughts and worries.

Then I ask the oracle ...

When I drive back to the motel I take a little tour through downtown.

Despite the great energy I experienced all afternoon I’m still a little beside me. I hope that SciFi channel and a couple of beers take care of that.