spent the night on festival grounds .. and waking up in the bus always takes some getting used to

there was a rumor of a lake .. needed a shower from the travels

showered then under the waterfall .. the plunge of cold lake water did the trick .. best way to shower .. cold and reviving and the pressure of the water falling on top of you smashes off the grime

the festival was so very peaceful and sweet .. it was kinda amazing how pretty everyone looked instead of beat up from the pop up village here in the woods .. they all looked pretty and happy .. the weather was perfect .. not 116 at all .. more like 78 maybe .. sunny and breezy and delightful

to prepare for our stage set we opted to play on a small stage that afternoon for the sake of rehearsal .. best to rehearse in front of a real audience .. it adds fire and spark to the work out
.. worked out well

then it was time to then go up and set up .. it was the expected chaos of quick change-over and small shock finding out what did and didn’t work on the fly .. then it was time to play . our slot was 35 minutes .. several of which we used setting up ..

so with some wiring mishap, we dove into the set ..
started with the jazz song of “not the end of the world” .. this would allow miguel on sound to get up the sound for only us 3 .. especially to dial in the drums and bass .. then we slipped into something more comfortable with “plane of existence” as everyone clustered onto the stage .. and zipped nicely into “lost love” .. and then .. “forever and a day” .. segued into “slag heap” .. which kind of petered out in a funny way .. but the crowd thought it was intentional .. and then we plunked into brian’s “love comes over you” and finished up with a shortened “Carinito”
.. and .. done and done

that was it .. played for the sunset crowd .. a sweet happy bunch

signed some stuff for em .. and then we were done for the day

wilco’s nels cline and jeff tweedy took in the set from the stage side and were kind in exaltation .. as was grant lee phillups, who’d already played earlier

so .. dinner was now on and gonna end soon .. but opted to head to that waterfall again for a quick cleanse .. lost upon return and still made dinner

the rest of the evening resulted in a well earned beer buzz and seemed perfectly applicable .. made for a very happy evening and a happy ending .. taking in the music wafting through the gentle festival vibe .. very very pleasing there .. the production girls were delightful in assisting with said beer buzz .. tasha, michelle and carolyn .. and head honcho john .. saw paul the agent for minute too .. and the crew of wilco were a good hang .. dick and dan and keyboardist michael (mentioning his danish father) and glenn from the band .. it all sat very well for a fine evening .. rachel the actress showed up too and all the folks from fire .. james, lucy, eva, dan and alex

am i leaving anyone out ? .. i don’t think so ..
i remember em all .. even andrea boliger the french-swiss artist and her friends jonathan and nadia with the great hair from waterloo canada just outside of toronto ..

so . …

that was that .. the bus was waiting for us to leave “whenever we all collected ourselves” on board .. i was the commander, i suppose, and it felt like it for the first time ever on one of these tours .. probably because we have no tour manager on board .. just miguel taking most of the edge off … we all handle our own stuff like the original punk rock ethic of DIY days .. and the tour seems to curiously have a life of its own dragging us along with it

our bus and wilco’s buses pulled out at the same time and hit the road .. we ended the night on board with some young 10 year old laphroig and lively chatter .. and at some point a water fight for good luck .. and to show the aging cells that one can still behave like a child if the moment insists

the end