What a great weekend Anna D. and I had in Jacksonville, FL! It was my first time there and the journey began by driving to Chattanooga to pick up Anna (my talented "side player") at the airport where she parked her car. We loaded her things into Beverly Buick and she went to park. I attempted to start the car and ....nothing. Silence is not good when starting a car. Dead. Kaput. Nada. I assumed it was the alternator since the battery was quite new (replaced while in Houston last Fall). I called AAA and waited in front of the airport terminal...on 9/11 weekend...waiting for security to come read me the riot act for sitting there. No one ever said a word though, which was kind of weird. After only 20 minutes or less, a very nice tow truck operator by the name of Charles (I know because it was sewn onto his grease covered shirt) came along and asked to take a look under the hood (of my car! Get your mind out of the gutter...oh wait, that's my mind...) Anyway, he jiggled the battery cable and voila! it started right up. "Just a loose cable lady! No need to take it anywhere. Just get yourself a cheap socket wrench at Autozone and tighten that up." Hallelujah! Done and off to Florida! Old Beverly Buick lives to see another day! 151,000 miles and still trucking....
We arrived in Jax late on Friday night and I had a panic attack driving over the bridge across the inlet to Jax Beach. What was up with that??? My hands were sweating and I thought my heart was going to bust out of my chest. I was beginning to worry that I'd pass out and have a wreck when finally we made it over. I don't like tall bridges apparently. Still, that was odd and came out of nowhere. Great! You never know when some silent neurotic tendency will come screaming up to the surface at the worst time!
We were hosted quite graciously by Ken and CeeCee Connors in their home - a really kind and intelligent couple who have worked in radio, activism, education, computer programming and are bluegrass pickers themselves. It was a wonderful place to land!
First show was at the Riverside Arts Market under the I-95 bridge. This may not sound like a good place to play - under an interstate bridge, but it was actually quite beautiful. The weather was perfect and the acoustics with all that soaring concrete above really worked in our favor! A fun show and I met so many really nice folks who bought CDs and signed the mailing list. We would love to go back and play there again! Only one problem......THERE WAS NO COFFEE FOR SALE! WTH? I couldn't find a cup of coffee to save my life when I got there, but I powered through anyway. Met a nice old guy named Jim who fought in the Vietnam war and is quite obsessed with Janis Ian (who lives in Nashville). Many thanks to Gary Becka for the booking and Roy for the great sound!
That evening we played at the European Street Cafe on Beach Blvd. It's a cozy little place with a dessert counter that will slay you. They had more pastries, cheesecake and cookies for sale in one place...wow. Happily, I didn't eat any of it, but I did eat their Kibbe Pita sandwich - which is a middle eastern meatloaf sandwich. It had yummy tabbouleh on it too. No beer before performing, but I did have 3 cups of coffee. Oh yeah. Many thanks to Ray Lewis for the booking!
The opening group was a local duo - Dan McClintock and Eric (sorry, can't remember his last name) - very cool music. They had a Plain White T's meets Simon & Garfunkle thing happening and they were quite charming and funny. Go see 'em if you can!
After the show, we unwound with beers and snacks back at the Connors' house till about 1am kvetching about the economy, the music biz and everything else. :) Good times. Good times.
8am Sunday, 9/11 - my birthday - we packed up Beverly and headed back to Tennessee....she made the 10 hour drive without even a hick-up...just a couple of hicks.