2004-04-12 - 11:05 p.m.
The Fountain House is the site of some of our first gigs and we return every once in a while for some memorable shows. The shows sell out within a week’s time and the crowds are amazing. It’s great to play for the homeys! Before the show on Saturday, Todd and Erin have a bunch of folks over for a little pre-show get together. The food and family is wonderful and gets the night off to a great start.
We’re getting back into the swing of things before we head out west. Next up is a small run to Lancaster, PA, Danbury, CT, Boston, MA and Falls River, MA. Lancaster goes well but Danbury is a bust. Boston is great. Andy’s sister, Mary Faith and her friend Jo Ann come to the show. They are both Reiki practitioners and Jo Ann offers to help me with a nagging sore shoulder. Reiki is a Japanese healing art that involves the laying on of hands. There seems to be some sort of energy transference. I really don’t know how it works but work it does! My shoulder has generally been an issue since I started playing the fiddle full time in Railroad Earth. In most of my other bands I’ve doubled up on guitar, which would give my arm, wrist and shoulder a break. Jo Ann gently put one of her hands on my shoulder. Just as I was beginning to think her hand was getting rather warm she said, ”You’ll feel my hand getting warm. It should get warmer still.” And it did. She told me to relax and breath even. This went on for perhaps ten minutes. She took her hand from my shoulder and, to my amazement, when I rotated my shoulder I was pain free! My good friend Ann told me that a Japanese Christian monk developed the technique. I was pain free for 3 days! Since the injury is one of repetition and I’m not likely to stop playing for any great amount of time I can look forward to more stretching, massage and Reiki in the future.
The final show was at the Fall River Arts Center. It’s an old warehouse space that’s been converted. We’ve played here before and had fun. It’s a neat place. Too bad there aren’t that many people but we play good and it sounds great thanks to Mike. We head right home from the gig for 24 hours later we’ll be leaving for the west coast for 5 weeks.
