2005-04-05 - 1:49 p.m.
My wife and I made plans to take a cab to Golden Gate Park and just get outside and take a nice walk. Years ago I had visited the Conservatory of Flowers and loved the place. The cab dropped us off at the east entrance to the park and we hoofed it in from there. It was a beautiful day. The morning fog was just starting to lift. I never realized what a great description that is until I spent some time in San Francisco. The fog here can be all encompassing. Like a smoky blanket thrown across the town, it sometimes seems as if it’s alive. When they say it “lifts”, it’s as if two giants get on either side of the bed that is San Francisco and gently lift the blanket off. Golden Gate Park is my favorite city park, just ahead of Central Park in NYC. Both parks almost shared designers. Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect designer of Central Park was asked but declined the job of designing Golden Gate Park. Claiming it an impossible task, he left the job to William Hammond Hall and John McLaren. And a beautiful job they did! As we approached the Conservatory we heard jazz music wafting up from a tunnel nearby. There was a trio playing at the far end of a tunnel and they were using it as a big reverb chamber. They sounded real good. It was a great scene with lots of people strolling around under the sun. The Conservatory is a glass Victorian structure built in 1879. It’s the oldest glass structure in the United States. The exhibit is arranged in climate zones. I loved the rain forest. It’s warm and moist; the scent of loam is so strong it’s as much a taste as a smell. The orchids were my favorite. Such a thing of beauty that relies on so little to survive. The human race could learn a lesson.
We got back in time to take showers and get ready to go over to the venue for sound check. The van pulled up and we all piled in. As on Friday we ran through some of the rough spots. We played past doors and after a while Mr. Taylor came over and stood in front giving us the hairy eyeball. We eventually got the hint and vamoosed. Dinner was as good this evening as last. We all met in the dressing room to once again talk out the set. Phil is so good at this. He comes with a concept as to how the segues should go but is totally open to the inspiration of the moment, that moment being now of course.
Places. The curtain opens and we launch into “Just Another Whistle Stop”, the opening motif already finished by the time the curtain is fully open. This night would come to be my favorite and this song set the tone of the evening. Jimmy’s got the opening riff down. His tone is perfect and when he solos it’s as if there’s a universe contained within a phrase. Phil sounds like a mountain, the low-end of his bass seems rooted far in the Earth. And behind it all, the engine that pushed the train, John Molo, kicking the living shit out of it, almost threatening the song to bear to his will. I’ve always loved this song but had never performed it with Rick Danko when I played with him (ironically “This Wheels On Fire”, one of the songs I did play with Rick, was to come later in the set and was one of the few songs I wasn’t to be on!). The other highlights for me were “Black Peter”, “Wiser Time” and “China Doll”. The audience seemed completely in tune with us this evening in a way that makes me believe this music is part of a common language that’s spoken heart to heart.
At the break I walk into the common” meet and greet” room backstage to find a whole table of friends and family. It’s so great to have these people I care for a great deal here to share this amazing experience. We meet in the band dressing room once again to talk through the set. We’re all in except Phil and in the interim Chris is cracking us up with imitations of David Chappell. The second set goes great with Terrapin and China Doll as personal favorites. Once again Phil introduces us and the encores ensue. After the show I once again seem to be the last one in the van to go back to the hotel. I have a drink in our room and Martha and I fall exhausted into bed.
Soon….the rest of it and our current tour!
