Another one come and gone. Seems like I spend all year in anticipation of thie great festival, and then it's over before I know it. Was it a good one? Nope, it was flat out amazing.
Our involvement started on Thursday with a warm-up party at Cafe Drummonds in Aberdeen. Late night, and a great chance to run through the material we're taking to the festival. Out the door around 1 a.m., and then up early to start getting organized.
4 hours sleep.
Friday night Tim Aves arrived from London. His flight was running late so we dropped his things at the airport and immediately left for a rehearsal. It was a good chance to meet, run through his songs and talk logistics for the weekend. I think we quit around 11, back at my place around 12, and stayed up late talking. New guitar strings on my strat. Up the next day a 6 a.m. to start packing the truck, printing maps and working out the logistics of moving 5 people and a ton of gear.
4 hours sleep again.
OK, now the fun starts. Tim and I hit the road around 11:30 and met the guys we were staying with at our block of self catering flats. Dr. Bendix, the Lyndon Anderson Band and a couple of others were all staying there to. Lots of gear being moved up a narrow flight of stairs. By 1:30 we have the gear shifted, our guitars in the truck, stage clothes on and we were off to the Bond for the first of Tim's gigs, as the Jalepenos.
The Bond is a great room, kinda small and at the south end of the Marketgait area. It was empty, echo empty as we were setting up. Dino, Tim and I ran off to get a quick to-go meal and by the time we were back, it was jammed with bodies. We had to be well over fire-code capacity. Tim kicked it off with a Howlin Wolf tune, 'Riding in the Monlight' and the room was instantly jumping. Tim's a great front person, real energetic and a solid guitarist and harp player (nice guy too, go figure). 45 minutes later, it was 'smoke 'em if ya got em' time to take a break and hang outside with the smokers-in-exile and cool off. Most of the conversation revolved around my snakeskin cowboy boots and how rattlesnake really does taste like chicken.
Our second set was better than the first, and played for an even larger crowd. When we ended with Tim's son 'Wageslave', it was 5 pm, time to break down the gear, pack the truck and run off to the Abode for our solo gigs.
I was supposed to start at 6:30. It wasn't hard to find the club. Parking was miserable. So I double-parked in a taxi rank and we forced our way through a standing-room only crowd to get the guitars up to the small area reserved for the solo performers. Oh, I had to park about 1/2 mile away.
As it turned out I started bang on time. I had my acoustic lap steel with me and played all the new songs on my acoustic CD, and one or two standards on an electric guitar. It's magic playing for an audience that knows you and looks forward to seeing the new material that you bring to a show like this. Intimate isn't really the right word, but it was singing in close quarters for sure, and a wonderful room full of friends, both old and new. Interestingly enough, 12 people asked me where Louise was, why didn't I bring the national with me? Simple, no room in the truck. Next year, I missed that guitar as much as y'all did.
I was done at 8 pm and Tim took over. I could only stay long enough to get him settled and then I had to walk back to the truck and head back to the flat so Dino and I could load up the PA. 3 flights of stairs, I might add. And then we were off to the Old Bank Bar to follow the GrooveCats for a 10 pm show.
The Old Bank Bar is huge, and by the time we started there were easily 500 people there. Easily. Our soundcheck song was 'Love my little baby' a jumping west-coast shuffle. I'd thought to make a quick one just to check levels, but the room just burst into dancing and so we finished the song and went straight into that Bo Diddley-style version of 'Who do you love', slightly Cajun-ized. The rest of the set was a blur. Band was as solid as ever. Great to see Paul from Glasgow, Anna, Eric, Lovat, Marion, Alan and the rest of you trouble-makers!
We were suposed to quit at 12, but by the time we were finished playing encores it was much closer to 1 am. Last song? A really swinging version of 'Reconsider Baby'. What a great time. Phew. Time to shift the gear again, up 3 flights of stairs and finally get something for dinner. Nothing like a late-night Kebab and a beer. Off to bed around 3 am. Dino snores. Dave does too. No curtains on the window, so the sunlight hits early too. Up at 6.
3 hours sleep.
Spent most of the morning watching the news about the Glasgow airport. Puts everything in perspective. At noon we all shuffled off for a breakfast for members of the Blindman's Blues forum. 16 of us in all from all over the world. Great people, all good friends. Known some of them for years and still meeting them for the first time.
Back to the gear shuffle. Tim had another gig at Satchmoes. I know the PA and the Parking situation there so it was much less stressful. Leon Hunter and the gang always take good care of us there. True to form, 5 minutes before we start the room fills up. It's a room full of faces that we've seen at every gig. How great is that? Good gig, by now I'm starting to get a little tired. Slamming Red Bulls in pairs to keep moving. 2 hours later (5 pm) it's time for more gear moving and a quick run over to Alleycats for my last gig.
OK, by now I really am wiped out. It was supposed to be a low-volume acoustic gig with Billy Allardyce and Davey Blair on drums and bass. As it turns out I was in the zone and wantedto play lots of lap steel. So, with Tim sitting in on the harp, we played our first set to a small crowd of folks that had followed us over. Small because we had our start time changed from 7 to 6, so low pressure out of the gate. By 6:45 the room was filling up and by the time I started at 7 it was standing room only. we ran through the solo CD material again, and then I brought Tim, Dave and Billy up for a lap-steel romp through some originals, old blues covers and some odd stuff too.
There's something that happens when you get that tired. It's as though the creative barriers all melt away and you tap into a reservoir of energy and creativity that wasn't there before. It was euphoric, the guys did a great job tagging along, and we took turns pushing each other. Although we were supposed to finish at 8, we played later, much later in fact.
Ok, blah blah blah. More gear to move after cleaning out the flat. Home around midnight, in bed by 1am and then up a 6 to get everyone ready for school and work.
5 hours sleep, finally.
This afternoon I fell asleep on a city bus, and the bus driver woke me up at my stop. I'm still dead on my feet. But I wouldn't trade weekends like that with so many friends for a bag of money. Dundee is how I mark my anniversary of living in Scotland, where I go to recharge my creative batteries and reconnect with all my friends.
See you next year!
