Heading Up North (Part B)

[ericcoleman]

So ... I left off at something like 3am friday morning.

My phone rang at 7:30am. It was Isaac on the way. I set my alarm to get me up and dozed for some of the rest of the morning.

I had given him directions to somewhere near my friend's Celia's. Much easier to get to but if I had been awake I would have given him directions to C&B's but ... well ... I wasn't awake.

He showed up around 11:30 and we headed back.

Now comes the best example of the pernacious evil that is the folk in Riverfolk

They took me to a guitar store

They are mean, nasty, cruel people. I played a very lovely D-15, a couple of nifty parlour guitars, and ...

I fell in love with an old Gibson 12 string. But it must remain unrequited. At least for now.

Isaac determined he needs a resonator.

We stayed there for much too long for me to maintain my sanity. Ah if I was rich.

So Isaac, Rightous (his pup) and I headed off for Mahtowa.

I have stated before that I love the drive up north. This was a little odder. Isaac felt the need to pick up two hitchhikers. It worked out ok though, since they were going to Pine City and I wanted to show Isaac the motel I wrote the song about.

He decided that it was just creepy to look at and asked to get out. I love it when I'm right.

We got up to Mahtowa around 5 or so.

We wandered around, headed off and got something to eat, and came back to set up Isaac's tent.

This is where things got weird.

I had decided that I would find a motel if at all possible. It apparantly wasn't. The cheapest rate I found was 60 bucks for a really greasy little place. I had someone who wanted to charge me 80 bucks for 2 beds and a smoking room. And my favorite, the guy who was willing to give me a tiny room in back of the office for only 70 dollars.

I went to WallyMart and bought a cheap sleeping bag and pad and went back to camp with Isaac.

I actually slept well.

I do want to have a few words about the Mahtowa rooster.

There is a rooster there who can't tell time. He seems to think that 2am is dawn. 4:17 am is dawn. And an hour or so after dawn is dawn. As well as 10:45 in the morning.

He's my favorite rooster ever.

An aside. Now that I have written this my wife informs me that roosters don't crow at dawn. They crow when they are horny. So he is favorite rooster on an even grander level now. Ah to be young and feathered again.

So, we grabbed guitars and headed over to the contest. Isaac had already started his campaign to meet every attractive woman in Mahtowa that day. Ah to be young and feathered again.

I got to see some folks from the years before. Kate from KUMD is one of my favorite people. AND, she has been playing Bang My Bald Spot on her radio show. Thanks so much.

The contest was wonderful as usual. The songwriting was amazing. Isaac was blown away.

Ok, my set.

Standard
Pine City Motel Blues

And enough about that. I tanked totally. I got laughs, but barely stumbled through the new song.

Isaac went up a couple of folks after me. He was great. The best I have ever seen him.

I'm still kind of out of it at the moment so I don't have a lot of the high points in my head. But as usual there was no one especially bad and a lot of folks who were wonderful.

Brian Dack, the winner of the last two years, was performing after the contest. His song Loon Lake Liftoff is amazing. We watched a few songs (including LLL) and went to pack up.

The drive home was uneventful, my car was still there, and I got home around 1:30am.

A mild disappointment saturday, but the rest of the weekend was amazing.

Comments

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

I hear Mass Street Music (http://www.massstreetmusic.com/) here in lawrence is equally cruel

[ericcoleman]

I will not follow this link
I will not follow this link
I will not follow this link
I will not follow this link
I will not follow this link
I will not follow this link

Oh yes I will

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

If you came to visit us you could visit the store. Lojo loves it

[ericcoleman]

I'm going to try to fit in one more road trip in September before the end of the year madness (OVFF and Windy) but I will probably head up north for that. The music in the Cities is so wunnerful. Still, heading down there would probably be pretty relaxing, and this does look like a cool music store ... But Chicago is calling too, the idea of a weekend in Chicago with no place that I have to be.

AHHHHHH ... too many possibilities.