HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE
From Red Rocks in Denver to Newfoundland and Fenway Park, touring and
playing music is still the best paid vacation in the world.........
TOURING WITH WILLIE
Every once in a while you get that "perfect tour" which is what
it was like to for us to play about 20 dates with Willie Nelson and Family
this year.
We started in Toronto Canada and worked our way east to Newfoundland until
we could go no farther. N.F. is still a beautifully wild and mostly
uninhabited part of Canada. It's the only place I've ever been where you
set you watch ahead one half hour (4 1/2 hours ahead of PST). Thanks
to our friends at the local airline who canceled our flight, we got to see
a lot of the country as we drove from the western city of Cornerbrook to
Gandor to catch a plane into St. John's.
Having a chance to play golf with Willie and the boys was a great way to
spend a day off. Willie's twosome was smoking as they made birdie after
birdie while Jeff and I took our beating like men. Our high old time
on the course must of had an adverse effect on Jeff and I as evidenced by
these "before" and "after" photos sent to me by
Willie's
road manager.
Before golf....
After golf.....
As the summer went on we played other shows with Willie in Ft. Worth
for the annual 4th of July Picnic, where I got to see and hang with one of
my early heroes Leon Russell; Red Rocks in Denver, which is still the best
sounding venue on the planet; Carl's Corner Texas, the home of Willie's Bio Diesel enterprise and Boston where we got to visit the
hallowed fields of Fenway Park.
FENWAY PARK
Thanks to our friend Larry Cancro, who runs Fenway Park, we were able to
get the ultimate tour and catch a Red Sox game. This included a trip
behind the old scoreboard at the Green Monster, where we added our
signatures to those of ages past on the concrete walls, a chance to hold
the World Series Trophy, try on the Championship Ring and watch the Sox
win one. My son Sean, who is a big baseball fan, was able to join me for
the game. For an ex-Little Leaguer and an ex-coach it was a special day.
"Behind the Scoreboard with Larry"
"The Trophy" photo
PLANES, PLANES, PLANES
Of course the only down side to all of this traveling is those pesky old
plane rides. I've seen people have to give up their dangerous and
frightening shoe gel inserts. I just finished reading a great book
"Water for Elephants" which I highly recommend. It's a miracle
they didn't confiscate that since it has a liquid in the title.
As I fly, my mind wanders and I've come up with a few fun things to do
when the trip gets too boring.
1. Have a cocktail. Stand in the back of the plane near the
bathrooms. When someone asks if you are next, inform them that you
are an Air Marshall keeping an eye on the passengers. If they ask
for I.D. you must refuse, citing the "National Air Marshall's Flight
Secrecy Act of
2001. Show them you mean business by ordering them back to their seat if
the line for the bathroom gets too long.
2. Be the first flier in your row to finish a Su Doku puzzle in less than
one minute. Who cares if the entries are correct. No one can really see
them anyway. Celebrate your geniusness with a few cocktails then hand out
unsolicited, confusing advice to your fellow passengers on "How to
kick butt in Su Doku".
3. Have a cocktail. Put your headphones on but don't plug them in.
Laugh wildly at all the wrong times during the movie. When its over,
demand that the flight attendant return your head phone charge because the
movie made no sense.
Be careful of this common travel problem. You board a 13 hour
international flight. You put your passport in your shirt pocket so it
will be handy when you arrive to clear customs. During the 10th hour
of the flight you awaken in a daze and rush back to the bathroom. When
you've finished your business you lean over to flush, your passport falls
from your pocket and spirals down the drain as while you are deciding if
that blue stuff in the toilet is as toxic as it looks. When the flight
lands, proceed directly to customs, tell them your story and make plans to
spend a lot of time at the concession stands (ala Tom Hanks in the movie
The Terminal) while they sort out the mess you are in.
BEATING AROUND THE BUSH
I've been going through my archives lately, transferring DAT tapes of
demos onto CDs. I stumbled upon this gem from our former President, Bush
Sr. It's a recording made during one of his stump speeches in New
Hampshire in January 1992. At the time, he was taking the medication
Halcion for some non-specific condition. George was a big fan of the song
"Stand A
Little Rain" which I sang for the Dirt Band in the 1980s. Explaining
to the crowd that they could use the song's lyrics "If you ever want
to see a rainbow you have to stand a little rain" to bring hope to their plight in N.H., he had a real problem pronouncing the name
of the band in his clouded state of mind. The following was his best
attempt....Click to
listen. Needless to say, the newspapers had a lot of fun with
it....Bush
Cartoon.pdf. And my friend Richie Furay wrote a song with Scoot
Sellen for about it for the band... Furay
Bush Song.pdf
For those of you who came out to the shows this year, it was a pleasure to
play for you again and say hi from time to time.
Thanks for your support.
Bob
Click here
to see the previous Side Trips
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