We went to Newcastle Wednesday night to see Curtis. I'd never heard of the place. It's a cute, funky, tiny town northeast of Sacramento. Curtis didn't know we were coming, and since it was a 'school' night for Jeffrey, we could only stay for the first set. He was already on stage when we got there (it was a little farther than we'd anticipated). We watched the first set while having dinner. (He sounded great, by the way.) On the break, as usual, he sat on the stage and signed CD's for people and took pictures with them. His drummer came over to chat with Jeffrey while that was going on. By the time Curtis had made his way through his line of fans, it was time for him to hit for the second set. So we rendezvoused with him briefly in the middle of the dance floor on our way out--we only had a few minutes to talk. He was so pleased to see Jeffrey (they hadn't seen each other in a year). We chatted about life in general, even though we all knew why J and I had made the trek to Newcastle on a Wednesday night. Finally I asked, "How are you feeling?"...and then he told us what he's up against. Our old friend is in a very dire situation--he must get a liver transplant to survive beyond, say, next year. The cancer hasn't spread beyond his liver at this point and that's very good news, but as you can imagine, it's beyond nerve-wracking for him to try to wait for a new liver knowing that that could happen while he's waiting. As we were getting ready to part, J surprised me by telling Curtis, "We'll get up to Portland before too long..." Curtis seemed pleased, "Good! Let's hang!"
I didn't have a good day on Thursday--I felt weepy all day but I still had one day left at work. I called Sam on the way to work, but we only spoke briefly. I felt cranky all day, too--like I just wanted to just go off on someone. I knew the anger wasn't about anything other than Curtis' situation, but that didn't stop me from being cranky after I got home, too. Jeffrey was trying to cheer me up. "Leave me alone! I'm cranky!" "You're cranky a lot." "No, I'm not! YOU are! YOU'RE the moody one!" He smiled, "Yeah, I am moody sometimes...but you're sneaky cranky." I hate it when he makes me laugh when I'm trying to be mean.
Yesterday was day 1 of my 32-day summer break...and I didn't do squat. I meant to...sort of. I needed a decompression day. I did walk over to the school district office to pick up my check...to the bank to deposit it...to a sandwich shop to get some lunch to go...to the post office to grab the mail...to a bookstore to grab a sidewalk sale book. And I made quite a few phone calls--to my stepmother to confirm that my folks will be arriving on Monday and staying through next week, to my sister-in-law to see what they had planned for the 4th, several calls back and forth with my mother about my upcoming visit to Vegas (July 10-16). I booked the rental car for Vegas on Expedia. But other than that? Nada. The dishes stayed undone. The newspapers remained unread. My (way too many) blogs remained untended. I even took a nap on the couch in the middle of the day (because god knows I'd really exerted myself at that point). Sam called in the late afternoon. When she asked what I was doing on my first day off, I said, "I'd like to say I'm figuring out how to save the children, but what I'm really doing is watching 'My Fair Brady.'" (Not only that, I was watching it on Comcast On Demand. I demand my celebrity dysfunction NOW!) We chatted for a good long while. J had checked in with me a few times throughout the day and he arrived home from work while I was on the phone. He'd already showered and changed for his gig by the time I hung up. I literally saw him for only a minute--kissed him goodbye and he was on his way to the Bay Area for the night.
He called me from the road to tell me that he'd learned at work yesterday that he'll be off work on Monday in addition to Tuesday. "Wanna go to Portland?" "YES!" We can't afford last-minute plane tickets, so we'll drive up. Back onto Expedia to book another car and two nights at a motel where we've stayed before (the Jupiter was booked). (There's no point in putting those kinds of miles on our little car when we can get a rental for $17/day.) We'll be just across the river from downtown and only a block from Max (light rail) and in the 'free zone' where rides to downtown are free. Why does all of that matter?
Because the reason people flock to Portland over the long 4th of July holiday is to attend one of the premiere blues festivals in the country, Waterfront Blues Festival. It's an event Jeffrey has played many times with many different performers. There were years where some days he literally went from stage to stage to play, not to mention trying to squeeze in a few moments to catch sets by his friends. Our last time at the festival was 1999, so we're looking forward to it. Those poorly scanned snapshots above (which weren't meant to be a panoramic view, but I realized I sort of had one when I got the photos back...remember life before digital cameras?) were taken during the headlining set on July 4, 1998. The Waterfront Blues Festival is a blast. It takes place right on the Willamette River in (appropriately) Waterfront Park downtown. It's a benefit for the Oregon Food Bank and it's still one of the cheapest festivals around ($8 and two cans of food). And I checked the weather forecast and it's sunny and warm in the Rose City right now.
But best of all, this year's festival features New Orleans and Gulf Coast artists. And you can be sure I'm gonna try to stop by the "Taste of Louisiana" food booth, where "Chef Cris Pasia, proprietor of the pre-Katrina Streetcar Bistro in New Orleans and a protégé of renowned Chef Paul Prudhomme" will have a menu that includes Dragon Wings, Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, Louisiana Crab Cakes and Nola Mae’s Bread Pudding.
J has to work for 4 hours very early tomorrow morning, and then we'll hit the road. We might catch the tail end of the festival tomorrow night (I'd love to see Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk), but we plan to hang out there most of the day and evening on Monday and maybe early in the day on Tuesday before we have to drive back. It might sound silly to go all that way for just a day's worth of music. But not to me, when I consider that this guy will hit the stage in his hometown at 6:45 on Monday. Can't wait to tell him we'll be there to watch it.
But he's the only one we're going to call ahead of time. We're just going to sneak into town and surprise people if we run into them. We've been working way too hard the past few months and we're overdue for a vacation. I know this doesn't sound like much of one, but we love road trips. I have very fond memories of our Portland years when many weekends we'd head out of town for gigs around Oregon or Washington or even California. There's just something about hitting the open road--it's a good time to think...and to clear one's head.
Since we no longer have a laptop, I won't be checking in from the road. We'll get home sometime late on the 4th and Jeffrey has to be back at work very early on the 5th. We've already made arrangements with the family (after another round of phone calls to tell them we're heading to Portland) to hook up with all of them on Wednesday evening to attend Picnic in the Park at the Davis Farmer's Market. The folks will probably head home by next weekend, and I'll be leaving for Las Vegas very early on Monday, the 10th. By the time I get home from that trip, July will be half over. Who knows what the second half of my summer break will look like? I'm just playing it by ear.
But in the meantime, I plan to fill my ears with music at one of my favorite events, Waterfront Blues Festival. More Favorite Things Saturday entries are here.
As they say in N'Awlins, "Laissez les bon temps roulez!" Let the good times roll!
There can only be one choice today for Favorite Things Saturday--KAYLA! She turns 16 today...and her poor old Auntie can hardly believe it. (I still haven't seen her behind the wheel of a car, but she's been driving--with her permit, of course.)
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