The weather was weird..Warm but dark and cloudy and humid. I was happy it wasnt hot & humid like it was in DC or London...Some scary looking clouds...We were lugging a cooler and bags of stuff but didnt get far when a golf cart stopped to give us a lift. Glowy went in the front to navigate, I hopped on back ending up next to a guy calling himself 'Spirit" he seemed a bit spun and was kvetching that he couldnt find his hoop.
The cart let us out right in front of the cook tent at Camp Tooboard-aka-Hamhoarders..Naturally, we were greeted with hoots for our royal entrance.
After visiting a bit, and for me meeting a bunch of TOOBoard people, Glowy and I went to go take a look around.
We were walking toward the big picture of Jerry Garcia when I ran into one of the usual suspects on his way to work..Went by grabbed a hug, made some quick introductions then left him to work his magic...within seconds I met Jilly! I know Jilly & Ben from Deadnet for years but have never met them in 3-d before! Jilly's lost (I dont think she'd mind me saying) a huge amount of weight and is truly an inspiration! Ben and I post in DNC's teacher discussion ..My friend Kemmie has met them both and told me good things. I loved getting to know them. In the midst of chatting away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cousin Bud!
I love the cousins, I met them on the UKRD tour and well, just love them! Glowy wanted to go check something out and so I went for a walk with Bud to find Sammy.
They were set up by the Dot orgers. I can't say it enough..I luv the Cousins! And it was great to see them- I caught them up on our mutual UK friends. I'm real happy and lucky to have seen so many of those 2003 tour buddies this Summer! We put the walkie talkies to the test and located Glowy..We could see her but it was a moment (that included bystanders waving their arms in her direction) before she saw us and climbed up the slope toward us. We sat for a moment with Jilly, Ben and DNCr TMC. I know TMC from the Deadnet Discussion about kids with learning differences. While most folks think of message boards as gossipy type places, Deadnet has many very special support discussions and you make a particular connection to people who take a moment to listen or help you through a tough day..and Lord knows, Ive had some rough days.....Also, hanging in Jilly's place were Graceful & Russ- my West Coast Tour Buddies. Graceful stayed at my house for the Marin Ratdog thing in May and it was fun having her happy self there.
After visiting we wandered down to the stage to find that rail space was being claimed, Chez had claimed space for us and so Glowy and I sat down spread out our stuff and enjoyed the humidity with a group of folks. I met BEW & Lizardking & Jammin John & KC Jones & FLA Jen and dozens of online folks...On the ride back to Newark, I counted over 50 names from all over the net that we saw/ met! I liked everyone I met..it was just like the Eurotours in that way..You just sort of bond.
I saw a few others from the Euro/UK tours over the weekend ((Gronk,Warren,Keir,Ruth))..
The rail thing was easy going and friendly through the day. As usual, I found ways to entertain myself, taking a poll of who wanted which song, working on my crocheting, scribbling notes, taking a couple of pictures.
Some bands came and went..I was primed only for my Ratdog though and when Rail buddies came for their turns holding space, I took off in search of my homeboy. Before finding him, I did a quick stop at the gate for a hug from Robin Syl(Hey, it was a courier thing!) Snapped a photo of Jammin while I was there too.
At last found my buddy and we took a look around Shakedown and had a nice visit and then it was time for me to return to the rail.
So yes, back to the rail por moi.
Yay! Showtime!
The day before leaving (real last minute) I got an urge to make a banner...Either for the vacation house or the tent- so I could identify my "home" in case I got confused (I do get so easily confused) I had a few yards of red, white and blue sequiny-sparkly fabric which turned out to be just right for a sort of dogbone motif. It turned out okay and ended up hanging on the rail, which made finding my rail crew right easy. We turned it so that it faced (blinded?) the band. I left it with Chez, so now he can figure out what to do with it through the rest of tour.
The entire front of the rail was occuppied by online folks-which was pretty cool! In my immediate circle were great friends from TooBoard,Deadnet and new friends from DotOrg. It just rocked. Later during the show, when some guy wanted to cut into my spot, a paticular online God had my back. Thank You!
Anyhow, My spot was just exactly perfect. While I was wandering around a cam had been set up right in front of "my spot"on the rail. I have my preferred places to be when I do get a choice at the rail which almost always coincide with the photographers. So cool, the pretty woman with the mega cam was in front of me. A little between Jeff & Kenny. Love it- the band seemed to be a bit angled toward the big cam all night. Real or imagined, I felt every smile, scowl, nod, blink, wink,grimace & grin was being aimed right at me...Except for the Bobby scowls, it was too fun!
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Setlist-Fridog
Inspiration move me brightly...
Through the show bubbles poured down from somewhere above the stage.
Some guy with a clipboard was in the photo pit - everytime the ever watchful Dennis McNally looked at him, the guy would pretend to be writing notes (he just had scribbles n his paper the whole time)...when Dennis looked away the guy would be dancing...at some point the guy moved on. Gotta love the old clipboard scam!
Didnt expect a Blackbird opener- but it was a perfect opener.
Maggie was fun.
I'm getting more than my share of HCS- It seems to be coming up about every other show I go to. That's cool..
Easy Answers...
Baby Blue has the line "Highways for gamblers" which rang kinda true for the drive into Terra Alta.
Youngblood is always fun.
Didnt expect Crazy Fingers...Life may be sweeter for this..I don't know
Masterpiece- I never get tired of this one. I just set my London slideshow to it (takes forever). This song brings back so many excellent memories..It was one of my 2 hoped for songs for the weekend.
After was a real teaser of a jam..I thought it was gonna be about 3 different songs but was thrilled (it was Glowy's choice) that it turned into Miracle! I need a miracle everyday! Real groovy weird jammin in this song....gets spacy...and then
voila- It's a lovely Uncle John's band....My sons number one favorite GD song...and I thought of both of them all through this..
Then OH YES!!! It's in the jammmmmmin-/TOO up next! ! Another alltime Bobstar favorite..I'm smiling just thinkin about it! If I ever choose another screen name, I think it's gonna be "Spanish Lady"!
Big Cheers from everyone after that one.
Next up I think was Jay drumming on Robin's bass...I can't think where but I seem to recall I've seen Jay do this before? Maybe with ABC Soup? The Elbo Room thing? Where? Sounds like an ABC jam too..gets severely jazzy.
then slows out into (Sasha's favorite) Ladyw/fan/Terrapin!
I understand this one was for Topher -for his berthaday! Nice!
Spiral Light of Venus rising first and shining best!
Ends with a sweet little keys thing ((Jeff)) which turns the corner to a bouncy start to a soaring 2Djinn..Isnt this how all good tales begin? This is my favorite 2 Djinn that I've seen/heard live...was having one of those nites where the setlist (set2 esp.) made perfect sense to me...
For an encore we got a rousing US Blues! WOOHOO!
check my pulse!
Hippy Bill we missed you being there to wave that flag high and wide!
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