Friday, April 06, 2007

Sweetwater Ratdog!!!




Setlist for Ratdog 5
Markymark sang lead on these-
Deal
Hey Pocky Way
The Weight

With Bobby
Sugaree
Iko Iko
,,,,,,

Thought 4:45 would never get here.
I vroomed off to retrieve Noah from the Middle School then vroomed home to let him out.
It was too early to head to Sweetwater Saloon, but I wanted to avoid the worst traffic and left as soon as my homemaker duties were accomplished. I had called friends in Mill Valley and warned them that I was stopping in for a bit.
4:45 is pretty trafficky but still I was able to get to MV in a little over an hour.
Had a lovely visit with friends. They fixed me up with a cup of espresso & sent me on to the show .
Sweetwater was only about a third filled when I arrived at exactly 8:30 on the dot.
Once inside the first face I saw was that of my brother in law ! Chris is my sister's husband.
My sister was home with kids . Chris was with his own sister & her husband.
In Yiddisch there's a word to describe relationships such as "My sister's sister in law "or " My brother's brother in law"
The word is Machetunim. My sister's Machetunim all live in Mill Valley but this was the first I'd ever seen any of them at Sweetwater.
Chris is a friend of the guy who was emceeing the show and one of the Machetunim plays part time in a Mill Valley band and so it wasnt so odd they were there. They seemed to know everyone in the place too.
My Jason cancelled out on me which was okay- Ratdog wasnt going on til around 11 pm and Jase wouldnt have been able to hang around so long.
After letting my BIL buy me a diet coke, I went to park myself in the front.
All the little tables were cleared out so there would room to dance.
Soon enough, the usual suspects came traipsing in. So glad to see Alan had made it up from SoCal to photograph the evening (Can't wait til he gets those pix up on his blog or in his Gallery) It was nice to see Caroline again. Paulyy found his way up too.
Eventually, Mazzy got there . I saw Reisha for a few moments early on but don't know where she went. The place filled up fast. I can't remember the last time it was so packed- maybe Crusader Rabbit?!
Heather Combs- a regular Sweetwater musician opened the show.
I'm lame, I never caught the names of the other artists who came on after that.
I'm thinking it was Pat Nevins who was playing his heart out but I just don't recall.
Jelly came up for a set. And a combo of musicians that included Lorin Rowan and Robin Sylvester played "Come Together"
By the time that Ratdog (sans Bobby) come on it was getting crazy! Someone was tickling me and poking me - sure enough the Machetunim had wedged up near me. At the same time a couple on one side of me had a full blown argument and (after 3 hours of bopping in place at the front) left. All kinds of shifting and just as MK got going with "Deal" everyone shifted themselves just so and the let the real fun begin! Deal was good, Hey Pocky Way- also nice the Highlight of the Ratdog 5 set was The Weight.
Before you could blink an eye, Bobby was right there- just inches away from Courtney. I was in front of Kenny and felt a little too close to his mic stand. I was getting jabbed by someone dancing behind me and cameras were flashing on both sides of my head. Too distracting.
I let Paulyy & a little blonde girl take my spot in the front and enjoyed the space they left for me.
Still too close to Bobby- who was looking great and playing a fantastico Sugaree ! So animated too! I remembered I had a camera in my cell phone and snapped the two blurries in this post. Energy was peaking thru IKO IKO! I can't even describe it- I was having too much fun singing & dancing along! I remember smiles from the doggies, the Machetunim, the friends all around us. A very sweet night.
And that was all of Ratdog. A few others came on after them, but it was late- I had been dancing or swaying in place for about 4 hours. my old bones said it was time to get on home. I said all my farewells and headed back to the Peninsula.
Can't wait to do it all again in a few weeks!