March 01, 2004

2:22 a.m.

From Tuesday, Feb. 24th 9:18pm PST

We're in San Diego. The connecting flights were uneventful; we taped flying buttresses together (our triangular showcase schedules) and tried to nap. Also saw a movie on board, "Master & Commander" or something. My new bass case received one major dime-sized ding, for which I received two $25 coupons good toward future flights. Carol suggested I should keep the case and continue making money on it.

I'm relieved that the to part of the journey is over, mainly for my instruments' sake. We were able to bring our guitars on the plane, but they don't always allow it and checking them, even at the gate, is harrowing. Anyway, my baby flew with me today.

Tomorrow we have two half-hour sets at a kids' shelter, a sort of halfway house for youngsters from broken families (abuse, prison, custody battles...). One group will be elementary school age, the other high school. We're trying to come up with sets that are appropriate. We don't normally book gigs during the conference since we're so busy anyway, but this one came up and the fee will pay for several nights of this expensive hotel room, so we came out a day early for it. Carol and Chris have done many such jobs; she's a music therapist among other things, and is really good with children. I'll let her take the lead tomorrow, and it'll be two short performances and then we have the rest of the day open.

The rest of said day will include registration, which is just a matter of standing in line to receive a wristband and a tote bag full of chatchkee (if anyone knows a correct spelling of that, send it on in), possibly including but not limited to: free promo CDs (we're on a compilation this time); travel coffee mugs with the Folk Alliance logo; CD opener tools courtesy of Oasis duplication; guitar-hole middles with "Taylor Guitars" burned onto them, very useful as coasters; Folk Alliance pens; various magazines and brochures; a highlighter; and a plastic badge holder with a neck strap. Much of this stuff will be left behind, since we already can't fit anything into our suitcases that we didn't bring, and because some of it is just mediocre. Once in a while there's a stupendous group from Canada or somewhere that sends me, and then I go out and find their CD online.

This hotel/resort is very large with multiple buildings, and our showcases are spread out. I've marked them on the map they gave us, and tomorrow we will also do a walk-through. On Friday, for instance, we have two showcases and only fifteen minutes in between them, to pack up our instruments, get to the other building and set up again.

We'll also put up all our flyers tomorrow, the sooner the better. There might be eight or ten large bulletin boards set up for people to advertise their showcases, and they get way too full, with people sticking their posters on top of others', so last year Chris elaborated on an idea I had and devised the "flying buttress" which sticks out from the end of the board where there is no interference. It both flatters and annoys me that, subsequently, others have tried to copy our invention.

Then there is the booth setup in the exhibit hall.

The other thing we can do, once we get our program books, is mark (conveniently enough, it is hoped, with the complimentary highlighter) the showcases and workshops we'd like to attend in our (cough, cough) free time here. There isn't a lot of it. We'll have to man the booth for certain hours each day, and at least one nap is essential, because there isn't enough sleep at night.

Speaking of sleep, my bandmates are hunkering down for the night (our bodies think it's nearly 1:00am), so I'll check back in when more stuff happens.

Wednesday morning, 6:29am

Our room is blessed with an abundance of pillows, all of which are about a foot thick. That's GOT to go. A trip to the mall across the street should remedy the situation.

I'm quietly typing, blocking the light from the Palm with my body, hoping not to wake C&C up any more than necessary. Just can't sleep any more. Of course, in an effort to be quiet, I keep making noises I wouldn't normally make. Our presenter for today's concerts is picking us up at 9:30. The first set is at 10:45, and I'm not sure when the 2nd one is. I think I'll shower and get out of here to find some breakfast at the Terrace Cafe where we ate last night. It's close and they have a... hey, they have a buffet. And I won't have to adhere to Rule #1 (see previous entry) because it's still early. Taaaaaaa...

Friday, 2/27 Exhibit Hall

We flitted to a different room, closer to a working elevator. My bed had a very reasonable pillow. Surprisingly rested in spite of the yawns, I'm snagging a few clandestine minutes at our booth to jot some notes. I'm keeping records on kits given out and business cards taken - huzzah for the Palm and the folding keyboard. We heard there was a fire last night in one of the artists' rooms adjacent to one in which we're showcasing tomorrow. Our publicist had rented them both. Apparently it was an electrical fire, and some instruments and clothing were destroyed. I gather everyone was all right (probably elsewhere on site). Our showcase room for tomorrow has been changed.

We managed our three showcases yesterday; one was sponsored by Bose, to market and demo their new sound system. It was very interesting and bears more trial -- we only had 18 minutes in the room so barely got used to the basics. The idea is, each performer has his/her own "pod," a 180 degree monitor which sits behind them, and a tall, thin "tower" which is the speaker. A small module velcroed to the mic stand gives the player EQ and volume control over two of the four inputs. They loved us and Chris is trying to get us an endorsement for the system. We were a little late pursuing it, but I think we're on the short list in case somebody bails out.

Booth traffic has been okay, pretty steady but not overwhelming. I was able to see a couple of people showcase last night - Deb Talan, whom I love (she's much shorter than I expected and talks like a Munchkin - but god, what a singing voice), and a group called Big Wide Grin. I also spoke with Lisa Moscatiello, who has THE consummate voice for traditional music - perfect control, tone like butter. If you're in the DC area, look her up at lisamoscatiello.com. Deb is at debtalan.com.

Forty-five minutes to go and we can leave the hall. It's huge at the National conference -- Chris estimates there are 350 exhibitors, so there's a constant drone of voices and milling about. We got a good location on an aisle. After this we'll find some dinner and crash for a few hours before getting into the night's showcases, which for us begin at 11:25.

I'm VERY excited that the Bill Hilly Band from Canada (now calling themselves The Bills) are showcasing tonight, at a time when we can go.

We just got the scoop on the fire from the guy whose room it was in. I can't remember his name but it started with R. R was about to go back to the room and go to bed; it was in the wee hours already, and about 15 feet from the door, another artist called to him and said, come on down to where I'm showcasing. R said, okay, but only if you play this particular song. Friend said, okay, I'll play it, if you come. He said, okay, I'll come, and went. The friend didn't play the song until the end of his set, so R was there for quite a while.

An hour later, his roommate David came by with abovementioned publicist. She'd forgotten her key, so David went to the door first, and opened it about three inches. Smoke poured out. He closed it quickly, knowing that if he let all that fresh air in, the room would explode. The trouble was, he didn't know if R was inside, asleep, or dead.

They called the fire department and in 10 minutes they were there, breaking glass and aiming hoses into the room. David was panicking by this time, until R appeared beside him, astonished to find his quarters reduced to cinders.

David lost all his clothes. R lost a bouzouki; though his guitar case was charred on the outside, his beloved Martin was safe and sound within. When he realized that his friend with the showcase had saved his life by diverting him for that hour, he cried. Otherwise he'd have been sound asleep, and then probably dead from smoke inhalation.

Later - 2:49am on Saturday morning

First showcase was rough, but the second one, unplugged and in a tiny room, was better. Then we got to see the Bills and I was in heaven. I love all five of them. I said afterward, "If each one of them would give me just one fifth of his attention, I'd be happy!" Carol and I imagined that both fiddle players were flirting with us. We checked for rings. We sat in the front row.

Now we're dog-ass tired. I'm going to the beach tomorrow morning with my engineer friend, Sig, from the studio where I've recorded my solo albums. No exhibit hall til 2:30pm.

Saturday, noonish

Couldn't reach my friend, which is really okay since a) I got up very late, and b) I realized I brought no sunblock, and my face is for some reason really sensitive to everything right now anyway, and c) in the final moment, I feel too lethargic to go anywhere. The band have dispersed, and I'm about to go wandering myself.

However, speaking of my engineer buddy, he's happened to be my connection to Will in the past, when I didn't know what was going on with him. He told me yesterday that Will's been in the hospital again, since last Monday. I guess he never really came back from the last setback when he ran out of meds for a couple of days. They are now keeping him on an open-ended basis. Yesterday I got a message from Will's friend Paul, who is the trustee for his assistance fund and the general disburser of the "Will Report" whenever he's unable to contact people. It was the first time Paul had called me, and though I wasn't happy about the news, I was glad to be one of those in the direct information loop. At this point it looked like they'd keep him in the hospital through the weekend and then see how he was on Monday. Needless to say, our dinner this Friday has been cancelled.

I think I'm taking it pretty well.

**********

4:45pm

Home stretch at the exhibit hall. It's getting pretty boring by now.

Okay, after I said that, someone interesting from another band came up and talked to me for a while. That was satisfying.

2:42am, Sunday morning

One unplugged showcase tonight, to which almost nobody came; then we played in the Taylor guitar showcase with a PA. They provided all the guitars, in order to promote some new built-in electronics they've developed. Because Chris is left handed, they'd brought in a lefty specially for him. Carol and I shared another guitar because we only had one extra strap, and none of the Taylor guitars had straps on them.

All day we argued about the set list. Use the keyboard, don't use the keyboard; will they let us use instruments other than their guitars? Should we do a capella or stick to instruments? If we can't use our little guitar in open C tuning, do we not do the song? Can we use the bass? Do we have five minutes setup time or is that included in our half hour?

When we arrived, there was a DVD camera set up in the back of the room. Someone was recording all the sets so the artists would have copies later.

The woman before us ran over a few minutes, and we had a lot of problems in our setup, so it was ten minutes into our slot before we could even begin. Then Chris plugged his nice, expensive, lefty Taylor guitar in and gave it a strum. Horrible distortion filled the room. Something was wrong with the electronics. More discussion followed and he gave it to the Taylor guy to switch the batteries in the pickup, in hopes that would fix it. Meanwhile we launched into our first song, which involved only me playing guitar.

His guitar came back after the song, and it was still unplayable. Chris, who has had almost no sleep all weekend, was about to pop, and we decided to do the second song unplugged. Except for the bass. It's hard to sing unplugged in a big room - my voice isn't that loud, and we had to compensate with quieter playing. During the song, the sound guy was rushing around all bent over, moving microphones and coming up with a new setup so we could plug back in. He whipped my vocal mic back up, landing it at about the level of my eyebrows. Moved Chris's vocal mic down to amplify his guitar. By the end of that song, we were up and running again.

Then the keyboard feed wasn't working; then Chris needed a vocal mic again so they took Carol's second vocal; then my guitar wasn't in the monitors any more; then Carol needed her vocal back so they moved the keyboard vocal over. It was a continuous comedy of errors, and everybody was laughing and we were joking about it, and it was the funnest showcase we did all weekend. We only had to cut one song from our list, and we got out on time.

I was happy to see Sig and his friend in the audience; also a woman presenter from South Carolina whom I like a lot, who came specially to see us. The guy who was filming said he'd never seen anything like it -- everything that could have gone wrong did, and he was amazed that we rolled with it so well and put on a great performance in spite of everything. I told him we were probably just so tired that everything was funny at that point. It really was a hoot.

And now it's past three, and we have to finish packing, because tomorrow will be very busy -- closing out the booth and getting to the airport. God, I'll be glad to get home.

Final Note: Monday morning, 2:12am

Jesus, I'm glad to be home. Wasn't I right? It's a long-ass trip from San Diego to Hartford on a connecting flight. We got about five hours' sleep last night, got up fairly early and wrapped everything up in the hall. I don't know how all our stuff fit back into the suitcases, but twelve hours and a lot of lugging later, I'm home. The airline did not further damage the bass case, so no additional vouchers. We were also relieved to have been able to carry on our guitars again, on both flights.

I forgot my apartment was being inspected in my absence, and having had less than 24 hours to turn around between trips this time, it was a bit of a wreck � and there was underwear and so forth out where the public could see it� oh well, too bad. Also I expected to have no computer; my bro-in-law was going to take it and work on it, but apparently didn't. That's something of a relief, as I would have had no Comcast and no internet and would also have lacked many other programs that would have had to be reinstalled. I still have to deal with it but at least I'm up and running now � and it's the first fix I have to have when I get in.

On the way back from the airport I was basking in the ecstasy of having a week at home, until I realized that Tuesday of next week we have to fly to Texas. Argh, the packing thing again!

Anyway, I think I'll be able to sleep.