Finally our room is ready. We headed for our little cabin overlooking forest vegetation sloping down to the creek trickling over rocks. We were pretty dazed from the pummeling of our subconscious in our night in the teepee. Thank god, a shower. A hot shower with soap and shampoo borrowed from Paul M, the most prepared and most scrupulously groomed Hawk. Band nap follows and gentle snores rise in the warm summery air of the bunk house.
We rise and make our way up the hill to the Bug multi-purpose room. A wedding reception was held there last night, tonight country rock. One room, many purposes. The modest entry fee includes a trip through the bar-b-que line set up outside beneath the pines. It smells so damn good the Hawks skip greeting new friends and head straight for the grill, grabbing paper plates and plastic forks along the way. Holy moly, PL is going to eat some bbq-ed chicken. There it is right on his plate between the potato salad and corn on the cob. Wow. He’s eating it.
Paul L: Rob has asked me to deliver a first person account of my first fowl since 1982. Actually, I eat turkey at Thanksgiving and emergencies. But this was the first chicken in 25 years. It was good. Very good. But I didn’t develop a craving for more. I’m good. I’ll continue to walk the fowl line.Inside the show has already begun. The music is from the Trespassers, a fine local outfit. Lead by the beautiful and talented Sarah on violin and lead vocals they evoke the wise old spirit of mountain music. Everyone is digging it. This is a real community. Mothers dance with their little children, old folks sit back a bop their heads, teenage girls showoff what they’ve got.
Then it’s our turn. We start off with Hitchhiker and it feels good. The multi-purpose room sounds alright now that it’s filled with people. We finish the tune and the place erupts in applause. This is going to be a good night. We groove along for a while until it becomes clear these folks want to dance. Thank god we’ve been writing so many two-steps lately. In L.A. it seems like having 5 two-steps in G is a serious problem but up here you wish you had even more. The set goes on, the rocking increases, the dance floor gets crowded. Things peak out in an epic Humboldt jam and Paul L actually levitates several inches off the ground. We come back for an encore of Golden Girl, another peak is reached and then we simmer it down with Houseboat. A great show to end the tour on. Talk of a bonfire and after show acoustic jam proves weightless as the deeper night takes hold, Hawks and revelers alike drawn back to hillside cabins and clean sheets. Good night sweet tour.