Midwest Carolina Blues
was at Zoo Bar waiting for us, so we rode into town and asked around at the Zoo, but they had not seen him. We checked a couple of other places and then returned to Dave's place. After sitting in the car with the motor running for about 30-minutes, Dave came wandering out of the house. Seems he had fallen asleep with the TV on, and couldn't hear us knocking, screaming and convulsing outside.
Inside the Robel mansion, life got back on track quickly. Warmth and a shot of brandy brought me back down to terra firma. We spent the time between 11 pm and 3 am chatting and watching a bizarre video called Al Kooper's Bus Tape. Pretty strange, but it was just right for the "stoned from traveling" mood I was in. At 3 am, the big man retired to The Billy Bacon Suite for a long winter's nap, while Timmers made the sofa his new domain.
Saturday was rehearsal day, but prior to the get together, Bob and I drove out to the market to visit what has become one of my favorite used book stores. Leaving in the rain, Bob backed into a concrete post, putting what he called "a ding" in his bumper. Back at Dave's I saw that it looked more like it had been caved in with a sledge hammer. Must grow them dings BIG in Wisconsin, eh Bob?
The rehearsal party was great. Toni Baustian and her man Thomas brought a pic-a-nic basket and we had finger foods before and during rehearsals. Later, Dave broke out the George Foreman grill for burgers-deluxe.
Everyone was at the rehearsal. Sean Benjamin; Dave and his lady Tammy; Pinky Semrad; Bob Timmers; Toni and Thomas; and Jim Jenkins, who went above and beyond the call by driving a bunch of icy miles to be at rehearsals. Great musicians, great friends. And I thought for a minute, I'd never have met ANY of these folks had it not been for Bobby Lowell. Man.
That night, we stayed in and watched The Weather Channel as they called for "the storm of the century" to hit Lincoln overnight. One thing I have learned over my years is that weather forecasters are not ALWAYS right. Thank God, this was one of the times they were wrong.
Sunday morning, Dave took me and Bob out to breakfast at a really neat diner furnished in gasoline pumps and signage
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