Hurricane Weekend recovery

Sunset over Lake Michigan, photo taken by Tim Smith from my uncle's porch.

I CALL IT the "Rock and Roll Bus." Every time we play, it takes longer and longer to recover.

Throw in a trip to Lake Michigan and hanging with the Avenue Beat girls? Well.

That's like being run over by 11 buses. It's a Hurricane Weekend. And we only have a few days to recover.

It started Friday night with a righteous gig at Spirit Knob Winery with The Cheeseburgers. What a beautiful setting - the sun behind us disappearing, and the wine working wonders. A ton of people showed up and once they started dancing, well ...

More Fun Than You Should Be Allowed To Have.

So much beach and sun ... so little time!

After two hours of sleep, I jumped on Tim Smith's plane with Frank Haxel and Adam Yates, and we flew up to my uncle Peter's place near Holland, Mich. My old buddy David Wilkins picked us up at Tulip City Airport and off we went. It's just a little slice of heaven, a big house on the wooded sand dune with a spacious beach down below. Sugar cane sand, lapping water, two coolers full of ice and lemonade, good company, 85 degrees and sunny .... gosh. I guess it was OK. GUH.

The best part about being on the beach is the fact time doesn't exist. There is no deadline, no reason to do anything. Except get another beer, play volleyball, jump in the water or just sit there in a daze.

But by Saturday night, my dead self arose and I hit the wall. It's too bad. We got the guitars out and had a lot of fun, until I fell asleep mid-strum.

It's nothing sleeping on the beach didn't cure.

Speaking of sleeping on the beach, that's what Frank did. He never made it into the tent. Tim did the same thing for a while, too. We woke them up and they didn't want to leave.

But leave we did, after more gracious hospitality from my uncle Peter and aunt Helen. It takes a little more than two hours to fly from Quincy to Holland, as opposed to seven and a half by car. And I wept bittery when I noticed we were avoiding heavy traffic on I-80/94. Looks beautiful from the air, all those cars and trucks inching along.

We got home just in time to make it back out to Spirit Knob and hang out with the Avenue Beat gals. The were in the south stage out of the sun, and again, it was just gorgeous in the shade, sipping wine and appreciating three 16 year old girls who can sing, play and have too much fun. Big thanks to Adam, who did sound, and Frank, who helped tear down but didn't find my glasses in time.

Right. My glasses. They are still up there somewhere, in the blue case, hopefully saved by somebody. Today is national Hug A Dumb Ass day. The line is pretty big in front of me. Have patience.

So it's Monday morning and the rock and roll bus is still leaving marks, but we are getting better. And guess what? We are helping out with Avenue Beat Wednesday night at One Restaurant, I'm hosting One's Open Mic Night Thursday, Blues In The District Is Friday and the Cheeseburgers head to Monroe City Saturday night to play at the Party Cove. Oh, and there's a rock and roll bus heading to Monroe City for real, too.

Where do all these buses come from, anyway?

Here's a YouTube clip of Adam and I playing with Avenue Beat and trying to stay out of the way.

Have a great week!