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Here we are in the Bay Area and things have slowly ground to a halt. Hooking up with friends has just led to hanging out with friends, consequently there is not a whole lot of new experience to tell you all about.
The very best thing about being here is staying with, and around, friends. Dee and Kevin, bless their hearts, asked us if we would mind looking after their house, dog and cats in Oakland while they spent a week on the east coast. AS IF WE WERE DOING THEM A FAVOUR!! Well perhaps we were, but favours cut both ways. Their home is just the best place to stay in the Bay Area, our bedroom has a deck with great views over the bay to San Francisco, great sunsets, a fabulous garden with a hot tub and Randy, a neighbour 2 doors down who invited us round for a cook-out on memorial day. Oh I forgot to mention the wi-fi network. Bear, their dog, has been such a sweetie getting us out to the park every day. I say park, but not in the ‘back home’ sense, this is an enormous expanse of redwood forest with far reaching views
Bear
in the Park and a great feeling of tranquility. Thanks Bear. Jean-Phi and Elena, big thanks for your warm welcome and introducing my palate to the delights of sturgeon and spelt, after 4 months on the road delicious home cooking tasted like heaven. Brandon and Nicole, your company is always just so entertaining, and, if I listen, so instructive too, even at my age I have plenty to learn. Randy, thanks for saying that we’re family in a way we believe, and of course the lovely Jamie. Really just thanks to all our friends here who’ve made our visit so memorable. So now I’ve got the credits out of the way here’s what we’ve been doing.
The new girlfriend has made driving round so much easier, whatever turn I make she recalculates and gets me where I want to be. Despite sniggers from some younger people we booked to see Blondie and The New Cars at Konocti Harbor resort and spa. This place has a bit of a reputation for pension fund building by old bands, but I’ve always loved Blondie AND The Cars, and when Todd comes into the equation well there’s just no question. We hadn’t realised that the gig was
on the Saturday of Memorial day weekend so the traffic up US 101 was incredibly heavy so we took Highway 29 up through the Napa Valley, a much smaller but much less crowded road. Then had to head across the hills on 175, a very twisty narrow road, demanding but rewarding. Hadn’t had much to eat so before arriving stopped at a pizza place and just ordered a small vegetarian delight, lucky we didn’t order anything larger as it completely filled us. Got to the venue, picked up tickets easily but then had to stand in line to show ID so that we could get a green wristband in order to purchase alcohol. I mean really, do I LOOK under 21, nevertheless, no ID no wristband, so of course we both got one. Cute venue, open air, view of the lake and mountains, sunset behind the stage, great rig, seats 2000 at ground level then 3000 on bleachers at the back, no one more than 200’ from the stage. Did spot a new concert phenomenon though, earplugs, and also saw more than one person fully bluetoothed up, oh well it’s the age we live in.
Blondie. Apparently this is going
Nefertiti
Don't treat me any differently to the Queen to be their last tour so glad we made the effort, they did a lot more than go through the motions, the set was great with some new twists on the old material. Highlight for me though was the cover of Roxy Music’s ‘ More than this’, never realised before what a perfect Blondie song this is.
The New Cars. Well it was like they’d never been away. If you need a replacement front man then Todd is probably the best you could ever find. I may have been a little chemically enhanced, but the set blew me away. They even managed to fit in 3 Todd numbers, I saw the light, Black Maria and of course Bang on the drum all day. Not so much a reunion as a reinvention. The Cars old numbers still sounded really fresh, and the new ones ( there’s an album to come) full of promise. After the gig we had to drive an hour through the mountains to Ukiah, dark empty roads, twisting and turning with drops off the side I’m glad I couldn’t see. Arrived late at night at a Best Western which stank of smoke and had a fully equipped disabled
Isis
On another bit of decking bathroom. Never mind I was so shattered after a lot of driving taking in a gig in between that I just passed out, I think it impacted on B a little more. Next day we headed over the hills to join up with Highway 1 to make the slow drive back to the Bay Area. This bit of 1 was just as much fun to drive as the southerly bit we drove on, views just as spectacular too, being a holiday weekend there was a lot of traffic but as I said previously the slower drivers are pretty good at using the turnouts to let others past. Mostly though we’ve just hung out round familiar places and people pretending that we actually live here, working on the assumption that it won’t be so long till we’re back then we’ll just carry on where we left off. Leaving was just the hardest goodbye and that’s the best compliment I can pay to our great friends here.
We’ve had a fab time, and we have managed to fit in other things - like old school and new school! We went down to Konocti Field Amphiteatre to see The New Cars, &
Sophie
in the garden Blondie. Although have to say think she is more ginger now, see it happens to the best of us. Todd Rungren is fronting TNC, he is one of my all time favs, and the setting was beautiful, fab all round. Then we have been to Mezzanine to see The Storm Tour, - Ugly Duckling/The Procussions/Diverse/Mayday & Wrekonize. Hadn’t seen any of them perform before, although Wrekonize is a friend so met most of them backstage and very sweet lads they were too! The venue had one of the best back stage loos ever! and a wonderful sweet smell of grass in the air. How very lovely, spending time with good friends, mentally I was making plans to met up with people the following week, I just feel so at home, and adore all our friends, leaving was so very hard - but we’ll be back, and soon!
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