It’s about time. Turnaround is fair play. Since the week after FDF last June, the days have been getting shorter but really not that noticeable until the change to standard time in November. However since the winter solstice, a week or so ago, the days are now getting longer and I’ve convinced myself that I notice the change already and it couldn’t have happened soon enough. Wait until you see the party I throw when we change back to daylight savings time.
Feeling a little older these days, I find it quite unsettling driving to jams that start at 7:00. It’s fricking dark out. Headlights shining in my eyes, I fear for my safety and that of my bass in the cold dark world. Ah, but I make it and usually have a good time picking.
The truth is and I have written about this before, that I don’t function very well in the late autumn and early winter. I find it hard to get motivated. I did play a couple of gigs in December that, in my opinion, turned out pretty well. One reason for my enthusiasm for these gigs was that there was no Christmas songs or Santa hats. Those are manifestations of my winter psychosis. How’s that for psychobabble.
The first gig was at the winery my NASA Ames Bluegrass jam plays twice a year. The deck was stacked against us though, as we had 4 banjos signed up to play and lordy be, they all showed up. As one of the de facto leaders of this enterprise, I was able to convince the banjos to rotate. The alternative to playing was drinking good red wine so it wasn’t that hard. Still we always had at least two “fives” in the mix but managed not to chase the audience away. I suspect partly because they were drinking good red wine too.
The other gig was at Devil’s Canyon Brewery’s Annual Christmas Hootenanny. We were the headliners… nah… we were a tweener pick up band that played in their cavernous playroom in the back. For my two cents, we had some good players in this pickup band and we ended up sounding pretty dang good, but at times it was difficult because we couldn’t hear each other in the cavern. Adding to the mix, right next to the bandstand (some would call it a floor instead of a bandstand) was a Whack -a- Mole game that had quite a few takers. Those kids couldn’t keep time at all. No red wine at this gig but plenty of great beer.
In reality it was the no Santa hats and Christmas songs that made them both work for me. That and getting to play my bass with some pretty good pickers.
To help enhance my mood more, I already booked my electric only site for FDF. First come first served and I got the same site I had last year and will be camping with same crowd as I have for the last 4 or 5 years. I’ll keep you posted as to the schedule of events at Site 18 as the months roll on.
Unfortunately, I am going to miss the Great 48 again this year. I’m not too happy about either. How can I be happy when it gets dark at 5:00 and I’m going to miss a great picking event? Oh well, I’ll make it up somewhere else in the spring.
I got to run now, as I need to dismantle Christmas and Holidays at my house. I won’t feel any better until all the holiday stuff is hidden in the upper reaches of my garage loft. I’ll catch you next month on February 6 when I’ll be marginally in better spirits, as it will be daylight until nearly 6:00. Until then, I’ll try picking some with my regulars and drinking a little tequila which serves as my go to instead of red wine.
