Mumbo Jumbo October 2016

Well I’m a going back down maybe one more time, deep down home, October Road.
And I might like to see that little friend of mine that I left behind once upon a time.

AUTUMN ROAD

These James Taylor lyrics danced in my head the other day, when I took a detour down memory lane to drive by the place in Penacook, New Hampshire, where I spent the first eighteen years of my life.

The actual house I grew up in burned down in front of me when I was 22 years old. I had stopped by on a bright October morning, forty years ago this week, and the house was engulfed in flames within clear sight of six other homes and two blocks from the fire station. Still one of the strangest sights of my life.
 
I had to break the startling news over the phone to my normally good-natured but under-insured mother. She was able rebuild only after twenty of my beer-fueled friends showed up with chainsaws the following Saturday to completely demolish and haul away the debris and twenty years of memories in seven hours. This saved my mom $10,000, about a third of the cost of a new house. Her only expense was a keg of beer. Ah yes—the best of times and the worst of times.
 
Years later, long after she had sold it, the new house also burned down, and the current owners built yet another one. Seems strange to have so many house fires on a quiet lane called Snow Street, and even stranger that I’m bothering to tell you all this, but that’s what October does to me. It always has. I think the word bittersweet was invented for October in the north. Autumn here is breathtakingly beautiful, but there’s something about the sight of falling leaves, dwindling daylight and the changing angle of the sun that sends me into a self-indulgent, nostalgic hole. Not depression, but just around the corner from it.

ELECTION BLUES

Speaking of depression, I think we’ll all be glad when this interminable election is over! Driving south on I-95 this morning, I heard a commentator on the radio say he was so utterly depressed all he could do yesterday was drive around and play Beatles music REALLY LOUD.  So that’s what I m doing today, rolling through South Carolina towards Key West, with the windows down and the Beatles really cranked!

BACK TO THE SMOKIN’ TUNA FOR THE MOTM FESTIVAL

After stopping in Weeki Wachee and Bradenton, Florida, for two house concerts, Dave Edmisten and I hit the waterfront stage at Snappers in Key Largo before arriving at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon in Key West for the 25th annual Meeting of the Minds Festival. Once again the Tuna will be ground zero for this flocking of 3,000 Parrotheads, with great music on our stage all week. Thom Sheppard, John Frinzi, Sunny Jim, Ramajay, Jimmy and the Parrots will be performing there, as well as Key West’s amazing Caffeine Carl and the Buzz. Dave Edmisten and I will be there too, with some other great guests, including Emily Randle!

BLOODY MARY CONCERT

I’m particularly looking forward the big Bloody Mary concert on Thursday morning November, November 3, when John Frinzi and I get to warm up the crowd for Keith Sykes, one of my favorite songwriters. Tickets are available at Keys Tix for this special event, so get yours today as I expect this will sell out.

OCTOBER SCHEDULE

October 22: Tropical Point – Weeki Wachee, FL
October 26: Habitat House Concerts – Bradenton , FL
October 27–30: Snapper’s – Key Largo, FL
October 31: Smokin’ Tuna Saloon – Key West, FL

Check my website for details.

Many of you planning trips to Key West in the coming months have asked when I might be performing back at the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, so we recently posted my scheduled shows from late October through spring. 
 
SMOKIN’ TUNA DATES NOW ON THE WEBSITE!
 

 

 

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