New York to Minneapolis
 
I was to begin the first leg of this June 2005 Moodies tour by taking the train to Chicago, then switching to another for Minneapolis.  My usual June conference landed in Minneapolis this year, ending just two days before the concert (how convenient!)  I'd done this train trip at least once before.  It's a nice trip - about 30 hours, much of it quite scenic riding along the east side of the Hudson in the beginning of the trip and along the Mississippi for the last few hours into St. Paul and Minneapolis.  This time the New York City Transit Authority threw a "spaniard" in the works.  I'd allowed 50 minutes for a 25 minute ride to Penn Station.  There were lots of people on the platform so I thought I was in good shape.  But as the minutes ticked by I started to get nervous.  A train came (whew!) but then roared out without stopping.  Now the angst began in earnest, and as the next train came, this time allowing us to board, it just got worse from there.  Stopping for no reason, stopping because of track work, waiting for the local to connect.  You name it, we had a delay for it.   Was actually whimpering trying to go over in my mind what I could do if I missed the Amtrak train.  There's only one per day and I'd miss the first day of the conference if I just waited.  I considered flying, bus, maybe getting another train to catch this one.  My mind was spinning. I was hoping that this was one of those times the train left late due to mechanical reasons.  As we arrived at Penn Station, about three minutes after the train was to have left, loaded down with my new large heavy knapsack (hemp!), a bag in one hand and dragging a small rolling carry-on with the other, I flew out the doors, down the steps, up the ramp, up the stairs and there, standing breathless, staring up at the departure board, the ugly truth -- I'd missed it.    
 
I called up Greyhound and found I could get a bus to Chicago to catch the train the next day.  I really do hate buses most of the time... particularly those long-distance ones.  But I had little choice, and $88 I didn't expect to have to spend.  Since I had over an hour to walk the six blocks up to Port Authority I figured a one block diversion over to B&H photo might be in order.  My camera was showing signs of morbidity last night, and I wanted to check out the newest version of the camera I've been using.  More zoom, more stability, more pixels, less noise.  I found out they were planning to get more in and sell them for something like $50 less than my camera, bought last summer.  Drool!  Lust!  But I had to move on.  Arriving at the bus station, it had been a pleasant enough walk, but the bus was fairly crowded and about 95 degrees!   AAAUGGGHHHH!  The woman I sat next to was overtly resentful that I had chosen to keep her from having two seats to herself so she could talk across the aisle with her friend who also had two seats to herself.  So for hours she jostled, jabbed, insulted and did everything she could to get me to move, but there wasn't anything better.  We were jammed in like sardines.  What I go through to travel for concerts sometimes.  Eventually the AC kicked in and then it was freezing.  At the rest stop in PA I had the idea that maybe I could catch the train in Cleveland.  As luck would have it, I did make the switch, by cab about 3 am to Amtrak and on the train I got plenty of room and a reasonable amount of sleep.  Ahhhh. 
 
The layover in Chicago was great.  I had about five hours, and spent most of it in the Field Museum (natural history).  Since Amtrak now wants $3 per hour for locker rental, I just took a public bus.  I?ve had onyx on the brain lately, what with the Moodyfest Band practicing Visions of Paradise (blue onyx reference) and my Mom asking me if she should sell her green onyx coffee table, so when I saw some lovely bowls of onyx at the museum store, I bought a couple.  Found out that on my return swing through town and layover I will be able to come back and experience the Taste of Chicago. I've always wanted to do that. 
 
Back on the train had a fascinating seatmate, knowledgeable about telecommunications and all things Minnesota.  The sunset was absolutely, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring.  I first noticed it after 8 o'clock as light orange through the trees, then it got brighter and brighter, filling up half the sky with light, but intense, orange.  The clouds reflected it everywhere, some of them looking like twisted ropes through the sky.  This went on for over an hour. I finally had to go up to the observation car to see it out several windows, Mississippi river in the foreground, amazing sunset overhead.  The trip ended much better than it began.

The week was an uneventful one, with some highlights.  I took the brand new rapid light rail into town every day.  The people I was staying with, out in Eagan, were so pleased with it.   I passed by a roof installation of a couple of hundred solar panels every day and Minnehaha park (means ?Laughing water?).  Since the light rail ends there, I checked out the Mall of America a couple of times, buying stuff at the Lake Wobegon store.  The mall is so large because there is an amusement park in the middle; Snoopyland and Legoland take up a huge part of it.  I gave guitar lessons to my host and daughter, and in return, he helped me get my softball pitching arm back in the groove (went from 1/10 to 9/10 strikes in about an hour).  The weekend after the conference was fantastic.  I was staying with a new host, as the Eagan tribe went up to their cabin in the north.
 
Before the concert I met up with the LC Midwest contingent at Applebees a few blocks from the venue, and feasted there before the concert and had drinks there afterwards.  We were lucky to be sitting pretty close together at the show (John?s side, natch)!
 
The Concert
It was over 90 degrees and sweltering.  The poor Minnesotans were taking it pretty well, considering their usual climate.  The Northrup is a really large old building on campus, with many steps up to it in front and lots of Greek columns.  Inside it wasn't that huge - sort of reminded me of the state theater in New Brunswick, NJ, in layout, with a balcony, though probably not as ornate.  The concert was very good, as usual for the Moodies.  It was good to hear The Voice again, and since I'd read that it was shortened, I listened for it, but if you weren't listening for it or were not a die-hard fan, you wouldn't have noticed it, the way they restructured the song.  They even shortened the ending a little.  I'm surprised that they don't do that more with The Other Side of Life, since that's quite long and repetitious. Speaking of that, there were a few glowsticks in front, but not that many elsewhere.  I was in the third row by John; I was happy with that, and did manage to sell my extra ticket in front of the theater for $50.  Someone offered me a second row pit for $30 which I didn't take, and I knew of 2 tix in the pit that had been sold for face out front.  I guess I was a little disappointed that we didn't get Forever Autumn, but I was pleased to hear Justin announce all four backups' names after Are You Sitting, and then segue into announcing "We're Just Singers in a rock and roll band".  Quite effective. 
 
I'm not much of one for a fashion report, but John outdid himself tonight. I had heard about these new shirts of his, but boy seeing them up-close and in person was a lovely sight to behold. I liked both the silvery one open way down with the laces left hanging, one of which hung all the way down to the low string on his bass.  At times his muscled chest was glistening.  Can you say HUNK?    The man?s been working out!  Though the shirt was untucked and long over his pale blue jeans, He looked to be a bit trimmer than before, and his hair just a littlle bit longer in the back as he used to wear it. The cowboy boots are still on.  The lighting for John was much better than for Justin, somehow.  The lighting wasn't that good overall, I guess because of the height from which they hung the lights.  I noticed that the stage was big enough to put the stack of amps on the sides not blocking anyone?s view, and I didn't find the sound level to be too loud as is sometimes the case when I'm sitting right in front of a stack.  The sound quality was ok too, except it was quite noticeable that John's black 12-string Guild was almost inaudible, particularly during the flourishes, where it's supposed to be prominent.  It's something that used to happen all the time with a previous sound guy.  Both Justin and John's voices were great.  Graeme did a double-shake towards the end of his dance, looking around after the first then doing some more.  He's thrown in a couple of new moves. The shirt John wore for the second half, somewhat similar, though cut to open lower, but not so broadly was good too, and at one point, as they were projecting the old photos with the five late 1960s era Moodies, there was one with John wearing a very similar shirt.  It was kind of neat to look back and forth making comparisons.  Though the projected photos were an interesting change from the usual colorful graphics, they were rather fuzzy, and dim, and I didn't notice them until a few had gone by.  At the beginning, both of the Jays were wearing long flowing shirts, but for the second half, Justin reverted to a tucked in long-sleeved white one.  I'm sure that he's played Tuesday Afternoon with his red Gibson before, but it was the first time that I really noticed him flat-picking the intro part.  I'd used to do that when I first learned it, and then changed to fingerpicking since that's how he did it using an acoustic guitar, switching to strumming with pic after the intro (very much like the switching of the pic in The Actor).  I always wonder what Paul and Gordon laugh about, and how they manage to communicate just through facial gestures (with their hands busy).
 
The night before the concert my camera developed the same problem as just before the Oxford concert where I couldn't use the regular viewfinder - only the LCD; I was forced to use the latter.  Fortunately, the guard didn't care that a bunch of us were taking pix.  I moved slightly over to an aisle seat and had a clear shot.  I took over 200 pictures since I figured many wouldn?t come out holding the camera out like that.  I?m happy to say that I did get a few good shots.  I busted a gut and put them up on www.moodyland.org for you.  There are six pages!  Enjoy.
 
We reconvened at the Applebees afterwards for drinks (it's all they were serving then, so I had a virgin Mudslide.. It's one way to get ice cream dessert when you want one!). 
 
The next morning dawned dreary, hazy and then as we approached Amtrak, the skies opened up with torrential downpours and lightning.  Of course the station didn't have an overhang... Ah well.  A little water doesn't hurt, except the poster I had wrapped in a few sheets of paper that I'd bought the day before.  My host, the widow of a 6-term popular Congressman from St. Paul st, and we had a great time over the weekend.  On Ssaturday, we'd driven down the Heritage trail along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi to such charming artsy towns as Stockholm and Maiden Rock, going into lovely little antique shops, bakeries, art galleries, and outside eateries  hidden amongst trees, dense plantings, and waterfalls, and just neat little shops.  I often do my best shopping in such places away from NYC, where to me the stores are sort of lifeless compared to treasures like these.  In one I bought a lovely print shirt, bright green and purple coloring with butterflies and flowers for only  $16.. In another, I got a lovely leather bag (which has come in handy to help bring back all the things I've bought at the Field museum in Chicago, and the Lake Wobegon store (for my plant-watering neighbor). 
 
But I digress.  Once in the terminal it became clear that the two buses out front were, indeed, for us, since the train was five hours late due to a derailment in Montana.  This time I got lucky, sitting next to a slender woman from Guinea and right behind the bus driver.  Amtrak had given him the barest of directions, so on occasion I helped him out by scrutinizing his Atlas and giving him directions.  Amtrak equipped the bus with a carton of juice drinks and donuts for the trip and vouchers for free lunch at Burger King at the Dells.  Next was a transfer from Amtrak bus to commuter rail at the Milwaukee station, and then to Chicago.  I'd been fearful first, that I'd miss my connection in Chicago and second that I'd also miss the Taste of Chicago, but neither occurred.  My favorite tastes were cheesecake dipped in chocolate, and key lime pie dipped in chocolate.  You could cut the air with a knife; it was hot and polluted. 
 
The train ride home was not so good.  We waited for my delayed train from the west anyway, left 1.5 hours late, and arrived almost six hours late.  I did get some work done, and I?ve gotten a tidy little voucher from Amtrak for future travel, part of which I will be using tomorrow to go to Wolftrap and back.
 

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Wolftrap

This Amtrak trip from NYC to DC was on time and uneventful.  My step-nephew picked me up at the Dunn Loring Metro station near Vienna, we dropped my stuff off at the house, and proceeded to Crispy's gathering at the Carnivale Cafe on the Leesburg Pike.  There were something like 17 of us representing nearby states from the Carolinas, to Virginias to PA and
NY.  We passed photo albums, Higher and Higher mags, and scrapbooks around, exchanged stories, took photos and broke bread.

I'd never been to Wolftrap before.  It's a National Park!  As with a number of the so-called "sheds" it is a rustic, wooden structure with big slits in the side to let in some of the daylight that was still coming in when the show started.  It was warm enough for shorts, but not too bad considering it's the middle of the summer in DC.  Waiting for the show to begin, I investigated the food, and I couldn't believe my eyes...  chocolate-dipped key lime pie.  I ordered it, natch.  It was the very same divine product I'd eaten at the Taste of Chicago.  Being a native of Miami, and having baked original recipe key lime pies in my youth (key limes are small, yellow, and more tart than green Persian limes; these are from the Florida Keys, and the pies are very special, made with sweetened condensed milk, never green, never wiggly like meringue).

I got down to my seat, fourth row behind the pit, all the way to the right edge (almost 30 seats from the middle), and immediately noticed 10 or 15 seats empty in the center of the first and second rows of the section behind the pit.  These proved irresistible, and I thought maybe some scalpers got burned.  Later I found out that the front row of the pit had gone onsale the day before, and that explained what happened.  Graeme kept his shades on for at least the first song; Gordon immediately put his down.  I got a few pix of Graeme in those shades singing along.  It was the first concert for my new camera.  It worked out well; I'm very pleased with the increased resolution and zoom. 

This concert was a little different as there was an interpreter for the deaf, no doubt because of its park status.  Graeme gave us a little levity at the beginning of Higher and Higher, by starting his verse by saying, very authoritatively (as he does) "Higher and Higher".  I broke out laughing.  He recovered quickly and started the verse late and ended it late, but the rest of the band came in at the normal point for the chorus.  It was ok.  Afterwards he was breathing so hard and looking so bad, I had to watch for a while.  I do worry about him.  It seemed all he could do was barely manage to double tap the tambourine at the chorus of Are You Sitting Comfortably. 

When John first started singing Slide Zone, his voice mic was set really high - his voice came through louder than usual.  I think it momentarily surprised him but he reacted instantaneously and didn't sing softer or back away from the mic as that would have been more obvious.  Justin in introducing The Actor, he chatted on about the first time they were in DC touring, that they were supporting Cream.  He was a bit more chatty and slightly more cheery than in Minneapolis.  Though it was still in the low 80s when the show began and mid 70s when it ended, I'm sure it was warmer on stage.  They were all perspiring again... John again
looked dazzling in those shirts.  Justin's first shirt was longer than John's and also open down a few inches - no buttons.  In talking about these shirts later, we were wondering why they have long sleeves at all on tour in the summer.  It just seems destined to make them suffer.  John didn't seem as tired as in Minneapolis, but also he didn't find a sweet spot in the pit early in the show (not enough of us in his usual spot to play with) so a couple of times
curtailed his coming to the edge.  Justin eventually warmed up and smiled more
than in Minneapolis.

Here and there at the venue and during the show we met up with various folks from LC who were planning to go to the local Silver Diner afterwards.  So we got a huge table; there were also some from the earlier gathering there for dessert.  It was great showing up at the diner at the moment that they were showing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan playing I Saw her standing there, blaring it out into the parking lot.

I took about 120 pix with my new camera, and have put up the best on www.moodyland.org. 
As always, reprints will be available. Enjoy.

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Saratoga
 
The day began with nephew awaking me at 8 in Vienna, VA; Metro to Amtrak, some zzzs on he way to Newark, PATH to Jersey City, and Betsymobile to Saratoga.  It was a gentle journey, much appreciated.  Many kudos for that as getting there entirely by public transit wouldn't have worked so well.  We met up with many people up there... Nancy D and friends, Esther and friends from Ontario, the CT contingent, the Debs, the Maryland contingent, Michele from Jersey... I know I must have forgotten someone.  This venue is in a state park, where there are springs of water where people bathe for medicinal purposes (the water has a bit of sulfur in it... not so tasty).  The line way out into the parking lot was mainly for those with blankets and beach towels. The setting is a beautiful rustic park.  Kids were swimming in a swimming hole right under a bridge over a chasm that we crossed to get to the venue proper.  The shed itself was much the same design as Wolftrap, just larger.  I sat on a bench and ate what was left of the salad I bought on the Thruway. 

This was the best concert of the three so far.  Justin was smiling more, and I remember feeling happier at the beginning and was singing throughout which I hadn't really been doing much of so far.  Funny how the band's mood translates out and then they get back what they radiate.  John was looking into his sweet spot for help, but not finding much at first.  But the pit and a few rows back warmed up well before the end of the first act.  At first I was five rows in front of John, but later moved to newly empty seats between Norda and Justin.  When I made this change, I noticed that the bass was turned way up.  Folks remarked how much looser Norda has become, and though I think that largely happened at least a year ago, she has lately been having a nice effect on Bernie, with the two of them prancing around and Bernie's laughing much more than she did (note some of the photos on Moodyland).  Bernie's clothes have also taken a decided turn for the more elegant than back a couple of years ago when she would wear a white dress over a pair of white pants.  Now she's sporting very flattering and even sexy dresses.  Graeme was really  going more all out with his dance and drum solo.  He didn't seem quite as winded as last night.  Maybe it was the weather... It was as much as ten degrees cooler.  Justin wore this shirt with embroidery on the chest for the first half and then a white shirt for the second.  I noticed what everyone else had already seen about John's jeans... They are thinner material, paler, and quite a bit snugger fitting and to great effect, and there's a brown snake embroidered on the left side...  It's obscured by his bass most of the time, but I snapped a few of it.  As Betsy mentioned, Justin's switched to a telecaster for See-Saw.  I guess he wants even More treble / sizzle than he got out of the Squier.  Or maybe he's just bored and is making changes just for the heck of it?  The Squier now appears twice  earlier in the night.  The venue wasn't filled unlike the two nights before; there were quite a few empties in the back sides.  But then it's a larger venue. 

Since there were so many people who knew each other, we spread the word and at Betsy's suggestion, went out to a diner on the main drag in town for dessert, much as we'd done the night before... This time there were eight. 

I managed to do another 150 or so shots unscathed.  I busted a few guts and have now put up 15 pages from Minneapolis, Wolftrap and Saratoga onto www.moodyland.org.  Enjoy.  I haven't forgotten those of you who have asked for RAH night 3.  But first, tomorrow: Off to New Hampshire, Foxwoods, Cape Cod, and Wallingford, then home briefly to welcome Mom to her new home in NYC.

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More to come!
 

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