Pompano Beach Amphitheater. Hot, hot, hot, did I mention humid? I am definitely a desert person. Humidity wears me out. A buy-out today means we have to find food ourselves, but that is better than last year, when the catered food was close to inedible. When I asked for a sandwich without meat I was handed an old hot-dog bun with a couple of slices of american cheese! Yeah, that’s culinary culture!

Jon and I found a little Italian restaurant named Capone’s near the amphitheater, where we enjoyed dinner.

Before the show I almost got into a fight with the local sound truck driver. In the morning I had mentioned to him that I thought it was wasteful to run his big engine with the AC blasting and his window all the way open. I was hoping he would turn the engine off, but instead he rolled up the window. A few hours later I had enough of the noise and burning fuel mindlessly and told him he had to turn off the diesel. I could see he was thinking of getting into it with me, but in the end he shut down his truck. Yes, it is hot and yes he might want a cool cab to climb into, but he was hanging out at the theater and not in his cab and it would have been much more efficient to turn the engine on 30 minutes before his departure to cool the interior down. I have major issues with mindless actions like that.

As we walked out on stage it started raining and by the middle of Duende del Amor it was pouring. The humidity threw my guitar out of tune during Heart Still/Beating, but we soldiered on. I tuned and we played La Luna. I started the little lullaby Querencia from In The Arms of Love that I play as an intro to Spring Rain, but stopped when I heard people yelling. I turned to Jon and he said audience members were climbing onto the stage to stay dry, but were held back by security. I could not make up my mind to say something or to get back to the song. My guitar was getting misted!

After Sao Paulo I mentioned to the audience that there were two reasons why nobody could sit on stage.

1. If something should fall from the rigging and hurt a person, in addition to the local promoter and the venue, I would get sued.
2. It would not be fair to the rest of the audience if some people were allowed to sit on the stage.

I also mentioned that some of my favorite performances are without a stage altogether.

Then Ron and Robby played a rousing Drum Duet and made the rain stop… and we took intermission.

During the signing after the show, somebody asked me what I meant by performing without a stage and I answered that I love playing un-amplified in front of small audiences sitting in a half circle.