Sunday afternoon we performed at the Thornton winery in Temecula. It was hard to calculate the correct trajectory of the sun and I was left baking for the first half of the show. I believe I could have successfully fried an egg on my guitar, which I tried to cover with a towel, while playing at the same time…

During intermission a large umbrella was set up which gave shade to Jon and me, but soon Brandon was in the sun’s spotlight.

Where is the drama, you ask? Well, two thirds into the second set, I heard a moan go through the audience and when I looked up the umbrella was slowly descending towards Ron. I kept playing because there was nothing I could do to prevent the umbrella from falling or even to change its trajectory… In the end the umbrella’s pointy frame missed Ron by a foot, missed his tablas by inches and landed among the microphones, which survived the attack. Gary then struggled with, but successfully removed the umbrella while we continued…

PS: I am told the whole umbrella incident was captured on video by us and may become available for viewing.