Wednesday in Miami

Long travel day. Left Santa Fe a little before 08:00 and arrived in Miami around 21:00.

Interesting stuff happened. After checking into our flight in Albuquerque I observed a woman talking on her mobile AND pulling two wheeled bags – one at a time. It was very entertaining to watch. She calmly continued her conversation while moving one of her bags about six feet ahead. Then she would go back to drag the other bag forward by those six feet plus another six feet. I kept looking for a hidden TV camera, as this seemed like a joke.

I would have told the person on the other end of the phone that I would call them back, or one could have used a headset, but no, this lady kept talking with the mobile in one hand and dragging her luggage slowly, but surely across the airport. And she seemed perfectly content.

The flight to Dallas was completely full. I had a window seat in the emergency exit isle – yeah for leg-room! The person sitting in the middle seat was one of those people that quickly takes control of both armrests. A little later, I looked over and noticed he was asleep. He was drooling and spit had reached all the way from his mouth to his lap. It was amazing – a perfect glittering band… As I contemplated sneaking a quick photo with my iPhone, he woke up and I quickly looked out of the window, pretending I hadn’t noticed anything.

Then the plane from Dallas to Miami developed mechanical problems while on the tarmac. The captain turned around and returned to the gate. He announced that some valve wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do, but a mechanic could just close it by hand… but then this turned into a 90 minute delay, with the full plane sitting at the gate.

We arrived in Miami at 21:00 and made it to the hotel by 22:30. At this point we were all starving. The hotel’s restaurant was due to close at 22:50, so we hustled and made it just in time for a fabulous meal.

Night view – handheld at 2500 ASA:

Morning view:

Well, we are happy we made it here and everyone is really looking forward to play. A TV station wanted to film our first concert tomorrow, in Miami, but I don’t want to deal with camera men running around the stage on the first night so we turned down the request.

Monday Snakes

Here is a recent recording for those who wonder what the latest band sounded like. This is “Snakecharmer” from Dallas on August 5th, as always recorded straight off the board by Alan. There was a new fourth verse unison by Jon and Stephen, alternating between 3/4 and 4/4. Michael Chavez did the dumbek solo.

You can download the 320kbps mp3 file here.

The set list for Dallas was (from memory):

Snakecharmer
Three Days Without You
Morning Light
Firelight
Santa Fe
Heart Still/Beating
Borrasca

Intermission

Silence
La Luna
Streetlight
Up Close/2 the Night
Two Sisters/Duende Del Amor

Encore:
Samba Pa Ti
Barcelona Nights

Did I forget anything, Stephen?

Wednesday in Dallas


Stevo took the photo at the House of Blues in Dallas yesterday.

Fun show. Very vocal audience. It was our first concert at the Dallas House of Blues and we all liked the venue and local crew. We played at other HOBs (Orlando, New Orleans, Los Angeles) and this one in Dallas is the nicest one.

House of Blues: one lonely guitar