July Is Jumping

Hard to believe we are all ready heading into the second week of July. What a long, hot summer it's turning out to be. Last weekend, I played with my band at a new venue near the coast, outside. The next morning, after sleeping over at our friends Paul & Deb's house, we got up and scrambled down to another town, a wee village called Round Pond, which is right on the water. We had to scramble because we were to play on the back of a flat bed and participate in the Fourth Of July parade!

The mad dash to set up the flat bed..

Now, that was a first for me. We hustled in the scorching heat, the sun blaring down on all of us.. had to hustle the vehicles back to the end of the parade and then get me back to the front of the parade so I could play. That was stressful. A little tiny road, teeming with hundreds, maybe thousands, of eager parade watchers. Just made it back in time, threw on my bass and got my flat bed legs on. We basically played one song the entire time, an original swing number, and it was so much fun. Little kids waving their American flags, senior ladies tapping their toes, smiling teenagers.. what a hoot!

Just before hitting the massive crowds, my point of view..

When we got to the end of the parade, we had to hustle more, as our next act was playing outside at a restaurant right on the bay. Did I mention it was hot? And not a cloud in the sky? The guys helping us set up a canopy, we shuffled all of our stuff back off the flat bed and re-set up under the canopy. The place was hosting a BBQ, so the folks started streaming in and lining up for the hot dogs and hamburgers and corn on the cob and lobster rolls and watermelons and 'tater salads and ice cold anythings to drink.. We ran over and cut the line ("I'm in the band!") and grabbed what we could and snarfed it down with cold Sam Adams Lagers, then bang, we were off!

Folks lining up for food on July 4th, 2010 in Round Pond, Maine...

Halfway through the second song, the generator that was powering us all just, blah, shut off. I'm sure it was the heat. Ten minutes later, we were plugged into the main power and off we went again. I was so hot, I thought I might pass out. I had to sit down a few times on a stool I borrowed from the bar. I kicked off my flip flops and played barefoot in the grass. We played for about an hour and 15 minutes and called it a day.. By that time, the locals had mostly left anyway, and there was really no relief from the shade.

I had to dunk a towel in some ice water and flop it over my steaming head for the rest of the day, which, naturally, involved reloading equipment into cars and trucks, and driving 2 plus hours home. It was so nice to get home and have a glass of Petit Syrah and some hot wings with celery and blue cheese. We even ate outside, despite the mosquitos.

And here it is almost the weekend again, and now it's time for me to repack for another adventure in Maine. Except this time I'm not playing, just Don. We will be camping out at the state park. All week it's been hot and sunny, so of course, this weekend we've got thunder and rain coming. Hooray! Yesterday I went down to Walmart and bought the biggest tarp I could afford.. 16' x 30'.  Don looked up on the internet on the best way to utilize it to help prevent rain from soaking all that will be our sleeping zone for two nights, and after a test run in our back area yesterday, I'm feeling pretty good about the giant tarp project. Go ahead rain, do your thing. I will sleep in relative dryness! And if you take away some of this heat, I'll be your best friend. Because I can't bring my air conditioner with me to the camp site.