Were you sent to me?

Goodbye Janny.

5 minutes before the first song I was frantically searching for the harmonica holder.  Must be in the gear closet.  Nope.  Hmmm... food table?  No luck.  Oh wait!  I had it in the kitchen when Greg and Steve came in.  Yes!  It’s there on the microwave.  Time to start the show.  The chapel is full of good friends, family, Joe and the fam, our gracious hosts.  The rest is a blur.  

Welcome to Febby.

Sunday we pulled into Crestone. The experience has been just as unpredictable as we expected.  A month ago we booked a gig at The Laughing Buddha, and planned to rent a cabin from the manager. That's all that was planned. We figured we'd call when we got to town. Electrum Amor. Of course, we didn't have her number- but no big deal. We saw it on a banner as soon as we pulled into town. We called, left a message, waited. It was getting cold, there was no one around, and we had no where to go. We asked an old man with a box of doughnuts if he knew Electrum. He said he did! He said that she's in Hawaii and won't be back for a week. But- Shirley tends bar at the Laughing Buddha, so she might know what to do. She also works for Century 21, he said, and if we wanted her number we can go walk around and look for her real estate signs. Then he told us that there is a yard full of yurts that Electrum rents out, and we should just go knock on doors until we find one that's not occupied, then move in. Then he told us that his name is Grandfather Peter Coyote and the doughnuts he was carrying were made by God. We ate some.

We went into the yard with the yurts. Knocked on one door- opened it- saw an unmade bed. Knocked on another door. It was answered by a tough lady. I told her about our predicament. She asked ‘were you sent to me?’ I told her I was sent by intuition because I was just knocking on doors at random. Then she told me that if I
was sent to her, it's because she's in charge of enforcing the noise ordinance. She was the guardian of the Decibel Level. She went on to say that the decibel level before 10pm can be up to 65, but after 10pm it can't be louder than 55. There have been 4 complaints, she said, and now there will have to be a court date. Furthermore, she said, there should be one yurt open that we could move into without any reservation or communication with anyone! We thanked her for her time and her odd message about decibel levels and we moved into the yurt.

Later... In the hostel in Santa Fe.  This guy keeps talking about outer space.  “Just send 50 people to the moon.  I’m telling ya, we only need 50.  Tell each and every kid in school that there are 50 people living on the moon.  See what that does!  we could explore the frontier together!  Bet you didn’t know we have to rely on the Russians to get to the space station.  How fucked up is that?”

Back to the simple challenges of life on the road.  Grumpy is my least favorite dwarf.  Last night we pulled into town without a clue where to go.  We were met with the news that our hostess is in Hawaii.  Grandpa Peter Coyote gave us donuts.  The lady yelled at us about decibels.  We moved into a yurt without asking.  Bought whiskey from a closed-off lady.  Then 3 things happened at once:  David made a big move in our ritual Rummy game, our fish and chips arrived, and we were given our palace.  We had to work for it, but it came eventually.

We've been holding up in the San Luis Valley for 5 days now! It's so expansive that I forget that I even exist. It apparently used to be the edge of an inland sea. We've been swimming around in our Beige minivan- who is named either Beige-ing, or Beige-a-vu, or Beige-against-the-machine.

The inland sea is a dry desert now and has been filled with people for quite sometime.  Back in ‘30’s Steve’s grandfather would go to Chicago to bring bands into the valley.  One time he told Lawrence Welk that they weren’t worth the money they were asking for.  He would drop thousands of fliers from a crop duster - over Alamosa, Monte Vista, Del Norte.  One flier was printed on both sides, whoever found it got into the show for free.  

Gillian Welch- "Down Along the Dixie Line". Patrick Lee- “The Pound.” . Flook- "Flatfish". Mount Kimbie- "Carbonated". James Blake; "Klavierwerk". Sam Cooke- "Mean Old World". Robert Plant and Allison Krauss- "Your Long Journey". Red Stick Ramblers “Made in the Shade”  Science Partner - "Rocky Mountain News"   The new Clouds and Mountains EP.  

We played at the Salida Cafe on Friday. It's always inspiring to see Clark. Saturday we played at Wildwood Sounds in Del Norte- a concert series run by Steve and Konnie- http://www.wildwoodsounds.com/. Catmosphere! 

It doesn’t have to be a struggle.  It can be effortless.  It’s like, over and over again learning the same lessons.

Meanwhile I am waiting and watching and planning.  This town =  weathered faces + vibrant eyes.  Settle down long enough to find the part of you that’s been running.  Follow the Grandpa Coyote call to the bottom of  a canyon where you can find hot springs and the winged serpent basking on the rock.  We lock eyes only so that infinity will show herself.  I wish I knew how to get into the closed-off places.

Now here we sit at the Lotus Cafe. Sipping coffee. Kris forgot her computer so she is staring contemplatively. I know what she's thinking though. She's thinking about how we cooked breakfast pizzas- open faced omelettes with cheese, salsa, broccoli, spinach, avocado. She's thinking about how we ate roasted sweet potatoes with red coconut curry sauce. She's thinking about how we should blog more often. You never know who is out there with some free time, wanting to read this stuff!  She's right, you know.

We just passed a UFO watchtower.  I’m glad someone is watching for such things.  Seems like an important job.  I’d like to catch one of these waves and stay with it for a very long time.

You deserve all good things.  And so it shall be!  Hooray, the boys are back with coffee and garlic!