Now that the time of healthcare Armageddon has passed, I am reminded of nothing so much as Haight St. back in the day. But everything is upside down. The more conservative folks are smoking tea and plotting against the man. The Hutaree taking it to the pigs (so to speak)...
Anyway where were we?
   The West End Wine Bar was beckoning just over the hills, but rock slides had closed the I-40 beyond Newport. We followed the Hot Springs road twisting up the creek and over to Chapel Hill. ....I'm coughing one time too many and Sean's still not finding that Shoney's t-shirt.  But it's all worth it by the time we get to Franklin Street. It's Beaujolais vs. Dolcetto down at Jared's house. Garretts old and young everywhere and I can't get out. We felt so at home we could keep vestibuling forever in that little wine bar.
Will McFarland was mentioning Charlie McCoy, recalling Eddie Hinton too. Something Heavy! With Paul Butterfield it's a Trinity. And then Jared would be offering a decanter of Ribolla Gialla from the previous century (it was over ten years old). That wine was odd, but the night was a cannon;  a wine you can't stop, it is so delicious...Thanks John. It didn't matter that one of the speakers was aurally challenged, Dint was going to tell mama anyway, with Will's mom ten feet away.
Ruby and yeah, what's her name?
Her name is Doreen.
Speaking of which, maybe it shows how much we miss Mark over these ten years he has been gone, or perhaps it's a testament to good friends and the generosity of Joseph and the Middle East, (and the songs)...
This past Friday some of us played that gig with Orchestra Morphine and Treat Her Right. It was pretty coal, burning all night long down in sandy candy land with Dave, Dana and Mayone. Bill and Laurie whom we miss so. Russ and Tom, Jerome and Micro, don't forget the sea monster man, Christian crooning Top Floor Bottom Buzzer.
All this rain and reading this list of names sets one's mind on a course back, through Nashville cats, dog and trains and Mr. Rabbit too. Those faces may fade, but the echoes will last. Wherever it is, whenever we can play it, we shall.
It is the music that saves us. The songs preserve us. Hallelujah.
Rhythm and Booze. Amen.