February 6, 2004 - Seattle, WA

We arrive very early in Seattle - it was still dark out. Jeff parked the bus in the back of the Marriott hotel that we were staying in. When I walked with my luggage around front, I could see that we were in downtown Seattle. We ended up having to wait in the lobby for our rooms, because they all weren't ready even though they promised us they would be. Danette, our tour manager was furious. Once the rooms were ready, I walked around to the elevators. I saw that they had an indoor pool and a hot tub. I decided it would be in my best interest to stay away from hot tubs for the rest of the tour. I rode the glass elevator up to my floor. It overlooked the city and I could see that we were close to the Jimi Hendrix Experience museum and the Space Needle. The first time we were here, Kurt and I ate dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. I previously had no clue that it was a restaurant and that it revolved. I figured that we were in a cool part of town to go walking and that I'd try to do something before bus call. While I was chilling in my room I got a call from Victor. He wasn't going to be traveling with us for the next day or two so Danette canceled his room So he asked if he could come up and shower in my room. Yeah, like I'm going to tell the Boss he can't use my room! After he showered and dressed he told me he was going to go walk around and he'd call me and let me know what he found. He called later to tell me that there was a Guitar Center down the street and that the temperature was pretty warm. It was drizzling outside, but my guess is that it's always raining or drizzling in Seattle. When I think about it, we've had some kind of precipitation of every city of the tour. After I showered and got dressed I figured I call some folks that I know to give me a ride to the Ducati of Seattle. My friend Jim Matthews from the Bass/Nature Camp had to work till this evening. Jim had done me a huge favor a couple of months ago. I won some hard saddle bags for my motorcycle on Ebay and the guy who owned them lived in Seattle. The bags normally cost $800 but I got them with a winning bid of less than $150. The guy who I bought the bags from tried to tell me that it would be almost $200 to ship them and there was no way I was going for that. Jim agreed to pick them up for me and I would get them from him while we were out on tour. He found out that he could ship them out to me for very little money at all, so instead of waiting he shipped them out to me. I definitely wanted to return the favor by leaving him tickets for the show.

I also called my former student from the DC area, Ron McNeal. His job moved him to Seattle early last summer. Ron was one of my favorite students. His thirst for knowledge brought out the best in me as a teacher. He was the kind of student that wasn't just satisfied with learning licks - he wanted to learn concepts. And I love learning concepts. But anyway, he also wasn't available until later. I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to make it to the Ducati dealer. I had actually been looking forward to meeting the guys there because we had been in contact through email a couple of times.

I decided to go for a short walk before bus call. The Puget Sound was across the street from the hotel and there were small airplanes that offered daily flights to Vancouver right on the sound. The planes landed and took off right from the water. Instead of having wheels as landing gear they kind of had things that resembled a combination of pontoons and skis. I watched a couple of planes take off and land a couple of times and then I started walking. I was less than a block away when I noticed a beautiful red motorcycle across the street. It was the same kind of bike that my wife owns, a Ducati ST series. When I got a little closer I saw that right next to it was a bike like I own - a Ducati Monster. Seeing one Ducati is rare. Seeing two Ducatis along side each other is EXTREMELY rare. That could only mean one thing....As I got closer, my suspicions were confirmed. My hotel was only a block away from Ducati of Seattle! I didn't need a ride after all. I hung out in the shop for a while. The staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. I told them that I was on tour with a band and that I was trying to visit all the Ducati dealers in every city that we were going to be in. They thought that was the coolest thing. I showed them my web site on the computer and I tried to talk them into coming to the show. When I left there I went straight to the bus and then we went to the venue. We were performing at The Show Box. This was our 3rd venue in 3 different trips here. The first place was called the Century Ballroom. It was big, but the layout wasn't 'concert friendly'. The following year we played at the Crocodile Café. I loved the vibe, but it was way too small. This place was just right. I guess it held about 1200 people and had a lot of 'personality'. It was in a cool part of town. It's right across the straight from the Pike Street Market. There's so much going on at that market that it's hard to describe. You'd just have to see it yourself. I ran into Danette and Joseph at a sushi place. We had a very interesting conversation about the future of the band and some of the things that Victor has 'in the works'. The future definitely looks bright for the Victor Wooten band. When I got back to the venue, my student Ron McNeal showed up. He brought me up to date on him and his family. He told me that some of his new musician friends were coming to check out the show.

The person I wanted most to see was Aviva Stegmyer. I met her at one of the Bass/Nature camps. Toné & I fell in love with her. We always comment on how we would like to adopt her. She sends us the most beautiful cards that she makes herself. But she never made it to the concert and I was disappointed. I'll have to get in touch with her to see what's going on with her. We had a great show. Joseph has been dedicating his song that we refer to as 'The Daddy Song' to his father. Earlier in the tour, I showed the guys in the band how my dad used to dance when we were growing up. They've really taken to the dance. I think every black male whose dad is from the south dances like that. Victor asked me if I would mind doing the dance during the show when Joe played it, so I did the dance for the crowd. There were definitely some people in the audience who could relate. Later on in the show, Joseph and I did the dance together and Divinity and I do the dance almost every night. I'll have to post a picture of me doing the dance so you guys can know what I'm talking about.

Anyways,...the show was 'off da' hook'!!! We broke down and loaded up the gear. I got to talk to Jim Matthews and his new wife. I thanked him for sending the saddle bags for my motorcycle. Victor has a new magician friend that we met last year and he showed us a few magic tricks backstage after the show. It seemed like we signed an extraordinary amount of autographs and took and extraordinary amount of pictures after the show. Way more than usual. I told people to email them to my site so I can post some. Victor didn't ride the bus back with us. He headed on to Portland with some friends. We were staying the night since Portland is a short drive. When we got back to the hotel I walked past the hot tub - I considered it for a second. Then I thought, nah...this is a public hot tub. These people might not take to kindly to seeing me naked!

I was glad we were finally having an overnight. We work so hard on this tour that an 'overnight' almost feels like a day off. I called my wife when I got to my room. I'm really starting to miss her now. Even though I enjoy touring I can't wait to be home with her. Here's a picture of us at home in our wilderness together.

peace & blessings

anthony