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January 21, 2003 - Citrus Heights, California
Last night was our first night without a hotel stay, so we drove straight to Citrus Heights right after the show in Eugene. I don't sleep too well on the bus - I don't like sleeping on the bunk because, well, I guess I'm kinda' claustrophobic! So I sleep in the back lounge and I'm having a hard time regulating the temperature back here. I'm cold all night and then wake up sweating - go figure. Fortunately, we got to Citrus Heights (a suburb of Sacramento) early enough to check into the hotel for a couple of hours and chill before we had to head out to the Aqua Night Club. Later, at soundcheck, we had some technical difficulties because of problems with the venue. They just started having live music at this place and they haven't worked out all the bugs in the system yet. Every electrical object, i.e. lights, refrigerator for the bar, lights for the stage, the band gear … I mean EVERYTHING that you can possibly think of that can be plugged in, was on the same circuit! Boy, that's not too bright! So we performed most of the night without stage lights. Jon Young and Doniga Murdoch, nature instructors from Bass camp came to the show. They work at the Riekes Center for Human Enhancement in the San Francisco area (riekes.org). Jon is the Director of Nature Studies there. Then, me, Vic, Jon, Doniga and their friend Nicole Morgan all went out to dinner. It was another early show - we started at 8PM. Everyone played really well, and Joseph was extremely funny (as usual!!) during his set. Tonight was the very first time in the whole time I've been working with Victor that I actually ASKED to take a solo. I played a pretty long solo and felt good about it. But what made me really feel good was that Zach made a point of coming up to me after the show telling me how good my solo sounded. He said it sounds like I've been practicing soloing a whole lot…and he's right! It especially meant something coming from him because he works almost every night with Victor when he's out with Belá Fleck & The Flecktones, so he's used to hearing some of the world's best musicians! Victor even commented on how good my solo sounded and said anytime I wanted to do a solo just to let him know. It was great to hear that coming from him! Someone give me a pin so I can pop my head, let some of the air out and shrink it back to normal size! Fortunately we had an overnight stay, so I could go back to the hotel room and check email and call my "beautiful" wife…at 4 AM East Coast time. Lucky for me she loves me enough to tolerate my musician's lifestyle and hours! (…there he goes again! Sayin' all those wonderful things about me to make up for calling me at crazy hours...and I love every minute of it!! Keep'em coming - the phone calls, AND the compliments! -- Toné) peace, anthony
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