Friday, February 28, 2003

Ahh, a restful night of sleep in Anacortes. I feel good. I'm at The Business which is this town's wonderful li'l bookstore/ music store/ coffehouse which Bret Lunsford owns and runs. Bret is also the co-owner of Knw-Yr-Own which is the record label which has co-released my new CD, The Long Ride Home. He's also the vice-president of the Croatian club here in town which I could join since I'm a quarter Croation myself. I like Anacortes. I spent last night in the hippest hostel in the state-- The Department of Safety. They graciously gave me a room for free and a delicious spaghetti dinner. Tonight I'll play a show there with the great Laura Veirs and Wax Fire. Bill Frisell was supposed to play but a family illness changed that.

Maybe I'll now catch you up on the Vancouver, B.C. show at the Sugar Refinery. Well, to start off, my housemate Lenny, my friend Neal, and my other friend Autumn left on Tuesday to go to Goldmeyer hot springs. Getting there is rugged. The last 10 or 15 miles go up a road called "Hell Hill" which only jeeps and helicopters should try. "Joe", my car, did well though and didn't pop a tire or get stuck. Then when you reach the end you have to fjord an icy river. It turns out that Autumn, who is fifteen, has a history of frost-bite and the cold restimulated her early injuries. She was semi-miserable until we got to the springs which are amazing and magical. That night, though, was filled with more pain as neither of our sleeping bags were warm enough for sub-freezing mountain temperatures. I got up early and started a fire and soaked with Lenny and Neal while Auty slept. Then at 11 am I got her up and we had to cross the river again. I fell in at one point and soaked everything. She did fine except for refrostbiting her legs. That night I had the Vancouver, B.C. show. I left her in a seedy hotel 20 miles from the border and accidentally drove 60 miles south before realizing my scatterbrained error, and turned back around. At 9:30 I made it to the border but they wanted to tax me hundreds of dollars for my CDs and shirts. After a lengthy interrogation they sent me back to the States. Unfortunately I was then interrogated by the U.S. side for another 20 minutes. Eventually I made it back to the hotel and dropped off all the merchandise and high-tailed it back North. This time they didn't hassle me and I made it to the Sugar Refinery by 11 pm just when The Wax Fire was finishing their final song! I grabbed Jen's guitar and yodelled, cussed, and rapped my way through an hour-and-a-half set. Jen joined me on cello and voice a few times. My friend Bannister was there and it was great to see him. I did manage to smuggle a couple CDs across which I sold for a grand total of $40 (Canadian). Ida, who works there, gave me an extra $20 for playing. Then the Wax Fire and I returned South and crashed at the hotel. When we woke up we watched the country music station for awhile until the red-headed transvestite house-cleaner came around and asked if we were planning to stay another night. (I hope s/he didn't tell the owner that I had four other people in there with me as my credit card can't take much more.) Then Autumn and I decided that we ought to get her back to Olympia. I drove her to Seattle where we waited at the Space Needle for an hour until her friends picked her up. Then I drove back to Anacortes. Autumn is a trooper... I feel bad that she didn't have a better time.

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