I think this makes about 30 shows over the years for me. I have never sat in the front row, been close to that, but never there. This time our tickets (which were comp-ed btw) were all the way to the back of the theater, against the wall and I was bummed. One of the ushers at the Van Duzer suggested we ask at box office for an upgrade. Russel did this, and through his wonderful personality scored us front row seats!

Interesting sitting there, so close, being able to really see Bruce and his fingers on the guitars, and watch the slight expressions cross his face.
He, as per usual, had his eyes closed more than open. Personally I think the sound would of been better back a bit, but not complaining!

There were many friends there, lots of socializing. Jenny Scheinman was in attendance, just about a week away from giving birth to her second child. I saw MJ and Iona (Bruce’s family) during the break, and got my boldness on and approached, introduced myself to MJ and she acknowledged that she had heard of me (don’t know if this was good stuff or bad LOL!). I gave her a small gift I had picked up for Iona, we had a brief exchange and it was time for the second set to start. Glad to have finally met her and got to see Iona, who seems to handle the crowds just fine.

I won’t go through the whole setlist, here’s a copy of the setlist scan that Russel grabbed off the stage after the show.

And rather than talk about the show I’ll let you listen to many of the songs:

Bohemian Three Step
http://youtu.be/uis7GfhYq54

When You Give It Away
http://youtu.be/vudbiAI2o0c

Strange Waters
http://youtu.be/7jEsUjcv6Zg

Arrows of Light
http://youtu.be/rx41vaoPVp8

Pacing the Cage
http://youtu.be/pykDYBFy5xc

Ancestors
http://youtu.be/YriP31f01IE

BruceTalks About Rocket Launcher
http://youtu.be/956RlpVTdb0

If I Had A Rocket Launcher
http://youtu.be/5smnMTLkQyk

Wondering Where the Lions Are
http://youtu.be/qxfj5HJMkxk

If A Tree Falls
http://youtu.be/TVhztCHMMFE

Bruce On Twelve String
God Bless the Children
http://youtu.be/DhfBgPrAO3k

Put It In Your Heart
http://youtu.be/KOdzB53EDnw

Comets of Kandahar
http://youtu.be/d4BRRlaSHn0

There was a meet and greet after, the line wasn’t as long as I had seen in the past, but he did do a version of this here in Arcata 2010.

I had many friends in line and was busy talking with them while we waited. One friend and her 16 year old daughter were there. This was the daughters first time seeing Bruce, having just recently started appreciating his music (Mom’s a fan). Her mother said, “her soul was stirred” and “it was one of the highlights of her life so far” and “Ancestors” was her favorite song of all. I think this is very cool, to have a whole new generation of Bruce fans, as most of the crowd was over 40 and many over 60 easily.

And in keeping with the theme I seem to have created, when it was my turn to briefly have Bruce’s attention I had him sign a photo of the 2 of us from the late ’80s, 1989 I think, at the Zellerbach Theater in Berkeley.

Bruce Cockburn and Bobbi Wisby at Van Duzer Theater Arcata 29 April 2012

Bruce Cockburn and Bobbi Wisby at Van Duzer Theater Arcata 29 April 2012

I have to mention that the evening started out blissfully as we visited with friends, who we met first at the Arcata Theater Lounge 2010. show, and have stayed in touch through FB and brief meetups at other Bruce shows. This was the first chance we have had to converse about something besides Bruce. They have a most lovely home and I hope the friendship can continue to grow.

One of the things I love about going to see Bruce is that he has some really cool fans! And I love meeting new fans and greeting old fans, some people I only ever see at Bruce’s shows, so it almost always feels a bit like home.

Bruce Cockburn and Jan Bramlett at Van Duzer Theater Arcata 29 April 2012

Bruce Cockburn and Gillian Brown at Van Duzer Theater Arcata 29 April 2012

Oh I did I mention? He played After the Rain. And Ancestors moved me more than it ever has before.

The sedum is happy this time of year.

Russel got this shot of a Redwood Moth.

We went to a birthday party .. here we are in April 2012.

Seems like I never have the time and energy to work on my sites, as this one still needs a new theme..hopefully this summer when the new WP upgrade happens.

I have spent a bit of time on this site which is still in production and not ready at all for prime time, but there a few photo galleries from long ago finally housed there.

And this weekend — well we are off to see Bruce Cockburn in Arcata at the Van Duzer theater on Sunday. I am excited and longing for the juice… so hope it is a good one!

Now I need to find or make a theme for this blog, my business site, and 2 other sites in pre-production.
Meanwhile spring is coming on fast and the gardens are calling.

Well it works!

Are You Prepared

This particular day started out normally, I did my morning job and then went by the store (GE). While I was there I started getting this real ‘hinky feeling’, for no reason I could explain I called and cancelled my afternoon house cleaning job down in Sausalito (just north of the Golden Gate Bridge). Then I proceeded to buy large bottles of water, candles, matches, easy to prepare food stuff. I felt like I was in a daze, not quite all there. I drove down to the Post Office in Fairfax and ran into a couple friends, we both commented on a ‘strange day feeling’ and went about our business.

I drove to San Anselmo, where I lived at the time. I parked my 1968 VW bus in the driveway of the house where I lived, which wasn’t something I usually did. (The owner didn’t like it.) My room was the lower floor of a 2 story brick older home.

I remember setting the bags on the floor in the middle of the room and I sat down there too. This was not the ‘normal’ routine. Nothing about the day felt normal.
The next thing I remember was hearing a very loud ‘CRACK’ sound, my first thought was that something in the adjacent garage had been knocked over, but before I could get up the TV which was on a wimpy tv rack was on my back. I got that back in place and realized what was going on.
I opened the door to the driveway and watched as my bus bounced up and down, back to front – over and over again. Imagine what a rug looks like if you shake it out, the ripples in it.. the earth was rippling under my feet.

I looked up at Mt Baldy and the trees were doing hulus.. I had never seen anything like this before.

It seemed to go on for a very long time.
I went in and turned on the TV.. and got the news feed coming from the World Series at Candlestick Park in SF..
In a daze it became apparent this was a big quake.

Outside in my neighborhood people were screaming and running with babes in arms..where to I don’t know or understand. My landlord called and said, “Don’t let the old man next door turn off our gas or we won’t get it back for weeks.” I did stop him from turning the gas off. There was really little damage in San Anselmo, or Marin, a great shaking up but nothing like what was happening in the city, or really further south in the Santa Cruz area, where this quake’s epicenter was at.

I became glued to the tv watching all the horrors of pancaked houses, freeways, and bridges collapse. For days.

More than anything, I started to pay attention to this ‘feeling’ I had had that day. I call it my earthquake radar, and many times I have felt it before a quake hits, sometimes I get a ‘hinky’ feeling days in advance of something big. Mainly I need to get out of the way and pay attention to it.. it is right more times than not.

Here are some links:

lomaprietastories.wordpress.com

www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/lomaprieta.htm

Google Images

USGS