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!

This is my favorite photo from the whole series:

Wow thanks Kim !!

For more photos and the review:
Bruce Cockburn and Jenny Scheinman at Kate Wolf and www.CockburnProject.net.

Here are some more photos I took:

The Wailin’ Jennys join Bruce and Jenny for the last 2 songs of the set.

And now for some music:

(Lovers in a Dangerous Time – http://youtu.be/pGM9pS-rC0M )

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( Iris of the World – http://youtu.be/XayBOT0UeZ0 )

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The Wailin’ Jennys joined Bruce and Jenny for this one:

( Waiting For A Miracle – http://youtu.be/HFG_3ZpxJ-Q )

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Many thanks to Riley Q. for the video! And here is a photo from Riley of Bruce and Jenny // and the totem poles as you enter the festival.

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And a couple more photos compliments of Kim Sallaway, taken during the afternoon soundcheck.

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Kim Sallaway sent me even more great photos — you can find them HERE.

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Napa was having an outdoor market that encompassed about 4 blocks in downtown just outside our motel and a couple blocks away from the Uptown Theater. After checking into our room we strolled a bit to get the driving feeling off us and got a bite to eat.

I mostly look forward to standing in line before shows as it is a great way to meet people and see other Humans and connect with Bruce fans.
The Uptown Theater has reserved seating which makes that not necessary, but we strolled over to the venue early any way.
On the way there a familiar face was walking towards us … I stopped Gary Craig .. he was s bit surprised, “Do I know you?” .. “No, but I know you!” And we did a minute of “I love your drumming and had hoped to meet you one day”, and he was off to buy some wine.

The Uptown is a beautifully restored theater. The seats are comfortable and we had great seats, about 5 rows back and center. I personally prefer not to be down in front as looking up tweaks my neck. It holds about 800, but only sold about 450 seats, if that.

The stage set up was spread out as others had mentioned, but as I watched the show it seemed to me that each player expanded to fill all that space!

I won’t go into song by song, but some of the highlights for me were Tokyo. Why? Well believe it or not it was the first song I ever heard by Bruce. There’s a whole story around that that and I will link to it later. But I love it. Call It Democracy is also a favorite it did not disappoint.

There were times that Jenny Scheinman just blazed .. blew me away really, as I usually am so riveted by Bruce that I barely notice what else is going on, but she demanded attention. Arrows of Light was a perfect example of that. It was as if she was channeling that light and her and her instrument became one, it was so tight and so intense. Bruce was so into her playing, really smiling and enjoying letting her have the spotlight. Wish I had a recording of this show.

Gary Craig is a joy to watch .. it’s as if he is massaging his drums or what ever percussion instrument he is using. The first time I saw him with Bruce was during the Bruce, Julie and Gary trio touring in 2006, I saw him at the Mystic in Petaluma and at the Great American Music Hall in SF and he impressed me so much. He is just so good with Bruce.

The whole show was really heart felt and and the crowd was very supportive, which I was glad of, and I wasn’t the only one whooping it up
I do believe the balance was off, as there were times I couldn’t hear Bruce singing as clearly as I am used to, and Jenny (violin) seem too loud sometimes, but I was also hearing these older songs being played in a new way, and I am sure that lent a bit to that.

I wanted to hear Iris (which he did do in Arcata last year so I have heard it live), but that was missing from this show. I also wanted to hear Lois, but that also wasn’t played tonight. Comets of Kandahar was haunting. Last Night was a perfect opener, Mighty Trucks and Waiting for a Miracle were real surprises.
And I really liked Boundless, it’s the only song he played that I haven’t learned all the lyrics too!

One thing that I noticed is that all the ‘usual’ people I would see at shows, say at the Mystic in Petaluma, or up at Solfest, or down at GAMH were not here in Napa. There was not one person I recognized in the audience, and I really can say that has never happened before in all the shows I have been too. But of course I did meet a few new interesting fans.

The Uptown Theater security was in full force. My bag was checked several times. Mostly looking for alcohol being brought in.

We were toward the end of the line for the meet and greet, wish now we had been last. The security people were really hustling the people through the line, it was not really casual at all.

As I approached for my 15 seconds, Bruce surprised me by getting up from his seat and coming out to hug me!! What can I say, love that. It was a good heart hug too
I had a photo of the 2 of us from the Arcata show that he signed. I didn’t really get to talk to him, as security was pushing us along.
But the hug made up for all the words that could of been spoken.

When we got to Jenny and Gary, I was pulling out the ticket for Gary and Jenny to sign, and talking with Gary a bit, and Russel was talking with Jenny.
We are from the same general area in northern California (southern Humboldt County), and her and Russel were comparing who they both knew.
Then we were swept away, and I didn’t really get to say anything to Jenny.

And there were no pictures taken, this time

I am looking forward to seeing Bruce again and solo this time at the Kate Wolf Music Festival coming up June 26. Maybe we will get the chance to connect, I hope so.

Setlist

Uptown Theater, Napa CA
2 June 2011
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Last Night of the World
Mango
Lovers in a Dangerous Time
Tokyo (with Jenny on mandolin)
Mighty Trucks of Midnight
Ancestors (singing bowls)
Pacing the Cage
Boundless (using those huge chimes)
Strange Waters
Bone in My Ear (charango)
Parnassus and Fog
Call Me Back
Littlest Prisoner (Jenny’s song)
Call It Democracy
Each One Lost
Wondering Where the Lions Are
Arrows of Light (Jenny became a conduit of light on this song – it was amazing how she and her instrument were one..totally awesome
–
Encore:

Comets of Kandahar
Waiting for a Miracle
Tie Me At the Crossroads
Gifts

Being a disaster junkie and wanting the latest up to the minute news on whether the road to town was open or not, I spent one Sunday morning, March 27, reading KymKemp.com blog and others, listening to KMUD.org and KHUM.com and checking their websites and twitter feeds, and reading Facebook pages trying to get the most current info.

Frustrated I contacted Kym Kemp, who seemed to have the steadiest flow of current info and asked if she thought a Facebook page where all this info could be compiled in one place was a good idea. She said Yes! And a few hours later I had the SoHum Awareness facebook page created, added both Kym Kemp and Estelle Fennell as admins to keep the content flowing and we were off and running. We had 300 people ‘liking’ the page within 24 hours, and over a 1000 a week later.

No sooner did Briceland Road get a temp repair to one lane, with full photo commentary on that, than the huge slide on Highway 101 happened. The inability to move around our rural area stresses people to the max. Kids at the high school were on one side of the slide and parents on the other..no way for buses to be able to travel the only other road, snowy muddy mountainous ‘local’ roads that unless you live on them, most people have never driven.

This launched the SoHum Awareness facebook page into full throttle, it was 10 days of constant updates and comments on how to get anywhere from here, the conditions of the roads that were available.

And then there was and still is the massive landslide at Dobbyn Creek threatening homes and roads, the landslide in Benbow taking away a persons land, and other slides throughout the county.

We were busy.

And then there were missing persons, accidents, other road closures.

Over the last several weeks I have been pulling the data from SoHum Awareness facebook page and Kym’s blog and other sources into a website that will act as the archive for SoHum Awareness facebook page, as well as a place for those to go who don’t want to go to Facebook for any reason (SoHum Awareness facebook page is a public page anyone can read the content.. you don’t need a facebook account) or don’t want to go to Kym’s blog either, as she has marijuana related articles on there as well as local info.

I have always been ‘into’ disaster preparedness, I look at SoHum Awareness facebook page as the beginning of gathering locals to pay more attention to how fragile our connection with the rest of the world is. We can be cut off in a hurry and for lengths of time. We need more organization around these issues, and I believe this page and website will help further that goal. We are already connected to county roads, CalTrans, Southern Humboldt Technical Response, CalFire, Briceland Volunteer Fire Department, and the list will keep growing. And as always it is the work of the few to benefit the good of the many. I hope to get more locals involved with the different tech systems available to map incidents, to help when things go terribly wrong.

The page is being used daily by local news broadcasters to gather info, (too bad they don’t acknowledge where they pull that info from in their reports).

I hope to have the website for SoHum Awareness facebook page up and live by the end of the month, it all depends on things slowing down so I can catch up to the current news.

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So that is why I haven’t worked on this blog lately or my other websites that I am moving on the WordPress platform.

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Shade House for the salad greens!

And then spring was finally here, which meant for me, getting the lettuce / herbs / salad greens beds happening.. and buying starts for everything. Planning the garden and getting it in. We also got a small greenhouse up (one of those steel pole poly types) to get some starts going and to house the early stuff till the weather in the garden is warm enough.

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And tonight maybe Rapture !