Standing on the Last Leg

Steve & Kristi Nebel @ Fleetwood Folk Club
Taken with a cellphone by Joe Boe

   

     We are moving into our last leg of our tour.  Kristi has a bad cough, and I don't think she's getting well fast enough.  I'm hoping that I don't come down with whatever she has soon.  The up side is that she doesn't seem to have a bad fever, and is well enough during the day.  Also she has been able to get through the night when we are performing.  So far, so good.  She has been sick for at least a week now.
     This leg of our tour will be very strenuous, and I made sure that it will be by booking a little festival up in Yorkshire for our last couple of days.  We are playing near Leicester tonight for our old friend, John Montague.  John has helped me out with a PA on many occasions now, and this tour is no exception.  He helped us into a couple of pub dates this week, and he'll be lending us a PA to manage them.  Of course those are just another night in a noisy barroom, and I'd say not our forte`.  Nonetheless, it will help us get through the last few days of our tour.
     The car we have been driving has not been an optimum experience.  It was a breath of fresh air when they sent a guy to help us with it when it had a flat tire in Fleetwood.  He replaced the windshield wiper blades, which were entirely worn out, and we needed a new headlight so he replaced that.  The tire got fixed, and Enterprise Car Rentals paid for that, which was good.  The car gets 44 miles per gallon, which keeps expenses to a minimum, so that's good.  It's very cramped with all the stuff we're carrying, and when we stick a PA in there . . . it's really going to be cramped.  I think we'll be using the vertical space in the car.
     I've been thinking about the economy back home, and the ongoing political campaigns.  I think that the protest on Wall Street is an excellent idea.  I read a Michael Moore column yesterday and he was talking about it.  He suggested that the protesters there are in for it, but that there should be more of us to fill the ranks as they are arrested.  I agree with him, but am fairly powerless from here.  Of course, I also live on the west coast of North America, and don't have the resources to just fly off to New York City to be arrested at any time I wish.  I'm sure that defines many of us.  I've seen other writers suggest that we are in for a year of civil unrest in the USA.  Let's hope so.  Let's hope that it is non-violent and relentless.
     Meanwhile, back in the UK Steve and Kristi are getting ready for the last leg of their tour.  We'll be playing Bishop's Stortford's "Stortfolk" on Thursday evening.  They have a new venue, are no longer in the basement of a church with a priest serving the drinks.  It is supposed to be a lot warmer too.  They are a fun lot with both singers, and instrumentalists.  We've been at Stortfolk every tour.  I'm sure it will be a marvelous evening.  I'm looking forward to playing them some new songs, and some old songs as well.
     There's a pub that we're playing near Stratford on Avon on Friday night.  It is a long ways from everyplace else we've gone, and after we play that night we are going to head north to get a head start to Cropton Folk and Roots Festival.   That will be our last gig in the UK this tour.  There will be a couple of local acts from this area there, and acts local to Yorkshire as well.  We were booked by Richard Grainger, who has booked us at his events in the past.  The scariest thing about it will be driving back to the airport after we play on Sunday.  It's just a long, tedious drive, and we have to deal with turning in the rental car and figuring out how to get to the airport by five in the morning after an exhausting weekend.  I figure I'll be able to sleep on the plane.  I believe we actually have three spots at Cropton.  They should be short, dynamic, and well recieved.  It will be a nice end to the last leg of our tour.  Keep the home fires burning.  Stoke them good.  We'll see you soon.