FROM THE ROAD

Northward Bound

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:00:00 AM

From the crisp fall air of Colorado, to the cold clean air of winter in Alaska; November brought us back to our home state.  First stop: Kodiak, Alaska, where the crab fisherman claim to be hardier then those from “The Deadliest Catch”, which I have no doubt they are.  We were submerged into a small drinking town with a fishing problem. Funny enough, there are no rental cars available in Kodiak that have 4 wheel drive and/or studs.  I had a blast trying to drive around during a crazy storm in that 12 passenger…. Two shows, two nights of hell raising fun; people were kicking up their feet, getting loose…Odessa’s mother spent two summers in Kodiak back in the 70s, so Odessa got to meet some of her mother’s long lost friends.  Angela and I had a beer at one of my favorite breweries in Alaska: Kodiak Brewery.  And the boys,,,, oh the boys,,, what didn’t they get in to?

Monday night brought a beautiful dinner and pickin’ party with our friends, Crooked Still, who happen to also be in Alaska at the same time we were. We had to have them over, just to feed them our own caught salmon, shrimp, and halibut, an assortment of Alaska brews: Kodiak Brew, Homer Brew, Moose’s Tooth Brew, and Glacier Brew, and of course, two of Sigrid Brudie’s famous Alaskan blueberry pies!

Back up to Anchorage for a couple days of practice on new material.  On Wednesday my brother and I braved the storm coming from the south and headed down to Seward for the night.  Woke up the next morning to Angela’s almost-hysterical voice on the answering machine, “Mike’s in the hospital, we can’t play Homer tonight!” So, I knock on my brother’s room, and sweetly ask, “Do you want to play with us tonight?” (Peter’s an amazing guitar player!).  And you know what he said?! Only a little brother would say this…. “Only if you make me a delicious breakfast.”  And delicious breakfast I did make!  We listened to Door and Windows all the way to Homer, and he picked up a couple more tunes when we got there… If I do say so myself, he did a pretty amazing job, and he only had 5 hours notice!  After the show, we went to my other favorite brewery in Alaska: Homer Brewery,,, had a little night cap with the folks over there: the owners, Karen and Steve, my Uncle Brad, and some other Homer locals…. An early call to Mike the next morning decided that he was still pretty sick, but well enough to play the Anchorage gig that night, so we said goodbye to Peter and Homer, and headed back to town.

Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks went by in a blur…. Sold out show in Anchorage and Talkeetna, and nearly sold out in Fairbanks!  Lots of hugs and talking to old friends… Had a wonderful after-show dinner at the Moose’s Tooth after the Anchorage show with some good friends.  Had to get up the next morning and drive to Talkeetna.  We haven’t played there in a couple years, and it was great to see what they have done with the Sheldon Center!  It is so beautiful!  Fairbanks brought -20 degrees Fahrenheit… Odessa was not happy about that…. Big thanks to Steve Baker and the Bailers for opening!  And also to all the volunteers!  A short night of sleep and we were driving back to Anchorage from our last gig of 2009.

Be safe out there,
Kate

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