With our flight out of Oakland on Sunday at 9pm, the fellas and I had all day to kill and we spent most of it on a sun-splashed roofdeck overlooking the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the Presidio, all the way down to the waterfront.  It was truly a spectacular, and relaxing, end to an incredibly memorable trip out to Northern California last weekend. 

Our mini-tour began on Thursday afternoon when landed in Oakland, and then picked up an upright bass to borrow from our new friend John, who runs a terrific music shop in San Anselmo called Amazing Grace.  From there we made our way up to wine country for our radio interview/performance on KRSH in Santa Rosa.  Our buddy Bill Bowker is always kind to us, and we had a fun time on his show.  (What other DJ offers you a beer when you arrive?)  From the feedback we've gotten, it seems a lot of you tuned in, which is great.  Afterward we cruised over to Sebastopol for our show at Ace in the Hole.  Ace in the Hole is one of those places we would kill to have here in Boston, a laid-back cider bar with great pub food, the friendliest patrons, and folks who really, truly love music.  Thanks to all who came out for the show, and especially to Sooz for booking us.  Sebastopol is special town and we look forward to coming back in the spring.

Usually when we're on tour, the next gig is at least several hours away (at least), which means most of our sightseeing is done from a speeding vehicle--"Hey, look!  There's Atlanta!" zoooooom--so it's a real treat when we actually get to be in one place for the day and see some of what that town or city has to offer.  Fortunately for us this time, all three of our shows were either in San Francisco or a quick drive from there, which meant each day we were able to sneak in some quality tourism before our gigs at night.  On Halloween, for example, in search of costumes, we headed over to Haight-Ashbury and killed time there.  We also hit up Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach, Chinatown, and well, just about everywhere else at some point during the weekend.  But it was our visit to see the redwoods and sequoias at Muir Woods that left the biggest impression.  Roughly 10 miles north of SF, Muir Woods is one of the last remaining refuges for the ancient redwoods that once dominated that area of the country.  Most of these magnificent trees are thousands of years old and stand stoically high atop the Pacific, like tall pillars of a grand cathedral.  We gladly paid our $5 admission for the chance to spend a couple of hours at Muir Woods.  Under the cool canopoy of the redwoods' mighty branches is a soul-fulfilling sense of what it means to be alive on this planet.  I snapped as many pictures as I could, and even shot some video, but none of it could ever come close to capturing the majesty of actually being there.  After a few hours amidst the redwoods, if you aren't excited to make music, then you might as well just put down your instrument and find something else to do with your life.

Suffice to say, our spirits were as high as, well, redwoods, by the time we got to the Plough and Stars on Friday night.  I will admit that this is not the most ideal venue for us--the stage is at the far end of a rather long and cavernous bar, and the PA is evil; you feel more than a tad disconnected from the audience--but we have played there twice now and each time have enjoyed ourselves and have had enthusiastic crowds, so there isn't too much to complain about.  San Francisco treats us well.

As was the case our last time out to the Bay Area in February, our final show of the tour was across the Bay in Alameda, in a small neighborhood bar called McGrath's.  Walking into McGrath's is like walking into any unpretentious, outdated corner bar you've ever been to, circa 1978.  Everything in there is vintage, including the PA, which has only two knobs to be shared amongst its five channels.  There are no monitors; the speakers are on opposite walls, kitty-corner to one another; and there is definitely not a stage, rathern just a swath of beige-or-once-white carpeting near the front door.  BUT...this place kicks total ass.  The people who stop in on Saturdays for bluegrass night love their roots music, and they love to have a good time.  They pack in and they drink beer and they listen and they clap.  If they hate you, they'll tell you so.  But if they love you, they really love you.  Fortunately for us, the folks at McGrath's dig what we do.  As you know by now, we learned all of Dark Side of the Moon just for the occasion.  Despite having rehearsed it almost nonstop for three weeks, we were nervous.  Earlier in the day we ran through it twice, and butchered it each time.  Okay, so maybe we didn't butcher it, per se, but it sure wasn't yet up to our standards.  Lucky for us, we decided to play it for our third and final set of the night, thereby giving ourselves two full sets of our own material to loosen up and settle in.  Our plan worked, evidently.  Our performance of DSOTM was a success.  At first, it was as if the crowd still wasn't convinced we were going to play the whole album, even though we did all the interludes and everything.  It wasn't until we got to the tick-tock-tick-tock intro to "Time" that they realized this was for real, and by the time Jordan was ripping the vocal solo in "Great Gig in the Sky" on his violin the whole room, including us in the band, was grinning from ear to ear.  I don't want to make this sound like we were playing to an arena of thousand of people with a world-class light show.  No, we were a pseudo-bluegrass band digging in on our acoustic instruments, trying to tackle a the granddaddy of all classic rock masterpieces in a neighborhood bar in a tiny city most people have never heard of.  But really, that's what made it such a beautiful moment.  That's why we do what we do, to be able to share something like that with a crowd of people who are giving us energy, and in return and feeding off ours.  That's what music is all about.  Hell, that's what LIFE is all about.

On behalf of Ben, Jeremy, and Jordan, I want to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, everyone who came out to see us, everyone who offered us a place to stay, bought CDs, signed our mailing list, bought us beers, gave us directions, and made us feel at home.  Next time out we likley will try our hands at some larger venues and try to reach even more people, but we expect to bring the same energy with us and are confident that we can have just as much success.  I don't know what they put in the water out there, but Northern California is a special place, one that we were sad to leave on Sunday, and one that we already can't wait to visit again this spring--with our new record!! 

Andy

PS:  I've been experimenting with a new website for Jo Henley.  It's still very much a work in progress, with not much to look at--or listen to--yet, but please keep checking back.  We are looking for something to replace our rarely-ever-updated old website, a place to get up-to-date information about Jo Henley.  We have so many awesome things in store for the next 12 months and we want you all to be there with us every step of the way.

johenley.wordpress.com