Estoy Nueces

I am resting today after the adventure of Jackfest yesterday. It was a fun day after all, despite my dread of things to come. I wish I could relax and anticipate all the fun I could possibly have instead of thinking of all the things that might make it less than fun.

The limo was a nice way to go, that's for sure. The gang was late arriving, but I expected that. Rounding up 9 people to get going is not easy. The limo was a stretch hummer that looked like a disco inside. Quite pimped out. I didn't know how much access we would have during the day to the limo or I could have planned better. As it was, everyone else provided enough for me, too, which was very nice. We stopped and bought beer and they had already brought lots of liquor and they had lots and lots of sandwiches, chips, nuts, and pretzels.

The trip was not a speedy ride down, considering the stop for beer and the bathroom breaks and smoking breaks. But make it we did and I got to see Jon Dee Graham's set. I think I was the only one interested in that. Caught Randy Rogers Band next and Scott Miller (my first chance to see him and I was highly impressed and bought a CD). Also Ray Wylie Hubbard (with his little boy Lucas on guitar) and James McMurtry, Lee Ann Womack, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Jack.

We did have plenty of access to the limo so that was nice to be able to crawl off to a cool, quiet, relaxing place with free food and beverage.

I saw many more people that I knew than I expected to see. Lots of folks from my SA station, lots of music people. Johnny Bush was even backstage so we had a little visit. Some people bored me and I got good at excusing myself and leaving when necessary. Most people were pretty drunk so I doubt that it even registered with them.

The crew I was with were sure drinkers. I don't know how they do it. Some of them had three mixed drinks on the drive home! During the day it was non-stop beer for them and then they switched to cocktails in the evening. I kept is very sober all day. I had easily 2 or 3 times as many beers as I usually have on a night out, but they were spread throughout the 12 hour day and I interspersed them with lots of Gatorade and shaved ice and Coke. I was perfectly sober throughout the day, which made things more interesting.

Fun experience of the night was when I met the new record rep for Jack. I was introduced and he said, "Oh, and you have a sister, is it?, in Dallas?" He's the father of a friend of my nephew's and I've heard about him for a couple of years, but never had met him. He played me two new songs from Jack that will come out in November and I hope they break him on a national level finally. He deserves it.

Today is a holiday and a vacation day for me. I worked in the yard and even got on our roof and swept off all the accumulations of leaves. I thought about how frightening it would be to sit on that roof and to have water rising all around you. I was on the mostly flat part of the roof and it was scary enough. I really would hate to be up on the slanted parts in hurricane winds.

Bless my sweet husband for carrying out my good intentions. I heard Saturday night that our Austin shelters needed sheets, towels, blankets, pillows. We have lots and I wanted to get them together and donate them. I felt bad going off to this festival and leaving that undone. While I was gone, Mark gathered them all and gathered soaps and shampoos and things we had from hotels and took them all to the center...even having to wait in line which required patience that he often does not have. I was so pleased he accomplished that for me.

This whole event had made me want to prepare for emergencies like nothing ever has before. I want to get water and food and be able to go a few days without electricity and water if we needed to. I know an ice storm knocked out my aunt's power for several days a few years ago. She had a generator that kept her freezer and refrigerator going.

I also want to divest myself of many of the "things" that I don't need. We are up to our ears in stuff and I want to move it on out of my life. Not everything, of course, and I will always have a lot of stuff, I know, but I don't want to be tied down by all the stuff. I know it isn't important and I want to set it free. ha

I am going to go see Mark play tonight. I haven't been there in a few months and the smoking ban is in effect so I want to go see how that works. I'm not a smoker, but I was against a ban, but I hope it does clear the air and that people who resisted going to smokey bars will now come out and enjoy the music.