Sonoma, CA 07/28/12
Did I enter a worm hole and end up back in the south for an NHRA event?! Nope, it's just Sonoma, CA on a weekend at Hopmonk Tavern.
After spending a relatively sleepless night in the driver’s seat of my pickup the night before, I can’t say that I felt all that great when I arrived in Sonoma, CA at Hopmonk Tavern for my gig on Saturday afternoon. My best laid plans to find a YMCA for a shower were thwarted by an out of date Google Maps address/bad info on my phone and, well… it was a deodorant shower short of day. But body odor be damned, I loaded in for my set in a really cool little outdoor bier garden and got ready to rock. I honestly wasn’t sure about what kind of voice I’d have after singing for 3.5 hours the night before followed by shoddy night’s “sleep”, but Throat Coat, Halls Vitamin-C Drops, and water saved me along with a little enthusiasm and a “show must go on” attitude. It turns out that I got what I needed from my vocal folds. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that things sounded pretty darned good…
My mobile set up outside at Hopmonk Tavern in Sonoma, CA. It was a compact stage, but man... it did sound pretty good in that space!
It was a full house, the sun was shining (thankfully, I was under the cover of a few good umbrellas), and there was a gentle breeze to keep things comfy during the performance. It’s always a good sign when you see people chewing to the beat and bobbing their heads while humming and singing along. After two hours or so, I wrapped it up, ate a ridiculously good burger from the kitchen, packed up my gear and battled the NHRA race traffic near Sears Point en route to meet my buddy John for a mountain bike ride on Mount Tam in Mill Valley, CA.
On the descent from the top of Mt. Tam on the loose, rocky Eldridge Trail looking to the north and east. Beautiful...
When I finally made it to Mill Valley to suit up for the ride, I was mentally and physically toast. No sleep the night before, a hot day gigging, and the road were starting to take their toll. Never mind all that, it was time to ride, and my buddy just got a new rig, so I had to go. We busted out from his house on the road to the base of Mt. Tam, did a head fake on the trail head for Railroad Grade, then decided on the more technical climb up Tenderfoot. I was hurting from the night before and my general lack of inactivity since moving to Tennessee in March, but it felt great to breath hard and work the legs a bit. We climbed some near perfect trail conditions to the top of Mt. Tam, then dropped off the back side where I snapped the photo above. When we finally made it back to John’s house, I was crushed and only a shower and some food stood in between me and the sand man. All in all, it was a solid day. Big thanks to my friends at Hopmonk Tavern, my fans and friends that made it to the gig, and my buddy John for kickin’ my butt up and down Mt. Tam afterwards. Huge day.