I was born, raised, am still fortunate enough to live here on the California coast. Over the past few days, however, I came to quickly appreciate a modern convenience known as “air conditioning”. The wife and I spent the weekend up in the Roseville, Nevada City, Newscastle area, with me playing music, spending a bit of time with friends, and checking in with the area’s wonderful community of folks who are VERY appreciative of acoustic, singer\/songwriter types like me.<\/p>\n
We experienced an interesting contrast as we left home: The night drew in, but the air grew warmer. And then we realized: \u201cWe’re going towards Sacramento. And the Sierras. In July.\u201d <\/p>\n
We rolled into Roseville around 11:30 Friday night. A little sleep \u2013 \u201clittle\u201d since the heat really didn’t drop all night – and I was up Saturday morning bopping around all day in the 104-degree heat: An appearance on KVMR FM<\/a> with Larry Hillberg’s \u201cBack Roads\u201d, \u201chowdy’s\u201d with a few other KVMR DJs including Michael Babiarz and Wesley Robertson \u2013 Wesley seems to be the linchpin for all things music in Grass Valley – a cup of coffee at Evangeline’s Caf\u00e9<\/a> in Colfax, and a quick nap at homebase in Roseville.<\/p>\n That afternoon it was off to Newcastle and big night at The Acoustic Barn. This was Kevin Odell’s 33rd show in 3 years. After a celebratory BBQ, I joined songwriters Greg Kitchel<\/a>, Dana Hubbard<\/a>, and Stephen Hohstadt<\/a> for a sold-out crowd and an evening of in-the-round tunes that capped off around midnight. Eventually, I was having so much fun, I forget about the heat. <\/p>\n Sunday morning I was privy to see the nerve center of Wild West Radio<\/a> in Roseville, played live on the air, and then spent some time interviewing stationmeister Jeff Scammon, documenting HIS story for a future episode of my \u201cSongs and Stories\u201d podcast. <\/p>\n My wife and I rolled back over Highway 17<\/a> around 7:00 pm Sunday night, with an absolutely gorgeous bank of fog enveloping the Monterey Bay Area. Yeah, it was warm up north. But what I think is even more overwhelming is just the amount of nice folk I’ve been fortunate enough to cross paths with up there. <\/p>\n And here back home, it’s still cool and foggy. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Epilogue<\/b>: This morning, a couple of Redding pals emailed me and asked, \u201cWhen are you playing Redding again<\/a>?\u201d I wrote back and asked, \u201cWhen does it drop below 114 degrees?\u201d<\/p>\n