Two Bits Tour, Day 1

(Erik & Ted play a hambo during the break. Photo by Pat O'Loughlin)

Erik drove in from the farm and picked me up at 5:30. We met Patrice at the Minneapolis airport about 4 hours later and soon were settled in our luxury (not) seats for the flight to DCA. My guitar and mandolin flew first class though, thanks to a friendly Northwest employee who stowed them in an empty bin up front. Ted and Pat (who had flown out two days early) met us at the baggage claim and we started our trip to Philly.

We grabbed a tasty dinner at the Glenside Pub, home of memorable sessions in the past, and made it to the hall on time (for a change). The Glenside dance is one of our favorites and April 3 was a good night for us. It seemed like we didn't need a lot of warming up and instead went straight to full throttle. It helped that our old pal Scott Higgs was handling sound and Ted was telling some of the best jokes ever (OK, that's a lie).

A big treat for me was discovering the new Tuneadelphia! tunebook for sale at the door. This is a great collection of tunes composed by folks associated with the local SPUDS group and is beautifully printed with excellent notes and illustrations. Kudos to compiler/editor Sarah Gowan and her crew of contributors. If you are looking for new tunes you definitely should get one.

When the dance fun was done we loaded back into the Tedmobile and hit the turnpike. A long, late drive back to Takoma Park with exhausted, aging musicians (and the everyoung Erik). I think this was the drive where we listened to a CD of one of our spiritual guides, David Sedaris. Finally we made it to Ted's place and set up camp for the weekend.

Here are the tunes we played that Thursday, not necessarily in order.

Waitin for Nancy/Over the Waterfall
Loaves and Fishes/Too Many Goats/Fourth & Walnut
Bay of Fundy/Maid Behind the Bar/Mouth of the Tobique
Manistique/Reel Eugene/Evit Gabriel
Mason's Apron/Maggie in the Snow/Julia Delany
Sweetbriar/What You Got There/Scandy Twist
Two Lieutenants/Sledding at Walnut Ridge/Emory's Crossing
Palisades/Christmas Past/Fairbanks
Road to Bangor/Eager to Please/La Maison de Glace
Angeline the Baker/Scollay's/Liberation

Waltzes: Alice's Garden & Ballroom Echoes