Wingteam Powers Activate!

The school year is winding down and I am getting ready for the summer to arrive. The summer is a special time around my house as it is exceedingly quiet. My family makes the exodus at the end of June and I am pretty much on my own 5 days a week at home for  the better part of 2 months. I go up to the sleep away camp my wife works at on the weekends, yet it is a very special time in our marriage. We get a small break. It’s a time to spread out and take up the whole bed. A time to recharge the batteries by becoming reacquainted with us as individuals not just a pair involved in a mad dash to complete a list. At times it feels like there are boulders being tossed in front of us during the scramble. But during the summer we gain a healthy appreciation for each other. This post will be one of many that come up on this general subject leading up to the summer and hell most likely during the summer too. As I started typing the intro I started thinking about the freedom I have during the approaching season. I plan for and romanticize this time all year. Invariably the first thoughts on this subject is live music.  It seems like I pack most of my concert going into this time.

One of the things I miss most about being unencumbered is going on the road and seeing shows, touring around the country. This was the thing I loved most growing up. It’s also the thing that sat me up, straitened me out and put me on the path I am today. I guess you can’t be on the road forever. It just takes too much out of you but dipping my toe into those waters here and there during the summer makes me feel whole.  My revolving crew of partners in crime, The Wingteam, as I so lovingly refer to them, seems to understand this very well. We hit a couple of  festivals over the summer and about a show a week during the week. Mountain jam, Gathering Of The Vibes, Further shows, Moe., Wilco, Antibalas the list goes on.  The best of them for me are the ones that include travel. I say this not from the perspective of the music played but the process and devolving of the trip you take, the road you ride and the completion of the circle from what seems to be reality to fantasy and back to reality again. We meet so many people. Some are just like us and some are still living the life. Others have taken the life and incorporated it into the next stages of their life and are living off or near off the mainstream grid.  I am a people person. I love to watch them and interact with them. The masses at these events are just the greatest movie I have ever watched. Much of my daily life disappears and what is left is a sea of personalities.  Love it… I will be sending some entrees from the events and post shows. Look for them in time. I will try to post some pictures and music from them as I get them.

Let the summer start already! Look for my posts covering the rest of the summer doldrums.