Show #7 #8 Kansas City and Tulsa
Beautiful cities - Beautiful People
Blew into town on afternoon of 17th (Friday) to use as a hub for the next week with only two shows scheduled - Kansas City and Tulsa. Picked up the rental at the Tulsa Airport and was just kicked in the nuts---- Kevin- your license is expired! What? "Sir, your license is expired. You can only have the car until tomorrow February 19, when on your birthday- you are fucked." Note to self : Take passport when traveling, take second ID, and check on these little important things. Agreed to just the one day and took off in a brand new Chevy GMC Terrain - I am told it is replacing the Traverse. Beautiful car, good ride. 225 Miles to Kansas City.
Driving North along empty highway through Kansas I was god smacked by a sign--- Pottawatomie Creek 22 Miles. HEY!!!!! Detour!! How often do you get to stand on the ground of where history was made. John Brown , insane, failure at everything in life, fanatic, nuts, but probably the single greatest cause of the Civil War. (Ed burrs). This detour took me through roads and fields right out of early 20th century America. Now, When Kansas says, "use caution, roads are not maintained, they mean it. Tire rim deep in mud at a few points. I found a good spot along creek to get out and wander and contemplate when I heard a voice garbled over a bullhorn-- I look and a farmer on a huge tracker was at the edge of his field yelling at me with a bullhorn (!!) "that ain't near where you think you are. You have to go to the other side of town- Osswattamie." Well talk about a wet blanket and shrinkage. Detour on the way home then.
Wandered around the downtown non Gentrified area of Kansas and I am now certain that "Downtown" USA for major cities are all the same - they are now interchangeable in appearances with the downtrodden, forgotten, homeless, out of luck, and just filth and decay. Walk three blocks the other direction - POOF like magic the impact of new money being poured into an over century old neighborhood. In Kansas City , just blocks away from center of town where it looks like they forgot to finish demolishing it, there is a "new" look to the freight house along the tracks. There is a BBQ place (SCORE!) called Jackstack's BBQ that has a line out the door until closing time at 10:00 PM. Saturday night , night of show, I was told it was a normal Saturday night- booked until closing , standing room only at bar area and people eating at just a banister. These same people I am sure, would not even dare to walk 3 blocks north or any direction. But, in Kansas City , like other cities, a positive of this new gentrification are businesses owned by the employees - many businesses in this new area are part of a local co op where at least 50% of the employees are owners. I asked about this in a coffee shop and maybe it sounds promising. (Another thread for discussion).
The Entire facade of Union Station was lit in Red with Chiefs flags covering the building. nice. The Show was killer with great renditions of songs before a loud vocal crowd. Driving back after the show and again took a detour through sleepy Kansas Town to find John Brown memorial and battle site. Ok. Bucket list. Check. I was 35 or 40 miles in on a stretch of highway and looking for a place to grab some sleep. Forgetting completely the "fuck around and find out" X Y coordinates of life, Kevin was flying about 90 miles when, I swear to God, A sound like a mini jet engine swoops in behind me. WTF? Bam! head lights and cherry lights. Well played, artista. He went from 0 to God knows what in seconds on my ass like a cheap whore. Well I'm screwed five ways to Sunday- expired license, rental, Kansas, 2:00 AM. He maneuvered to the opposing lane and blared over the intercom "SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!" and zoom. Gone like midnight= lights off. Was that real? did that just happen? Nice undeserving birthday gift. I slept about 4 hours at a LOVES and made the 24 hour rental time of 10:30. Got Uber to drive out to the sticks of a place called Broken Arrow which was advertised as Tulsa -- WRONG ! HA! Learning here, learning take notes. Got my Duffle bag - waved good bye and headed into Tulsa for a motel.
Things to do in Tulsa
Country music hall of fame
Center of the Universe
The house where Outsiders was filmed
Woody Guthrie musuem
Bob Dylayn Archives
Leon Russel Church Studio
Cain's music house
Route 66 Foot crawl - food coma
and just plenty of room to walk around
Great place to hang out and do some work and see Bruce.
Kevin discovered this magical thing- it is a device that is able to transport you to all over a city with these portal locations--- its called a bus card. So with no rental, we can use this app GO, as a wallet that is connected to a hundred cities in America where you can select the local transit agency you wish and select how much you want to pay : 3 hour 6 hour 12 hour full day. and poof. You don't touch anything.
Tusla show was OFF THE CHART. Not going to rank because that will obviously offend people, but .... Tonight was up there as best thus far. Crowd, considering the size, was as loud as Dallas. They were just having it.
Band entrance -- holding breath-- JAKE!! All is well. But wait, No Lisa- and no love for Lisa. Bruce did not mention at all that a member was absent and not there. A member that has worked with him even before 2006 Seeger Sessions. Not cool Bruce. NO LOVE FOR LISA. I will chalk it up to old age because our hero is slipping .
GHOSTS- great part at end with Jake at mic. Jake was making effort to stay at least 3 feet away from Bruce. Bruce waved to come in, Bruce waved to come in. And thwen Bruce pulled jake by scruff of coat into Mic. Pretty cool statement but- it would be even better if Jake didn't sit out two shows (another thread for covid positive tests and bullshit of sitting out)
Out in the Street - when you hear the audio - Bruce comes to back stage and forgets his Mic. He reaches into pocket and pulls out lent, and he smiles and laughs at Jake and points to front of stage, "I need my mic!" And then he comes back to the back.
Who would have thought that what was needed to kick the show up was Darlington County or Bobby Jean. That stretch of Ghosts-Shuffle-Darlington-99-was just rockin. Good call.
I knew something was up during Rising, because when it came down for the last verse--- Bruce motioned to Steve and shook his head and huddled for a second and Steve shook his head and went to Gary and Roy. Some change. Now I find out it was dropping LOHAD.
And a first for the tour- the badlands chant by the crowd through the encore and delaying bruce starting Thunder Road. Tusla! sounding like those crazy Italians. You Rock.
Stellar show and I think I got some great video that I will share with the good people at the pony before it works its way to the "for sale" crowd. Remember single camera by someone with no experience filming.
@Denver. So sorry, During Ghosts Battery issue and then focus issue on this new camera. I still don't know how to work everything. Only got about half of song. PUtting up Shuffle Darlington first to share
I gotta work my way home to fix my license issue. check in with my primary for a COVID test and then check on my parents and sister and then fliy out to Portland on Saturday Feb 25.
All the best...
It's not Dark yet....
K
