Kendall and Utah Phillips

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 12:39 AM

Damn, I do wish I was there with you. Two of my favorite people on this planet to pick and sing and swap jokelore with. Kendall and Bruce, please, each of you do one of mine to pay back the ones I ripped off from the two of you through all the years.

Have a fine time!! It's times like this that make me miss it all more than I generally want to let on...

Art

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 12:48 AM

And if you get above the Ory-gun (proper pronunciation) border, bring me back a pair of them myrtlewood salt and pepper shakers. Whew, talk about tacky...

Love,

Art

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 03:26 AM

Now, there's an idea, Art. I think you would have loved the audience Kendall and Utah had Saturday. The three of you would have had a great time together on stage. You would have liked the tour I gave Kendall and Jacqui yesterday - waterfalls and steep canyons and all the beauties of the wilderness, seated on comfortable leather seats.
My wife let me use her car for the tour...
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 10:38 AM

We got back just about midnight last night, weary and travel worn but with so many good memories. Our lovely Mary picked us up from the jetport and delivered us home. She had made sure that there were alcoholic beverages in the fridge - a most welcome sight!

I'm still laughing from reading the thread - Mick, we will turn our attention to you soon dear! As has been stated, Kendall doesn't shop so I didn't have an opportunity to really find tacky gifts, altough I did get a little something for Mary....

We put about 1100 miles on the rental car, stayed at a variety of motels, some wonderful, one rather toward the tacky end. It feels like we drove up and down every mountain in Northern California and yes, we drove through TWO redwoods. Driving through the Valley of the Giants was awe inspiring. I am so glad we got to see those trees - they are something special. We even brought back a seedling, purchased from a visitor centre in the area. I'm not sure that it would ever be suitable for growing outdoors in Maine but it will be a reminder of a wonderful journey.

The main reason for the trip - the gig. Both if us were nervous about the performance and it turns out that Utah was as well. He hadn't been on stage for a couple of months as a result of his illness so Saturday night was a watershed for both of them. After the soundcheck about eighteen people involved in the show sat down to a meal provided by Joanna, Utah's wife, in the 'green room'. Kendall sat in the auditorium for the first half of the performance, which was all Utah, and then took the stage for the second half. I was sitting on the edge of my seat hoping that his voice would hold out - and it did, although I think that toward the end of his set he was feeling the effects. However, he got a great reception from the audience and looked very relaxed on stage. Both Kendall and Utah made the show something special and I felt priviledged to have been there.

I really enjoyed the time we spent with Utah and Joanna as well as meeting Mudcat friends old and new. It was a pleasure to meet Open Mike who lives in the most idyllic spot miles from anywhere and to spend a day exploring the local area with Joe, although I'm not so sure that Kendall was totally happy with being in the passenger seat close to the sheer drops on some of the mountain roads.

We managed to purloin the poster from the Centre for the Arts - it's about 4' x 6' and I have had it signed by both Utah and Kendall. This is going into the Mudcat auction, 100% of the proceeds to Mudcat funds. I'll be downloading photos later today or tomorrow and will then set up the auction item with a link to the flickr site (if I can get the blue clicky right!). There was a recording made of the show and there may be another auction for a copy of that. Utah says that we can do what we want with the recording so we may look at the cost of production of DVDs, but that will have to be researched for economics before making any commitment.

Thank you all for the good wishes which we have only now received - we had no interent access for the duration of the trip. I think that most of today will be spent catching up with what is going on.....

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 05:43 PM

DVDs, huh? I imagine any number of folks would order one in advance. I tried to convince Geeta, who was in San Francisco for a conference, to take a bus up there, but I guess it was a little out of the way. Nice to hear we may be able to watch the show after all, though it sure isn't the same.

Glad to hear you drove through two trees - next time, though, you might want to pick the ones with holes cut in them....

Dan Schatz

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 06:40 PM

Careful Dan. Kendall does the humor around here!
Watch for a PM from me.
Mary

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 07:18 PM

Well, it was a hire car Dan.......

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: Amos
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 08:28 PM

Sins:

That's what he told me, when he was doing his "water the mic stand" routine.... LOL!!


A

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: Homeless
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 08:31 PM

I missed this thread the first time around, but I see from the itinerary linked to earlier that there is gonna be a show about five blocks from me in a couple weeks. Is this Utah fella worth seeing if the other chap won't be there?

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 08:46 PM

Utah is always worth seeing, Homeless. If you go try and get a copy of his four CD set, Starlight on the Rails. It's a little more expensive than the others but well worth it for the commentary he gives on each track.

He's a great performer.

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: jacqui.c
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 08:49 PM

I've put some phots of the event on flickr, and if the clicky works you can see them here

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: kendall
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 09:04 PM

It was one hell of a good trip. Being asked to take the stage with one of my few heros, and getting to spend 4 days with him and his lovely wife, Joanna, was certainly a high spot for me this year.

Neither Utah nor I was up for an encore, because we both pushed ourselves to the limit. It's always a good idea to leave them wanting more any way.

Jacqui calls the Rockies "Those pointy bits". She and Joe enjoyed standing on the very edge of a sheer drop, and I must confess, I was as nervous as a Christain Scientist with a severed artery. The bottom was a long way off! Hell, if one fell off that cliff he would starve to death before he hit the bottom.

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: kendall
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 09:08 PM

Joe did a great job of showing us around some very beautiful country, and we thank him very much for that. Joe, your mountains may be higher, but our lobsters are more tasty!

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: open mike
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 09:20 PM

you may have good luck with that redwood seedling..or burl..
i have seen them growing on a swedish island in the Baltic!

Subject: RE: Kendall and Utah Phillips
From: kendall
Date: 14 Apr 06 - 09:26 PM

I'm still beat from all that travel, but I want to say what a pleasure it was to see Mudcatters at the performance. Amos, Barky and her friend, and of course our Chief Mudcatter, Joe and Christina. Joanna made a delicious dinner, and I insisted on getting the formula for the peas.
I gotta get some sleep.........