On November 12 I headed up to Lewiston, Maine. I was to play a noon concert at Bates College the following day. My friend from high school, Joseph Wea, was visiting Boston and accompanied me on this trip. The traffic was light and bits of this year’s foliage remained, but now we have so few hours of daylight, and it made the drive seem like an endless journey. By the time I arrived, the sky was pitch black and it felt as though it were 11 pm, yet it was only around 6:30.
For dinner, I located Gritty’s, a local joint that also brews its own beers. This is where the journey began — as I pulled into a parking spot, something felt strange. When Joseph got out of the car, he said, “Hey, you have a flat tire.” After dinner and beers, roadside assistance came, so all was well.
We were put up at the beautiful Dunn Guest House. After settling in, I practiced a bit in the dining room.
The next day, after a light breakfast, we made our way over to Olin Arts Center. The concert hall was beautiful and I got out my guitar.
About 25 minutes before the concert was supposed to start, there was a campus-wide power outage. Groovy. After a few more minutes, Seth Warner, who was coordinating the concert, came to tell me about Plan B — to play in the hallway. Hallways and I go way back, so I was all for it. I think the most incredible part of the concert was that there were a ton of kids. Apparently, there’s a school across the street and they always attend the noon concerts at Bates. Not only that–they also write reviews! I should be getting mine in a week or so. Look at all these young happy faces! Incredible! I wish I had that kind of exposure when I was young!
Special thanks to Joseph Wea for all the beautiful pictures!
