Guest Book

Brother JNB wasn't kidding about special guests tonight at Scrapomatic -- I got there a few minutes late and the first empty chair I could find in the audience was next to Doyle Bramhall! It was the first time I'd met this outstanding guitarist and I had a great time chatting with him about playing with Eric. He told me that the Saturday night show in Atlanta was one of the best on the entire tour and he had a lot of nice things to say about the Atlanta crowd. I told him that he and Derek were sure keeping the old man on his toes, but Doyle shook his head and said, "It's not me -- it's all Derek!" Susan was sitting next to Doyle and gave me a big hug. I first met her in 1999 in Texas as she and Derek were falling in love and she is one of my favorite performers. It was great to hang with her in a social setting -- she even bought me a beer! What a sweetheart. Derek was sitting next over but I didn't get a chance to talk to him till later. Also in the audience were Yonrico Scott, Col. Bruce Hampton, Tinsley Ellis, and Michael Rothschild (President of Landslide Records), as well as PatrickCrenshaw, jamgram, JNB, RobJohnson, and BarbPotter of the Guest Book. It was like old home night for me -- I lost track of the number of hugs! Susan and Derek sat in with Scrapomatic in a rousing version of Feel So Bad and I got busy snapping away for some photos that I'll post soon. There was a taper buddy of mine in the audience, so I hope this fine show gets into circulation quickly. After the show I ran into Derek and Susan downstairs at Smith's -- Derek and Doyle were locked into an intense Foosball battle with a couple of members of their party. Susan was chatting with the Colonel so I joined in. She said she's playing Madison Square Garden next month at a Knicks game, although I never did get clear whether it's a whole show or just the national anthem. She said that she and Derek had been headed out Friday night to see Duane play drums with the Colonel, but kids started acting up and they had to stay behind. Today, however, she and Derek and kids took Eric and his family to the Atlanta Aquarium. She said that Eric was not used to standing in line and was somewhat put out by the large crowd at the aquarium. Only a few folks recognized him, but he did not sign any autographs. Afterwards they went across the street to the Children's Museum where the kids really let loose -- Susan says Eric is a great dad. Col. Bruce also mentioned that the Atlanta Aquarium contacted him about an ARU show for their grand opening last year, but he wasn't able to pull it together because of tour obligations. Wouldn't that have been cool? I told Mike Mattison that I hope I see Scrapomatic a lot more often now that he lives in Atlanta -- Tinsley overheard and the two began talking about Mike opening for Tinsley at his Macon gig in two weeks. Don't know if it will work out, but it's nice to see these two great musicians making a connection. It was a great evening -- a transcendental show. I'm so glad I was able to be there and to see so many of my friends.