Wow, what a night!  I'm still trying to write it all up..It couldn't've been better except David was so very tired after the show...

The short of it is that we did, indeed, entice David to join us in Otmar's stretch!  David got all under the stretch to see how Otmar made it, and even took it around the block himself with us for a spin!  He loved it!  [Otmar's stretch is a stretch Westfalia VW camper -- he took two of them, cut off the front and back, and welded them together.  The camper part even still works!  http://evcl.com/vw/index.html ]

Then we spent quite a while just hanging out and telling stories.  David told this very long story about touring France on his bicycle.  It was wonderful because it was a very long story, that eventually had a point to it, but the point was merely the destination, and the story was the long, wonderful journey of it.  It wasn't a 3-minute song-like story that is polished and well-rehearsed.  He was telling stories with us as *friends* which I had always wanted to share with him...

I felt like I got to say all the things I wanted to say all these years.  And I'm glad I got to say them *now* instead of when I was young and full of worshipful crush. :)  I knew better then, though, and never approached him after a show.  Even last night, I felt pretty silly and stupid. :)

I said that it must get tiresome that his fans treat him like they know him so well, but he doesn't know them at all.  But he said it didn't really, and that he just loves the energy he gets from that intimacy.  [And he told a story about a guy who's opening sentence was more like the middle of a long conversation...]

And I even got confirmation that I *was* there the night of the "secret song" on East Asheville Hardware, the "country" version of Eye of the Hurricane.  The story I tell about that night is a long one and just wonderful, so ask me sometime.  It's a good one.  [But this David Wilcox story is even better!]

He's playing two more times in the area, and if I have the time, I'll go to *both*, like I used to do in Asheville when he'd play two sets and I'd go to them both:

From his website:

14 May 2002 (Tue)
The Palms Playhouse - Davis CA
www.palmsplayhouse.com
726 Drummond Ave Davis CA
530-756-8502

15 May 2002 (Wed)
Kuumbwa Jazz Center - Santa Cruz CA
Venue phone: 831-427-2227
320-2 Cedar St
Santa Cruz CA
www.kuumbwajazz.com

http://davidwilcox.com

If you want to go either of these, let me know.  The Davis one is the most probable, because the venue is about to close, and we'd party on up there in the stretch!

I don't know if we can steal him away again like we did, but if we ever had a chance to run the firefall for him, you can bet we would!  [Not this trip since his schedule is pretty hectic!]  And we're trying to tell him he needs to go to Burning Man! :)

Well, anyway, it was by far the best concert I have ever gone to, and the most magical night I've had in a very long while.  And it was North Carolina magic, which is very different from the magic out here -- which is still good, but just...different.

I'll write up the whole adventure and out it on purplefeather.com under stories.  I'll post a link when I'm done...  Probably it's time to make a whole David Wilcox page!

Kiki