Ever see a mandolin player headbang??

Last night was that Yonder Mountain String Band show that I was so excited about. I knew that it was for this "thing" called "E-Town", but I didn't really know what E-town was. Tim tried to explain, but I still didn't really know what he was talking about.

Well, it was unlike any other show I've ever seen. In fact, it wasn't like a concert at all. E-town is a one hour music variety show, where they have a few artists come on, play some songs, do an interview, then play a little more. It was a lot like some artist features on NPR; you hear them playing in front of a live audience and hear the interviews on the radio. Seeing this happen as a member of the live audience was a trip - for example, they introduced Yonder Mountain, they played 3 songs, and then they RE-introduced them (without the band really coming back on) because they didn't like how it turned out the first time. We'd have to repeat the "tail end of that applause" so they could come in and thank the sponsors, and sometimes the audience was too loud, or the announcer chick would flub it. In mid-song, David Wilcox flubbed a verse and they repeated it. All this, so they could cut and paste a 2 1/2 hour show into a 1 hour show. This, and they had to edit out the morons that kept yelling out to try to be on the radio. :P  It was so great because Yonder played a few songs, got interviewed, then David Wilcox came on and did a few, got interviewed, did some more songs, interviewed some guy from a Katrina musician's nonprofit, then Yonder came back out and played more. In the end, David Wilcox, Nick Forster (musician and host of E-town), and Yonder all played that Motown song, "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson - which of course was freaking fantastic. 10 people on stage, including 2 mandolins, a banjo, a string bass, a few guitars...

David Wilcox is one of those singer songwriters that tells a story and gets, well, pretty emotional. He doesn't shy away from religion, love, politics, or anything - "feel good" music. I'd guess they'd play him on one of those "positive thinking" radio stations. :)  He was a little too touchy feely for me for a lot of songs, but irregardless of that, he was SUCH a talented singer and guitar player that I have to give him props. Tim really likes him; but he's weird. Especially since he likes Marilyn Manson and Tool just as much as I do. Go figure. ;)

Anyway, they do air E-Town around in Michigan. I think the latest one is of Susan Tesdeschi - a blues/folk awesome singer with a killer voice. I don't know when this Yonder show will be aired. Anyway, here's some stations to check out in Michigan; other places, check out the website to find them, you'd figure it out.  Ann Arbor's station, 107.1 fm, plays it on Sunday morning from 7-8 am. It is also on 107.1 in the Detroit Metro area, on Sunday morning at 10 am. Around Detroit it is also on 91.5 on Thursday at 10 am (supposedly, though it's not on their website), and in Lansing on 89.7 at 1 pm on Wednesday and Saturday.

Yonder is probably one of my all time favorite bands, and now I've finally seen them live! The lead guy, Jeff Austin, sings and headbangs while playing mandolin. How cool is that?! People couldn't help but finally bust out of their seats and start dancing at the end of the show (which was discouraged because of the nature of the program).

Tim's friend and his girl bailed on our camping trip, so it's just him and I hiking up to the North Fork tomorrow. He's stuck with me in the wilderness, bwa ha ha. We are hiking out tomorrow afternoon, and there is a full moon on the 2nd... with this fresh new snow we got yesterday, it should be absolutely gorgeous, with our cabin all to ourselves... a fireplace and a propane stove to curl up next to... Have I mentioned, life is good? :)

My last day with the fire crew was yesterday, and I couldn't even work! I went in, but I got a migrane the night before, so when we were going over the weather and morning briefing, I couldn't even see straight and the light was hurting my eyes. They were hiking a steep part in a snowstorm, and I just couldn't do it, my head was pounding and my vision was blurry. So alas, I went home, took a pill, shut all the shades and went into a coma until 1 pm yesterday. It was fun work, in a masochistic sort of way. Now, I just have to wait to see if I get that crewleader job, which closed yesterday. Hope to hear in two weeks where I made it on the cert (the list that ranks you).

Hmm what else is new. Time to run down to Boulder and get some snowshoes for this weekend! Oh, and somebody is coming to look at my Focus tomorrow. Hope they want it! Because I'm ready to get rid of it. ;)