The 405.
You don’t hear many complaints coming from the band as yet another day off looms large on the sunny, hot West Coast of California. It appears that L.A. is under the influence of a mini heat wave with daytime temperatures soaring into the 80’s and even 90’s forecast for the weekend. Our seaside Santa Monica residence has become a long-term band favourite and what’s not to like about it? With the weather being so nice, I managed to arrange a game of golf with Laurie and another new golf buddy John Mahon. John helped set up a round at the Malibu golf club, a delightful public course set deep in the Malibu hills about 20 minutes inland from the popular surf beach. The pictures tell their own story..
Show day – After a leisurely breakfast in nearby Main street and a few minutes soaking up some sunshine by the Casa pool it was all aboard the buses once more for the long haul down to San Diego. Saen and Jason expertly guided the buses down the 405 using the car pool lane which at times wasn’t much wider than the bus. We passed L.A.X., Long Beach, Irvine and Huntingdon beach and just after the 405 becomes the 5, somewhere I’ve always wanted to surf..San Onofre state beach.
Pretty soon we were at the gig, de-busing and heading for dressing rooms or catering depending on how hungry we were. I opted for the dressing room, deciding to eat after-show as there were rumours of sushi! Mark spent some time on the stage with Bob’s band sound-checking as there was talk of him joining Bob on stage tonight. In the event, it did happen as Mark added guitar to a boogie woogie-fueled “Summer Days,” a choice cut from Dylan’s 2001 album, “Love and Theft.”
Crocks models his new show-announcer jacket…
When Mark came off stage, we were soon back aboard the buses heading home to Santa Monica. A few freeway closures meant it was a bit of a haul but we were all safely tucked up by 1am.
