A Living Magazine - Day 77 - Randy Hansen and the New Experience

The rain was really pelting the tarp/tent when I awoke at 2:30 am. Besides the characteristic condensation accumulated on the inside, dripping down on the bag, it was assisted by the now-deteriorating surface of the tarp, which let moisture soak though to the inside.

I had tied it to a tree at the head end and to a stake at the foot end. This would have worked with a better material, but all the tarp was good for now was stopping the directness of the rain, not preventing the accumulation of the water it produced. I pulled the backpack out first, which was surprisingly dry, except for the bottom pocket where the sleeping bag is stored. I walked up and put it on a piece of ground that seemed to be nearly dry.

Next, I took the tent down and folded its wet, sandy mass under my arm, picking up my jacket and the sleeping bag with the other hand, and carried it all up closer to the bridge's column. There, I noticed that the rain was letting up a bit, so I rearranged things, folded the tarp, stuffed the wet sleeping bag in its pocket, put on my jacket and strapped the backpack on for a very early walk into town.

I began to hike down the dark dirt road, when I saw a flashlight along the bank of the river. A guy walked up to the bridge column I'd just been at and called "Hey!" after me, "Hey buddy!?" I sighed and stopped, turning toward him. "You got a lighter, man?"

I did, so I walked back to him. I saw that he had short-cropped gray hair, was thin and had nothing but his underwear and a t-shirt on. Presumably all of his clothes, etc., were in a wet pack down under the edge of the bridge. He asked if I was a serial killer. I said, "You never can tell..." Just teasing. I handed him the lighter and he lit his cigarette. I thought he looked like a businessman who had fallen on hard times.

He told me he had to "...sleep all night in the fucking rain." He said, "this ghetto shit is getting pretty old!" I told him I knew what he meant. It was starting to rain again and I wanted to get downtown. He asked me if I had matches, and then asked me if he could use my lighter to make a fire. He stooped down and tried to light the wet grass. I tried not to show that I was rolling my eyes. I checked my watch. It was nearly 4:00 am. I told him to just keep the lighter. I had another one anyway (my backup). He thanked me and paced back and forth in the wet grass and thin layer of mud.

I said goodbye and continued my walk down town, resolving that no matter how little money I had, it was going into a wash and dry of my clothes and sleeping bag. I went to Starbuck's and dried my coat a bit, located a coin operated laundromat down on Second Street, and immediately left to do my wash and dry...

Drying the tarp after washing and drying the clothes.

Yes! My favorite grocery store. Bought all the day's food for under $5.00.

When I got to the Riverfront Park I heard a Bible-thumping evangelist, who had a small chorus to sing faith songs...

The sun was just beginning to try it's emergence from the clouds, but the morning remained dark, with occasional showers...

I returned to Starbuck's, edited and processed the pictures and audio files for my daily blog post. The rain had stopped for the most part and I decided to go back to the park to see what the musical line up might be...

I heard some pretty strange sounds coming from the Clocktower Stage, so I gravitated there. And, that's when I caught sight of Randy Hansen, channeling Jimi Hendrix. This was easily the highlight of all the shows that I'd seen...

Not only did I love the Hendrix tunes, but these guys really rocked them up, and were so tight, knowing every beat, every change and could wait as long as needed for Randy to go off on soloing tangents...

Click to Listen to...

RANDY HANSEN

And The New Experience

Channeling Jimi Hendrix

"Red House" and "All Along The Watchtower"

He had all the moves. He even did this thing where he'd toss his pick in the air and catch it to continue playing. Then he'd toss his guitar up, spinning it in the air and then catching it again...

He had a great personal presence, cracking jokes and accidentally dropping F-bombs and then looking sorry. One felt that we were all his buddies hanging out together, tripping on Hendrix's magic...

Randy out of sight, lying on the bass bin and soloing away.

Randy and the drummer had been together playing since high school.

Click to Listen to...

RANDY HANSEN

(Two Files)

"I Hear My Train A Comin" and "A Jam"

"Voodoo Chile", "Man in the Box" and "Whole Lotta Love"

Out of the three Fender Stratocasters he used, this was my favorite--very psychedelic.

Such a great show! Afterward, I headed back across one of the six bridges to the other part of the park to see what other bands might be playing...

You can see where the clocktower was repaired.

It was getting dark when I ran across a band called The Nixon Rodeo. These guys were pretty tight. They did a great version of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean", which I didn't record but you can listen to here: Billy Jean...

I was loosing energy by the time Janis Joplin's old band Big Brother played. But I caught much of the show on audio--I did not have time to process the songs for this post. For sentimental reasons it was cool to finally see the bass player and guitarist who played on those albums and tours with Janis. Sorry about the fuzzy picture...

Big Brother - Janis Joplin Tribute Band

By the end of the Big Brother show, I was ready to hit the road and go back to the sleeping place. It threatened to rain again all along the three mile walk. I decided to try sleeping under the other bridge, and found a relatively dry spot. I laid everything out, and had a good sleep, with no rain.