A Living Magazine - Day 78 - Dirty Rice With Heart to Heart

I woke to a dry sky. I was a bit surprised that it had not rained again. But, that worked for me! I lied around for a while and then packed up. as soon as I began my walk out from my Latah Creek sleeping place, two teens climbed down the bank, by the same bridge I slept under and walked directly over to where I'd been--completely oblivious that it was so recently a camping spot... 

So, I guess some of these tags are acronyms. Finest what? Intriguing. 

I took a different way into town - Fourth Avenue - and got to see more bridge art...

You might recognize the fountain to the left from Riverfront Park? I love the guy just tripping out.

I passed over on to Lincoln Avenue, my usual way to the downtown area. I'd noticed these two cars each day. I had to take a shot. They're waiting here for the next Starsky and Hutch movie...

I never checked this place out. But they own the building with the two big smoke stacks that loom over Lincoln. Nice real estate choice. No doubt, the place and the beer are far over my pay grade. It reminds me of a Shipyard type of place...

The little white flowers that were so fragrant in the planter at the edge of the park.

I walked past the carousel, which sits right on the little pond where all the geese and ducks hang out. I caught sight of this little blondie, and her friends...

A blonde ducky.

An old ducky.

Another old ducky.

I ventured up to Starbuck's on Main Street to process the audio and picture files, and then published my post. I knew there were still a few bands left to see on this Sunday. So I went back through the park to the Clocktower Stage and found this Seattle band: Dirty Rice...

Eric Rice.

Scotty Harris.

Andrew Cloutier.

These guys really pumped out a crunchy rocking blues. I liked a lot of their tunes. Some weren't especially memorable. I really did like a very dark and super-chunking piece called, "The Devil's Nursery". I didn't record any bands on this day. But, I wished that I'd grabbed that particular tune.

You know, most of what makes these bands sound so powerful - besides their great musicianship and stage presence - in the massive sound systems that they were equipped with. This stage in particular (out of the three stages) was jam-packed with great equipment...

Each side of this stereo PA system (left side seen above) was powered by three Crown 1000 watt amps for the mid and high range speakers, and a gigantic 3000 watt amp for three of the six 18 inch subs...

Beer Garden, right up in front of the stage.

I had some time before the Heart tribute band - Heart by Heart - to go up to RiteAid and buy a Mango Juice (my favorite drink now). This was funny to see...

Rubber glove giving the bird.

On my walk back to the park, I heard the skipping and chugging guitar introduction to "Barracuda". Heart by Heart had begun.

This band is an actual offshoot of the original Heart. It was formed by the original Heart bassist, Steve Fossen, and original drummer, Mike Derosier (both Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members). According to their website, Randy Hansen (the great Hendrix channeler I'd seen the day before) is their usual lead guitarist, but was replaced on this night by a hyper, young guy who overplayed his part and was spoken to by Steve several times for being too loud. I don't think the crowd really picked up on all this drama. I didn't catch this guitarist's name. He played well and - as a stand-in player - he knew the songs perfectly. But the showboating and extreme volume of his full Marshall stack overwhelmed more than one song. Still it was a great show... 

Left to Right: Somer Macek (doing an incredibly realistic Anne Wilson),

keyboardist Rob Rivers, bassist Steve Fossen, and a kickass back up

singer and lead guitarist in her own right, Lizzy Daymont. 

Somer singing "Dog and Butterfly".

Lizzy soloing on "Magic Man".

Mike, a powerful and super steady drummer.

The hired guitarist and young whipper-snapper dude, who pranced around the stage

like an idiot and kept his amp way too loud.

Steve, representing the gravity of the band.

Good crowd for early evening.

The Beer Garden had the best seats in town.

This guy standing in front of me had a vest signed by the band,

The Nixon Rodeo, who I'd seen the night before.

I had a fun time at this show. When they finished though, it was time to head back to the creek. I took Lincoln, then Fourth, onto Sunset Boulevard, then down to Latah Creek...

Never seen this before. Looks like a clear cash-in on the new laws, since it doesn't have any THC. Apparently it does have hemp seed extract, so it's probably pretty good for you.

A bit misleading in my opinion, but all's fair in love and prohibition.

Finally, after two nights away, I could return to my favorite hidden, grassy spot. As I walked along the far-bank toward the creek entrance, I saw three cars slowly drive down to a semi-elevated spot just above where I wanted to go. I thought maybe they were graffiti artists, but I later determined that they probably had made a big drug deal. When I got down to the road that they had used, I took a right down close to the river to scoot around the area where they were hanging out. I snuck up a way and listened to what was going on. There was a lot of nervous laughter, trunks opened, items were exchanged and they all drove off. Classic--like in a movie.

I found my sweet spot under the Acacia trees, set out my "bedding" and dropped down to sleep better than I had in the last week.