from “September Retrospective” (2023)

“Monday: I’m at the airport. It’s 4pm and my flight boards in a few minutes. I could fall asleep right here. I was at Prohibition until 2 last night. I played late and left right as they were flipping chairs. I stopped at The Belmont for a beer after, too.

*

Saturday: The band sounds good. It’s packed with people and the weather is just perfect. It’s that after-summer glow where it’s not quite fall but the air refreshes you after months of thick humidity. I take a breath and tune my guitar. What’s the next song?

*

Friday: Lowcountry Seafood Pasta — that’s the dish to get at Fleet Street. Not that I actually go there, but I have to stop in and see Squid. She works at the bar. We laugh and this Polish woman buys me a shot from across the bar.

*

Sunday: I’m still exhausted when I wake up. It’s pouring rain and I drive to Stars through big puddles on the highway. Christie is playing downstairs when I get there and we talk after her set. At a certain point, the flooding water is moving off the sidewalk into the restaurant under glass doors. Taylor frantically stacks towels to prevent it from reaching my music gear. Everyone smiles when I play ‘Purple Rain’.”