Lucinda

My friends Mary and Steve had reserved balcony seats at the Belly Up Tavern to see Lucinda Williams. Did I want to go?

Heck ya.

We met at Davanti Enoteca in Del Mar for dinner, one of my favorite Italian restaurants. Had to try their focaccia again. Excellent as always.

My friend Kevin joined me to fill the extra seat. He had never seen her before. Kevin is from Indiana and is not really into twang and Lucinda is a Southern woman. I sent him some Youtube videos and he was okay with it.

The show was the second night in a row in Solana Beach and the opening of the tour. To my chagrin it wasn't scheduled to open until 9:30 and that would be a late night for me, off a very exhausting week.

I have seen Lucinda four or five times. I love her but she is not for everybody. I have several friends that can't stand her.

Part chanteuse, part poet, felt like punk, heroin/cowboy roots with a literature degree mixed in somewhere, at least metaphorically speaking.

The band was smoking. Two great guitar players, Marc Ford and Doug Pettibone from Long Beach and Ventura.  Ford used to play for the Black Crowes, Pettibone has played with her for a long time. She always gets great musicians every time.

Place was packed. I asked my friends if they could spot anybody under forty? Maybe one guy... Lot of older people rocking out and shrieking for their hero, I honestly felt like the youngest person there and I'm no spring chicken.

Lucinda had a stroke in 2020. She is now 71.  I don't think it has been easy for her. A man carefully walked her to the mike in the beginning and she stayed in one position, clutching it tightly all night. Certainly different than the last time I saw her, she was quite animated when she totally outplayed co-bill Chrissie Hynde at Humphrey's.

Hey, we all get older and we get to a point in our lives when everything hurts and we all do the best we can.

She sang her heart out. Sang a song for the President to the joy of the crowd, "You don't rule me."

My hosts had to leave early, Steve was showing his Ridgeback in Los Angeles and had to be up at four in the morning. (They won, first place, a point)

Kevin left after the set when she started doing a Mississippi Fred McDowell gospel number that I loved. 

Ended up doing a three song encore, including you stole my joy and the energy got higher and higher.

I really had a good time. Didn't hear Jackson or Can't let go, two of my favorites, but saw a performance where the band left nothing on the table and I left satiated for the long drive back home. Don't have too many one o'clock nights anymore.

Grateful to my friends for the ticket. Not sure how many tours Lucinda and I have left.

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I drove through Del Dios on the way home and thought about how many nights I had drove that road drunk or stoned in my youth, not knowing exactly where I was or how I got there? Much easier to navigate during this year of sobriety.

Peace out.