With about two weeks or so left to go before we hit the road, we're gearing up for the shows planned for 2020. The first segment begins in Clearwater, FL at The Capitol Theater, and moves up the east coast through Charlotte, Durham and Walhalla. The second segment rolls through Hopewell, Alexandria, Waynesboro, Atlanta and Pelham. Detailed info is elsewhere on this site.

All the up-coming shows have Folk Uke as the opening act - The dynamic duo known as Folk Uke with my daughter, Cathy and her singing partner, Amy Nelson (yes, Wiilie's daughter) are incredibly funny and talented. We'll try out different ways to include them in the gigs, but at least in the beginning we'll throw them onstage at he start of the evening and see what happens. I'll have my son, Abe and our long time drummer, Terry Ala Berry with me onstage for these gigs.

We'll head farther west playing in St. Louis and Fayetteville before returning to Florida to begin some kind of 60s band cruise I got talked into doing. It should be a riot. I'm looking forward to hanging out with some of my peers and veteran 60s entertainers. For that segment at sea we'll bring back Steve and Carol Ide, who've been most recently touring with me for the last few years.

The gigs with Folk Uke will resume after that taking us to the west coast for shows in Santa Barbara, Solana Beach Aliso Viejo, San Francisco, Grass Valley, Livermore and Davis. Folk Uke finishes up their stint with me with gigs in Boulder, and Santa Fe. Everyone goes home after that while I finish up May 2020 with a show in Tulsa, OK with the Tulsa Symphony.

Then we head into summer time... It's nothing like summer here in Florida this morning. It was 38 degrees with a strong breeze blowing across the water. That would be cold at home in Massachusetts, but here in Florida it's ridiculous. Naturally it didn't stop me from going out in a light aloha shirt for my usual morning pix. But, I didn't last very long out there. They say it'll warm up today. That'd be nice.

Sounds like an exciting year ahead. Hope to see you in San Francisco. Can’t wait to see Folk Uke. Have seen them on U tube and they are hilarious and excellent musicians. I wish you a healthy, fabulous, fun tour. Also looking forward to some new pics from Florida. Hope the sale will go easily. Warm hugs.

Folk Uke will be fun to have on the road. They tend to pick up stray animals. But aside from that, we’ll make room for them on the bus. Here’s one for you I took this morning.

Safe travels, my friend.

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Thanks!

Arlo, as always a beautiful picture. Well I hope the stray animals are fun. Animals carry a lot of souls. Great to be kind and find them forever homes.

Arlo always post such beautiful pictures doesn't he? In many ways animals are much more civilized than humans. I love to talk to the birds at the beach. my aunt also used to adopt some of the animals we thought she had a farm in the backyard LOL
Carol

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Not much to show for the time I've been here... A few photos etc. But it's been a really nice time off. With less than 2 weeks to go before the working year begins, I'm starting to pack up my stuff for the road. The bus is in the shop getting ready to roll. I'll be back here off and on during the next couple of months tho only for short periods of time between gigs. And with the place being on the market, most likely this will be the last real couple of weeks I'll be a permanent resident in this house. Sometimes you hafta close one door for another to open. That said, I've been getting up before dawn, camera in one hand, greeting the morning with a cup of coffee in the other. Just the same way I've done things for decades. I've had some of the better pix transferred to canvas and mounted on the walls here, as well as posted on sites like flicker, or FB (the ones acceptable for public viewing). We've used them for fund-raisers for our efforts at the church and for other good causes. We even made a book of photos a few years ago, but it never got farther than the initial test printings. Some things just take time. Meanwhile, it's another day on the river, and things are about to change. Can't wait to see what's next.

February 1st and it's raining on the river. Now about a week to go before the tour starts up. This morning a couple of guys in a boat were scouting the house from the river. There's always something going on. At least they had some rain gear, which is more than what I had. Cloudy and overcast. But, the rain is light, and the sky is lightening up too. So far, so good. Hopefully it'll be a pleasant weekend for everyone I know. Abe is hauling some gear from the farm down this way next week to prepare for the road trip. He's bringing it all down with my truck and trailer. The bus is still in the shop getting its gazillion mile check up, and some minor repairs. It should be a fun tour... We'll know soon enough.

Arlo. You don't need to post a picture for what you just said. It's already there; I can see the rain on the river. I can see those people scouting the house, with their raingear on. I can also see that cloudy, overcast sky. Knowing your son is hauling gear; I can even see him doing that! And I can feel your anticipation, too, of your upcoming long trip!

So far, so good.

Carol



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I love your perspective. You sir have had and still have a very busy life that you seem for the most part to take it in stride. I’m always so pleased to read your thoughts and perspective. Makes me smile. I was once on a plane having a lovely conversation about music life and love with a guy who was sitting next to me. He told me he was in a band and that they had just recorded their “best of hits”. I then said wait what’s the name of your band, he answered “Train”. Well that was a surprise they are from San Francisco. I know them but not intimately. He was so lovely and I am sure happy to have just normal conversation. My point is I would love to just sit with you sometime and converse about normal life not celebrity life. Do you ever get to do that with a fan? I know you do with family and close friends, but with fans. Just be a normal person. Haha. Probably a weird question. I’m not a celebrity, but when people hear I’m a nurse they want to ask lots of questions about their health and what they should do. So, I do t usually tell people what I do. That’s work, do t get me wrong I love my work and helping people in the ER, but that is not who I am. Ok dear man have a wonderful day, I’m going on a little vacation with my three friends for a few days.

Leenski! Have a great time with your friends, wherever you're going. Naturally I've met people occasionally doing mundane, everyday things, such as going for a walk, and encountered strangers who I strike up a conversation with. Not usually for very long, but just being friendly (goes with being a person). But, as you note as soon as it gets to celebrity status or more than just a casual chat I tend to wanna get going.

So the 2020 tour is about to begin. Luckily it's segmented so I have some time to recuperate between outings. We'll take off Sunday for Clearwater, FL where I'll meet up with the band and crew for our gig at The Capitol. We're all in one bus this time out, rather than the two we've used for years. Not having quite as many people makes it easy, altho I'm already missing the entire herd. Marti is staying here on the river, organizing our garage sale (sometime soon). I'll be out with family and friends doing some gigs mostly in the southeast, until the weather makes bus travel better farther away. I'm chomping at the bit, and rarin' to go as they say. This morning I hauled out the old suitcase and we've begun figuring out what stays and what goes.

I'm taking one camera - the Nikon D810 - for my continuing series of pix of the venues we're playing at. A couple of days ago, I found some pix I took back in the day and uploaded them to our Flickr site. Those were the early days of color digital cameras, so the quality is awful, but it's still fun to see the old places (many are no longer there). Onward!

Well we’re on the road again. Our winter break seemed to come and go really quickly. Back in the bus heading down the highway like we’ve been doing since the 1960s. It doesn’t get old. Something new everyday. This time, for example, my daughter, Cathy and her singing partner, Amy are coming along and joining the tour. Totally new thing that’s never happened before. We’ll see what happens. Yippie!

I love them!!

Oh! Also, I saw a rainbow around the moon the other night,,,very distinct colors (a lot of times the colors are much softer). I guess the clouds were broken up just enough. Or something.