Ashland to San Rafael - New Year's Eve

I was telling my friend Bridget over lunch in Ruch that I loved coming to Southern Oregon because I really don't have any bad memories here. I've been visiting Corbin for nearly ten years now, and this area has always been a place of quiet, pleasant visiting for me. I met Bridget a few years ago, and now I get to see her as well which adds to the appeal of coming down here.




And now, if that wasn't pleasant enough, dear Kid Valance lives in Ashland so I get to visit with him as well!

I'll be coming back through the area next week and will get to spend more time with both Bridget and Kid, but probably not Corbs who will have family in town when I blow through in a couple of days. But it was lovely to get to spend the evening with her and take a walk along the tracks behind the house with Sophie - truly the most mellow dog that ever lived.




I stopped by Kid's place for a quick cup of tea before taking off on that impossibly long stretch of I-5 - six and a half hours of straight line driving before I got into San Rafael a couple of hours before the New Year's Eve show at the Civic Center that Jon was putting on.




I stopped by my mom's house first so I could change into a little more appropriate attire and spend a little time with Jake, who is just getting more beautiful every year.




After that brief visit I headed over to the showroom where I met up with Jon. Here he is.



I took this picture of the backstage area, Jon said, "well that'll be an inspiring shot." Yeah, pretty bleak. Backstage areas are never as glamorous as you think they might be, but this one was truly dullsville.




I haven't been to a New Year's Eve show in over 10 years, it may have even been longer than that. The last one that I worked was one that we did at the main stage at the Civic Center, seating a couple thousand people. Paula Poundstone headlined that show and it was quite the fest. From what little I remember of it.

But now I'm a little more clear-headed throughout these events, which is a blessed thing. The show was good - I didn't know three of the acts but the emcee, Michael Meehan is a comic that I've known for over twenty years so it was fun to see him. He also got off one of my favorite lines of the night,

"You know, we try to eat well, try to buy the organic food but it's expensive. I've got a timeshare on a grapefruit down at Whole Foods right now..."

About twenty minutes before midnight my brother Shane showed up. He ended up having to work that night, but was able to make in time for the countdown. Look how cute he is! I can't believe how big these guys are.




After the show Shane and his girlfriend Daphne came over to the office and we all hung out for awhile, sharing stories. It's funny because I'm so much older than these guys there are a lot of tales that Shane hasn't heard before and vice versa.

For instance...

It's no secret in the family that through a set of unfortunate circumstances Shane burned the house down several years ago. It was an accident, no one got hurt and all worked out fine in the end, but, they're telling this story last night and at one point Shane was saying, "yeah, it was craaazy, all this black smoke was pouring out of the garage and all the fire guys were there and we were all just looking at it when the bullets starting going off."

Wait....what?

Apparently, for whatever reason, there was a cache of bullets in the garage. Something Jon had stashed somewhere (just one of those things, he doesn't even own a gun); and the heat from the fire just...set 'em off.

And Jon sort of chuckled and said, "oh right, that. That's probably why the neighbors stopped talking to me."

Ah, memory lane.

Anyway, it was one of those kind of evenings, we all went to bed way too late, but it was nice to ring in the New Year with those guys. Silly guys.