DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;

"From the Snow flurries of New England to the wild fires of Los Angeles"

gonna keep this one short, as i will have a more complete diary on sunday. but before i split i wanted to say thank you to everyone at the venues who helped make this short tour a success; everyone at the Tracadero, the Birchmire (especially JAY with those bottomless pit pitchers of SHINER BOCK), the Paradise and the fine Polish folk at the Warsaw, despite some WWII tactics by the security, who innitially wouldn't let us in the show...BUT ONCE IN, the ZWEIC fine Polish beer was in full effect. GOD BLESS NEW YORK, ok? and everyone who attended.

to be lucky enough to play music you love and then to witness people with tears streaming down their face...they felt Arthur's pain when he said, "served my time, served it well", there seemed to be a rally cry from the audience that says, 'we were with you every minute, Arthur' and i think it's that connection that has us traveling the world and being a part of this whole thing. thank you thank you thank you.

everyone in the band was great, especially our LA ENSEMBLE (although Rusty kept callin them 'the Swedes' out of habit!)...so big thanks to Julie, Carrie, Porbyn, Dan, Heather, Paula and Ana...who were MORE THAN working partners but very great friends...and at the Warsaw we bumped into Jen Teft (there for CMJ- college music journal), who actually gave us the numbers to contact for this ensemble. so, when Jen's not booking Spaceland she's putting ensembles together...

and to Gene Kraut, Arthur's manager (see: "A MAnager's Tale), for getting this al together. A BIG PROPS goes out to Sound Guy, Pete and to our sound tech, MIKE F (who will submit his own AMAZING diary no doubt. i KNOW it will be much better than anything i could write!) Pete kept everyone sane when insanity was trying to kick the door in (LAPD style) and Mike F put up with everybody's bitching!!!!!! and nothing broke and everything worked. no wait. CHapple's cables stopped working at a show. ok, everything DIDN'T work but it was still fun. and all apologies to the jerk hotel manager in Boston who broke up the party; shame on you but we ain't madatcha.

to Frank Redo, all-star love fan who made 3 out of 4 shows and litereally was having full time conversations with the Singer during the show and even held up handmade signs throughout the show! and thanks to the Warsaw for FINALLY kicking that A**hole, Edgar, out after he passed out 2 times with his head on the stage, inches from my pedal board. so, all in all, this was a fine tour. my apologies to any of you who e-mailed me or called me. i had very little e-mail access on this tour and i left my phone at home like a bonehead. but i promise to expand this diary more tomorrow. hopefully MIKE F can pick up the slack till then. paula took a zillion pix so i think there will be some very special 'shots' up soon enough after some, ahem, 'selective editing.'

and on this final note, wanted to wish my aunt Martha a fine and wonderful journey. she was one of my favorite aunts and gave me my first wrist watch when i was 6. she passed away of a heart attack at age 56 (so young...) right before our show in New York. I usually see her only once a year, because of my schedule, but just happened to catch her RIGHT BEFORE my trip and she gave me one of her signature hugs and that classic, unforgettable smile. she was the kindest person i know. My uncle Red (her husband) is one of the greatest folks you could ever know and my cousin, Lisa, was like a sister to me growing up... and also Martha and I shared the same birthday, Nov 18. so, Martha, i'm gonna miss you, especially on our scorpio day, but i think you know that.

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Mike Randle
mike@lovewitharthurlee.com

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