Forty years ago (at age 23), David Miner, my dog RuRu, and I ignored the blizzard warnings and left Minneapolis a day early for a gig at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, so that we could ski. We were driving in my 1969 VW Beetle. Visibility got so bad on 35 that I was wearing yellow ski goggles just to see a few feet in front of us. After passing 37 (visible) vehicles stuck on the side of the freeway between Minneapolis and Moose Lake, we plowed into a drift that was sitting right in our lane on the freeway. It was like driving into a soft wall, and there was no backing out. Within a relatively short time, a tow truck arrived to get our car off the road, and snowmobile rescuers appeared to take us to a church in Moose Lake that the Red Cross had set up for stranded travelers. David, RuRu and I spent the next 20 hours or so crashing on mats on the floor of a church. Six years ago, I played a gig with my friend Mick Sterling at Axelss in Woodbury on a night that the venue should have cancelled but didnt. By the time we got done playing, the roads were virtually invisible. I was driving my 1999 Honda Civic with no snow tires at the time. Luckily, Scottie Miller had his SUV, and I followed slowly in his tracks most of the way home. We were pretty much the only two cars on 94 at about midnight. There were no visible lanes, in fact nothing even defined the freeway except the occasional bridges and overpasses. During that harrowing ride, I vowed, never again! Last night (for the second time this winter), and with great ambivalence, our band, Walking Wounded, watched the weather and made the joint decision with Richie, the owner of Hollihans, to cancel our gig. While missing some highly anticipated great music with a wonderful lineup, in addition to losing some counted-on income yet again, the lack of stress, danger, and anxiety driving to White Bear during rush hour, watching the snow accumulate all evening, and then driving home again after midnight was priceless! Perhaps some wisdom really does accumulate with age and experience. I remain very grateful to be working with such an understanding bar owner and such understanding and flexible musicians.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 15:49:30 +0000