Remembrances of Septembers Past

Hard to believe that today is the anniversary of a couple of "life highlights". First, today is the third anniversary of having my right knee operated on for the second time - this time to have a complete artificial knee replacement.

Now whenever I go through airport security I light up all the electronic security equipment! Last time I went through I had to show them my official knee replacement card. Then the wand went off when they got up around my neck - and I wasn't wearing a necklace. After they finally gave up and let me pass, I then remembered that after my heart surgery they had left a piece of wire in place to hold the sternum together while the bone healed.

I am a walking talking semi-robotic man!

It is also the anniversary of the last time I worked Chippewa's Oktoberfest. On the friday night gig I had the entire band - Dave Barneson on drums, Tim Keilholtz on bass, Denny Marion on pedal steel, and my son Jonathan flew in from Brooklyn to play lead guitar.

It is memorable especially today because today we are having one of those incredibly uplifting "Indian Summer" days when the smell of fallen leaves and ripened crops is in the air.

That friday was a bit different. It was overcast and in the low 40's, with a biting wind out of the east - the guys in the band were numb by the time we got to the Wood Tick Song!

I guess what I remember most (other than the frozen testicles) was how well Denny and Jonathn hit it off and played so well together - like they had been in a band forever!

Sunday Jon and I returned for the afternoon show and played acoustically. At least the sun came out that day and it got a bit warmer. We played to a goodly sized crowd (considering we were up against a Packer/Giants game) and Jonathan was really hot on acoustic lead. he really had the crowd in his hands that afternoon!

I remember that Bill Febry of the Leinenkugel Brewery staff spoke to me on break and was very complimentary about the size of the crowd. He told us that we had even outdrawn the group from Big Top Chatauqua from the past Oktoberfest. I asked if this meant we could play again next year and was assured that we would.

But that's show biz. Haven't been back since!

But the weather today is way too delightful 0 who's complaining?

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