Monday, August 17, 2009

classic shot and a great gig

I've been looking forward to posting the "classic" Airstream renovation picture and finally...here it is! Man standing on the ground in the back of his trailer. It doesn't get any better than this. Of course I will say the same thing when the Safari is roadworthy. Time to order some Por-15 from VTS and an axle from Colin Hyde's Trailer Restorations.
Sunday night, me and my great friend Charlie Lacy got to open up from blues singer Shemekia Copeland. She is the daughter of the late, great Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, a blues guitar legend. What made the gig great was that Charlie's daughter Molly and my son Louie both played the gig with us. The kids are 16 and they got to play in front of a couple thousand people on a big stage. We played a 45 minute set and had a stone-cold gas!


Here's a shot of our band "wiggleFoot" before the gig. Front row is Molly and Louie. Back row left to right is me, Rick Miller (harmonica), Charlie, and Geoff Mattson (sax). Rick's dad died early Sunday morning in his sleep, but Rick told me that his dad would've wanted him to play the gig. A very emotional day for all, but music has a healing power and we know that Rick's dad, Bob, was watching from the best seat in the house as his kid poured his heart and soul into his amplified blues harp.

My manchild hanging out backstage with Shemekia Copeland. Her guitar player joked that she better "watch her hands, he's not old enough for you" and she didn't miss a beat and said "he will be someday!"
Shemekia took us all to Church with her singing. Please visit her website, buy her music, see her in concert. In fact, go see as much live music as you possibly can no matter what style you like. It's all good....peace! http://www.shemekiacopeland.com/



7 comments:

tinman54 said...

Hi Steve, looks like you play with a good and fun group of people. I like the trailer shot, I'm sure it was not easy to get that plywood out with the top in the way. It was a bear to take out the floor with the top off.

We will be going to Osceola(if I live thru this week,I don't remember feeling this way 20 years ago), along with my brother and Dad.

utee94 said...

Nice shot, only a handful of people understand the amount of work (and the amount of DIRT) associated with acquiring it.

Living in Austin, I have a tremendous appreciation for live music. Obviously, you do too.

Keep it up!
-Marcus

Steve "Dancin" Hansen said...

Doug,

I'll see you on Sept 12th. I wish I was far enough along to drag my trailer with, but as a crew of one, it is slow-going. I plan on being towable by next summer.

Marcus,

Yeah, I'm still finding dirt in my hair even after a shower.

One of my guitar player friends from another blues band I play with lived in Austin for a few years and still has stories to tell about the great bands he saw down your way.

Frank Yensan said...

Welcome to the secret club of the vintage restorer. Did you think "what the hell do I do now?". It is all uphill from here.

Steve "Dancin" Hansen said...

Frank,

I am honored to be in the secret club of the vintage restorer. For every day I put in tearing apart my trailer, it seems to add a week to the projected finish date. One step forward, two steps back. Whenever I start thinking "what the hell am I doing?" I reach for my medication in the form of an ice cold beer. Sometimes I double-medicate.

Tim (ts8501) said...

Steve:

Looking forward to seeing you in Osceola. Maybe you can talk me into helping you replace that axel??!!

-Tim

tinman54 said...

Labor day week end coming up, hopefully you will get to have a little fun with the safari or at least have a beer at the end of the day and think about how much fun you will be soon having with her. Feel free to stop by our place if you want to take a little detour next weekend on your way to Osceola.