FRIDAY – We were up early again this morning for the final drive into Yountville, CA. We did part of the drive last night but still had about 2.5 hours to go. And it’s an early show tonight – 7pm – so that means an earlier load in as well.
We had a GREAT day at the Lincoln Theatre! The theatre is located in the Napa valley on beautiful grounds and recently underwent a huge renovation. The crew, under the direction of Kevin Taylor, was excellent – prepared, professional and prompt! One of the guys – the electrician/lighting tech – we met about 10 years ago at a performance in River Falls, WI. He’s living in the San Francisco area now and a member of the local IATSE union. It was cool to see Jason again.
Tickets for the show sold very well and we ended up with a large, enthusiastic crowd. I love it when the audience talks to me on the stage – and these guys were very engaged and responsive. It was a fun day and the audience made performing a pleasure!
SATURDAY – Up early again this morning – wow, this is getting old! We left Napa for Carmel around 8am. It’s about a 3 hour drive and we’re expected to arrive at the Sunset Center around 11:30am. I wasn’t sure what we might encounter on the roads with a holiday weekend. We arrived promptly and encountered a couple of traffic problems getting our truck the the narrow streets of Carmel to the venue.
Once we were there, the rest of the day was easy. This is a very unusual and beautiful space – gothic and a bit like a cathedral but a proscenium stage with lots of room and good sightlines.
The show was sold out (Standing Room Only) after a huge article appeared a couple of days ago in the GO entertainment newspaper. We had a full color picture on the cover and a nice article inside. Lots of families at the performance – our favorite audience! The front row of seating was right up on the stage and I could clearly see the audience for at least the first 5 or 6 rows. I love that! The show moved along at a nice pace and the energy from the audience was incredible.
After meeting with many of the audience members after the show in the lobby, it was time to get backstage and help load out. Packed up, we headed out in search of food! Most of the restaurants were closed so, sadly, we ended up walking through a Safeway grocery store in search of easy-to-eat stuff. Cindy found a sandwich in the deli; David and I split some spicy boneless buffalo wings; Kylie got some mac & cheese; and Keith got a burrito and some ice cream. Now it was time to check into the hotel.
If you’ve been reading this blog, you know we’ve had some issues with a couple of the hotels in regards to parking. Now last night we were at a beautiful Marriott Spa Hotel with lots of parking. Tonight, not so much. They do have bus parking BUT it’s amazing to me how many cars THINK they are buses! Wow, you would think the people driving them would realize that if you can put 6 cars in 1 bus parking place, something doesn’t make sense. And yet, there were 11 cars in the 2 bus spaces at the hotel – that meant it was impossible for me to park in that designated area. If I had parked in the last available space, none of them would be able to get out in the morning – and I did give it some serious consideration….but didn’t do it.
After heating up the food in the lobby microwave, we ate our food and now it’s time to go to bed. We’re going to sleep in tomorrow morning and then head on to New Mexico.