The 2008 New York summer tour started on May 17th. with a 14-hour road trip for Jane and me and the dogs (Koa, and Kili). We drove the Honda Pilot, towing the gig trailer, from our place in Ruffin, NC to our house in Canton, NY. Sunday evening, Jane drove the Pilot 4 hours down to Corning, NY to be ready to spend the week working there before driving 4 hours the following Friday back to Canton to pic
k up me, the trailer and the dogs. We turned around and drove 4 hours to the west slopes of Canandaigua Lake and Battle Estates Vineyard for the Memorial Day gig -- a 3-day jam session.
The Memorial Day weekend at the vineyard has become an annual regathering of family and friends after the long winter. As always, this turns into a three day jam. In the photo below are the core musicians at this year's event. From left: John Pierogi Pikula, Vinnie The Carver Ricotta, My self, and Brian Smitty Smith.
John, Vinnie, and Smitty are all percussionist. John on the drum set, and Vinnie and Smitty on bongos and congas, and other stuff. Each night, we had other musicians sit in. Saturday night Dave Stevenson sat in with his beautiful Taylor guitar and ripped out some leads that blew everyone away. Sunday night, I got my son Jordan to sit in on the drums and my son-in-law Levi play guitar with me for a few songs. What a blast!!!The highlight of the weekend for Jane and I was having our family there. Jordan and Megan came down from Canton, NY and Nani, Levi, and Nikko came up from North Carolina. On Sunday we got to relax on Dick and Carole Battle's boat house and dock on Canandaigua Lake. The top two photos shows Nikko playing the bongos forward and backwards while jammin' with Grandpa on the ukulele. Now thats the GOOD LIFE.
