HOBART, IN July 1, 2000 or BACK TO THE PARKING LOTS

This was the 3rd show on this tour that I was lucky enough to attend. The first was in Chicago, a show plagued by technical problems and pretty poor sound, but still capable of wowing the audience and making me feel at least ten years younger. It was appalling, however, to see many members of the audience not paying proper attention. Barely two weeks later came the opportunity to see the show at the King Kat in Seattle. The sound was so much better, the guys appeared to be in fine moods, and the appreciative audience was there to hear the music. It was a great night.

Thanks to this website, my husband and I headed out to Hobart from our home in Downers Grove, a southwest suburb of Chicago. The trip took maybe an hour, although at one point we almost headed back, thinking the directions must be wrong as we were obviously nowhere. But then we saw the McDonald's, a landmark on the map that meant we were there, Jaycee Fest 2000. We were in the parking lot of a sad-looking strip mall, and there in the shadow of the Goodwill resale shop, was the Hawaiian bus.

There were more motorcycles in the parking lot than I had ever seen in one place before, a bit intimidating, but being true believers we paid our $10. and walked inside the giant-lightening-bug barricaded concert site. It was about 8:50 pm, show starting at nine. We walked around a bit, shocked to see that we could station ourselves pretty much right in front of Todd if we wanted to stand, but instead opted to grab a couple of folding chairs and center ourselves in what would be about the sixth row. We were hardly in our chairs when the power trio hit the stage.

The first three tunes came in rapid succession, much to the delight of the enthusiastic few hundred of us concentrated in the stage area. After "Love of the Common Man", I overheard a guy next to us remark to his buddies, "This has been worth it already!" I assume they came quite a distance. He also uttered "Thank you, Todd, thank you" every so often, a sentiment that I agree with 100%.

I couldn't help but notice that Kas seemed a little distracted, or bored, but by "Love in Action" time he and Todd were smiling at each other and seemed to be having a good time. Todd was pretty quiet though, until the acoustic came out for Cliche. Before getting started, he finally verbalized what we all had to be thinking - "We're in a parking lot!" The voice failed on one particular high note, along with a guitar flub, prompting Todd to really use harsh language, "Oh, gee." Still, it had to be that parking lots' finest hour.

The rest of the show went on in great form, Todd seemed a bit eager to hurry through the explanation for the Uke tune, but they were in no hurry to get out of Nowhere, IN. The trio delivered a full length enthusiastic set, Todd even had to call Trey and Kas back a bit during the second encore. Kas and Trey were leaving the stage, and there was Todd staring down at the set list, saying no, come on back, pointing to the floor, gotta do "Surf Talks" here.

Kas was in great voice, and though still hobbling about on his broken foot, showed plenty of energy. At one point he offered his water bottle to the two young ladies, maybe in the 8 to 11 year old range, who were seated behind him on the stage. I can only assume that these were his daughters. Such a gentleman.

All in all it was a great evening. Todd bid us goodnight, and remarked that he hoped the drunks down front had a designated driver. Hopefully they could walk home. As for me, I'm hoping to catch one more show. I have my sights set for Hampton Bays. Question is, will my husband of 26 years, who introduced me to Todd and his music in 1972, indulge me one last time? Hope so.