Last farmer's market gig of the season.

We played at the Prior Lake Farmer's Market this morning as the 'Rhubarbarians' - Lynn and I are 'guest artists' usually playing with Tom Thull and Bob Estes, who are 'real' Rhubarians (Dave & Joe are the other originals, but they don't travel out of Mpls ). This week Tom couldn't make it, so it was really the Bob-i-Lynn band featuring Bob Estes of the Rhubarbarians.

I usually pay close attention to the weather but I missed checking it earlier in the week;however, this morning at the Coffee Shop reading yesterday's paper it looked like the morning would be windy but sunny. Although it looked cloudy starting out, I saw enough glimmers of blue to hold out hope - Lynn's sighting of lightning as we drove onto hiway 13 proved to be the truer portent.

At earlier sessions, we had brought our full plug-in sound system; but using some battery powered amps at Bloomington's farmers markets the previous two weeks convinced us to go with the portable setup for Prior Lake. I brought our pignose & Bob E brought a borrowed microcube and a Crate Amp. (The Crate is the best solution as it as a real mike input plus an instrument pickup, plus RCA plugs which can theoretically be leverage - I'll probably pick one up for next season and for use as a monitor).

This sped up our set up time and as we were glad to discover: our tear down time as well.

Through the morning the clouds stayed and it was gusty enough that I would occasionally have to grab one of my guitars. A few of the other 'tents' were billowing and one partially overturned, but the sandbags that Bob has kept our shelter stable. Without Tom, we missed many of our 'pop' hits, but Lynn and I got to try out East Virginia Blues for the first time and Lynn did Going to the West. Bob sang the John Prine song Paradise Valley and we tried a few 'new' fiddle tunes including St Anne's Reel, Liberty and a version of Devil's dream where I did a 'uke' like accompaniment on the tenor banjo (capoed at the 7th fret). My sister showed up (all of my siblings live South of the River, Carol teaches at Prior Lake High School). She's known as Otto at school and we sang Otto Wood in her honor. She said that a few weeks ago one of her students was talking about a group that did the song 'Otto' wood and she was glad to tell him it was her brother. (Carol's husband is also known as Otto and I actually learned the song for him - he had other priorities this AM).

At 10:30 or so it started to sprinkle. The sprinkling became a drizzle and we rearranged a few things to get everything under shelter. The 12 string and tenor banjo went into their cases. The only saving grace was that the breeze died down, but the droplets on my '69 Martin (last of the Brazilians) caused concern. During our last set, it started to really come down at 11:30 or so and we wrapped it up. As if on signal, when the music stopped, the other folk started packing up as well. (After we got home, we checked everything and I'm happy to report that no instruments were harmed during the performance of this gig).

I'm not sure how Bob E got wind of the Prior Lake Market, but it's our second year doing it. One of the good things about this and the Bloomington Market is that they actually budget $100 for the band. We still put out the hat, but usually the total tip take is less than 50 bucks (today was 21, but splitting 3 ways meant that Lynn and I make almost $80 combined). Of course, the money isn't the reason we do it, but it is a recognition and without it we wouldn't be driving the 50 mile round trip to and from Prior Lake. (We are still bummed from a dance gig last spring for which we were stiffed because enough people didn't show up ).

Although Bob talks about rehearsing, it really becomes just a kind of jam session. Of course since we do a half-dozen of these a season, we do come up with 'arrangements' for some of the songs. At both Bloomington and Prior Lake we've gotten lots of good compliments from customers as well as vendors. We'll be invited back and we'll do as many as our schedule permits. Until next year...