Hacky Sack

I’m on the bus now at around 12:30 AM pacific time somewhere between Portland, and Seattle where we’ll arrive around 3 AM. I’m looking forward to having breakfast with my friends Ray and Sue Mooers later this morning. They are the owners of Dusty Strings, the company which builds the D600 I play as my main instrument. They’ll be my guests at the show at Key Arena Sunday night.

Our Portland show went well with an appreciative yet somewhat subdued audience.

I feel I’m adjusting to the sleep-deprived routine of being on the road rather quickly this time. I’ve learned that if I hop in the bunk as soon as I get on the bus and do a little email or write in my journal, I fall asleep more easily than if I hang out and talk in either one of the lounges. It is fun to just goof off with the guys but I regret it when I’m exhausted the next day and unable to get much useful work done.

I have one new routine that I’ve established this tour that seems to be working out nicely. Immediately after I finish eating in catering I head to the stage where I usually have 20 to 30 minutes to practice without anyone around before the doors to the venue are opened. This new found practice time has been dedicated to working on Christmas music for the past few days as I get ready for gigs I’ll play while home in December.

After I finish practicing I hunt down Zach and Pedro and we've established a habit of playing hacky sack for 20 minutes or so which gets our blood pumping and seems to put us in a better frame of mind to take the stage. We’ve been joined by a half-dozen or so others who jump in and try their foot from time to time.

A Hacky Sack is just a lemon sized bean bag that you try to keep in the air by using mainly your feet, but sometimes your head, knees, shoulders, etc. - anything but your hands. In our version of the game the only rules are never serve yourself, which simply means if you pick up the sack, toss it to someone else’s foot rather than your own, and never say your sorry if you miss or kick the sack out of play. You know you missed it, everyone else knows you missed it so what’s the point. Just start playing again. I wish there were more games like this where there are no points and no winners or losers. We’re all on the same team and rooting for each other. It sounds much like what a band is all about.
¶ 3:18 AM