Dirk at Work
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Day 1: November 3, 2018 Dirk at Work Comment via blog |
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This trip sort of started yesterday. I had an early morning flight out of
Indianapolis and spent the night before in a motel near the airport with
a "sleep & park" package. This presented an opportunity to
meet Pat and Jennifer Bremer for dinner at Sarah Fisher's
1911
Grill. We were too busy to take pictures of ourselves but Pat took a
picture of his meal and I stole it. Pat says this
is the best pork tenderloin in Speedway and I can't disagree. It is
definitely one of the best I've had anywhere.
Although I hate airports, I don't mind flying and that's especially true when I have an extra cool flight attendant. And I didn't even have to wait terribly long for my luggage. |
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My real target for the evening was Stockton but I found better lodging in
nearby Lodi so that's where I stopped first. I passed through Lodi, Ohio,
last Thursday and told folks to stay tuned for the real thing. Lodi,
California, is the one John Fogerty sang about even though he'd never been
there before writing the song. I discovered there was a brewery in town
and, since it was too early to check into the motel, that's where I
headed.
There was a cool convertible parked outside the Lodi Beer Company, and inside there were some cool taps and good beer. While at Lodi Beer Company, I learned that there was another brewery about a block away so I popped in there, too. Dancing Fox is a winery and restaurant in addition to being a brewery. It's a family affair and was I served by the patriarch. He makes the wine, a son makes the beer, and his wife runs the food side of things. That's a wood-fired brick oven in the last picture. It's used to bake bread in the morning and pizza in the afternoon and evening. |
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The venue for the show I was here for was the
Blackwater Cafe. It's a place I'd eaten breakfast at
back in 2011 but it has changed hands and looks a little different. It's
a friendly place where people share home grown tomatoes and play cards.
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Dirk Hamilton
played here on a fairly regular basis in the 1980s but I
knew absolutely nothing about that. It was part of that period where I
thought he had disappeared completely. He started the evening off with a
couple of acoustic songs including one co-written with his son.
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Much of Dirk's 1980s playing was with a band. As I mentioned on this
trip's cover page, I had never seen Dirk perform with a band. I did
tonight and it was that 1980s lineup coming together for a reunion. It
would be Gary Roda on lead guitar, Eric Westphal on bass, and Pete Hackett
on drums. I've heard Eric on some of Dirk's recording but never, as far as
I knew, Gary or Pete. I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't know
if they would be doing Dirk's songs, covers, or a combination. I wondered
just how good would they be. They hadn't performed together since 1989.
They were thirty years older now. Were they still capable musicians
individually? Would a few rehearsals get them back to clicking as a unit?
The concerns were gone quickly. They did all Dirk songs, including some of
my favorites. They were way beyond capable as individuals and they
clicked. Tonight's show was as close to a vintage Dirk Hamilton concert
as I'm likely to ever get. And I think it was mighty close.
I believe most of the audience had seen these same guys play these same songs at this very venue back in the '80s. They were remembering and reliving. For me it was a first and it was fantastic. Watching a full band performances of How do you Fight Fire? that sounded "just like the record" was literally a dream come true. I could say that about the other songs, too. In the Eyes of the Night, Mouth Full of Suck, Alias I, and a dozen more. That one night really was good. |
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