by Lojo Russo Grade Umpteenth
June 23-28 got above 90 degrees. I guess that was summer for us her in Iowa. All I remember from that time was sweating my @ss off performing at outdoor events.
As for the rest of the summer months the weather was near perfect and so were the shows. So many new venues; Wine Bar in Lake Okoboji, Blue Sky Vineyards in Cape Girardeau, Miss Kitty's in Galena, Tuvalu's in Madison – even made it out to Jackson, Tennessee - I was all over the place and loving every minute of it! Of course I can’t forget my old favorites, Tirabassi-Kin, Tabor Winery, John Harbors. And, after a 13 year hiatus I finally got back to the National Women's Music Festival. I forgot just how much fun a hotel full of women can be...(wink-wink-nudge-nudge).
The few moments I wasn't making music it was me and the Girlfriend going out to see other people making music.
We headed to Colorado for the Lyons Folk Fest - 3 days in the mountains - gawd, I love it! Some great music was going on that weekend, Dougie MacLean, Don McLean, Susan Tedeschi, Vance Gilbert, Rufus Wainright III, the list goes on and on. We even met up with few friends from Kerrville, too. The weekend was full of surprises cuz it turned out to be a learning weekend as well.
We learned that when the wind picks up its time to put on the rain gear.
We learned that the camera lens fits perfectly into the eyepiece of the binoculars giving us some amazing shots...
and we learned our little friend Brandon is adorable in a shower cap 
And I learned that if you sit at the pool too long you end up looking like the wall hanging at Inger and Evi's house. 
Then there was the weekend I mixed business with pleasure. The Girlfriend's sister's family moved to St. Louis from Tampa. Did you know they have a zoo? A really nice one! It was Megan's birthday (the Girlfriend's Niece) so off to the zoo we went. Then, later that same night it was gigging at Nancy's Place and dancing at Novak's after the show (which is a whole other kinda zoo altogether)!!
We found a new venue called Morton Arboretum near Chicago. What a great place to see music. We spread out a blanket of goodies and watched Shawn Colvin and Nancy Griffith. Definitely will be going back to that place.
The summer culminated in a most auspicious moment. The Iowa Women's Music Festival scored a coup when they got Michelle Shocked as the headliner. And I scored my own coup when Ms. Shocked asked me to join her on stage to play a bit of mandolin along with her on Repo Man and a new tune called Liquid Prayer. Yeah, I'm a happy girrrl.
The End (of summer)
