That's getting to be My Song.
There really wasn't a weekend of rest and relaxation between the Wedding Event and the Quilt Stroll. So how could I almost forget that Our Little Town got its annual visit from Travelin' Band, a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band with lead vocalist Michael Furlong? It's time to want again to dance - but still can't. I won't recite the reasons, again. Foot-stomping, head-bobbing, clapping and finger-snapping are not precluded.
I arrive early-ish at the Groveland Hotel's Yosemite Courtyard Cabaret. I seat myself, center, second row. The instruments are ready and waiting. Other patrons trickle in, filling in the seats on the main patio floor and at the garden tables above and behind it. A couple I know well sits behind me and we chat during quiet moments. There's another couple next to them and they watch me as I chat with my friends. They look familiar somehow, maybe from sometime in the past? I puzzle.
No one takes the seat directly in front of me. I won't have to hold my camera overhead for photos.
Dusk. It has been a warm day and I bring only a bright floral scarf/shawl that I can pull down over my shoulders and twist around my arms if it gets chilly.
The musicians wander onto the stage. Whether it's by design or omission, there is no M/C to introduce them. No programs and no introductions. They just play.
I don't write down the song titles as they play. But I Google a CCR Top Ten list. They play all of them and more, and some of them more than once.
Dancing always starts a little slowly. A bolder woman finally makes a move toward the dance floor and several more quickly join her. The lady in the reddish top and white pants dances every single dance.
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Proud Mary
Fortunate Son
As the sky darkens, the dance pace picks up and the dance floor gets crowded. Some men join in but most of them not with the intensity of the women.
Born on the Bayou
Down on the Corner
Up Around the Bend
The puzzling-people-from-the-past, seeing me take so many photos, ask me to take theirs on their camera phone. I can't keep their phone "awake" long enough to snap their picture, so I take one on my own, offering to email it to them.
I finally ask them whether we've known each other in the past. We exchange queries and finally figure out that they're Sister's part-time Neighbors-Next-Door. We'd met at a big party at Sister's house a year or two ago. ("Past" is relative.)
Green River
Lookin' Out My Back Door
Bad Moon Rising
The men have finally been lured out of their chairs in greater numbers and participate with enthusiasm. (I don't think they have as much endurance as the women do.)
Who'll Stop the Rain
I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Long As I Can See the Light
I take a video of the dancing. I'm a total novice at videoing but it comes out pretty well. When I review it, I see it has several seconds of the Neighbors-Next-Door dancing but when I go to email it to them, the file is too large to send. I try to post it here, but it's too large for blogger software too.
Lodi (Stuck In)
I Put a Spell on You
Cotton Fields
Travelin' Band
Run Through the Jungle
Midnight Special
Someday Never Comes
Susie Q
Dancing in my living room where if I fall the carpet is soft or a chair will provide a landing spot.
* * * * *
The music makes me smile. Coming up later this summer, another favorite, an Eagles tribute band. I have my ticket.
*