DAY FIFTY-ONE: March 10, 2008 Fairbury, NE Two concerts

Frank was the star of our afternoon show. As soon as these 500 little kids started filing into the auditorium, I saw his face light up. The sound from the opposite side of the curtain was higher pitched this time. We walked out and played all we knew from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” then I asked Frank to give a bass demonstration. Wow, was he HOT! The kids started raising their hands with questions such as, ”How much money do you make playing that bass?” or, “Do you play Rock ‘n Roll?” or, “Do you play any Kiss?” Frank eloquently responded with, “We have an agreement; they don’t play any of our stuff if we don’t play any of theirs.” some of these children, we were informed, were from less fortunate families having never been to a concert before, or never having heard any different music than what their parents played. It was a really fun experience in which Frank was the master of ceremonies. The kids cheered and clapped to the music in the last number, the claps sounding like pounding, rolling waves across the room. I predict that in ten years or so, there will be an abundance of bass players coming out of Fairbury, Nebraska. Frank actually came back to the hotel exhausted, but happy.

Our room right now looks like a bomb hit. We’ve gotten all our stuff out of the car from 51 days on the road, and into this space to pack and reorganize. There will be a big pile of goodies we don’t want to take home for the housekeepers. We’ve also worn some of our stuff out. That’s a good feeling in this land of plenty.

We’re watching David Letterman now, winding down from an amazing night! I was so afraid we’d both “loose it” tonight, but we treated tonight like any other night. I’ll tell you more from the car tomorrow during our 600-mile drive to Chicago. It’s supposed to go up to 64 degrees! I wish we could put the top down. It’s 11:45PM and we’re getting up at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I guess this time we won’t have to worry about icy morning roads. I plan to read Frank the entire blog during the drive, like book on tape. It’s all such a blur to us at this point; we’ll have fun re-capping.
Nighty-night, sweet dreams.