I Am Your River: Part 1

“There is a river I’ve found

Into the wild

Under the ground

So here I go.” ~ Dave Grohl

“Don’t try to decipher the meaning of things...replace hatred with music.” ~ Lukas Nelson

“If you can’t see my heart you must be blind.” ~ Kid Rock

“I’ve got a real big deck.” ~ John Eddie

Our 1½-year-old granddaughter experienced a live music performance for the first time this past Saturday. And it wouldn’t have happened without Nashville singer/songwriter John Eddie. While I don’t make a habit of approaching performers on the Kid Rock cruise – or anywhere else, for that matter – I was impressed with JE and His Dirty Old Band when we saw him on the boat in 2012, and I just happened to run into him in a hallway while making a Jack Daniel’s run, so I thought, why not? To my surprise, he actually took a few minutes of his time to chat, which made me even more impressed. We bought a CD, I painted a sign for the signpost at home to direct guests to Scott’s “Real Big Deck” (named after the song), and we chalked up the experience as another amazing CTM ride.

The following year, after an interesting and unexpected chain of events, JE and his band kicked off CTM4 by performing in our back yard. With help from friends, the neighbors and I built a stage, cleaned up the property, coordinated food, snagged a local band (Operative Me) who offered to start the show and play free of charge, and – with only two weeks’ notice – put a Monday night party together that could only be described as “epic.” In 2014, for CTM5, we roasted a whole pig, had our neighbors’ oldest sing the National Anthem (she has the voice of an angel – everybody got chills), brought back Operative Me to open for JE and the band, and rocked the house again. It seemed only natural to do it a third time in 2015.

John Eddie at the "Scott D. & Dawn E. Scovill Amphitheatre at the Campground," 2014

Now, it’s worth mentioning that Scott and I haven’t been on a Chillin’ the Most Cruise since 2013. Some might get the impression our interest is waning. It’s quite the contrary, actually; through Kid Rock, we’ve discovered so many musicians, we decided to take the money we spend on the cruise and, instead, catch as many festivals and/or concerts as our schedules allow. Last year, we hit Wanee along the Suwannee River in Live Oak, SunFest in downtown West Palm, and Farm Aid in Raleigh, NC. This year, we’re heading back to SunFest and Wanee (and possibly Spirit of the Suwannee’s MagFest in the fall), plus we threw in a bucket list trip on July 4 to Washington, D.C., to catch the Foo Fighters’ 20th Anniversary show, which is a story, in and of itself...

My husband has a man crush on Dave Grohl. Until last summer, we didn’t know much about him beyond the fact that he’d played drums for Nirvana (being from the Pacific Northwest, specifically a town fewer than 100 miles from where Kurt Cobain grew up, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that). When HBO started promoting the new series Sonic Highways, our interest was piqued. Before the end of the first episode, we were converts. By the end of the second, we were worshippers. When the credits started rolling on the eighth and final episode, I made a silent, personal pledge to defend Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, and the rest of the band to the death.

To quote a recent, brief acquaintance, “I might be bullshittin’ you, but I ain’t lyin’.”

Dave Grohl is a badass, and Sonic Highways – and all the offshoots it bred and will continue to breed – is a masterpiece. The concept that all music and all musicians from every city are connected through an underground river of history, sweat, vision, tears, persistence, and resistance is nothing short of inspiring. It’s also brilliantly true. For example: The first time we saw New Orleans artist Trombone Shorty was on a Kid Rock cruise. (To say I love New Orleans is an understatement.) When Shorty came to West Palm last year, we stood in the rain to watch him play Green Day’s Brain Stew, and it was the highlight of SunFest for us (yeah, that Kid Rock guy was alright, too). Learning more about his background on Sonic Highways was a treat, and we can’t wait to see him again at the July 4 show in D.C. this year as one of the seven other acts performing with the Foos.

Here’s another example: John Eddie’s bassist, Kenny Aaronson, has performed and/or recorded with a gazillion artists, including Joan Jett (also a scheduled performer July 4), Bob Dylan, Billy Squire, Lita Ford, Hall & Oates, and Brian Setzer, and he even teamed up for a year with Scott’s favorite Red Rocker Sammy Hagar – along with Journey’s Neil Schon and Santana’s drummer Michael Shrieve – and toured throughout 1983-84 under the band name HSAS. (Incidentally, for those who recognize the significance of numbers, I graduated high school in 1983, Scott graduated in 1984; once you start looking, you discover signs everywhere.) ;)

When I learned a few months ago that John Eddie might come back to the Campground, I took inspiration from Dave Grohl, Kid Rock, and JJ Grey, a back porch blues performer from Jacksonville we discovered at South Florida’s Langerado Music Festival in 2007, and grasped the opportunity to invite more local bands to join us. Thinking at least a couple would decline, I asked four bands: one from Tampa, three from here in the Palm Beaches. I told them they’d have to play for free, but I was confident we’d have a crowd, allowed them to bring/sell merchandise, and I promised to do my best to at least pay their travel expenses. To my astonishment, all four said yes.

Knowing there was no way we could guarantee a significant crowd for an entire day (and how many musicians do you think would be ready to play at 10am?), we were forced to turn our “OMG Not Another Pre-Pre-CTM Cruise Party” into a two-day festival. Room and tent reservations started pouring in. Back in November, when we made plans to borrow Scott’s parents’ motorhome for the Daytona 500, we didn’t realize the weekends were back-to-back, but – as it turned out – we were very grateful for the extra (dry) beds. For three months, and with help from the neighbors, local friends, family, and small contingencies from Michigan and Canada who generously arrived a week early to help, we clipped, scrubbed, pressure-washed, weeded, painted, groomed, nailed, glued, and screwed two acres, two houses, a playground, and a pool, all while managing to keep the baby and the chocolate boys (and their friends) fed and within the perimeters of the fence. We succeeded most of the time.

Squirrel Hollow & Enchanted Playground

The days between February 18 and 25 are a blur. My brother Jack and nephew Zachary flew in from Portland, Oregon, a day late, but we still managed to celebrate too much, stay up too late, watch a NASCAR race or two, catch a Kid Rock show, and build a stage in the yard. The Wednesday before our big party, I woke up at 4:30am (okay 5:22) and wearily drove the boys to the airport and said goodbye. Because we were expecting three new houseguests that afternoon, I knew I’d have to clean and/or replace linens in the Blue Room upstairs before they arrived, so I crawled back into bed after the airport run. Gotta say, though, it’s tough to sleep when the baby’s screaming outside the door, and you hear distant, far-off calls for “Rocko!” and “Roland!” indicating the chocolate boys had found another way out. I put a pillow over my head for a little while. It didn’t work.

By the time I drudgingly pulled my aching self away from the comfy bed, Canada had already turned over the Blue Room, and Michigan had done my laundry. I don’t think I hugged them hard enough. We cleaned (again), re-themed the back house (i.e., removed the Daytona memorabilia and switched to CTM stuff), re-stocked the fridge and coolers, finished weeding the yard, continued with the pressure-washing, took out the garbage and recycling, washed the windows, mowed the grass, fed the dog, watched the baby, and marveled that we had only two days left to prepare for what we hoped would be a bigger, badder, even more epic party than the previous two. (For the sake of full disclosure, we’ve actually hosted four pre-pre-cruise parties, but the first was held in Miami, so it wasn’t exactly the same.) Boy, were we in for a treat!

Our new houseguests arrived about 4:00, just after I tried to lie down again, and food prep commenced shortly before Scott got home around 6:30. For two days – armed with the knowledge and skill of a top rate chef – Scott and his kitchen crew brined, smoked, baked, pulled, chopped, stirred, sauced, and grilled enough food for a small army; neighbors and guests helped put the cover on the stage and set up electrical cords and lighting; our new friend with the beautiful white shepherd grabbed a shovel and went on poo patrol; I printed up flyers for guests and signs for the yard, hung banners, scrambled to finish last-minute stuff, guided the port-o-john truck to the proper location, fed (and repeatedly retrieved) two retrievers, responded to traveling guests’ questions via Facebook and phone, and tried my best to keep my blood pressure under control.

It rained a little on Friday, so we held off setting up tents until we needed them, and put the first guests in the motorhome. Luckily, it wasn’t warm that night, because – somehow, from the driveway to the yard – the power system shut down, rendering whoever slept there without lights, water, and A/C. When the first band arrived and started setting up, a section of the stage collapsed. Luckily, it wasn’t an area anyone needed, so they made due. (I understand we were also short two cables, but they made it work.) After they hit the kitchen to get poofed by the “staff,” they hit the stage. There was still a misty rain, but the crowd had continued to grow, nonetheless. By 7:00, attendance was at about 30.

First, Last & Always

Andrew Rodriguez of First, Last & Always blew us the fuck away. We’ve known Drew since he was in high school, the older brother of our son’s best friend. We hadn’t seen him in years, but we keep in touch on Facebook, I knew he had a rock band, and I thought I’d give him a shot. I’m SO glad I did! After their hour-ish-long set, Jangle Leg played for another hour or so. Scott and I first heard their folksy, bluesy sound the night before Thanksgiving last year, when we were invited by Josh of Operative Me to join them and a few other bands at a small nearby studio. The skies cleared, the music rocked, and the atmosphere was electric – with the assistance of the awesome “fairy lights” loaned to us by our dear friends in North Palm – and, while the bands had agreed to play for free, enough people threw money their way to give them all ear-to-ear grins. I was happy.

Crowd enjoying Jangle Leg

The weather was beautiful when we woke up Saturday. There were two tents and four dogs in the yard, and every room in the house – plus one bed in the motorhome – was full. The peanut was at her dad’s, and the holes in the fence had been fixed, so the morning was quiet and leisurely. Guests visited over coffee on the real big deck, petted the dogs, and made new friends. A really nice biker fixed our stage. A kind-hearted woman with a beautiful white shepherd picked up a shovel and embarked on poo patrol. Scott got the motorhome up and running for the rest of the arriving guests. If you asked anyone around me, I bet they would tell you I was glowing. And then it started to rain. And it didn’t stop.

(Go to Part 2)