Mon., Nov. 24, 1997, Portland, OR, Key Largo -- Ahh, Portland. After being all over the country, there's no place like home...of course, there's no place like the Cascadia Bio-region, either... Dede and I stopped by Horseshoe Music on our way back into town to meet the rest of the band at the club. I turned in my broken Gibralter Intruder II kick drum pedal to Andy, the drum guy. He was going to try to fix it there on the spot, but realized he didn't have the part, so I'm having to wait for a couple of weeks. I picked up a bunch and sticks and another Aquarian head for my 10" tom, and we headed over to Key Largo. Darnell had finished loading in as we arrived, so I set up the set while Dede and Joanna hooked up. Tony suddenly strode in with a huge smile on his face and a box under his arm...yes, his favorite music store, Apple Music, actually had a 12" EV speaker, so now he could fix his ailing amp. "They've never let me down. Chicago stores could learn from these guys..." Tony was a walking advertisement for Apple. Dede and I headed to the house and I reveled in being home again. But, I had to make a trip to the bank, Nature's health food store for more cold medicine, and I wanted to get a call into TRI for internet access on the road. After doing this, I fell into my bed intending to take a short power nap, but woke up 90 minutes later after a deep sleep. It was time to go down to the club and get dinner and a good table at 7:30. The club started filling up nicely, and I was conversing like mad with everyone I could get to (sorry if I missed you). The sound system was comparable to what we had at the Little Bear in Evergreen, CO, and was a major upgrade since I'd played there last May...in other words, it was great, and inspiring, as well as the crowd. The club never did pack out, but it was good for a rainy Monday night, and Tony the owner wasn't disappointed. Joanna said we wouldn't be pulling out till around 1 p.m. tomorrow (heading for San Fran), so that was cool for me and Dede...