Rockin' with E.H.

Here's a picture of Eric... the greatest drummer ever!! The rest of the band is in the other picture.(L-R Eric-drums and vocals/Steve -lead guitar and vocals/ Cliff-bass guitar, harmonica, and vocals/ Dave-keyboards,guitar, and vocals/ Ed-gutiar and vocals/ Johnny Starcatt- all the crazy percussion intruments)

Well, I'm still recovering from our weekend trip to Ohio to see Ekoostik Hookah. Needless to say, we had a blast!!!

Ryan and I hit the road at about noon on Friday. That's pretty early for me!! I was proud of myself. Anyway, we had a great time on the way there, talking and listening to a lot of different music.

Since we went on Friday, we were considered the "early birds." There's really not a lot going on at the camp ground for the early birds, but it gives you a chance to get a good camp site. There were maybe another 15 or 20 people there when we pulled in. We got a great site under a big tree and right in front of a big field...how conveniant. I don't think I need to explain the field :-)

Anyway, we set up camp and walked around and talked to a few people we met. Always a friendly bunch of folks at these shows. I love talking to all the different people and just sitting back and watching everything going on around me. You never know what or who you'll see around there.

After sitting by the fire and talking to a few random people walking by, we decided it was time to get to bed. We snuggled up on our twin size air mattress ( good thing we're both skinny) and fell asleep to bongo drums off in the distance...

Saturday, I woke up to the sound of Frank Zappa playing outside my tent. It was time to get up and get the day started!! We saw the "Disco Pizza" vendor rolling in. We were glad to see him. He always feeds us a couple times while we're there. The guy that runs it is pretty cool. Just an old hippie, traveling around from show to show taking care of everyone's munchies!!! What a great gig!!

The show Started at 6:00 Saturday night. We stopped and talked to Eric (the drummer) for a few minutes before their first set. We talked about tattoos and bikes...God, I love this guy!! I also got a rare chance to talk to Steve (the lead guitarist) for a few minutes. He is usually a little harder to find around the shows. He keeps to himself a lot. So I was glad to talk to him for a minute. He always remembers me when he sees me. That always makes me feel good.

Hookah played three sets. About five hours of music. It was awesome!! The guys were in rare form. I saw Cliff (the bass player) in the corner dancing a few times. It's always fun to see him get into the music. They are all a lot of fun to watch. I got to hear a few songs that I was hoping for, so I was a happy little girl. They closed the night off with a phenominal cover of "Run Like Hell" by Pink Floyd. I swear these guys can do anything!! And, in my opinion, sometimes they do things better than the original artists. ( I could never say that about Pink Floyd though)

After the show, we headed back to the tent to eat and hang out with our new neighbors. We had a pretty big fire that attracted several people. That was fun. We had quite a few different people stop to chat about the show and whatnot. We ate, drank, and danced around the fire for hours. The weather was perfect. Just right for a big campfire. One of the guys who stopped for a minute put on a flame throwing show for us. It was short compared to some I've seen at the shows before, but it always amazes me to see those people. I don't know how they do that!! It's crazy!!

Sunday, we woke up feeling a little rough around the edges, but it didn't take us long to get it together again. We were just excited that we has another whole night of Hookah.

They only played two sets Sunday night, but they still played for quite awhile. I had two songs I had thought of after the show the night before that I wanted to hear. I was hoping to talk to Eric to request them, but never got the chance. Low and behold, there was no need for my request....they played them both for me anyway!!! I really wanted to hear "Deep River Blues" because Eric sings that. He doesn't sing lead very often, so I go crazy when he does. They also played "Baby, Don't do it." Another one of my favorites. It was originally done by Marvin Gaye. I go absolutely nuts when they play that!! I don't know why. I can't help myself. Eric and I exchanged a few glances during the show. He gets a kick out of watching the crowd. We'll usually pick out the jackasses and make comments silently during the show back and forth to eachother about them. It's a fun little game Eric and I play.

After the show, they had a huge fireworks display. Ryan and I sat in the grass eating pizza from good ol' Disco Pizza, and enjoyed the end of our night. When the fireworks were over, we went back to the tent for awhile. There weren't many people back at the camp sites yet, so we decided to wander around to see what was going on. We ended up back at the Disco Pizza vendor talking to the guy that runs it. Ryan got a few free beers from him and we all hung out and talked until about 1:00 A.M. He put up a screen and started playing a video with Warren Hayes and Les Claypool playing together. What a combination!!! They were great together. I've got to find that. It was a nice end to our evening. We headed back to our tent a little glum knowing that we'd be heading home the next morning. No more Hookah until September!!!! Poor me!!!

I wish I had all night to keep writing about our adventures this weekend, but I could go on forever. All I know to say is, if you've never seen these guys live, you're missing out. If you appreciate good musicians at all, you really should see them live. Their studio albums don't do them justice. I feel that way about most bands. They hit a lot of mid western states since they're from Ohio. So if you're interested, check them out. It's the best show you'll ever see for twenty bucks or less.