I have had the

silliest grin on my face for most of the last 15 hours.
Take a guess why.
Yeah, yeah, that Del Castillo band again.
Just when you'd think I would start being a little tired of the same songs, or maybe the traveling, or losing sleep one more weekend, these guys get all rev-ved up (no pun intended, Rev.) and blow me away again.

A-mazing.
That is the only word that works. I did squeal/scream at them a little after last night's gig, because one can only use the same words so many times before it starts to sound practiced and trite. I must not ever do that to these guys. I want them to know WITHOUT FAIL that my devotion to them, my obsession with the music, my insanity of running around this huge state almost as much as they do is directly due to what they do on that stage. I only wish, as a writer, that I could comb through this vast vocabulary of mine and find the right combination of words to come close to emoting what I feel when they are playing.
They stopped me dead in my tracks last night. I was running all over the place doing my best to get some good shots through an awkward stage layout, and they started a new song, "Si, Mi Amor." The drums, the harmonies, the guitar work(of course), the passion and concentration...I stood in one place for 95% of the tune, the dropped jaw on me creeping steadily into an ear-to-ear grin that may well be where the one on my face at the moment started. It was a freshly minted tune they were not too sure about and, my gods, if that is what they're like when they are hesitant about a piece of music, what the hey are they like when they feel they have a good one?!?!
It was an invigorating evening, to say the least. Little by little, the guys are finding out that, though I AM insane (about them) and a bit bombastic, I am also full of nothing but love for them. Angie and Phil and I ended up staying in the same hotel, which was not all that big a deal. While we did see them there, much of the connection time we got was actually before and after the show. We, or at least Angie and I, feel like we must come off as stalkers sometimes. It's that bit about wanting to touch the flame again I guess. Nothing in this life in the last five years has managed to touch me, move me, compel me back toward my own creativity as have these six men, their wonderful crew, tolerant management, tremendously understanding families, ...and that music.

I've managed to have conversations with all the members at one time or another, but lately, it has been stretching out into more indepth convos. Last evening was a long talk with Bert, back in A & P's hotel room, until bloody well 2 AM. Poor man! We had a tremendous talk about music from Bob Wills to Bauhaus and found such amazing common ground. It is astounding to me how much I share with these people in musical interest, the levels of involvement and curiosity, and the interest in still finding out more. We are all from very different time periods- I am 6 years older than Bert, and about a decade older than Angie and Phil- and different cultural inputs ( I watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in '64, Bert was stuck with AM radio for many years and P & A came into the music scene from a younger perspective than either of us) ...and YET...we still connected and wanted to continue . I think we would've talked for hours had it not started so late. Those are the kinds of connections I love making with anyone, but especially musicians I appreciate. Bert once introduced Rick as having two tons of soul, but I can tell you, Bert's got a fair amount himself. Well, hell, just listen to that bass line sometime. That will tell you mountains about him easily.

I really must go get some sleep before Monday morning creeps up on me unawares.