Jonny has been working tirelessly as a volunteer at the Strawberry Music Festival, both Spring and Fall, for something like 7 years. So it was with some trepidation that Achilles Wheel agreed to play a show on May 25th at the Crystal Bay Club, at Stateline in Nevada on the beautiful shores of Lake Tahoe, knowing that he couldn’t be there. The band had been trying for some time to book a follow up to the date that got canceled in December due to heavy Sierra snow. So when we got the call that we could have an after party for the Dead Winter Carpenters, we said yes and bit down hard.
We explained to the promoter that we really didn’t want to say no, and that we could do the show with our long time friend and guitarist Mikail Graham. They agreed and that’s what happened…all of us in Achilles Wheel would like to thank Mikail for joining us on that one and for representing Achilles Wheel so well. He laid it down and we had a fantastic time. We’ll look forward to bringing Jonny along next time, but for all the kind folks who were at the Crystal Bay Club that night, thanks for hanging with what we brought, because no matter what, Achilles Wheel endeavors to bring a celebration.
Now on the flip side of that. We got a call from our manager on something like May 16th asking if we could possibly do a set at the Strawberry Music Festival, which would be landing right in the middle of an already full schedule the next week. So naturally we said yes. The band Brown Bird, which Jonny said was one of his personal favorites at Strawberry, had to cancel, and we were lucky enough to be asked.
I hadn’t been to Strawberry in a few years, having done shows there with my wife and musical partner Eleanore MacDonald, and also with the Nina Gerber Band. So I love this festival and was happy to be going. It turned out to be quite emotional for me though since we came in on such short notice, and I was flooded with memories with not much warning as we rolled into Camp Mather on Friday morning.
Anyway, the folks at Strawberry run a friendly show and it was a blissful though short time we had there.
AW would like to thank all of the kind people at the festival, and the new friends we found there. It was grand to see Jonny, the long time volunteer, get to play his guitar so passionately out over that meadow and speak to his family there in a different way.
We’ll look forward to returning if it’s in the cards. Wherever we see you next, we’ll look forward to having a real good time.
For now I’ll just remind everyone that we’ll be playing at the Kate Wolf Music Festival June 28-30. This is a festival not be missed.
Peace,
PK