What a night! Not that we go out and not expect to have a great evening, but this one turned out to be extremely unexpected. Those are usually the best

Ang and I decided to go downtown to check out the scene - find some food and drink, check out some old buildings, walk past the artsy shops. We asked Jill (AKA: Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS) where to go, and she led us to a little lounge/restaurant called Swig. When we got there, we were a little confused as to where to go, as we saw the sign, but no indication where Swig was. Ends up Swig is now called Fusion (or 32 Steps or something).

We venture inside and find out we have the place all to ourselves. Sometimes that can be a warning sign, but this turned out to be killer. We had some cocktails, and the bartender showed us around the whole place. There were three floors of areas - the restaurant, a couple of little lounges, a nightclub, outdoor patios. Very cool, and decorated as I would if I were to own a lounge.

We visited with Adam the bartender - a cross between Fred Savage and Billy Corrigan - for a bit, then ordered an amazing sushi roll. Reminded us of what we use to get at Sato Sushi in San Jose. Good stuff. We were beginning to enjoy this downtown area. Little did we know...

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Once we finished, we wandered around for a bit, looking for the next cocktail and snack. We didn't get too far before we came across quite a crowd of people, heading into a theater-looking building. Curiosity became too strong, and we ventured over to see what everyone was gathering for. We see the sign below:

Arlo Guthrie - May 8? That was tonight! Upon a quick decision, we go inside to see if there were still tickets available. Of course not. However, we know someone must have spares to sell. Just a few minutes of hanging outside, looking desperate, I hear the familiar "Anyone need tickets?". Bingo!

Now, the crowd that goes to see Arlo Guthrie in downtown Santa Fe is not your normal crowd. These aren't the people that are going online to buy up all the Justin Timberlake tickets so they can sell them for 10 times that amount to some desperate dad outside the arena. This is the crowd that not only knows how to spell hummus, but knows what the hell to do with it. They probably separated their recycling before jumping into their hybrid to pick up their "chant-mates" to carpool downtown. I found the kinder, gentler scalper.

He showed us the tickets, as well as the seating chart he had printed out, and we saw that they were just a couple of rows up from the stage. He sold them to us for just under face value (such an anti-capitalist) and we had about 10 minutes to get comfy before the show started.

The show was just as awesome as you think it would be. Arlo is a killer storyteller, and an incredible musician. One of the coolest parts of the whole gig was that he was doing this tour with his family - his son on keyboards, daughter and son in law on guitar, and even his four year old grand daughter singing along on a couple of songs. Terribly talented group.

So what's up with seeing Arlo Guthrie? First of all, anyone over 40 knows who Arlo is, and has been around his music in one way or another. Just the desire to hear all 18 or so minutes of Alice's Restaurant is enough to get me in the doors. But, it was something else that made me want to see him that much more. It was Damien and Michelle.

On many occasions, D&M would take us into the Trek and put on some tracks for us they thought we would like. They would pull out some pretty obscure disks, and sing along and show their love for Pete Seeger, Arlo and Woody, Simon and Art, and performers we had never heard of. It was the NüPassion - an appreciation for the roots of modern music, and for all of the things it stood for. It was inspiring and fresh.

Seeing Arlo and Family was no mistake. We both had a great time, and the show seemed to fly by. It was a great evening in downtown Santa Fe.

For some random pics of our short stroll downtown this evening, check out page three of the Heading West Photo Album. For a total bootleg video clip I snagged especially for our friends mentioned above, watch my "This Land" Youtube Video.

Thanks again D&M. Here is D's favorite verse from a song written by Arlo's dad, Woody:

Verse 3:
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

--kev