Em N Ru: 4th of July

Saturday July 4

The 4^th of July was fun and low key. I took Ru south to Springfield to meet his dad and went to help Jeremy pick out a stereo for his van. Ru and Jeff went to Cottage Grove to buy fireworks with some of Ruben's birthday money. I just wasn't that interested in fireworks, but I knew that Jeff and Ru would have a blast. (They later told me it was awesome)

Jeremy and I tore apart the doors and dash and got to installing his new radio. I wired up the deck, and he ran speaker wire to the doors. After a while I realized it was time to go to Fred's show. Fred has been rehearsing for months with this group in Creswell for this gig. They were named Broken Knuckles, and played a mix of classic rock songs.

There was a car show as part of the Creswell 4^th of July celebration and the band was playing in a parking lot by Les Schwab just off Highway 99. The setup was really professional, apart that they were in a parking lot and didn't have a stage. Fred's stepson Jason was working the soundboard. The band was really tight (and Fred was very solid on the bass) but the singer was off the wall. Seemed like he was nervous so he decided to calm his nerves with methamphetamine and whiskey. It was not a good combination. Jeremy and I stood for the first 5 songs, (I didn't know there were no chairs or I would have brought some) and then we left to finish the install. Fred told me later that the singer started shouting obscenities at the audience a short while later and that they had to turn off his microphone. We left at the right time.

Jeremy barbecued some chicken for us then we finished the install and ordered the Grateful Dead show on the TV. We totally got into it. Trey played Jerry licks but they still sound like Trey. I wish I could have stayed to watch the entire show, but I had to get home. I wanted to see Fred before I left for Washington. I got home just as the fireworks were really starting to go off, and I spent some time looking for Kitty but she must have been hiding somewhere already. I was tired and just went to bed without packing anything. It ended up that Fred didn't get home till after 1am when I was already asleep, and he left at 4:30am for work.