Blue Darlin's Konocti Reviews....Part 1 - Hold onto your hats!!

Posted by Blue Darlin'

Oh-kaaayyy, kidz! Here we go! Get ready to laugh, cry, and everything else under the sun, 'cause it was a STELLAR weekend. Exceeding all expectations. I think I accomplished all my goals (no, none of them were dirty - now, hold on!).

I apologize for the delay - but ya know, I procrastinate. And I came home sick yesterday (bad cold and laryngitis - it didn't help that it RAINED all weekend practically). And I had to WORK today. And visit with my "boyfriend" (not official, thus the quotes) when I got back into town. No, he's NO ONE IN CI&S. I was SUPPOSED to go to Sacramento - I had already bought a ticket, but noooo.

DAY 1, Friday, Feb. 26th: I call in fake sick to work - however, I get sick (in reality) as my punishment. I'm frantically throwing stuff in a suitcase and backpack -- gotta have six showy outfits, ya know, and accessories, CI pix, stuff to sign, stuff to give, stuff to show, yadda yadda. Run for the bus to go meet Minx in San Rafael - runnin' so late I've gotta take a taxi to head it off up Van Ness Avenue. Meet Minx late (40 mins. after appointed time) but she is WONDERFUL. It's the first time we've met, only ever emailed. And we've only know each other 1-2 months. So we motor up the 101 in her l'il brown Jetta, listening to CI&S tunes and talking a mile a minute. A few stops, a few wrong turns (we took the loong way) and some breathtaking scenery (yeow - steep mountain roads with NO guardrails!! I took pix for y'all) and it's raining. We roll into Kelseyville around dusk and find.....the most adorable bachelorette cottage that we rented at resort a few miles up the road (and lake) from Konocti. Wotta deal! This place rocked!

It was all knotty pine paneling and ceiling (and linoleum floors, coooold) with a pellet stove. Never seen one of those before - these little rabbit-food-like pellets drop in from a chute and it blows out hot air from the fire inside, bizarre, but works. We fed the pellets in from these big long PVC tubes.

The place had a cute kitchen and bath with 50's appliances. Lots of windows throughout the cabin. All very clean and homey. And a back bedroom with single beds and a closet. And the piece de resistance: King-size bed in the "living room" in front of the pellet stove - THE most comfy bed I have ever snuggled down in! Flannel sheets, huge pillows, and perfect soft yet firm-ness (ah, so like a man....oops - sorry!). Minx and I both coveted that bed, I tell you. The place was SO homey and non hotel-like, with the lights already turned on for us, door left unlocked, and a fire burning. Yowsa! A fully-equipped kitchen - all we needed to do was bring food. Superlative.

We had our little bachelorette heat-em-up meals and some lime tortilla chips and salsa and drinkies while we were unpacking and getting ready.

And then, of course, the "omigod, what'll I wear??" - "I hate what I brought" and "I feel fat" dilemmas. Well, they don't call her Minx for nothin' - she has a perfect bod. She can wear a midriff top, I have to dress to conceal the bad bits and reveal only the good bits. C'est la vie.

So, we're FINALLY ready and it's already 9pm! Eek! We get to the venue, after a hairy, twisty, dark, windy road drive, and some getting lost, and it's like 9:20 now. We rush into the concert area, trying to figure things out.

Now, mind you, people, WE HAD NO TICKETS. We are flying by the seat of our pants. I had assured Minx over and over that I WOULD find a way for us to get in -- and that we weren't payin' no $70 for crap food and a CI show. I REFUSE to pay more than $40 tops for a concert by anyone, anywhere. Call me a frugal Yankee. Plus, I was still smarting from eating that much on tickets from Tahoe/Reno and Santa Cruz (when I was horribly sick and had to cancel out at the last minute).

Through a combination of small miracles (and I am officially sworn to secrecy on this, so DON'T ask), we managed to get VIP passes for Friday night's show. We were seated in the VIP section, up in front and to the left of the band, just behind Brett, at the stage level (it's a closed-off riser area).

We were clutching each other as we forded our way through all the crowd. We missed the opening band (obviously) and about 10-15 mins. of the show, but we were so grateful to just get in at all. We thought we'd have to listen to it from out in the bar.

About the venue: Wow! Konocti Resort is huge - it must be FAB in the summer months. When you're driving up the dark, windy road, all of a sudden you come upon an entrance, out of the blue, lit up like a Vegas 'ho, with fountains and all. It's swank, in the middle of the boonies, for sure. Parking is a challenge - hmmm, just like San Fran, haha. There's a lovely, lit up fountain in front of the main door entrance. To tell the truth, I barely saw the rest of the place Friday night. My whole night was; hallway, bar, bathroom, showroom.

Back to our narrative: We proceeded to have 4 hours of pure, unadulterated fun! Although, not so fun was the reality of CI wearing that godawful purple velvet monstrosity AGAIN - I never get to see anything else. Gahh - lose that suit. I HATE that one.

The room was GREAT - excellent sound, nice feeling, big video screens - I would say all seats are good. I would sit anywhere there. Very pleasantly surprised. The security guys were only jerky sometimes, within reason, mostly. Not @$$&*%^s like at Pantages. The sound in the VIP section, though, was amazingly perfect. We had a small high-end speaker above us, and I swear it was like being in the womb with Chris singing. I have never heard such personal-type sound. I went out on the floor and milled around, and it wasn't even as good there. I'm not gloating here. We were just amazed at our good fortune, and grateful.

And yes, kids, you can sneak up front, by turns. So remember that for summer. There are aisles between all the tables, kept clear horizontally to the stage, and you can "stand" there to "take a picture" (hint, hint) or get cozy with someone you don't know at a table. Or find your friends in the audience. Or take an empty seat. But ya gotta look like you're in the know or they'll suss you out. Just smile and dig on the concert and the crowd and clutch your camera.

I spent 15 minutes or so, standing and kneeling at Nobody Special's and Sister Christian's table, after I figured out who they were! I was lookin' for 'em, and I found 'em! They were over on the opposite side of the room, very close up in front of Herschel. And indeed, it was great to put names to faces. Great gals.

Amazingly, I didn't hang the whole time in the VIP Section, 'cause the band couldn't see us there, and we could only enjoy their profiles. So I circulated the room, bouncing here and there, and checking out the sound in different places. And gazing upon CI front on....swoon. It had been a couple of months, y'know? I needed a fix. I tried to catch some members eyes, to wave hello. And I wanted to dance, somewhere.

The band was in great form. CI was mugging and goofing around. There was the usual retinue of the same old, same old, jokes, but he threw in a couple of new things as ringers, like....He was saying how they just got back from Hawaii, and how much Konocti is like Hawaii -- the people are laid back, and the whole lifestyle is based around water, something like that. The crowd seemed to really enjoy that comment.

And, much to our non-delight, the 'orrible bellydancer is back. I thought we had cured him of this incongrous bump in the show by the time of the LA shows, but noooo. The crowd was underwhelmed by it, as usual. ("Wha'th'hell izzat??") Belldydancer lady, I'm sure you're a super-nice person and I do apologize, but this act does NOT belong in the CI set! It sticks out, makes no sense. Note to CI: Lose the belly dancing. 'Nuff said. Oh, by the way, I saw the belly dancer after the show, in the bar, and she is indeed one of their roadies and appeared to wait on/for CI a lot. I've also heard that SHE designed the godawful purple velvet monstrosity (suit). I guess she asks him to wear it a lot? She is NOT Dori. As for Lori? I dunno.

So, here we are, enjoying the 2nd half of the show. There was one other chick we noticed in the VIP section - she was also weraing a midriff-type top (like Minx) -- but she had a mid-riff belly! Minx said she'd never dare to go about looking like that. The blonde (mid-riff gal) seemed to be good friends with Roly and Doug.

I was wearing: A blue-purple crushed velvet longish dress that has mucho cleavage and a (real) fox-fur collared grey cashmere vintage sweater, a black onyx bead necklace and earrings, black leather and suede high heels and a "vintage" kinda hairdo. Did anyone see me fording my way through the audience during the night? I'm kinda womanly (size 14), so you can't miss me!

Aaahhh, Roly.... he was having a grand old time, as usual. Pumpin' that bass up and down and makin' those heads he makes! The boys did their 3 little guitar tricks, moving/turning in unison, raising gits high-higher-highest at end of song, and dueling guits, all playing Herschels' together, etc.

The best bit of the show was when Herschel played a dobro! A dobro is a guitar with a tin or punched metal casing over most of the body. It lets out a prime Louisiana bayou kind of sound. I have ALWAYS loved hearing a dobro, and he plays it well. Turns out later, I talked to him and he told me that it was at CI's house and they just decided to take it on the road THAT DAY. CI asked him if he would play it. And he had NEVER played a dobro before. He played it in his lap. Herschel is becoming very prolific and Wilsey-like -- guess I can get over my Wilsey-mourning now, and celebrate Herschel's guitar genius fully.

I don't write down set lists, and meant to bag one, but didn't. Sorry, kids. I figured someone else would post the set list. Okay, I will end PART 1 here, at the hootchie mama/Bonnie Bee part.

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