From: Kathy Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 18:21:55 -0800 To: hix@sedona.ch.intel.com Subject: Dan at Rancho Nicasio 2/25 Making a Friday night show at Rancho Nicasio had its challenges, given the notorious Bay Area weekday traffic and the recent rainy weather.  Fortunately, the tech class which Kathy was attending on the Peninsula ended early enough to give us a good head start. We peeled off of congested Highway 101 at Lucas Valley Road, and made our way up the dark and twisting road to the hamlet of Nicasio in time for our 7:30pm dinner reservation. We enjoyed fresh salmon and Cali-style meatloaf during the soundcheck. An interesting lineup this evening, as Paul Robinson was out of town: Richard Saunders on bass, Mark Shinbrot (last seen with Dan at the San Rafael Y2K fest) on keyboards, Tim Vaughan on drums, Brian Godchaux on violin/mandolin, and Susan Rabin as sole Groovette.  The first set opened to a full house of happy diners and dancers, and included the following tunes, in no particular order: *How Can I Miss You, which included a wry interpolation of "Fire And Rain".   *The Rounder, a wonderful treat which got a low-down "The Wanderer" groove going. *Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy, really got the dancers on the floor. *I Scare Myself, also got the dancers out… whooooo… *Canned Music *The Buzzard Was Their Friend *On The Street Where You Live *Capo On My Brain *Peach Pickin' Time In Georgia *A blues tune which might be titled "Blues In The Morning" *Strike It While It's Hot The second set also saw quite a full house, with later-night revelers settling into any empty tables: *Don't Get Around Much Anymore (instrumental; sorry, no "Missed the toilet last night" lyrics) *Four Or Five Times *Let's Get Away From It All *Comes Love* *Milk Shakin' Mama ("and then I smoked a doobie") *Long Comma Viper *A delightful parody of Jimmy Webb's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", which opened with "By the time I get to Mill Valley… I'll be loaded". *Cowboy's Dream No. 19, which as noted by Hixlister Aaron Golub, was atypically By Request. *I Got Mine *(something I can't read in my notes, dammit!) Encore: *That Old Black Magic We note "Comes Love" with an asterisk, because Dan has performed this tune at several recent gigs and we have failed to mention it. Don't know why, because this is a particular favorite of ours from Dan's recent repertoire.  It's a Tin Pan Alley tune for which Dan has improvised some witty lyrics. We think that this must be the first gig we've been at without a lead guitarist in the band. Dan rose to the occasion with some mighty fine picking, which added much to the sound. Mark Shinbrot and Brian Godchaux also deserve a tip of the hat for their added efforts. Susan sounded great, and she got off some good scatting with Dan. Dan mentioned the upcoming 3/11 Spreckels Performing Arts Center (Rohnert Park CA) gig a couple of times, so that's the next venue we'll be reporting from.  Kathy & Ken