PORTLAND ROUND 2

Had a great day walking around the city of Portland today. We went up to Hawthorne Street and made the mistake of going to Crosstown Records. I got out for less than $100 which is impressive for me seeing as at one point I had a stack of about 15 records. I got some great stuff. Harold Mabern, Max Roach, Hank Marr, Joe Carroll, Dr. Lonnie Smith. It was great. We then went to this fantastic Lebanese restaurant and had some Dolmas, Babaganousch and Turkish coffee. It was great.

We headed to the Monk around 730 and the good Dr. was in good spirits yet again. Man he has been unreal! We ate a fantastic dinner. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs again because they're just to good to pass up. The crowd was a bit bigger and really into it and it was no wonder why. The band more than any other night in the my 40 + gigs with the doctor hit the bandstand running. Holy crap! It was absolutely unbelievable. There was no warming up, easing into the set etc. It was really burning. Bernie continues to blow me away. God he has sounded so good on this tour and I have really enjoyed hanging out with him (we roomed together the whole tour). He is a wealth of knowledge on so many different things. Its great! Off to Tacoma today for the 2nd to last gig.