We left Ocean City at 7:00 am on Wednesday to head towards Lockn'. As we drove into the Lockn' grounds, we ended up in a full stop for at least an hour while they searched everybody's vehicle. They searched the van in front of us with great effort, so we weren't sure what to expect when we got up front. When we pulled up, a security guy excitedly poked his head into the bus and said to the other guards, "They're good...let 'em go." With that, famed Grateful Dead photographer, Jay Blakesberg started taking photos of Sugaree. I invited him in, and he loved it and took a bunch more pics. A couple of his photos of Sugaree were featured in the Lockn' newspaper the next morning. As he finished shooting photos, we got out of the bus and a beautiful rainbow formed and looked like it was going right into the bus. The Lockn' spirit was already shining brightly upon us!

For those who don't know, Lockn' is a jamband festival in Arrington, Virginia that features, among others, Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD), Gary Clark Jr, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians with Bob Weir sitting in, Melvin Seals & JGB with John Kadlecik, Tedeschi Trucks Band (with Trey Anastasio sitting in and vice versa the next night), Oteil & Friends with Bob Weir, Duane Betts, Melvin Seals, and other great musicians, and Sunday, Keller William's Grateful Gospel and capping the finale of the weekend with Bob Weir & Wolf Brothers featuring Susan Tedeschi and Mikaela Davis on harp. Thanks to the Lockn' Times for helping me on some of the details of this post.

We rolled in looking for Papa Bear Camp, which was where we had our RV space with 50-amp electric, nobody working for Lockn' seemed to know where it was. We ended up on the far side of the grounds, pretty close to the main stage and in the Friends and Family area. While we liked the idea of being in F & F section so we might ultimately meet some band members, they only had 30 amp service. This meant that we could either have our AC on OR cook food and/or make coffee, but not both. After much asking around, we determined that Papa Bear Camp was on the other side near Garcia's Forest, where the late-night shows are held. We unplugged our stuff and headed to our rightful spot and got set up for four days of camping. It was only Wednesday and the festival didn't start until tomorrow, but there were a ton of people already there and continuing to pour in.

Thursday morning started out as a beautiful day, but that's just how it started. By afternoon, big, dark clouds rolled in and we immediately began to take down our awning and put the chairs under the bus in order to hunker down for the coming storm. No sooner had we done that, than the skies opened up and the winds whipped into a frenzy. We saw another awning flying through the air along with chairs blowing across the fields. The festival opening was delayed for a couple hours while the storm did its thing and once the worst was over, they opened the gates and the music began. We saw Gary Clark, Jr. followed by the headliner of the night, JRAD playing two full sets. As JRAD was wrapping up their set, we wandered back to the bus to call it a day. As we nestled into bed around midnight, we could clearly hear Circles Around the Sun beginning their late-night set in Garcia's Forest, just about 100 yards away. We were tired, and it was nice just falling asleep to their beautiful original material. Their guitarist is Neal Casal, who with his three other bandmates composed the wonderful intermission music for the 2015 Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago. That music, while intended to be a one-off thing, became so popular and in demand that they released a 2-CD set of highlights and Circles made their first Lockn' appearance in 2016.

Friday, we saw Melvin Seals & JGB with John Kadlecik on lead guitar. They played awesome versions of Jerry Garcia Band songs, opening with Cats Under the Stars along with Run for the Roses and a soulful Mission in the Rain. After JGB, a big highlight for us was next...hometown Deep Ellum band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Kelly and I used to go see the New Bohemians regularly in Deep Ellum back in the late 80's. When Edie married Paul Simon about 20 years ago, she moved to NYC to raise their family, and has been playing again with the New Bo's again, now that her kids are grown. Near the end of their set, Bob Weir came out to play Deep Elem Blues with the band, which was definitely a high point of our day! The band all shined and played wonderfully with Bob as if they'd been doing it for years together. The late-night band at Garcia's Forest was Galactic, which was fun to hear from the bus, though we were tired and glad we weren't in the fray.

Saturday, we were thrown a curveball as we made a nice breakfast and greeted friends we know as well as new friends who wanted to see the bus. We enjoyed hanging out with Kenny, Brandon, and Brad of the New Bo's as well as Brad's dog Riga. Michael Totter stopped by the bus with his sister, and it was great to see him in Virginia as well as meet his sister. Jay Leshefsky stopped by with his friends. We also met a cool couple of guys from Copenhagen, Denmark named Per and Tom. They had also been to Bethel for the Woodstock celebrations and had hung out with the Merry Pranksters, and had just become Pranksters...whatever that entails...perhaps the passing of some kind of test? They were very cool, loved the bus and we loved hanging out with them for the short while they were there.

Oh...about the curveball...while we were having our tanks pumped from the bus, the guy doing the work knocked on the door of the bus and sheepishly said there was a problem. "Your tank is busted", he said looking sad and forlorn. I jumped out to take a look and our black water tank, which holds the nasties, was cracked significantly. This was a crisis...now we have to use the gross public porta potties! I suggested to Kelly that the porta potties were just 100 yards away by Garcia's Forest. She took one look at me, and I knew that answer wasn't gonna fly with her! We walked to an information booth to ask about pulling the bus out of there for a few hours and bringing her back. They suggested we go to the front and grab a taxi or uber, which we decided to do.

We grabbed an über with a really sweet woman named Wyann, who took us 30 minutes into Madison Heights to Loew's so we could get materials to fix our tank. We bought plumber's putty, plumber's tape, silicon caulk, duct tape, Great Stuff and Flex Seal. You've seen the commercial for Flex Seal, where the guy has a boat with a hole in it and he sprays Flex Seal on it and floats the boat? Let me tell you folks, this stuff is incredible! After adding caulk and plumber's tape, I sprayed this stuff on it and it sealed it beautifully, and not one drop has come out since. Problem solved and tragedy narrowly averted!

While the music started around noon, we didn't head in until around 6:00 to catch Oteil & Friends play an absolutely beautiful set. As the sun was going down, the skies were turning beautiful colors and Oteil & Friends were joined by Duane Betts, Melvin Seals, Eric Krasno, Neal Casal, Jay Lane, Jason Crosby and a few other Friends. They played a beautiful set highlighting music from the Grateful Dead as well as the Allman Brothers. Run for the Roses opened with Oteil on lead vocals and then Neal Casal sang lead for Cats Under the Stars. Bob Weir joined the band for a VERY powerful Weather Report Suite>Let it Grow>Cassidy, which had Kelly and I full of joyful tears by the end of it. It was Oteil's birthday, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him while promoter Peter Shapiro presented him with a cool cake in the shape of an ankh, like Oteil's tattoo and bass. Duane Betts joined in during Cassidy and then lead the Friends on amazing versions of the ABB's Dreams and Jessica. At that moment, I felt so proud to be an American, as we were all there celebrating such uniquely American music. It was a beautiful evening.

Sunday, was the final day of Lockn', and we started it with Keller William's Grateful Gospel, which included a 6-piece gospel choir doing Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band songs of a biblical nature such as My Brother Esau, I Will Be with Thee, My Brothers and My Sisters, Ripple, etc. That was quite uplifting and a beautiful way to begin our day at the crack of noon! After that, we came back to the bus to hang out, eat lunch and take a nice phat nap. We got up and made a nice dinner and went back to see Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers. This was the final act of the 4-day festival, and featured Susan Tedeschi and Mikaela Davis on harp for the second set. Both Susan and Mikaela added beautiful dimensions to Bobby's 3-piece band, Wolf Brothers. The first set opened with Jack Straw and included Cassidy, Peggy O, The Other One and Throwing Stones. The second set opened with Susan and Bobby singing Me and Bobby McGee, Susan on Angel from Montgomery and Don't think Twice It's Alright. Those three songs were perfect selections for Bobby to play and Susan to sing with her strong voice. Then, we got Sugaree, Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, Lovelight, Days Between, a gorgeous Birdsong and ending with China Cat>I Know You Rider. A double encore followed with Not Fade Away and finally a goosebump-making Ripple to complete the bliss. The addition of Mikaela Davis on harp was amazing, as it colored in some of the empty spaces in the Wolf Brother's music.

Lockn' was a great festival, and we enjoyed taking taxi rides for $5 in decorated golf carts from the bus to the festival entrance, and meeting all the cool taxi drivers...most who were not from Virginia but had traveled across the country to do that job.

A very sad note...it was discovered on Monday after the festival that guitarist Neal Casal, who played with Circles Around the Sun and had sat in with several bands during the weekend had taken his life. It makes my skin tingle to write this, because I was just getting to know Neal's music better and had great respect for his work. He was also an awesome photographer. Please...if you ever have thoughts of suicide, reach out to those you love for support. We all have our struggles and challenges, but it's never that bad...things always have a way of turning around. Please go hug someone you love and let them know how much you love them...it may just be your last chance.

“Alice:How long is forever? White Rabbit:Sometimes, just one second.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Brad's dog, Riga

Jay Blakesberg featured a couple of Sugaree photos in Thursday's Lockn' Times

Merry Pranksters Per and Tom from Copenhagen, Denmark. They had also just been to Bethel for Woodstock

I saw this guy with a unicorn horn and a colored ponytail, so I ran over to take his photo. I asked his name and quickly realized it was Grizzly Adams, who we see frequently on tour and he's been on Sugaree several times