Further on down the road...

We spent last night in Bigos where Jorge, Josh and I ate traditional country cooking and talked about our favorite concerts ever. Josh saw a big Bob Dylan anniversary concert at Madison Sqaure Garden in the early 90s where everyone in rock music played Dylan songs and then Dylan himself came out, only it was after the house lights had come up and people were starting to leave. But Bob didn't care and played 4 songs including "Song For Woody" (which I thought was a poem and did not know was a song.) Then I gave context and personal anecdotes for a powerful account of seeing Prince on the Lovesexy Tour in Cincinnatti. In the middle of my telling, Josh bit his tongue so bad he thought he might have swallowed some of it with his pork. But he didn't flinch once. I must have been mezmerizing!

Tonight we play a Women's Festival in Ourense. There's a story to tell later about this but for now I will recount the time just after 4pm when we were pulled over by police on the highway. They said they had a picture of our van traveling at 145km and the limit for vehicles like ours is 100km. The police told us to wait because they had to leave for an emergency. When they left they took the van's registration and Jorge's license with them. While we waited Dawn read to us stories from Dean Wareham's rock biography. The police came back in 15 minutes with a ticket for Jorge: 300Euros and a loss of 3 points on his license. Jorge had extra points added last year because he's never had a violation before. And the fine, which is a lot, isn't as bad as he expected.

"I'll still be able to pay my rent," he said, forcing a smile. Then when we got to Oursense, Jorge took us out for a glass of local white wine that was so crisp, I am still puckering. As he paid the old man behind the counter, he said, "Today I have near disaster, and the only thing to do is greet it with enjoyment." Salut, Jorge!