Woke up at 4:15 AM, hopped in the shower really quickly to wake up, threw on my clothes, and off we were. As my family was pulling up to the airport in Philly, we realized we don't have a camera. $#*!. At this point, it's 5:05 AM, our flight to connect through Atlanta is at 6:30. We turn around and head back to Pine St. and run through the house to get our camera. We got back to the airport a few minutes before 5:30 AM. It takes us until about 5:50 AM to get through security and another couple minutes to get to our terminal, which is conveniently located at the furthest possible terminal in gate D in at PHL. The plane is already boarding zone 3, and we only have carry on items. Personally, I have my guitar and my suitcase. As I approach the gate, my passport is new and needs to be verified, and they tell me I have to check my guitar. For those of you who don't know, I REFUSE to check my guitar. I've heard and read horror stories about peoples guitars coming out of the checked luggage area and literally being in pieces - necks snapped, bodies cracked in two, due to not properly being stored in a pressurized cabin like where dogs would be put during a flight. Luckily, my dad had taken it when he got on the plane, so the Delta employee just said "Oh...whatever." Our plane arrived in Atlanta 30 minutes early, and we were able to pull right in to the gate (FTW!). We still only had a few minutes before our next flight, which was awesomely in the same terminal (but a much further away gate), so the plane being early was just perfect. On the way to Costa Rica, the ride was slightly bumpy, but it eventually calmed down with the wind dying off. We watched a great (sort of chick-flicky) movie called "Going The Distance." One of the main characters played a music scout (A&R Rep) for a label, so I liked that part. We landed early (again!) in Costa Rica, where it, for once, was not blistering hot - but warm and breezy. It was delightful. Got through immigration, picked up or rental car, and drove to our super secret spot on the west coast, somewhere between the northern and southern tip of the country, possibly on the Nicoya Peninsula, possibly not. Nothing too exciting on the trip...we stopped to pick up booze but that's really it. The locals thought we only owed them $30 USD for a small bottle of Johnny Walker, two 6 packs, and two bottles of wine. It came to 29,300 Colones, which is about $60 USD (liquor is expensive there due to importation...last year the bottle of JW that we picked up was 50,000 Colones by itself). We we're nice and paid them the right amount, even though the little girl that was there was saying "We're only asking for $30 USD, they want to give us $60...just take it!" And if we're wrong, then they get an extra $30 and are reallyhappy. Stupid Americans....
We got in to town just in time to unpack and watch the sunset. It was awesome.
At night we met up with my dad's work friend and his family at a local restaurant where I had coordinated to jam with the band that was playing that night. I first met the band leader when I was 12, the first year we came down here, and I've been playing with him mostly every year since then that we've come. He know's I'm a good player, so about 2 weeks before he said "Hey Dave, shoot me down the tracks you want to play, and I'll write a bass part. We'll take it from there." He went to Berklee College of Music and he really kicks ass.
Glory Days by none other than Bruce Springsteen was the first track we did. Somehow, the drummer had never heard the song and couldn't find a beat, no matter how many times I counted him in. He eventually started tapping the hi-hat off tempo, but Bill (the bass player) and I were able to meet him somewhere in the middle to create an in-time tempo so the drummer was able to pick up from there. After that, it was smooth sailing. Next was Flake by Jack Johnson. Again, the drummer was a little bit unfamiliar about when to come in, but he was able to keep a nice beat and we had a lot of fun with that song. After Flake was Bob Marley's Stir It Up. That was PERFECT. Great drawn out track, lots of solo's and jamming. What I Got by Sublime followed that up. I censored the first f-word, but the second one I kept in there. I couldn't avoid it, and let's face it, I've always hated censorship of creative writing. We then did a spontaneous rendition of Jackie Wilson's Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher). What a great jam that was. I started it off how Jackie Wilson does, but the drummer improved this awesome reggae beat, so we all kept that going. All in all, it was friggen awesome. There's nothing better than a good meal, a couple of cold cerveza's, and a great jam session. Great first day!
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