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August 30 2005 - Philadelphia, PA

Hey guys,

We are back; tonight's show from the Mann Center was awesome. We had a day off which seemed to do us all some good. I was the poster boy for lazy-ee! I could not motivate myself to do a thing. I think the lack of sleep finally caught up with me yesterday. So, I am sorry to report that I have nothing for my day off.

I also think the storm in the south east had a lot to do with it also. One of our crew guys lives in the 9th ward section of New Orleans and we were worried about his situation. We will support our guy; be strong brother Chuck.

Show day,

It is just before show time and Bruce says that he will start the show off with solo piano. This is great for me, I can have a glass of wine. Bruce did a great version of Night On The Town, and the band is ready. We have played
Philly three times in the last year and it has always been great here. The audience was with us from the start. You know it is going to be a good night when you walk out on stage to smiling faces and thumbs up gestures. I was
ready.

I get a lot of notes from you guys about the joy you get from watching me smile. I get that same joy and good feeling from you. When I look out at an audience and see smiling faces it makes me want to play more for you. The
crowd last night was special. The band was hitting and B. was in a good mood.From the first note, I felt like Robin to Bruce's Batman (Pow! Bang! Bop!):-D

The first song, Great Divide, was smoking, and then we hit 'em with Spider Fingers. I don't remember doing those two songs back to back - what a one two punch. On this night the music was not the only thing hot. The humidity was so
bad that we all looked as if we were taking a shower. By the time we got to Valley Road, people were up and dancing. This was feeling more like a Hornsby crowd. At the end of Valley Road there was a roar from the crowd, Bob Weir was joing us to jam on Teddy Bear's Picnic. He would tell Bruce later that it was a favorite song of his and Jerry's. The crowd was going nuts, but we were just about to put the cherry on top. Yes! here it comes, the one song that some people were chomping at the bit to hear. Bruce gets up from the piano to say something to Bob, and then he comes over to me. "Okay", I say, after being informed of the song choice. We are about to blow the roof off this joint.

"Jack Straw, Bruce!" ;-D

We are doing this song and Bob's is playing with us. The crowd is on it's feet. Dancing, twirling, jumping up and down. What a scene from the stage. Philly knows how to get it's collective groove on. We finally played Jack Straw. It sounded great and felt even better. As I've said before. We love the song, it's just that we want people to like the music that Bruce writes also. One thing is for sure, now that we have played it, we will get more requests to do it again. Oh well, this was a great night and I will remember it for a least a couple of hours ;-D

It is now 3:00 AM and it is time for me to go to the gym.

Goodnight my frriends, Don't get caught watching the paint dry:-D

Sending Prayers of safety and peace to the people of LA, MS, AL. It's time to pull together.

JV