It all started in 1992, when Sleepless came out. That’s when my quest to see Peter Wolf started. I hadn’t been much of a J. Geils Band fan. Maybe I didn’t give them enough credit, but to my “walking through meadows with Van” sensibilities, J. Geils was too short on lyrics and too long on frantic. Sleepless was a whole ‘nuther thing. I liked what he was doing and wanted to see him do it live.

Chances of getting that to happen were somewhere between needle in a haystack territory and when hell freezes over, the big snag being he didn’t play any shows. Every so often I’d hear a report that he’d showed up at some club somewhere, nothing announced. Enough to make my mouth water, little good that did me.

It must have been summer 2005 and Dennis heard about a concert held in conjunction with some arts and music festival going on down on Cape Cod; there were going to be a couple of good artists – James Montgomery and Marcia Ball on the bill, and I don’t suppose we would have gone except for the announcement that Peter Wolf was going to join James onstage for a few songs.

So, we took the opportunity, figuring it might be the only time. It turned out to be an excellent night of music – I’d never seen James Montgomery before, so I was getting to hear his harmonica styling for the first time. It’s good stuff – very intense, and I like that. He’s a working man. Peter was the icing on the cake. He came out and played three songs, all three of which I’ve forgotten by now, and off he went. Dennis and I convinced ourselves that it was worth the three- or four-hour drive to the Cape. A legend in his own time. At least in my mind.

Flash forward to last month: Midnight Souvenirs was released, and that’s pretty much all I’ve been listening to since. These days I don’t get in a lot of music listening time, so it’s pretty precious to me – as such, you’re going to have ta’ be a serious contendah if you’re going to knock Van out of position. Wolf has taken over my listening airwaves.

Better still, Dennis found out that he was playing one night up in Portland, Maine, in support of the new album, and did I want to go? Um, yea! Peter Wolf in concert – a huge, huge item off my music bucket list.

The day of the show Dennis and I were driving up in time to grab a bite to eat and hoping to catch up for a pre-show quiet drink with Dan Hart, denizen of Portland. Haven’t seen Dan since the big party at Rockwood Music Hall in in NYC last February, when we were in town for Van’s shows at the WaMu.

It serves to remind me that for far too many of my friends, the only time I see them is before a show, and we’ve both got a drink in our hand. I’m sure there is a lesson to be learned here.

In the meantime, the three of us have a show to get to. Doors open at 7.

Note to self: I’ve got to learn to write shorter posts. Now I’ve got to put off my review of the show till the next post. I’ll get right on it! Dan’s sent me a bunch of photos he took at the show, so I’ll have fun putting that together. Till next time!