The summer doldrums was a term that sailors used to describe a windless period that would set in during the middle of the summer. Stuck on a big sailing vessel in the middle of the ocean in the hottest part of the summer doesn't seem like a lot of fun to me. However sailors practiced all sorts of things to while the time away waiting for the weather to change and the wind to return. I thought about this after playing last Saturday at the Old FIre House. It was stifling hot, humid and there wasn't a hint of breeze coming off of the lake. I connected with the crowd on my very first tune but had to stop to adjust the PA a bit, and lost them just that quickly. The remainder of that set and for the next two was touch and go. It was just to hot and humid to be comfortable outside unless you were just sitting still. I really couldn't expect people to get too thrilled about anything I was doing, and just had to hope they were sitting there and enjoying themselves. It's moments like this when you wonder to yourself "What am I doing this for?" And then some one comes up and says, "We Are really enjoying your music." And suddenly it all seems worth it. In the third set percussionist Dave Hunter and his wife Shelly showed up and it was nice to have a familiar face in the crowd. Interestingly I had a hat on that Dave had given me. I just had a hunch they would show up. For the fourth set, the breeze kicked up, the crowd engaged and I finished up feeling pretty good about the day. And sailed away from the summer doldrums.