Wrong-Footed at the Fillmore

Bested by a four year-old and feeling (if not acting) my age.

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I’ve played San Francisco’s historic Fillmore Auditorium seventeen times now, but this most recent engagement was memorable for notably non-musical reasons. I was playing through injury, while wearing a pneumatic walking boot to protect an ankle that I’d blown up while cavorting in a park in Pinole, CA on the tour’s first day off. I blame my four year-old niece Millie.

I only get to see Millie about once a year so it’s imperative that I maximize our time together with frantic frolicking and non-stop silliness. And so far it’s worked. She remembers Uncle Rhett, while other less compulsively people-pleasing family members are relegated to the fog of childhood. One thing she remembers in particular is that I once played catch with her using her stuffed animals. So for this visit, Millie brought out an arsenal. Her first words to me were, “I brought five stuffed animals to throw.” And I’m like, LET’S GO!