"Say you have money/Better be sure/Hard times'll kill you/Drive you so" - Skip James, "Hard Times Killing Floor Blues."

After last night's thrilling Obama victory, today's action continued apace. Hard times have driven me onto the road, where I will be working nonstop for two months tutoring young performers in a spectacular road show, visiting 18! count 'em! 18! cities before I come back home in the wee hours of 2009.

I took the cab to the plane to the cab to the Hilton Minneapolis hotel this morning, checked in, and met my new students. More about them another time. After that, I went upstairs to check email and there was a document attachment I wanted to print, so I scanned the network to see if there was a hotel printer I could hijack. Instead I came up with a printer labeled "something@Lucinda.Williams.Computer."

Hmm. I tried to use the printer to spit out a fan mail letter to the great singer/songwriter, but no dice. I looked online and found that, indeed, she was performing tonight about six blocks away.

I saw her terrific set, and her backing band Buick Six, and her support, Carrie Rodriguez (highly recommended: fiery Americana, what Ollabelle is supposed to sound like, if only they were any good.)

Blue Lu was her usual Grim Reaper presence but there was a slight newfound tinge of optimism - apparently she's been listening to the junior Illinois Senator's speeches lately. There were many highlights to her set, including a stomping rendition of the new song "Honey Bee" and a version of "Joy" that included a segue into "Riders On The Storm," well played Madame!

As an encore she brought out a guest, blues-harpist Tony Glover, and took it down into the Little Son Jackson, Skip James, and Howlin' Wolf songbooks. Splendid fun, and so much for getting to bed early my first night on the road.