AA Flight 2195
Dallas - Guatemala City
September 6, 2006

I think the traveling musicians' union (Local 1000 - no kidding, I'm a member) should come up with a standard welcome and intro to shows like flight attendants have on airplanes. Something like...

"Welcome aboard. Please be aware that at no time during the concert will attendees be allowed to use their cell phones. A list of electronic devices approved for use during the show is printed in the liner notes of the artist's most recent CD, available for purchase at the rear of the cabin. As soon as the soundman has turned off the cabin lights, we will begin this evening's entertainment. In the unlikely event of a loss of relative pitch earplugs will drop from the panels above your head. Please put them in your ears and breathe normally. If you are seated in an exit row, you may be called upon to shush late arrivals. If you are unwilling or unable to perform these duties, please ask to be reseated. Should you drink too much, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device," and so on.

I don't know, just seems like it would save a lot of confusion and frivolous lawsuits. Of course, folks would probably ignore that part, like most people do when the flight attendants are so patiently trying to educate us.

There could be warnings for all sorts of things, really. Deanna and I just hiked up Mt. LeConte last weekend with our good friends Bryan and Megan from Florida, and we sure could have used a Federally scripted warning about how sore we were going to be afterwards. It was eight miles in and eight miles out, and we slept in a rustic lodge at the top of the mountain Sunday night. Even with rain and fog and a bit of recreational whining about muscles, it was a treat.

hmmm... there seem to be lots of pictures of Deanna turning around to wait for me...

And now I find myself on a plane to Guatemala. I'm going down for eight days, meeting with some folks about potential new projects for PEG, the non-profit Deanna and I founded a couple of years ago to work with Guatemalan schools, and following up on some earlier projects. I expect the highlight of the trip will be a visit to the preschool in Tzanchaj on Friday. I'm sure I'll go on and on about that in my next Note From the Road, though, so I'll be brief here.

In music news, the new CD, Change, will be officially released on the twelfth, while I'm in Guatemala. It went out to radio and press a couple of weeks ago, and has recently showed up on iTunes and a few other download sites. If you'd like to hear some streaming audio (try it before you buy it), you can check it out at Barb Ruehl's very cool fan site: www.davidlamottefan.com. I recently got to hang with Barb some on a tour in Wisconsin and Illinois (she's a Chicagoan), and she took the very cool pic above at "the Bean," a big shiny sculpture downtown. In other pictorial journalism news, some kind folks from Madison, Wisconsin sent along this great pic of the entourage of adoring beautiful women waiting backstage (the LaMontourage, as it were). It's a rock star life, I tell ya...

...and yes, I did realize the guitar is backwards... I was using it as a drum.

This trip to Guatemala will be a good one, I think, but travel is always unpredictable, especially in developing countries. Please hold me in the Light, however you do that. The adventure got off to a rather dramatic start a few minutes ago as the flight I'm currently on was leaving Dallas-Fort Worth, actually. The plane was accelerating and about to leave the ground when the pilot slammed on the brakes, everyone lurched forward and the plane came to a shuddering stop. That was unnerving, especially in light of the recent tragedy in Kentucky. We weren't on the wrong runway, though. Apparently one of the door lights had come on (in my head I immediately conjure a car dashboard with a little bell dinging and an arhythmic woman's voice saying "a door is ajar"), and it was early enough in the take-off to abort, so he pulled us back in to have it checked out. From what I could tell, when we got back, they opened it and closed it a few times, jiggled the handle and off we went. Pretty technical stuff, kind of like fixing the toilet at the old family vacation cottage.

Well it's time to sign off, apparently. The announcement just came on, "Ladies and gentleman, the captain has illuminated the fasten seatbelts sign. Please remain seated for the remainder of the flight, and clap enthusiastically if you want an encore." ...or maybe I just imagined that last part, and I guess we've already had our encore for this flight, having taken off twice and all.

Thanks for flying with us,

David