Wilmington, N.C. ~ Blues Night, Wrightsville Beach, Busking and more!

The private fishing pier at Wrightsville Beach (You have to pay to get on it, and no dogs)

I can’t believe it has been a week since my last post, sorry it has taken so long but we have been having fun here in North Carolina, well for the most part, still need to make some money but I’m working on that.  I’ll try to post more often but most nights we are ready for bed pretty early, with the daily activities, the time change, no TV and it getting dark earlier that memory foam remembers my tired butt and it’s dreamland WAY earlier than I have been hitting the sack in a very long time, it’s kinda nice!  I forgot to mention that Debby and I had the pleasure of meeting Paula Wakins of the Cape Fear HRS.  We had a nice visit at her house and met her buns and husband (also a former Marine).

So here goes, kinda a week in review:

Monday 11/5 Debby and I went into town so I could apply for a gig with a caterer and Debby hit a Hobby Lobby to get some jewelry findings.  I haven’t heard back from the catering company o I’ll keep hunting.  It was a cold, rainy and pretty miserable day so went hung out at the trailer for the rest of the day,

Mike on stage at The Rusty Nail!

The second time Mike went up on stage, this combo was even better than the first!

The evening of 11/6 I hooked up with Mike at his house, had a nice visit with Make, his wife Jessica and their wonderful little girl, Stella. It was a very nice visit, I had a very nice conversation with Jess and Mike and I hadn’t seen Stella since she was a little baby and she is growing up to be a little darling!  But Mike and I were on a mission and soon we took off to the “The Rusty Nail” for the weekly Blues Night!

 

Mike doing a set at The Harp

The Rusty Nail is the classic Juke Joint, a short bar, a pool table some tables and chairs and a stage, about the only thing it was missing was cigarette smoke! The Cape Fear Blues Society puts on this gig every week and they do a spectacular job, all a blues artist needs to bring is an axe or a voice and they can join right in.  It was amazing, I haven’t heard live blues that good in years and years!  This venue was all electric so I sat and listened to the remarkable music, Mike played a couple of sets and man oh man he is getting better and better, his solos were super sweet and he blended perfectly into the mix when it was his turn to provide rhythm for the next soloist, I was impressed!

After hanging at the Nail for a bit we moved to a place called The Harp for the Acoustic open mic that was hosted there and I got me some stage time, Mike got a set in as well, playing my Martin!!!  The Harp is an Irish Pub in Downtown Wilmington and I had a great time, I was able to do a couple of sets, it was slow being election night.  I had a great time, met one of Mike’s guitarist friends and I was well received by the folks that were in the bar. This was a great night, it was the first time I got to play out on the trip and I got to catch up with a good old friend!

Henrietta III

Tuesday 11/6 was a day spent getting the rabbits set up for us to be out and then go drop a resume for a part time gig with a caterer, so far no reply. we shopped for groceries and went home, I practiced for some busking and Debby rested.

There is a major studio here and on a whim we went by to see if there were any temp gigs for us there and got the lowdown on what we needed to do to apply so we went home and worked on our resumes, we will print them out this week and drop them at the studio.  On 11/8 we went back downtown to scout pitches for me to busk on Saturday. I was looking for a place not to far from the Farmer’s market but with some Saturday shopping foot traffic, we noted a couple of spots and headed home.

Debby caught this shot of a surfer and seagulls.

Debby on the beach shooting pics.

We went to Wrightsville beach for a picnic and a walk on the sand on Friday, it was chilly but the beach was beautiful and there were locals walking, fishing, enjoying the open beach and there were three very dedicated surfers out in the water. I say dedicated because I am used to the surf in Hawaii and the surfers there would be in the bars on a day like today, heck the surf in Waikiki isn’t ever this low!

On the streets of Wilmington, playing my guitar

On the streets of Wilmington, playing my flute

On Saturday Debby and I headed downtown so I could finally hit the streets.  I found out by talking to the local music guys I met through Mike and a guy at a music shop downtown the rules for playing on the street had changed (my info was from 2009) and it was OK to play just about anywhere downtown as long as there was no sign asking for tips.  I brought along my guitar, ukulele and a selection of flutes so I could give a pretty diverse show.  I played for around two and a half hours and did pretty well.  I’m planning on heading out again on Monday to play in the afternoon, see if I can’t get some office folks to support music on the streets!

Today Debby and I went to Carolina Beach State Park to do some hiking.  it was an absolutely fabulous day with a high temp in the low 70s!

Debby Loves these pics, we have one from almost everywhere we have been together!

Me and Zoe on the walk over a march area in CBSP

We did a hike called the Sugarloaf Dune Trail that went to a 50-foot sand dune near the bank of the Cape Fear River that has been an important navigational marker for river pilots since 1663. The dune was also of strategic significance during the Civil War when, as part of the Confederacy’s defense of the Port of Wilmington, about 5,000 troops camped on or near Sugarloaf during the siege of Fort Fisher. This park is also home to several interesting carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants, bladderworts, sundews and butterworts, but the most familiar is the Venus flytrap. Venus flytraps are native only within 60 to 75 miles of Wilmington. Unfortunately our visit was outside of the growing season for any of these plants so we didn’t get to see any in the wild.

The sign with the info and history of Sugarloaf Dune

Debby on the elevated walkway over the marshes on the Sugarloaf Dune trail

This trail was great for bird watching and watching fiddler crabs crawl over the mudflats. The trail started at the Marina, goes along the Cape Fear River through a marsh and a pine forest. There are 3 limesink ponds are along this trail. A short spur goes to the Sugarloaf Dune

This has been a great week,we have had the ocean, the woods, the mutt and the buns don’t think I can ask for a whole lot more (well money would still be nice!)  I’ll close this for tonight and might spell check it tomorrow but for now it’s getting published.  see you all later!

Victor