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LED SLED
   (THE SLOW ONE)
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS NEWS LETTER
$eason of "99"
___________Satirized for your protection_________

Think of this as my Electronic Christmas Card to everyone. Welcome aboard! Lake Michigan is open all night and has no
speed limit! 

*****JANUARY CRUISE IN THE CARABEAN***** 

Cass & I decided to go on our first cruise because we found a special musical charter by a guy named Delbert McClinton.  He has been making R&B records for several decades and this was a perfect chance to meet him along with several other nation recording acts. The music was world class and non stop. It was more than we had hoped for and it was a wonderful break from the cold Chicago snow.  Our cabin was right under the main stage and it was the perfect place to hear each bands sound check which give us  just enough time to go up and get a good seat for the next show.   A few days into the cruise I asked Delbert to listen to a tape sung by Cass, and it was a surprise and an honor when Delbert invited her up to sing with him on stage that night in front of the video production cameras taping for TNN and Public Television.  He brought her up explaining that he was stopped in the hallway by me and when he heard the tape he said it just about broke my back!  After her first song he insisted on yet another Chicago blues with her. 

  Delberts kindness was the highlight of our cruise.  As the week went on it seemed that just about every principal musician at some point jammed with each other.  There was so much good music it was a hard decision which show to go see because  I  could not be in two lounges at the same time, although  I  tried.   On the last night of after hour jams in the Fireworks Lounge, Delberts road manager organized a jam session beginning at 2AM opening with Delberts drummer, Marcia Balls bass player and Delbert’s son  (Clay)  and  I  trading off on guitar and harp.  What a lot of fun and good music that  event  turned out to be.   Cass and I  made many new musical friends from all over the world in a relaxed-low key atmosphere under the hot Caribbean sun with the  pleasant aromas of sun block and tropical cocktails. 

Around  midnight in the middle of each show,  I couldn’t help but look out at the sea and wonder what the whales and dolphins must have been thinking when they heard  the huge outdoor sound system blasting at full tilt  as the ship cut  through the moonlight in the warm international waters.   It is hard to believe that we have been back for over a week now and have still not recovered.  The last time I was this exhausted was at Woodstock--but it is a good kind of exhausted!  We were proud the represent the blues capitol of the world--CHICAGO  USA.

The Lake Michigan/Chicago boating year began with Led Sled being brought in to the harbor the first week of May after I took it down the Calumet River and through the locks by myself.  I must be getting good, or at least confident.  Fast Forward makes it into the water the 3rd week of May and one week of serious cleaning followed.  I stored it outside and the sun baked in the dust and rain over the winter.  My idea was to use the solar panels to charge the batteries all winter, but I noticed throughout the winter that there are basically no sunny days.  Live and learn.
   Our Jackson Park Yacht Club had the opening day party on May 23rd and Cass and I played a well-relieved set with the band Sister Envy. 

On a quiet Sunday morning in the beginning of June at 8AM I was asleep and I heard banging and thumping.  I got up and the boat was listing about 30 degrees and a Sash brought the water level up from about 4 feet under the docks to 3 feet ABOVE the docks in about 10 minutes.

******FIRST DAY OF SUMMER*********

June 23 was the first day of summer and it was 86 wonderful degrees

.*********4TH OF JULY************

The day started out nice enough with no severe weather warnings on the radio.  Anchored out just North of the Planetarium and just outside of Monroe Harbor the rains started about 6 o’clock.  It kept raining harder and harder and finally a 15 blast of 40 MPH winds and blinding rain hit dragging the anchor back about 100 feet until Led Sled was  about 30 feet from the wall.  I kept the motors running and tried to hold the boat steady so it would not blow back any closer to the wall and soon the crisis had ended.  The fireworks were still on and we watched them through the windshield with the wiper on.  Another first!

*************LABOR DAY WEEKEND******************

On Labor Day I was so inactive that my self-winding watch stopped. A glorious Sunday afternoon with water like glass inspired me to stay out until 10 PM in the Play Pen (The Oak Street Beach bay where all the boats anchor).  I was on Fast Forward and as I pulled up the anchor by hand in about 30 feet of water a big wind came along and forced me to drop the line and lose the anchor that had been with the boat since 1981.   Oh well....one more thing committed to the deep. 

*************WHAT ARE THE ODDS?**************

On Sunday, September 13 on Led Sled I was ending a wonderful day in the Play Pen.  As my new plow anchor came up to the surface of the water there was another line caught in it.  Being careful not to lose it there was something on the other end. As I pulled it in I recognized the knots in the line and, yes...........it was the anchor I had lost 2 weeks earlier.  Then as short as the winter is long it was the end of the season once again.  The first week of October sneaked up on all of us and it was time for the trip down the river to put away the boat for the winter.  I called ahead to the boat yard and when I got there the slings were in the water and I drove onto them and 5 minutes the boat was high in the air with the crane lowering it onto the big trailer which drove it into the enclosed shed.  I sang my traditional It’s Over and the spontaneous consumption of the summer’s hedonism was finished.  You can run forever and still not reach the end of the horizon.  It’s time now to go to work and earn a shinny penny so I can enjoy next summer.   Happy Holiday’s and stay in good health!

Sincerely:

Captain Bill