Miracle Mule Heat Wave!

The music was hot, but for once the afternoon was even hotter. It was 111 degrees at Brewsters Beer Garden in Petaluma for the Mules’ 2020 Labor Day Eve cele-bray-shun. Luckily, none of our instruments melted, but all of us were seeing stars by the end of the show. Surprisingly, plenty of our fans were crazy enough to come out and brave the heat, and we managed to have a great time together.

But this didn’t set a new temperature record for Mules shows. Band leader Geoff Mack recalled the Isleton Cajun Festival, Fathers Day weekend in 2012, when the band took the stage in 115 degrees. That one was seriously an ordeal to get through. Keyboardist Dick Bay remembers having to spend nearly an hour after the show just sitting in the van with the air conditioner on trying to recuperate. He thought he was back to normal — well, normal for him — and headed for home, but a half hour down the road his brain finally cleared enough to realize he’d left his accordion back in Isleton. He learned his lesson and consumed a half-gallon of Gatorade at the Brewsters show 8 years later and managed to survive it in relatively good shape.