Oh, go on then.
In 2004, Mrs. WoT & I hit San Francisco as part of our honeymoon adventure (God, the days before kids when we had a few quid...). I was browsing The guestbook on the Band's website (big fan that I was / am) and spotted a post from someone to say that Garth and Maud (Mrs. Hudson) were playing that night in Boz Skaggs' club in the Theatre district. I posted a 'We're going!' comment, and thought nowt else about it.
We got in the car and muddled our way across, and parked outside on what seemed to be an otherwise empty, quiet street. There were no posters outside, nothing. We ventured in and checked with the bar staff, who confirmed we had the right place and time. Medium sized venue with a stage, probably feel great with a couple of hundred people in there.
The seating was cabaret style, so we took a seat at the front and waited for the hordes to arrive.
...which didn't happen. There was probably about 30 people in there by the time Garth, Maude and the guitarist and bass player arrived on stage. We were treated to a couple of hours of jazz / blues musical brilliance. Maude sang like an angel, and Garth spread himself out over his keyboard, accordion and sax head-down and hands sprawling, exactly like you'd imagine. They played stuff from his album of the time, some standards, some Band stuff, and it was incredible.
At the end of the show, we were getting ready to leave when someone (I think the guitarist or bass player, but I can't quite remember) came over and said 'Are you the couple from England? Stick around for a bit 'cos Garth wants to say hello'.
😮
So we did. Once the 25-odd other people left, Garth and Maud came out and we sat at a table with them and another couple who lived nearby. Just the six of us, for probably an hour or two, listening to these AMAZING stories about his life on the road with The Band and Dylan. They were absolutely mesmerising, and then he came out with the first accordion joke: 'What's the definition of a gentleman? Someone who can play the accordion but chooses not to.".
And that's when the accordion jokes began.
I laughed. Then pinched myself. Then laughed. Then pinched myself. etc.
Unreal, man.