nothing in this small but functional 29 dollar
room that says. Loudness of train whistle. Always called lonesome. This is
a city of high altitude. I will look at it some tomorrow I will do some
business here before heading back out on the highway looking for adventure
(but not too much adventure) and a next stop somewhere east of Amarillo
possibly hopefully. Considering lunch in Albuquerque. First 2 hours of
drive I thought This is a stupid thing to do, I will go out of my mind
doing this. Then rhythm established. First stop in Ludlow CA between
Barstow and Needles on phone outside minimart watching crows go by somehow
began to put me in better mood. Inside minimart clerk and clerkess
conversing, she going outside to watch the sunset (deserty, colorful), him
saying something about the moonrise being better, she said the other day I
photographed the moon rise, he said why, she said it was something to do.
He said it's moving away you know, an inch a year. Then (back on road) the
moon coming up, bright yellow and full and huge in dry black sky edging
over the clean jagged line of floraless desert mountain dead ahead and
that put me in a very good mood, plus moonlit landscape less tiring to
drive than standard dark dark. Now Conan with the sound down. Now go
sleepy.November 4. Sunday. 0149 hrs. From a motel 6 that's a Yo La Tengo joke. Near Jackson TN. Tina turner on TV, something from the early '80s. Smell of the mildew the Southern mildew. The south happened today, in Eastern Oklahoma. Arkansas left no doubt. Stopped in OK City for lunch, then in Okemah where we Woody Guthried in '99 for nostalgic cruise down old empty main street. The Crystal. The Brick. Tina's band heavy on the new wave fern bar rock guy look. Mustache and headband action among back up singers, feathered hair and leather jackets. But Tina looking as good as a human possibly can even singing a Bob Seger song. Hoping tomorrow rather later today to cross paths w/ Mr. Kevin Jarvis at the Cats Pajamas. (See here for CPJs details.) But must sleep now. Days are running long. Omigod now here’s Victoria being interviewed and playing the piano. Wearing an orange sweater.
November 6. Tuesday. 0039 hrs. Arrived in the city of New York City the borough of Brooklyn. Was a little nervous about finding my
way in maps are near useless for working out
the changes here but instincts were correct and I did not go wrong. I
supposed I should get on the NJ Turnpike going south from 78 and that was
the right thing to do. Then over Staten Island and a bridge whose name I
won't misspell (did I misspell mispell? Mispell misspell?) the something
Narrows, you know the one, the winds were buffety and a little unnerving.
Wondered was I smelling the terrorism (or was it only New Jersey). New
York is not built for as many people as use it, the infrastructure is old
old old. What pass for freeways here. I mean I'm from L.A. But made it in.
Found parking. This is Park Slope after all. To dine w/ Melanie at the
Olive Vine down across the street then after that meeting Wes David
Shelley at the other Olive Vine down the next street there's a write up in
Time Out it says that David sounds so fragile you're afraid the record
will break if you play it or something like that. Back to Mel's. Ed came
home from cop school with his baton and his vest. I sit on futon on
leopard sheets preparatory to unconsciousness. I was at the Cat's Pajamas
too early for Kevin but right in time for Denise's homemade falafel.
Tennessee looked good, alive, so did Pennsylvania the downgoing sun
lighting up all the orange of the fall trees with dark blue grey clouds
lowering low. I took a picture.0948 hrs. Up. First day in six I haven't had to drive anywhere though must remember to move car before parking police arrive. Blue sky and shivering treetops glimpsed over red gold polka dot curtains of Melanie office room where I slept. Purple feather boa. Chinese cat pictures. Thrift store painted girl, ocean scene. Radiator shelf. Map of the world: You are here (necessarily). Signs from the trip east I did not have time to mention: Frozen Head Park. Hungry Mother State Park. Bushland Texas. I'd better go move that car. I mean van.
November 7. Wednesday. 0100 hrs. Still here or rather back here in the Melanie office end of a long day which included trip to
Manhattan and first (and
last?) rehearsal. The David songs. The Wes songs. The Wes and David songs.
It felt great to play. Nice view from up there in the Egyptian tomb studio
on the 11th floor of something Varrick. No camera of course. Went w/ David
for sammiches, harmonicas, guitar stand, picks. Ran into Rob at elevator
in a cold weather hat. New York brisk and clear and actually nice to be
in. The city does not seem especially terrorized and is itself famously no
longer terrifying. Deli sent us across the street to bakery for sammich
bread because they had run out. But they deducted the what has that got to
do with the price of bread from the total. Then Brooklyn again and Shelley
made Yuri bark at the word accordion and we walked far to the Chip Shop
where we had the chips and the fish and a deep fried Mars Bar. Then here I
was here again and this and that. And now I sleep and then I get up and
move stuff to Gavin's/Kelly's and then we go to Cortland and have a show,
tonight which is Wednesday and then drive back.November 8. Thursday. 1223 hrs. Sitting here w/ Kelly Link who is eating miso soup and answering the phone. It's David and we are all going to lunch except Wes who is being on the TV. Kelly and Gavin let me sleep until noon which was nice as we did not return from Cortland and first show of tour until the wee hour of four though if you're going to drive into New York City that's the time to do it. Wrong way drive
upstate but we
did see the charming town of Tuxedo and four real deer dining in a glade
as if they'd been placed there by Uncle Walt himself in fact their
reality did not strike me at first as reality and then when the sun went
down a shooting star. I forgot to say I saw rabbits in Virginia when I was
checking into my motel whenever that was. Show last night: Good. Sparsely
attended in the sense that the room (old concert hall on the Carnegie
lines, w/ giant organ pipes visible behind scrim) was too big for crowd
but in all respects pleasant and there was a piano and if it had seen
better days it was nevertheless a Steinway and worthy of your
respect.November 9. Friday. 0038 hrs. House of Kelly and Gavin. Brooklyn. Apart from me not a creature stirring not even a. Back from Manhattan and Makor. On the famous upper west side. Well I'd never played that part of town afore. A very nice place notwithstanding they made us leave (our show business being concluded) and it wasn't even midnight. But a very nice place. High class (an Arts Center). A piano they could have tuned but which we made full excellent use of nevertheless. A full house and among the crowd the people of the small world our small world. I was for instance mentioning Davia to Nina and Jill who was standing there said Davia Nelson I think I know that name from Santa Cruz. The Raver there raving. Mike and the aforementioned Nina. (Mike booking the tour but an old chum.) And Sarah had dinner with Mike and Nina quite by coincidental happenstance that was before in the small world. Mammoths out in force (but where did Giovanna go)? Jocelyn, Molly. Jill here for academic conference sporting sprained knee and cane. Young John Whitaker whom you'll meet again in Louisville, w/ stepfather. There was Loretta (late of the LA MTVR now of the NY MTVR and another link in the three degrees of Davia). Jennifer, Nathan's friend who wrote for Best of L.A., introduced herself. Dara Wax from Washington Manuel's friend at Columbia studying international affairs or is it relations and I made sure David met all the academics and NGO folks but he had his own peeps his own posse to attend to. And Jeroen possibly in Hoboken Saturday all the way from London town. That's what I'm talkin about. The show the show meanwhile was from the standpoint of the stage as good a show as ever there was, musical and momentary and semipsychic. Cab ride back to Brooklyn eating peppered nuts and jelly babies passing all down the island to Little Italy where the lights were up across the streets and then over the Manhattan Bridge. Feeling fine. There's a lot of New York left. Tomorrow or rather later today we go Philadelphia. Here's Sarah on the phone. I made tea but forgot to drink it. Haven't seen Gavin.
On the road sort of for real now, in
the sense that we are away from Brooklyn base camp for a week. (I am far
from home the whole all the time.) A detour into colonial Fredericksburg
("America's most historic city") on the way down from Arlington. I was
there once w/ Mark Walton and saw a neturia. Bought a cable at Picker's
Supply. Pretty autumn trees all along the highway, sky at sunset a
spectrum. Crossed leg w/ cat on it now asleep (like cat). Elsewhere the
Northern Alliance enters Kabul, a plane crashes in New York, George
Harrison leaves a hospital.1823 hrs. Bookandrecordshopping all day. Hardbound Kenneth Koch Selected Poems, Robbe-Grillet Projet Pour Une Revolution a New York, new Kelly Hogan, live Radiohead, Bert Jansch twofer and this 6ths thing I heard on the radio driving in Virginia last week on a station that came and went and held on almost long enough for the whole of the Low/Dirty 3 version of Down by the River. What was odd on that drive was all the Christian radio esp. the apocalyptic teen drama that kept me well occupied through eastern Tennessee. Back now at house of staying in. Bob Marley is feeling a rastaman vibration. Soon very soon we will go be musicians. Now there is cleaning and working and e-mailchecking. Which I do now.
November 14. Wednesday. 0244 hrs. Chapel Hill: Room 4: a small crowd if crowd is the word but mighty. It felt like date night. Everything is going so well even when it doesn't go well it goes well. Peter Blackstock who does No Depression was there. In the van Wes played the banjo my banjo my father's old banjo, Wes and David sang songs they sang at school. Went to a bar that might have been called Tyler's and were given free Booker's which is not my favorite thing to drink but certainly is strong.
November 15. Thursday. 0137 hrs. Again we are at the end of a long day and I am too tired to remember what I wanted to tell you too tired to make the words work. Wes come knocking on motel room door but David is asleep or trying to be (I think now he is truly asleep) and does not want to watch the video of himself at Eddie's Attic in the city of Decatur next to Atlanta GA. Uneventful day of road followed by excellent Thai meal w/ Sean and Julie followed by excellent show to full howling crowd. Rare 2nd encore (selected song even more rare). Followed by excellent Kentucky bourbon whose name I cannot now recall set upon the bar at no charge courtesy the selfsame Eddie whose Attic it is. This is a good tour for the free whisky. Don Conoscenti is coming there he's a nice guy and boy can he play the guitar. There was a graffiti sketch of Don (and Ellis Paul and their little percussive friend Christopher (name approximate)) on the wall backstage at the Tin Angel (Philadelphia). I am tired enough to be hearing things, I wrote "music turned enough" when I was asleep just now. I am asleep just now. I am not asleep but asleep enough to write I am asleep.
information, or thought. Night
night.1006 hrs. Here is David and we're going to try to make my mandolin feel better over on the old Old Bardstown Road. The bad Connery Bond is on the TV but we are leaving it now.
2001 hrs. Arrived in Dayton by way of large and excellent free Chinese meal courtesy Angela in northern Kentucky just shy of Cincinnati. Hotelwise we are as upmarket tonight as last night we were down though things were better there (Louisville Travelodge) once I moved out of the smoky nonsmoking room into the nonsmoky one. DL in bath. I don't think I've ever taken a bath between a soundcheck and show and don't expect I ever will though I might. It's no good being categorical about these things or any things. Well no sometimes it is good being categorical. In a library for instance. But even there. In any case. In the lobby a march of high school seniors What's the occasion asked I, It's our semi-formal said one girl, which seemed to translate as the girls dress up but the boys don't. Older man in a very bad wig. Free chocolate cookie (upmarket I told you). We are perhaps going to the coffee street if David ever gets out of the bath. Success with mandolin fixage this a.m. thanks to Jim of the Guitar Emporium on Bardstown Road (I think I've been adding the "old" erroneously) also the Twice Told Coffeehouse where appropriately we went Twice. Here is David all clean. In body. In mind? I find a bath quite useful to wake me up as well (he says), a bit of revival. He is explaining himself because I gave him a hard time about it though in an affectionate jocular way. I must assemble my costume for the evening's entertainment. (Change my shirt I mean.)
November 18. Sunday. 0207 hrs. Big night in Dayton concluded. Who would have known would have thought Dayton would become such a stronghold of Wes. All you could ask for from an audience (they listened they laughed they made appropriate noise, a lot of noise, in all the appropriate places). Thanks to Jim of Guitar Emporium no technical difficulties of the sort that made Louisville difficult (for me) though even that show was good/fun anyway. Tall John Whitaker whom I mentioned previously played there (Louisville) before David and brought in the young people crowd. Also in Louisville we saw the giant Louisville Slugger statue. Now here I am twelve floors up in the Dayton Doubletree. Every so often a small tremor of unknown (to me) origin. At home I would think: Earthquake. DL in slumberland. Next stop Pittsburgh.
November 23. Friday. 1027 hrs. David onstage in New Haven inbetween Your Kind of Madness and Jealousy’s Antiques, his solo break, my little offstage backstage time. Nazneen (sp?) here and
other David friends. And a lot more people than
you would have thought. And Brigid and Amy over across the street eating
at the Malaysian place we were at ourselves but had to leave to come here
and make the music. Brigid was in 
Amherst for Thanksgiving
as well, we were housemates in the house of Amy and guestmates in the
house of Byron and Lili. Now that was a lovely night and well supplied.
And I took one walk w/ Amy and the dog (named Onyx like Tricia's dog Onyx)
and a later walk in the country dark of Massachusetts with a whole little
bunch of people whose names I can't at this second recall but most of whom
were related by marriage or blood. And then New Haven, meeting Wes and
David and Nazneen who came up by train from the city of New York City. And
Robert Palm who I saw as I left the low stage in this smokey smokey smokey
"lounge." In which I am not wearing my nice sweater because of the smokey
smoke. David sounding very good and confident. I would like some water
please. Must run.November 27. Tuesday. 0100 hrs. I have been away from you Tour Dairy. Busy writing for my other life. One piece done but still to edit and another to finish writing. That is all the L.A. Weekly and 3000 miles from here. Boards of Canada in earphones in unseasonably warm Boston which we leave tomorrow or rather today in the later a.m. but where we have already spent three nights running. Though not running. Not for a second did we run. We are over by the Fens and the Fenway and the Fenway Park next to a radio station where Wes and Steve and I once all played live and in person. Before we were here three nights runing we were at Bobby's Farm in the wilds of Eastern Conn., perfectly hosted and well fed. And I petted the sheep Shitty and Stubborn and the goat Half Baked and saw the chickens and the ducks. I was very happy I can't tell you. The house was old and the grounds were beautiful and there was a damp gray that mixed well the autumn orange and brown and we walked into the little town center and saw the little library with its old wood Bacchus carved by a British prisoner back in the revolutionary day, and a little display of frogania and Robert told the story of how long ago the townspeople thinking they heard the war cries of Indians holed up frightened in the church but the next day it was discovered that it was merely the sound of bullfrogs fighting for water. Or some such. So the frog became the town mascot which I thought demonstrated an admirable ability for self-mockery. Now I am tired and must close. We are going to try to get to Niagara Falls before the sun goes down.
Falls
the sun had gone down but there was still a little light and anyway there
are lights shining all over the thing. It is a big lot of water and
movement. I had seen it once it was winter and the spray froze
before it hit your face. We didn't get to Canada because we were worried
they wouldn't let David back in but I don't understand why. I didn't
bother to understand why. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe instead another
place David had never been and made fun of videos and gold records. We
drove to Cleveland. We went to a sports bar. We 
went to sleep.
Dixon and Marti came up from Canton and we went to lunch w/ David around
the corner and I had a tuna melt. Got swag (new Dixon, Marti records). We
went to the Rock Hall of Fame they have Howlin Wolf's hat and
(temporarily) John Lennon's bloody glasses I didn't see Janis Joplin's
psychedelic Porsche which I saw there last time when we went w/ the Band.
David bought merch. We played a show to not so many people but as is often
the case in such cases it was good and long. Michael Fracasso who opened
for us at the Mucky Duck in Houston once opened here again he is a nice
guy and has the prettiest voice. We drove to Chicago. We played Schuba's.
We played Schuba's again (the same night). We played Schuba's again (the
next night), and that was the best of all packed to the back wall with
spesh guests Dag J. and Susan Voelz (who also guested show 2);
Dag was up for Peeps love to Watch U Die and Winder Seat w/ Dead jam
breakdown, and Susan so beautifully 5 string violened and sang If You
Don't Want My Love which focused my attention on the place and the time
and the good fortune, and there were moments like that the livelong night.
Then we played the church that was tonight. Now the laundry is going round
in the basement and I am sitting crossed leg in the French bed I think
they've nicknamed it and I am going OUT.December 3. Monday. 0024 hrs. Sioux Falls SD. Motel 6. Almost Famous was on the HBO, that is another story of tourdom. This is another another story. Bjork is on the HBO now. That harp playing friends of Nels' is playing the harp I guess. The computer is acting funny, I don't know why, the type is typing in clumps not letter by letter. I got virused the other day it could have something to do with that. Bjork is wearing circus clothes. It is snow on the ground outside and ice and it is cold and night and many a mile to Seattle where we are going. The Mississippi where we crossed it I had never crossed there and it was the last gasp of daylight and very blue and soft edged and beautiful the landscape.
clear and sunny up until then. Woke in Billings,
stopped in Bozeman. Coffeed up where we saw the old timey musicians play
on the last tour, accidentally saw them, their jam. Kara from the radio
station came to say hi with a baby. Then we drove. (Saw many cows and some
sheeps. A deer bounded across the road (bounded is the word) and there was
much car slowage. Yesterday I think it was we saw a fox, which didn’t
cross the road, thought better of it.) Then we got here. Then we had a
Japanese meal with our shoes off. Then we came to the Motel 6. Then we
went and saw Spy Games which no one should do. Then when we came out the
van was covered in snow and everything else was too. Then we came back
back to the Motel 6. Now I am wondering whether to go out in the cold to
get water from the van but I think I will just get it from the sink
instead.December 6. Thursday. 0242 hrs. There is George Harrison on the VH1. He has become something else, he is not what he was. It is Seattle and after the big show. Kurt played, Scott played (one # each). Young Ben Kweller I think is the name opened and he has the true rock spirit. The Century Ballroom fed us well and more or less filled up with people. Beforehand we
cruised Capitol Hill, drank Seattle espresso
drinks, shopped. Before that we drove from Idaho and there was snow on the
way to Spokane and after, then it was clear, and then there was snow again
but not as much as we thought and we got over Snowquami Pass (spelled from
memory but possibly correct) w/o incident. Seattle looking very sparkly
and shiny. Full of young people in leather jackets, not all look happy,
esp. in the rain. After the big show we went to Linda's which is a bar
with big pack of people (friend people). Then here we are now at the King
or King's Inn, where I was at the end of the last tour diary. Kevin was
here and watching Rockford, that was in the spring. There is Alicia Keys
on the TV the current hot stuff and she was great singing Donny Hathaway
on the New York TV thing but this video is terrible. Big vehicle noise
from outside. Night night.December 9. Sunday. 0141 hrs. Phoenix Motel San Francisco. The thump thump of the disco techno beat from the unfortunately on site disco techno club thumps away in the low subwoofing register as background to courtyardfilling chattering young people fresh from the Thrasher awards who will not go to bed anytime soon, in fact they are going out for beer I heard a girl say. We are next to the party room and w/ a window that doesn’t close. I suppose some of these kids have never been in a hotel before. I drove all the way from Portland and am tired. Everybody go to bed now. Go to bed little children. Portland was nice Sarah was there to see Susan and is there still. We got to Powell’s briefly this morning before the long long drive. Many mountains to cross but the snow stayed on the mountains and off the road. Tomorrow maybe I will see if they have rooms here where the windows close. Seattle was fun too we played the Century Ballroom that was nice. “It is your room do whatever you fucking want.” That is verbatim dialogue from the outside. Not related to our room, someone else’s room. Boom there goes someone into our door again. "Open the fucking door that's all I have to say fuck you open the fucking door hey open the fucking door is this your room no it's not open the fucking door." Not addressed to me I don't think. In any case I am not going to open the fucking door. Kurt Bloch played w/ us in Seattle and so did Scott McCaughey. Young Ben Kweller (he is only 20) opened the show there and I liked him and bought his EP. He was a nice kid with a nice girlfriend and I feel safe in saying that he would know how to behave in a hotel courtyard. "I'm trying to regulate." "All right party wooh take it off" (some girl says). Then the next night we went to Jalisco or Jalisco's and there was karoake but I did not karoak. David and Wes and Kurt and Kurt did but not me not I. There was a big table full of people. People more rock than these kids who won't go to bed but some with kids of their own now. "I'm sorry I'm so sorry." "No you're not. You're just saying that to make me feel better." "Hey has anybody seen my roach around?" "Ewan, fuck off! Fuck yourself! Hey fuck yourself! Ewan, fuck yourself! Fuck you!" Go to bed kids. Go to bed now.
duplicate of our own van w/
rock stuff. We rehearsed in Kurt's brother's new bar, briefly. I looked
for the mermaid but not very hard. We went to
North Beach and spent 11 seconds in City Lights then went to have beatnik
coffee. Then I went back to North Beach was it the next day or the day
after with David and had lunch with Laura at Rose Pistola is it called
then coffee in the Coppola coffeehouse. Indicated to David the seedy
streetlife on Market. Caren was in a meeting. Night 2 was in Berkeley for
the folkies. Then Caren was in her office. Went to 24th St. with Trudy and
boys, post office and Phoenix books there was Alison. I bought something
Billy Name color Factory photos not as good though as the black
and white Factory photos I bought that famous Swedish Warhol catalog for
$10 many years ago at Cherokee Books on the Hollywood Boulevard. Then
lunch at Zuni then record shops Grooves I think it was called then Amoeba
in the Haight Hashbury there is one of those here now and they have got
some of my money. Reckless where I'd instored w/