Sunday November 2
12:30 a.m.
Motel 6 Redding, CA, it is kind of exciting to be doing this
again. The parking, the checking in, the turning on the television:
Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack Skellington needs to borrow some
equipment. It's going to be either too hot or too cold in this room.
Temperature regulation one of the most difficult challenges of tour
traveling. We all have our preferences. This morning I was home, I mean
Saturday morning, now I am on the way to Seattle to meet Wes, driving
monster minivan, it feels like the big old Econoline of tours of yore. A
long drive up 5 mostly in the dark due to late start but leaving home is
hard. Caravans of fire trucks heading back north from fighting the SoCal
fires. David and Alex(ander) came by w/ moving-blanket loan and handy hand
for piano hauling, were rewarded by Sarah w/ banana peanut butter
pancakes. Last night was Halloween in the courtyard. Scarecrow, fog
machine, giant cat head, multiple pumpkins, candles, headstones, cobwebs,
spiders, spooky glowing eyes. Real rain which came and went but did not
deter candy-intent little children. I hear a honking horn of Redding, CA.
Abigail was a bee which is appropriate she loves flowers. Lucas was a cat
sometimes a cat in a pumpkin but he is only a few months new and had no
idea. Alex(ander) a dead student, he was pierced w/ pencils like St.
Sebastian, his clever own idea though the St. Sebastian parallels probably
more coincidental than intended, he's only 11 and not Catholic. Steve (in
gold lame tailcoat) ordered pizza. Sebastian (dead hippie) and Sarah(2)
(strangled prom queen) threw party, made margaritas, sent people home who
came uncostumed. Sarah(1) had velcro horns and there was a bolt through my
head. Now I am here and the people of Halloweentown are trying to kick it
Xmas style, it can be difficult. Tomorrow the Cascades, destination:
Portland. |
11:16
p.m.
Portland, or West Linn actually, home of
Susan & Joe, Kate & Azalea (sister in law et cie), room of Azalea
who is set up downstairs in the computer room but frankly now that I think
of it I could/should be sleeping there. Well perhaps it's an adventure for
her. A stuffed lizard (not a realistic stuffed lizard but a lizard oll) I
am supposed to feed. "He eats water and crumbs." It's me and the dolls
here (many rabbits and bears a dog Betty Boop and a generic humanoids.
Script for "Puppet Show by Azalea and Zoë (her cousin, who was visiting)
in the Living Room The Show 'The Giant.'" "Once upon a time there were 3
little birds and they were asleep." Dinner at Typhoon which is still good.
(See previous tour diaries.) Kim R the kindly waitress acc. to the bill.
Very tired. Rain in the mountains a few snow flurries. Stopped in Dunsmuir
in the mountain reaches of verymost No Cal for coffee and excellent
pastries from the Cornerstone Cafe I've got the card somewhere I daresay
I'll be back. The breakfast looked good too. Finished listening (started
yesterday) to Laurie Anderson's United States 1-4 Live. Also the David
Sedaris at Carnegie Hall I bought Sarah and she lent me that got me
through quite a stretch of stretch. Talking people makes time fly.
Tomorrow is Monday and Seattle. Work begins (different work than the
driving work, which is work). |
Tuesday November 4
4:15 p.m.
Seattle. Sitting on the floor in Kurt's office at Kurt's where we
are rehearsing and staying. I am the only mouse stirring though perhaps
Wes has the right idea he is asleep. (Kurt is merely absent.) I am tired
too. Radio this morning, two songs live on The Mountain that's 103 point
something I believe, never before played by me. First show tonight. Two
days of rehearsal counting this one. Local movement tally: two trips to
Fremont (Mexican food last night, Longshoreman's Daughter this morning),
two trips to Ballard (Hattie's Hat last night, errands today). Oh the
nicest hardware store that ever there was is there. It is clean and woody
open and professional not in a Home Depot way but in a way that takes
hardware seriously. Professionally. In fact most of the hardware must have
been elsewhere, it was relatively speaking a hardware free environemtn.
All I got was a little thing of WD40 to oil the squeaky piano pedal but
there was an air of ceremony about the whole process that was very
impressive. At Hattie's were Britt and Al, who looked a little like Eric
Westfall but is Kurt's brother and lives in Roanake through which I will
likely pass on the way home from NYC and I will look him up possibly. The
trip from Portland happily unremarkable except for stop in Olympia and a
bite at the Spar Cafe. Kurt took a picture of my back for the cover of the
Sgt. Major album (mine will be one back among many). |
Wednesday November 5
3:13 a.m.
Kurt's basement. There was a cat here and now gone. Debating:
basement or couch. It is unseasonably cold here, it is cold even for here.
Show #1 is history and it was very fine notwithstanding (notwithstanding
errors). So many new songs. New old songs. Old old songs not played in so
long they might as well be new. Then we were in Hattie's again. In the
course of the evening saw Jim and Britt and Carol and John. Steve who was
in Chicago. I am very tired goodnight. |
12:46
p.m.
Upstairs. Have been out briefly. It is cold
it is cold even for Seattle everyone is remarking on the cold, which is
cold. It is warmer in Chicago today says the weather map. What I really
need is a whether map. Kurt and Carmella who came over made breakfast it
was the best breakfast I've had since writing any of the words on this
page. Wes is listening to soccer on the internet I hear the voices from
the other room. The day is moving on what will I do with the rest of it I
don't know I had thought about the EMP Kurt is on display I think he is a
legend in the Pacific Northwest but I would not lay money on my getting
there. |
7:27
p.m.
is an appropriate time for Seattle. The day
has been a kind of long lull w/ brief episodes of activity, i.e. going
into Ballard. In Tully's twice already, will end up in Hattie's again
doubtless. No EMP. Wes off in the cold somewhere playing football. Kurt
working. Monty Python DVD for noise and company. Cheese, crackers. If I
were to go out where would I go besides into the cold? Well I don't have a
good answer for that. Tomorrow will be a long day running all the way to
Ashland but no farther. What else: well. Of course the more interesting
things happen in a day the less time I have to write about them. And vice
versa if you see what I mean. Kurt has been attracted away from work by
the Pythons, the sherry drinking vicar sketch. Now Kurt has left the room
but still laughing at the sound. |
Thursday November 6
11:44 p.m.
Ashland Oregon. Well let's see the heater has just kicked on and
the Learning Channel has a show about crimes and how to commit them and we
drove down from Seattle this morning after breakfast at Vera's and Mt.
Rainier was only dimly occluded in all its volcanic glory and we stopped
in Eugene briefly and went to the Buy and Sell Store where once I bought a
pump organ and once I bought a flute but nothing today except coffee
across the street and then we drove to Ashland listening mostly to Wes's
I-pod music alphabetically and didn't go to the movies but did go to the
Black Sheep pub where the waitresses wear kicky mod Carnaby St. caps. We
were there w/ Josh just one year ago but Josh is not here now he is having
a career elsewhere though we are playing the Tin Angel only a night apart
perhaps we will leave him some personal graffiti unless it's him who plays
first in which case perhaps he'll leave us some graffiti. Educational
information from the Learning Channel: "Thieves you see work in pairs."
Sarah got to go to the Disney Hall tonight with Mark that was in Los
Angeles. |
Friday November 7
evening
Backstage at Winters Bob is here he is servicing and networking
businesses with less than 30 employees. What’s that. I just put you in my
tour diary I said to Bob. The backstage room seems like a different size
but that’s how it is when you come back to a place sometimes like home
after you go away to school. Bob says Winters seems more lively than last
year and it’s true it does we ate on the corner in the I don’t know what
it’s called but it was good I had the something corn pie and the bread
pudding that almost seems redundant doesn’t it. There was a salad too,
though, for good road health and a darn decent one. Bob is reading the
graffiti of the Winters Opera House backstage, or I should say the Palms
should I say. Wes is in an office e mailing. And a good breakfast in
Ashland too we are doing well today. Here’s Wes, hey (I say) I brought up
your harmonica holder. Mt. Shasta on the way down looked funtastic, it was
all visible but there were clouds coming off the south side and stretching
across the sky like they were part of the mountain or made by it and of
course it lasts and lasts and lasts Shasta you see it forever and pass it
forever. Not exactly forever. Another stop at the Cornerstone Cafe in the
No Cal “historic railroad town” of Dunsmuir. Clip goes the string that Wes
has changed. Now he is explaining the EP to Bob. We were here w/ Josh one
year ago not exactly today. The amplified voice of the opening act booms
through and his harmonica. Now we are going across the “roadway” for a
beer. |
8:53
p.m.
Back from across street where there
was beer and the heads of dead animals. Opener guy just sang skip to my
lou my darling. Bob is asking me about writing about television. And now
Wes is here. |
Sunday November 9
wee hours
San Francisco California. Beck's Motor Lodge on the street called
Market. Long day done, started in Los Angeles ending in... Beck's Motor
Lodge on Market Street. College students are going wild on the television
set. Drove up w/ Jim Healey in the van. There was a rainbow on 5. Jim is
across the Bay. Emily (my something or other) was there for the first half
at least, she had to go off to study for middterms, and looking as lovely
as ever lovelier perhaps. Laura briefly. Russ and Kim. Tracy and friends.
CVS in the house. Bob Whitfield. Trudy of course. The whole night spent in
the block or so between here and Lucky 13, w/ Cafe du Nord in the middle.
Bob Berlin from high school. Caren from high school w/ Harry not from high
school, but fairly old friend now. I'll tell you what. Last night down in
Long Beach we played on the Queen Mary, somewhere down near where the
boiler room used to be. We played in the smoke of a smoke machine. I don't
know why. Between Deerhoof and Mike Watt/George Hurley. Nels was there
backstage in all his tallness. We had our own bucket of beer it was
between Deerhoof's and Mike Watt's and George Hurley's on a long table of
buckets of beer. Tom was there w/ Cal but missed us. Saw Matt outside w/
Byron and of course Dr. Mark B. Sender, also Claudia Grau his better half.
Byron likes the Spice Girls. Matt has not yet read The Third Policeman
which apparently I lent him but it must have been years ago. Sonic Youth
seen briefly from afar, from not exactly gangplank of Queen Mary. Shins
heard not seen. Spoon missed. Dinner at Sir Winston's, Sarah wrangled that
for us, "on board," violating the dress code (semi-formal), I suppose the
laminates made up for it. We took a walk around the big boat, which is
big. There was a picture of Fred Astaire standing by a stair by the stair
he was standing by. |
Tuesday November 11
11:19 a.m.
Yesterday was a driving day down from San Francisco after Peet's
across Market and an errand to 24th and picking up Jim across the Bay.
Back on 5 for what the 4th time this trip I think. I did not mention the
Stockton McDonald's (emergency breakfast fallback) where a shirtless man
tried to sell us a gold ring for $20. Inside a very very very very large
man was going through the trash perhaps he had lost a gold ring in it.
Sgt. Major sounding very good on the stereo hi fi. Little of interest a
quick trip relatively speaking or psychologically speaking it always takes
about the same time getting back here from S.Francisco. Cobras and
Matadors last night another good food idea of Sarah's, that's Steve
Arroyo's restaurant he used to live here in our happy little courtyard.
Karen Schoemer wrote and says she likes Fleshpot that's Eric's band (he
used to live here in the happy little courtyard too) they have a track on
the new Trampoline Records comp. It's gray today a little chilly in fact.
A 90 minute trip or so to Santa Barbara looms for the afternoon, an early
leave to beat the traffic and maximize pre show tourism. Kirk can't come.
Alison can come. Jim can come. Tony maybe can come. All a riding in the
van van. Before that there will be cleanliness, coffee and something to
eat. |
2:11
p..m.
Back from lunch. Jeannie is back working
at Cafe du Village after 9 mos. in Canada. Kirk is not going to Santa
Barbara. Tony is not going to Santa Barbara. Alison is going to Santa
Barbara and Jim is going to Santa Barbara and they should be here in about
15 minutes. I am looking up the OK City trip on the computer the other
computer. It's 1346.7 miles and we need to be there by Friday which is of
course possible but not easy. There is laundry to be changed in the
washing machine. Elsa is hiding somewhere because there are men painting
and hammering and I can't give her her Elsa medicine she is a cat by the
way. |
Wednesday November 12
9:19 a.m.
Hello you. And I do mean you. You know who I mean. I am sitting
crosslegged on my very own bed outside the window is a sound like a
rattlesnake but I don't think it is, how would a rattlesnake get up on the
roof (I am on a 2nd floor). Also the sound of traffic going by on Wilton.
Trees, treetops out every window. We are going toward Oklahoma City today
but we are going most likely to Flagstaff AZ. You can get a good cup of
coffee there in the morning I happen to know. That will be tomorrow
morning. Last night was Santa Barbara where they kick it Old California
style. State Street that great street. Of course most everything closed,
including the oldest bookstore or used bookstore in California supposedly.
A real piano said to be in tune but not exactly quite in tune it proved
but used anyway. Difficult in certain respects I mean I could feel it in
my arms after a couple of songs it's different than the Korg albeit that
is the closest to the real thing I've ever played and it's 13 yrs. old
now. Rose was there. Mark B. Sender came up and so did Dian(n)e. I asked
Mark if he enjoyed performing surgery he is a surgeon and he says he does
because it struck me it may not be all like it is on TV where it's always
tense and serious I mean it may be more like working on a car or even
playing a folk rock show and apparently it is or can be. I am sorry Kirk
couldn't come that would have been fun. Jim has a phone that sends
pictures he sent one to me but I never did get it. T. Rex again on the way
back Wes is obsessing over Ride a White Swan. I have 35 minutes to move my
car I can do that. Look here is an e-mail but not Jim's. I should say also
that there are additions and corrections to the above entries so you may
want to reread, that you're reading this at all seems to make that not
unlikely. Someone is watering. |
11:52
p.m.
Flagstaff AZ. Mountain time. Days Inn.
Fresh from Chilis. The last couple of driving hours were all about: rain,
dark, trucks, mountains, wind. And tiring you can imagine. Things were
okay on and off until Seligman and then it was just a slow slog. But here
we are having dined at apparently the only open restaurant in all of
Flagstaff. Seligman, a little strip of old Rte. 66 that markets itself if
that's not too strong a word as a Little Strip of Old Rte. 66, denied us
twice for dinner, both the West Side and Road Kill cafes closing exactly
when we arrived, though ultimately this was perhaps not such a bad thing.
Sarah says that Matt says there were flash floods today in Compton. Also
Rose (niece) turned 21 today now she and Emily can hang out in bars
together. I would like to be 21 but me now. The desert before night and
unrelenting rain was beautiful the clouds and the mountains and light
doing impressive things together all colorful and dramatic. Now I am
collapsible I could collapse. But I am going to the van for water (2
waters one each). |
Thursday November 13
11:08 p.m.
Tucumcari as famed in song. Stopping over on the way to OK City.
Nothing on the TV but the TV is on. This a.m. in Flagstaff: coffee from
Marcy's, bagels from Biff's. Biff was a dog. There was a kitty at the
motel picking its way among the puddles. We drove to Albuquerque and in
Albuqerque we ate at El Patio awardwinning best New Mexican restaurant. A
man in a gas station he was the gas station cashier saw my guitar picks
when I was getting out change and said he collected them, he had three and
I said well here's one more it was a yellow one. A dog is herding sheep on
the David Letterman show, sorry two dogs. Right into the former Ed
Sullivan Theater. Good doggies. |
Saturday November 15
12:21 a.m.
Oklahoma City Oklahoma. This morning or technically Friday morning
we were in Tucumcari as above and then we drove here and what happened on
the way is that there was a lot of wind (as per the song Oklahoma). In
Amarillo I went to 4 places to find a power cord and found it. Shamrock TX
again w/ the Texas shaped sink in the McDonald's. We had to leave one
hotel because there was only one room with one bed and we came to this
hotel where I am now where there two beds but the smell of smoke and the
sound of Conan O'Brien or is it Brian and we have to sleep because we have
to get up early and go to Austin which is back in Texas but another part
of Texas than the part we drove through. Tonight was the Blue Door w/ Greg
and his new wife Tina and their remodeled digs in the back really when you
play the Blue Door you're playing Greg's house which has the feel of an
old roadhouse church, it leans in on itself. It's a good place to be and
play. Not the biggest audience but possibly the most vocal I mean in a
good way. There were four girls down front on the right my right who
brought a cooler and whooped a lot. Dinner was at Salathai (sp?) as it was
last year and again it was different and delicious. The very polite waiter
reminded us of Josh. Outside it was cold. |
Sunday November 16
1:46 a.m.
Austin Texas. Holiday Inn. Played: Cactus Cafe. There: Paul and
Kayci. Kayci busy these days running Moxy a kind of arts and crafts retail
cooperative. Also Robin from old world of L.A. More Thai food tonight at
the same place we ate last year w/ Josh and Slaid Cleaves this time we ate
w/ Jeff Cline Kline? Who opened. Another good Thai and slightly different
Thai restaurant in the Central Time Zone. Afternoon: napped. It was a long
drive from OK City, nothing happened much, there was a fire near a
McDonald's, I missed some exits that would have taken me to a Starbucks,
southern Oklahoma is pretty I think. I wanted to buy something in the
Tower Records near the Cactus but I didn't buy anything. Wes found a new
Dave Rave CD he hadn't even heard about. Tomorrow is another longer drive,
all the way to Memphis, and perhaps farther. To get to Chicago to see the
people, we are playing there absurdly enough tomorrow night. I suppose I
should go to sleep then good night. |
Tuesday November 18
3:20 a.m.
Sheila's house is groaning. I am on the French Bed there are more
pillows here than six people would need. Tonight driving here from
Schuba's up Lincoln I stopped to let a bunny rabbit cross the street.
Right in the middle of Chicago. There is also a river right in the middle
of Chicago I don't mean the big one I mean the little one with trees
almost a secret river like the secret river in Bologna. Sunday drive from
Austin to northern Alabama via the Outback Steakhouse in Little Rock.
Helpful waitress who had been to Chicago and had fun. Men in rest stop
bowing toward Mecca. Thick fog we stopped somewhere. In the morning I was
surprised to see how flat it was I had felt almost like we were in the
mountains that has happened to me before that's how it is when you can't
see two feet in front of your face. Then to Chicago and just in time.
Traffic of course on the Kennedy Expwy. Sheila, Sharon, Bethann, Dag,
Carson, Linda, Tilney from Madison and her friend Maria. But no Deanna or
Kelly. Schuba's packed back to the door. They cooked our food again
because we had no time to eat it and were most generous in the comping
department. Shout outs and love to you the people of Schuba's. Post show
wind down at Sheila's incl. Dave Max Crawford. And Carson who I first met
those many years ago in Ireland and we drove around w/ my sister and
Dennis, Pat stayed in Dublin. She bonded over theater w/ Sharon and Greg
who is Bethann's new roommatethey are both in the Goodman Theater A
Christmas Carol, Sharon is Mrs. Fezziwig and the charwoman, Greg is young
Ebenezer. In the morning there will be Tre Kroner as per usual. |
Thursday November 20
1:25 a.m.
Philadelphia. DONNA BAKER WRITES: "As usual Robert is feeling very
sleepy at this time of the evening. So I am the designated diarist. The
show was good, isn't it always? Robert accompanied his good friend
Chris Mills on his last song, one of many about suicide and requiems. What
a guy that Chris! Then the main act, keyboards for Robert on this tour,
but we all know about that already. A member of the audience asked about
the accordion, but I don't think he was disappointed when he heard the
songs played in their full splendor on the Korg. The best new song
was "Negative Love," which had wonderful Bachrachian overtones. Both
musicians performed admirably. Enough about their art, how did my evening
go? I took a cab to the venue from my home, which is about two miles
distant. As we drove through the newly darkened city at dusk in the rain,
I wanted the ride to last in a forever loop around Rittenhouse Square with
the recently put up fairy lights in all the trees. Carol, my friend for
forty years, was waiting at the Tin Angel for me and then I met a lovely
woman named Cheryl who is a singer who in all probablity will be appearing
shortly at the bar Carol works in in Doylestown. Then the show proper
started and for the first time in a year the folks who are in the know got
to hear some rockin' good stuff from you know who. Robert and Wes both
thought that "Driving in the Rain" was the show stopper since it has been
raining cats and dogs at least since Pittsburgh. Robert is doing all the
driving this trip since it's only the two of them and Wes still hasn't yet
got the hang of right hand driving. Robert is quite the exhausted chap,
and in need of rest. But the tour this year is much better than it was
last year when they went right into harrm's way to Arlington VA when the
sniper killings were still ongoing. But the music goes on for better or
worse, and tonight it was better. Robert met my old friend and colleague,
Larry Meehan, and although Larry invitted my husband Jamie to join his
private golfing group, the same courtesy was not extended to Robert (or
Wes). Such athletic chaps that they are! But I am sure this is purely a
matter of physical proximity rather than manly prowess. If you ever meet
Larry, in a bar naturally, no, your hearing has not suddenly gone bad, he
mumbles terribly, so do not be embarrased in the least to ask him to
repeat himself. I hear Wes has written a novel loosely based on one his
songs, Miss Forturne. It seems that Miss Fortune is a neo-Anlgo Britney
Spears who boosted a sugar daddy to support her desire to become a woman
who has achieved a place in life totally through her own devices.
Goodness, who will read this book... Let us just say, if you loved the
song, buy the book! I was happy to see George at the Tim Angel this
evening, and even more happy when I heard what he had been through these
past couple of weeks. George, skinny as a rail, has congestive heart
failure, who woulda figured. After treatment of weeks in hospital, he was
doing sound as always and drinking just a wee bit of Jack in his red wine.
The show ended and Wes sold way too many CD's, and Robert and I drove off
from Second Street all the way west to the tiny, tiny, tiny Waverly
Strret. What happened is something only a very few enthusiasts of
precision parallel parking could appreciate. Suffice it to say that rather
than risking a parking ticket from the oh so caring parents and teachers
of the Philadelphia School, my immediately adjacent neighbor, we
white-knuckled it to a glorious spot right on the block. Dear ones, I am
up way past my usual bedtime, and I would only do this with Robert at my
side. So, read at your leisure, or respond immediately, we have a half a
bottle of whiskey and a half a bottle of Sambuca to go, so give us your
thoughts and musings. (Not for me, of course, but Robert has yet another
week on the road, and he will certainly welcome all greetings and
salutations that his friends have to give.) All my best to you out there,
Donna E. Baker, Esq." |
Friday November 21
12:20 a.m.
Lowell, Mass. where Jack Kerouac was born and/or raised long
before this hotel was built. It is a nice hotel and soon I will be asleep
in it. There is the TV reporting on the misadventures of Mike Jackson. The
Jacksons lived not so very far from me, just up from the Gelson's on
Hayvenhurst. Today's drive was not full of rain unlike yesterday's drive
and the drive before that, it rained on us practically all the way from
Chicago and such rain as is rarely seen it was hard and loud and made the
road disappear and made me tired, it was such relief just to drive under a
bridge or through a tunnel. In Philadelphia a whole scaffolding came down
on a block of cars we saw this as we drove to the Tin Angel. I saw the
Jacksons back when Michael still had his old nose and hair etc. they were
good. There's Fred Willard he's funny. Stayed up too late last night with
Donna it was like being back in school I mean college school. Lowell has
cobblestones downtown and the streets run at funny angles it looks like a
Hollywood backlot down there. We stopped in Southbury today for
sandwiches, we have done that before, and before that we stopped for
Starbuckskaffe on the New Jersey Turnpike we have done that before too.
There was a nice little crowd at Capo's in Lowell they were little but
nice. Well I don't mean they were individually little they were all pretty
normal in that regard. That is an awful world normal. There's an ad for
The Haunted Mansion, Randy did some sound editing on that. Okay. There is
Conan. I guess it's late then. There is the strangest noise coming from
the ceiling, as if the whole floor upstairs were on springs and someone
was hopping on it I have never heard anything like this in any hotel I
have ever been in. It sounds like it's going to come down on our head.
There is Martha Stewart w/ Conan I like Martha I'm sorry she's in that
mess she looks a little tired. Me too. Now there is a large thump in the
hallway. |
Wednesday November 25
12:58 a.m.
Arlington, VA. The tour is over. I have been either too busy (w/
work or fun), tired or sick to write. (I have a widdle cold.) Sorry. Last
show sealed w/ a last show handshake at the lovely Iota in Arlington,
which neighborhood has changed radically in the last year w/ addition of
mall and other large retail spaces. So let us go back and fill in the last
days. Okay. Lowell: Got up, went to get the van Jiffy Lubed. Next door an
Indian grocery store, we bought Indian pop music CDs. Then an easy drive
to Cambridge. For a change. And a hotel right on Harvard Square, for
another change. This was Friday. Lunch at the Bombay Club, above the
little square or rectangle I love so much, the one that Peet's is on, w/
the criss cross paths and the nice fence. Record shopping. Central Square
and the Middle East, the upstairs room that was a new one, it's like a
smaller TT's (which is next door), actually possibly not smaller, better
shaped anyway, and not as loud, w/ some pointed arches a la Alladin. Sound
checked and waited for Amy who was coming in from Northampton, and while
waiting talked to opener Blake Hazard and her boyfriend or husband
possibly John who also has a band or is a band called Jack Drag, they were
lovely and are moving to Los Angeles. Amy arrived and we (Amy, me, Wes)
went to the Green Street Grill which we have often done before though w/o
Amy, and that was nice, and Amy had pictures of Elizabeth and Sarah who
are looking more grown up and beautiful than ever, and also presents, and
also the catalog for the Picture Book Museum where she runs the cafe. Amy
told the story of the woman who hijacked her life for a novel it is not a
pretty tale. Back at the club there was Josh Ritter our little friend from
last year. Josh said Blake is F. Scott Fitzgerald's granddaughter but I
said that was impossible, knowing a thing or two about F. Scott
Fitzgerald. (She is his great-grandaughter, apparently, and I will accept
that.) Abby's great great grandfather built the Brooklyn Bridge. Josh sang
along on "Lady of the Highways" which he did often last year. It is always
good to see him he is a nice boy. The next day it was Saturday and Wes
went and watched football and I wandered around Harvard Square spending
money and then we met and bought bagels and drove to Providence where we
had no hotel at all and went to record stores and a used book store Myopic
and drank tea in Teadluxe and also after soundcheck ate Japanese food in a
little place w/ a helpful smiling staff and an overwhelmingly young or
rather overwhelmingly a young clientele, and then more tea at Zog a cafe
next door and then back to the club and Jimmy the Zen soundman who felt
challenged in a good way by our rare quietude and there were a few people
there and it was a pretty good show all around in fact except in the sense
of attendance and next door there was a band I heard covering the Dead and
in fact they did it very well the guitar player had Jerry's tone and
mixolydian scales down pat. Fetched the van afterward there was a corvette
parked in front of it w/ the vanity plate CAPPO. That's a mob town
Providence or so I have been told. There was a lot of activity on the
streets suddenly all these dance clubs and such but the vibe was sleazy
sort of. Went to Abby's mother's Connecticut house and I woke up in the
morning to a sunlit lake w/ two swans gliding across it and a cute little
New England town across the way. This was Sunday. We drove to Joe's Pub in
the city of New York and soundchecked and then I ran into Wes at Tower
Video where I knew he was going and then we went to another video store,
Kim's, and then ate Japanese food, and then I went to the St. Marks
bookshop and bought a fat MOMA catalog for $15, and then I went down to
Dean and Delucca in Soho and bought some Irish soda bread and Gruyere
cheese and then I went to meet Lacy and Ian at a bar on 5th and 3rd I
think it was an Irishy pub very simple and Karen called when I was there
so I said come here to the bar and then she did and then I left them all
there and went back to the club and Sarah's plane was late and I will tell
you some more later. Right now I am going to the lobby of the Days Inn
Arlington and see about some hot water for tea I have told you about my
widdle cold. It is in my dose. |
Sunday November 30
10:46 p.m.
Flagstaff, AZ, where the Barnes and Noble stays open until 11,
which is a good thing because nothing else seems to; young people
congregate in the cafe which has a real woodburning fire. The selfsame
Days Inn I wrote you from on November 12. (Hotel Monte Vista in the
downtown area such as it is rejected by me as scuzzy, but this is a fine
place and where I had in any case meant to stay.) Now we (me, Sarah) are
passing back through this time in a westerly direction. Which means that
tomorrow I will be home. Not only tour but traveling will then be done.
The final days of the tour proper have however yet to be fully told. So
where were we? We were in a bar called Scratcher I believe around the
corner from Joe's Pub which is in the Public Theater I once saw a Richard
Foreman play there. Long time ago. I was there in the bar w/ Karen and Ian
and Lacy and then I went over to the theater and ran into Dave Rave and
the Scandinavian jazz trio that preceded us separately had finished and
they were in the kind of passageway that runs behind the club drinking
champagne with their goodlooking friends. We put our musical instruments
onstage we weren't using my keyboard that night we were using the house
grand piano and very grand it was too and the people started coming in. I
arranged for the ticket person to tell Sarah to sit with Mike Leahy and I
gave Mike my drink token and said get a martini ready. (I had told
Lacy/Karen/Ian the same thing, both parties obliged.) It was all full at
Joe's Pub and the show was excellent I particularly liked "She's a Piece
of Work" we put something into that, "Master Kilby" too I found
satisfying. I saw Jeroen and Thessa come in while I was onstage. I found
Sarah on my midset break she had just arrived (and already had been given
one of her martinis), not only was her plane late but her cab driver did
not know where he was going and really how hard is it to find Astor Place?
And Amy was there she came from Amherst after having just come to Boston I
mean Cambridge. Then we went to a bar I don't remember the name. W/ a
couple of Wes's friends I never really quite meet, I mean I meet them, but
never substantially converse. Well one day. Dave Rave telling his Dylan
story, it's a good gone. Amy left in a cab after she parked her car up by
Steve's which is way way uptown because she knows the neighborhood. Back
to Brooklyn. Next a.m.: breakfast w/ Mel and Ed baby Asher I hadn't seen
Melanie since Asher was inside her and a tight red cocktail dress, Ed is
over being a policeman he probably won't be one anymore. We ordered two
types of plantains the green and the sweet I only ate the sweet. Post
office. Then the Rosenquist show at the Guggenheim that was good. Then
back to Brooklyn for drinks w/ Mike, Nina, their shy soon to be born baby,
Lacy, Ian. At a bar called Bar. I think. Then down the street to a
stunning Japanese meal w/ Wes, Abby. Osaka perhaps? Home of the Red River
Roll, I loved it in spite of the squid. No shoes. Sarah bought ginger
snaps next door. Next day early coffee w/ Thessa at Ozzie's I have spent
quite a bit of time in that particular coffeehouse, the one on 7th Ave,
and then driving w/ Sarah to Arlington and there was the most spectacular
sky over D.C., and everything was good at the Iota all the usual lovely
people and the good meal next door and that was the last show. The next
day headed home, first stop Knoxville, second Memphis (Thanksgiving at the
Peabody though even from our balcony vantage we couldn't really see the
duck march there were too many people crowding around them I merely saw
them hop into the fountain), third OK City and back to eat at Salathai and
dropped in on Greg and Tina at the Blue Door and in the morning saw the
Federal Bldg. memorial which is a well made space, and the next night
which was last night was Santa Fe and a good dinner really a great dinner
I should say at Old House and tonight it's Flagstaff and tomorrow I'm
home, the end. |