Mostly wanted to write this as a reminder to meself that yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus. Uh, except my name's not Virginia, and didn't the Santa Claus myth evolve from tales of Siberian mushroom-mania?

The point of my soft-serve cone is this...

Both the London 12 Bar gig and the Magic Cafe Oxford lunchhour were really lovely gigs. Reminded me that I do like playing solo gigs sometimes! 12 Bar felt like a proper showcase gig - this is the Anton Solo gig I'd show the Proper People, innit. New songs, Ant classics and crap in-between. Humourous without flailing, succinct enough to stop when too much is simply not enough. And I had fun! Maybe everyone did - seemed like it. So, thanks to any of you readers who were there.

Magic cafe in Ox yesterday also a winner. Great crowd, including some kindly travellers and likeable locals. The cafe has new owners, sweet crew. No change in a certain regard - Hafiz ran a great ship too. But in this world where we musicians are always begging for shitty gigs, oh please let me do 20 minutes in front of some lousy band, PLEASE - it matter much to be appreciated! And the Magic Cafe was good for my soul yesterday. And that piano! It gets better sounding with age. Wonder if I'll sound as good when I'm 150... A few rare tunes were de-bagged.. "Up On The Moon," "Christina Box" and "King of Missouri 2," amongst. The "Banana" singalong was angelic. The kids were alright. It's great to play unplugged in a place like that, feels very suited. Sorta! I mean, trying to project to the back of the building was a challenge, but my voice can easily bear the strain with no strain. I sound like that allll the time! "Hound dog howling, bullfrog croakin'... everything is broken!" I was happy to be there playing songs, thrilled that so many people wanted to hear 'em. Sold some cds, shook some hands and got some lovely Beatles/George bootlegs to boot. Not that you heard that from me...

"Everyone has choice, when to and not to raise their voices... it's you who decides..."

Hare Krishna and Merry Christmas!

To chime quickly like a tiny Swiss bell, last Saturday's gig in Oxford at the Jericho with Stornoway was fab, gear and gearfab. I mean, those guys are just gonna pop soon - too much good greatness crammed into one magic band. A sold-out show, the room was crammmmmmed with folks. Except my opening set, with Jon, Ollie and Rob from Storn was hardly folk, I guess! Somehow we became Monstuh uv Rawk. Well, by some gentle standard! Much, much fun on stage and I think the crowd was pleased, maybe. Good, clean sloppy/tight rock and roll. No more rehearsal than a ten-minute soundcheck, but we managed new songs like "On a Sunny Day" and "Swindon." I think there was some serious pent-up dog crawling 'round my soul, and the gig was of the catharthis variety. Did I mention it was fun, too?

And Stornoway, as ever, were pitch-perfect. This was the first Storn gig since Brian returned from Ecuador. They only write great songs, they only play beautifully. They are nothing but inspiration and the sound of life. A good band is what I'm trying to say, a really, really good band. As in magic and transcendant. Highlight was them unplugged, standing on tables across from each other in the midst of the huge room of people, singing "We Are The Battery Human." There are certain moments in life, and this was one of them.

A week ago tomorrow marks the one-week anniversary of my gig in Paris at Le China. My second Paris gig, this one stood in stark contrast to last summer's psychedelic smoke-filled liquid-light porn-on-the-wall freakscene happening I did with Allyson. Le China is a slick-ass nightclub, as Paris as it gets. A piano bar, though way too chic for me to play up my Truffaut fantasy. I went on after Polo, former French punk hero, now singer of traditional songs. The room was filled and everyone was listening closely to his songs. His guitarist, Nicolas, was great - it was lovely stuff. But we'd been at the venue since 5, and Polo's set, with multiple encores really wore on me. I went on later than scheduled and of course many people had cleared off. Those that remained seemed happy to talk through my set. Now this is not weird for my by now, sadly! So many gigs are like this. The "cult hero's unknown clown companion" needs to be inserted somewhere. But I had Volvox boss Olivier Lebeau's words in my head from an earlier conversation. A combination of "I think you will do very well in France" and "Be crazy, more crazy, like the hair." Well there ya go! After almost losing my voice during the first few tunes, I drifted towards more of a rock set, at least by wimpy/weird acoustic hobo standards. Ah! Of course - the French can't rock and they need me to do it for them! All the cliches come true and in an instant I'm a national hero! Not quite, but there was a shift in attention from the crowd once I started to play with a bit of sticky juice. In typical Ant fashion, just as I started to get somewhere, I switched gears and moved to the piano for a few tunes. I'm doing more piano songs these days, as it makes me feel a bit more like I'm actually a musician as opposed to being a monkey in a flea circus, mannnnn. "Tie My Laces" was good, don't remember the other tunes I did, but there was a nice hush come down, innit. Back to guitar to finish up and I could tell I'd pulled some people in. My attempts at humour mostly failed. I found myself explaining that no, I really DIDN'T vote for Bush once OR twice! I dig a hole, then hit myself in the head with the shovel. The best comedy bit involved my red bag. Specifically, me holding up my red bag and saying "Red bag" or something. Jerry Lewis loved it. SPEAK SLOWLY DUDE - THEY'RE ALL FOREIGNERS. They sang "Drug Free" in French, they didn't know why I kept saying "mercredi" in such an appreciative tone after each song. "Banana" went well, and they helped me finish "Crucifixion." It was great to see the Volvox gang, and photo god Olivier Rodriguez. My dear friend Michal was at the gig and Lorna and I had fun crashing about with her. I was in moody "coulda been a..." rockstar mode much of the time, but bless anyone who enjoys my scarecrow antics! More please, mercredi!

No sooner had I bespoked the words to the wrong song again, I were off on the Megabus to Ox for a mad 2-day recording session at Shonk. Quick rehearse with Jon, Ollie and Rob, then to studio to rock it wiff Stuart for Goldfilling ep. We knocked click-trackless through "Swindon" and "On A Sunny Day (in Bb!)," then stuck the click onto a remake of "She Wears A Green Leaf." We hadn't planned to record this tune, but the session moved so quickly and the Stornoguys are, well, godly, so it made sense to go and keep going. Mang, monsta, it was good good meat on the vine we were swinging! They're such a brilliant band, and each of 'em super-talented on they own. Late night session, almost til 2am. Then up next morn for allllllllll day more. Stuart is a sweetie, and a breeze to work with. "What's this thing do?" "Don't know - let's record it and find out!" We moved through vocal overdubs, Solina strings (the real deal, in big lumpy/grindy machine form!), guitars and guitars, hand-played foot pedal bass. Now, I'm not making no big money, not on the cover of Q like Jesus said I'd be by now, but sessions like this, and the session at the Hangar in Sacto for Luxery Wafers - these things are handed to me and I'm out of my mind with joy. The recording studio is my favourite stage, and the people I'm working with are always heroes. I'm blown away by this. It's my pay for all the gruntery for years and years. The best, sweetest and most talented folks and we just get to hang out making sound and playing. I pause here to say wow and thanks. And now moving back along... the studio reunion of Ant/Su. We only did two gigs together last year, and one session. Not enough by many people's standards, but life is shaped funny. So, I'm happy to say this thing the other night went so well! Gotta admit that the slo-mo pre/post-German disco machine remake of "You can Move A Mountain" was an awkward place to begin, but once we hit "Green Leaf," yow! She stand there, I stand there, we sing. That's all it is, and it's perfect. And it was fun. Lots of fun. Su hadn't heard "Swindon" before, as the mp3 of the demo I'd sent had been lost in the post, but she seemd to quite enjoy it, bursting into hysterics throughout. That's our Su! And our Su also picks things up so quickly that "on the spot" is the same as "an hour's rehearsal." It was good, all of it. Rob came back to add drum fills and bits for loops for "Mountain." A kick (hey... a drum pun! Genius.) to ask him for "fills that go on too long and drift in and out of time." Find me anyone of the bunch of us at Shonk who didn't have a grand time and I'll find you all the seashells I lost in the back yard of 2928 Highland Avenue.

Sue from 125 Records wrote me a while back asking if I'd mention that the label is doing some pre-Spring cleaning, and are going to be giving certain CDs away for free, including the second disk in the Antology series, "The Golden Boot." You'll need to cover the cost of postage, but still, not a bad deal.

Check it out here: http://www.125records.com/shop.html#

HIGH BIAS

by Michael Toland

Sacramento's Anton Barbeau has been
quietly producing superb pop music for a decade now. Despite ringing
endorsements from critics (not to mention Nick Saloman of the Bevis
Frond) he's yet to reach the wider audience he deserves, even within
the pop underground. Still, he's prolific enough to release his second
album of odds and ends. Due to his brilliant consistency, The Golden Boot
is as good as anything in his catalog. Barbeau has a gift for combining
eccentric lyrics and subject matter with winning melodies and indelible
hooks. Great tunes like "Helen Mirren," "Banana2000" and "Sula 2"
resonate far longer than their superficial novelty value might
indicate. And while his words are always quirky, he knows when to
switch from zany to heartfelt in damn catchy tunes like "Octagon,"
"Third Eye" and "C'mon Girl." Want insight into Barbeau's character?
This is a guy who thinks, in the irresistible "The Horny Old Ballad of
Tracy Shellac," that all he has to do to get Tracy in the sack is
"light a little candle/And spin a little Bevis Frond." He's a power pop
geek of the first order, but he'll get luckier if he plays a
prospective date his own marvelous material.

There are worse things in the world than a rainy Sunday afternoon in Cambridge with the Incredible String Band singing away about puppies and Krishna.

 Istanbul was amazing, in all its ancient and modern glory. Hard to think clearly about it, as it was full-on and overwhelming in so many ways. The gig came at the end of almost a week there, and I felt comfortable enough, in a nervous and smoke-choked way. So, "banana" translates as "muz." Good to know! I dodn't know if my pop songs were gonna sound out of place in Istanbul, but really, pretty much all I heard all week was Gang of Four, Can, Beyonce and Madonna. Simon Johns from Stereolab, now living in Istanbul, DJ'd at Arcoada the night before I played. We heard lots of traditional Turkish music being played by buskers, but it was so cold at night that we never stopped long to listen. This is my only regret, not getting to hear more Turkish music. But I'm invited back and we're already planning the trip, so I'll be sure to save space on my mental hard drive.

Oxford was a few days later, the Bullingdon on Cowley Road. previous gig there was a strange one with Allyson and Su in front of about 6 people. This time it was just me infront of maybe 12! But Ox usually vibes me up in such a way, and I swear I was getting the full force of the Golden Light that flops around that town. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Radiohead, Stornoway - there's something good in the oxford water. Anyway, I'm kinda finding my feets again as solo performer, and in Ox, as much as I miss singing with Su, I have an audience that seems keen to give me a bit of room to move. I've been bringing out all sorts of songs that ain't before been played in town, and in so doing, I make peace with my my back pages.

Speaking of, we saw "I'm Not There," the Dylan-y film with various actors doing the Man in various stages of his glory. The mid-60s stuff is brilliant, with Cate Blanchett doing a genius job. A lot of the movie just felt like a movie, floppy and stiff and so-what. Digital and clean and dull, but every time a few notes of music came on, Yeah!

Cambridge this week at the Portland Arms, after a fun trip to the BBC for a radio spot. Now, I played on Thursday, after seeing my hero Don McGlashan in London the night before. What a gig he put on. I mean, I never got to see the Mutton Birds, and he coulda come out in a grumpy mood singing songs about wheat germ and I still woulda been thrilled to see him. But he put on the best, most loveable show, and I'm still buzzing. "Anchor Me," "Pulled Along By Love," "A Thing Well Made" - I mean, pick any single one, but the show went on forever in the best way. But I was supposed to be writing about Cambridge and the Portland Arms. It was a benefit for Strawberry Fair, always a good cause. But a slow night, and I've been really done with Cambridge for a while. I see Kim every so often, and he's delightful. Being able to work with him is still shocking, have to say. But otherwise, I don't have many strong musical connections here, and I struggle to find gigs. So I wasn't holding much hope Thursday. Started the set with "Give it to the Soft Boys," a song it seemed nobody had ever heard. Uh, that's a little bit of a let-down in my mind. And then Heather NAILED  me with a banana. Yum! I know she meant it with affection, and she ain't the only one in Cambridge to ever offer  said fruit in such a manner, but it was a hard moment, it took much effort for me to not lose it. I mean, I'd just started my set, with the "Banana Song" scribbled in at the end, so I hadn't come near it. She explained, when I gently asked what the fuck was she thinking, that she was already drunk and if she waited any longer, her aim would be shit. Ok, thanks! But in true "show must go on" spirit, I carried forward with the rock, saying nothing about this being my last ever gig in Cambridge boo-hoo etc. It turned into a bit of a spit and snarl fest, probably as much to do with the Dylan flick as the fruit hit, to be honest, but all I wanted was to get through my set and get off stage. It was a really charged night, but I think maybe it turned out better than it seemed. I met a guitarist who, at least on paper, sounds quite right for what I'm doing, so we'll see where that goes. And we met a girl from Istanbul who had just barely missed my set there. She's friends with the folks who own Arcoada. Even cooler in the 2.3 degrees of... way, she's going to be doing some studying with a friend from California who teaches in Cambridge. Small world shrinking all the time. So, we've got potential guitarist and new friends and the Incredible String Band on a rainy afternoon. Another cup of tea and I think I'm sorted!

greets, readership! i'd been thinking for a while about stopping my gig-by-gig action reports, and i think that last london gig kinda did it for me. it was a rough one, but there will always be rough gigs. while i really appreciated so much the kind words and support i got from some of ye, it sort of sunk in that i was kinda bumming some trips, mama! yeah, being a 41 yr old rock and roller with no direction home is wearing sometimes, but i don't want to take it out on the very people who're so good to me. that's y'all, probably! the other side of the half-glass is that i've got it good. i have friends who care, fans i'm grateful for and recordbiz people who've put time and money into something that is simply hard to market. (that "something" being me, of course!). and hell, i'm doing what i'm here to do - i make records, i do gigs. i have amazingly talented friends to work with in different parts of the world. heroes of mine play guitar solos on my albums! i'm moody, though, and it's sometimes just too much to get out there and sell, sell, sell! i'm a lousy salesman, have no head for biz at all, not even a clue how to best present myself from one moment to the next. many of you in england might see me as the acoustic troubadour, with me wee canadian guitar playing for dogs and tips. but that's what spawned a track like "plastic guitar." it's my reaction to too much un-rock. but back to being grateful! come back to sacramento and have a great band able to pop back to life quite graciously. frank french said of our last gig that we "out MC5'd the MC5!" and here in this house, i've got drums and my wurlitzer and all my synths and guitars - my pets, perhaps. so i can make the noises i need and wander down to monster lab for broyhill to master into shape. even if sacramento kinda drags on me, it's still a place rich with talent and dear friends that i can draw energy from, vampyre-like!

and i can do this knowing that soon i'll be back in england, hopefully from there back to france and then onto germany. etc etc. new frontiers, new gigs, new records to finish and start. maybe we'll get allyson to come back again, make a habit out of it. seeing kevin and kepi and dino in brighton was one of them "it's a small world afterall" rewards. and yeah - my world is small, in a good way. hanging out with the silberman and the robin and the lovely english weather at lorna jo's in cambridge, not so bad, despite my eternal grumblings.

so you're catching me here, coffee'd up (rare for me these days, oddly), and quite grateful. and apologetic. i don't wanna throw my moody shoes at you guys. i want to be able to bitch a bit, but we've got so much bad noise in the world already, i don't want to compete with the palin machine.

last night allyson and i played some songs live on kvmr in nevada city on julia's "notes from underground" show. not only fun for the live tunes, but i got to be dj too. maybe i'm set in my ways, cos much of what i played i've been listening to for years, but a thrill to put mutton birds and incredible string band and beefheart out there in a bundle. oh yeah, and a bit of beatles too. it was one of those "oh yeah, we're here because we love music" evenings. pure and simple. not trying hard to sell, sell, sell anything, but delighted to put our music into the omniverse.

a couple nights prior, the antband played for an hour live at kdvs. it's been a good year for radio gigs, gotta say. and again, a pure and simple gig. we showed up, set up and rocked through loads of tunes, sounding right-on and sometimes sloppy, but feeling like this is IT - the thing we're here to do. and i'm trying to hold onto all these good feelings. i don't doubt i'll continue to struggle with my incredible lack of record sales and fame, but as ever, there's more music to release not too far down the road, and it's music i'm excited about. i've re-wired my "plastic guitar" album, taking off a few songs and putting on a few much stronger tracks. i think we've got a solid, exciting album now. and allyson's has been a thrill from the start, though i admit i've been in "forest for the trees" land for a while - it's become a mess of tracks and tambourines and sunglasses and water glasses, but we're in the homestretch and i the clearing i can see a fine album. adding vince's trumpet and alison's cello to a few songs has notched things up a bit, and allyson's vocals for "tie my laces" is gorgeous, hands down. yeah - all sorts of good things going on. i'm gonna try and shut my mouthpen up a bit about all the junk that drags me. wish me luck on that, though! i've gotten comfy being a cranky bitch! we'll see...!

May the long time sun
Shine upon you,
All love surround you,
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on.

well, rather than lay on ye my bland rantamble de los "how was it for me?" re: kdvs last week with allyson, check it yerseff here: http://kdvs.org/shows/view/show_id/407

as for the gig later that night at true love, it was ok. the allyson songs went down great and that's exciting. "obviously love" is a fave, just a fun one to play. i've always liked being "in the band," something i rarely experience as eternal front-man/solo artiste. in this case, barely a band, just me and tom backing al up, but a thrill. the new true love is a weird room. "L" shaped, give or take a few teeth. we were facing one crowd, being sideswiped by another. never felt like i was finding my feet, or anyone/s and i screwed up quite a bit. i cut "guru 7" from the set and regret this. same with ending on "octagon." a nice pair etc, but "gentle" is a better song and next time or such. still, a fun gig and great to hear kevin doing songs off his newest, rather excellent album.

maybe it made no sense, the suggestion that people waves their babies or dogs in the air to "drug free," but maybe it wasn't mean to make sense, and maybe that was what made it, ultimately, make sense. but nobody waves nothin' anyway, so it was JUST FINE.

weeee played the chalk it up fest today in downtown sacramento. weee was the ant wiff allyson and tom. it wasn't as hot as it's been the past few days, so nobody baked, no cookies got burnt. i think that the ironsides set saturday night went down so well, that i was able to be a little less or a little more this or that about today's set. nice crowd, pleasant. all sitting in whatever shaded spots they could find, but nobody too close to us. and it felt a bit distant from itself, the set. still, a cool little combo we made. a few tunes from "automatic door," then a few of the songs for allyson's record. i was a little nervous for "if i could bring you trouble," which we're doing as a duet now. i haven't sung it since i wrote it, but it went ok. allyson has such an easy presence up there that it makes it un-difficult to be relaxed or weird, depending on what suits my shoes. and tom responds well to my odd cues so new songs sound Known. but i forgot to do the capo for a song or two, which meant a bit of fumbling. and i don't know what my outh was doing, talky-wise, but remind me never to mix political commentary with chalk dust. maybe my fave was "leave it with me, i'm always gentle." two voices, a drum and a guitar. oh, and a song. it's such a song! i'm not honking my own goose here, i'm just saying that it has a structure that makes sense - we just follow along and everything goes ok, like there's no room to fuck it up. so hoorah. i wish you could hear the whole allyson record - i wish it was finished and out, but you're gonna like it, i betcha.

anyway, i better go - there's another americana act waiting to use the internet...

hmmm. the time here on the front porch is 9:10am. not a shockingly tweaky time, even on a sunday, but i didn't sleep an inch last night. not a drop. so i'm on the front porch, all laptopped out, eyes buzzing and crossed, trying to type as if my toast depended on it.

last night's gig at old ironsides was good. really good, i think. very last minute - jerry told me friday that the headliner had dropped off the bill and asked if we could do it. got the grand old band together - steve, jeff and tom, plus the glorious allyson. lively crowd with new faces and familiar heads. loose and rough, but alright considering ain't played together in 6 months. "guru 7" sounded like music to my ears, and i was delighted to have an electric guitar coming out of the sound it made. allyson was up with us for the rest of the set, sounding good and moving it around. the whole of us had floppy fun up there, and hell, we even had girls screaming for us, and in this day and age of slow cd sales, indeed. someone commented "beatle punk" while someone else suggested we sounded like the soft boys. i think last year when i was in town and playing with the band, i was determined to show off the mostest modernest psychedelic antsounds i could find - loads of tunes from "village" and "drug free." last night was a little more of a mixed bag, with older tunes and fresh meat mixing in a german summer salad of sorts. i do think, howeverish, that "drug free" went on longer than we've ever done it before. maybe that's it - never end it. four chords forever. allyson said that from now on, every gig will be like paris. that show did set a high standard. but yeah, it was good to be here in this town we call sacramento. funny though - when i'm in england, sacto is home. when i'm here, it's elsewhere i need to be. flip a couple coins for me! but thanks for last night.

no names, no sordid details following. i had decided POSSIBLY to retire from typing. i'm sick of me, sick of my own complaint, sick of spelling out weak versions of grand gigs gone wrong. and now i'll add that again, as it was in the beginning, i'm soaked with tears to think that the lines between personal and public and private are as blurry as if they was written by the biblers theyself. if i've caused any offense in these recent weeks, i do almost sincerely apologise/apologize. i'm a delighter of hearts, not a divider of twats! nay, i'm here to bring joy and to jangle the 12 strings of your summertown guitars, matron! all the throwin' down and the tedious descent into self-parody, it's all gotta stop, bra. we only have a few years left on this planet, we gotta rise up while we still have our shoes and boots on. god is good! life is for the leakers! i could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...

BUT, i gotta say hello and give mad props, innit, to my dear mates from the states who did come alllll the way to merrie england for to do the brighton rock! err, kevin seconds and kepi and dino are over here on tour and we met up at the hobgoblin to discuss the role of relativism in discordant melisma (2006-2008) and also to simply get down and boogie! as ever, a great gig. kepi had dino on bass and kevin on cardboard box drums. i was recruited to play the rather handily handy piano, though it was a challenge, as it was tuned a whole step higher. this meant a bit of mental na di mean MENTAL, innit!) transposing on the spot. cor! crikey! biscuits and crisps! kepi is always entertaining and i love his songs. can do no wrong. good crowd, candle-lit punks. kev's set included a gorgeous handful of tunes from his newest album, which pleased the wee outta me. a newer song, something about bicycle polo in midtown sactown was another hit. a few 7 Seconds tunes to please the fans, and that was that! top notch songwritery from kep and kev, a lovely night. spent yesterday with the gang wandering town and throwing rocks at the sea. good times, high fives, hugs and such and easy reminder of how good it can be sometimes.

don't worry, i'll be back to bitching and Les Grande Complainte soon enough, i bet!

gratefully,

the namer of things