Greetings! I report back from an excellent 2 weeks in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />New York, making music and exhibiting my pictures...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I reunited with Hamish Kilgour, Lisa Siegel and William Berger who all played with me on my last visit back in 1996. First stop on Thursday 10th April was WFMU in Jersey City where I played a half-hour set of songs for Terre T's show "Cherry Blossom Clinic". Struggling with a sore throat from some virus picked up on the plane, I managed to sing gruffly and assault the guitar. Bill played guitar and sang on the choruses; Hamish couldn't make it, so Lisa switched to drums, and we recruited programme manager Brian Turner to play the bass. Afterwards I had an animated interview with the glamorous Terre, who was very animated and knowledgeable about my murky musical part.
The following day, Friday, I assembled with Hamish, Lisa and Bill to play the first night of our weekend double-date at Cake Shop. The staff also displayed a variety of my artworks in the café upstairs, bless them. I hope that I didn't make them nervous when I told them about my fly-posting exploits on the streets of the lower east-side. The fines are not to be underestimated apparently – it's hard for me to break old habits! Jim "Foetus" Thirlwell turned up, bless him; I hadn't seen him for over 25 years. Saturday brought a further ingredient – keyboard player Danny, who brought along 2 synthesisers and a vibraphone! We stretched out some of the numbers to make this a truly kaleidoscopic cosmic experience. Also, my old pal Christine Isherwood, now based out at Martha's Vineyard, joined us to sing on "Crawfish".
On Sunday we reconvened at Eat Records in Brooklyn to play a matinee show for the folks over the East River, which meant that we achieved some symmetry, having already played over the Hudson River in New Jersey and in Manhattan. We started off with a curious improvisation based around my plucking of a tune which turned out to be either "The Red Flag" or "Tenenbaum" depending on whether you ask me or Bill.
I headed up-state to Phoenicia in the Catskill Mountains on Tuesday, the furthest north I've ever ventured in the Americas. Expecting a wintry scene, I soon had to shed 3 layers of clothing, encountering an unseasonal heatwave. Strange days indeed. I had another exhibition to install there, and I was given shelter by one of the exhibition organisers, Tom, in his delightful guesthouse - the "Phoenicia Belle". My solo exhibition was shared with a neighbouring group-show of local and distant contributors, and the opening went very well despite coinciding with Passover holiday.
Lisa, Hamish and Bill journeyed northwards on Friday to join me for a concert at Claude's Bar in the same town. We had a whale of a time; those mountain folk sure can dance! They even had a whip-round for more dollars to bribe us to play an encore – that's never happened to me before, that's for sure!
Thanks to all who made it all possible: Hamish, Lisa, Bill, Brian, Danny and Chris for performing my songs so spendidly, Andy and the other staff at Cake Shop, Terre and Sue and Brian at WFMU, the people at Eat Records, Andy for his kind review, plus Tom, Dana and all the other nice folks at Phoenicia.
Here's to the next time!
Jowe Head 25-4-08