Sorry for the long, long silence. Gosh..where to start:
January fifth I landed in New York and started rehearsing with the Faculty. We're recording our next album, "Love Songs", February first through the twentieth. It's shaping up to be a double album which will feature a string of players and no over-dubs. Seriously ambitious stuff, (as usual).
Now I'm in KC working out the arrangements with a pal and spending a great deal of time with my family, which has been really swell.
More and more of my time has been spent chatting on Facebook. If you'd like to reach me, look there. If you're not into Facebook, (more power to you!), you may also reach me here: facultyfanclub@gmail.com
The MySpace layout is really an eye sore... Jeez!
That's about it from me for now. Hope you're all feelin' groovy, and that the day has been the appropriate length.
So I'm checking emails, Facebooking (that must be a word by now, like 'Googling'), writing lyrics for a few of Eric Legnini's tunes, (we're playing together on September ninth. Whew!), smoking ciggies an' drinking Coco-Cola when the thought occured to drop a few lines on what the last month has been. Now how does one, (myself, namely) put that into words? A few highlights if you'll humor me:
I spent four days down in St. Tropez for a festival an' mainly to drink rosé on the beach with my manager and my lovey. I opened up for Patrick Watson and his band. We ended up running around the beach 'til the big light in the sky came up. Groovy...
Womad was a blast. So much love from so many people...
I had the best fish 'n chips EVER in Harrogate. I don't know how they did it. Must've put a lot of love in right along with the beer for the batter.
I headed to New York on the ninth of August and returned just three days ago, (or two. Time traveling leaves it's perplexities). Within that time, I stopped into my hometown of Kansas City, MISSOURI, (I am NOT from Kansas, nor New Orleans, even if the great Richard Thompson says so) and played a concert with my pals Jeff Harshbarger and Brad Cox to an initimate audience of friends and family, (my mother, her sister and my older sister were in attendance, as well as a handful of my teachers from junior high school). One of these days I'm going to come back home - home-home.
Took a plane to another week an' a half of New York where my lovey was catching up with a pal of hers, (we headed to the states a day apart, had five days together before my trip to the midwest. First holiday on the other side of the pond :) and ran around Brooklyn 'til we were dizzy. In that time, the Faculty played Zebulon, I played Surreal Estate, (a warm, eccentric squat in Bushwick. Have space an' I'll play, or so it seems) and last but not least, Watermill, New York, out in Long Island, or, as the locals say, "The Hamptons, dahling..."
I opened up for Rufus Wainwright and Kylie Minogue.
Just when I think things can't get more surreal, they do just that.
What to say about that last bit..huh..not sure.
I guess I'll just say that Rufus is simply the best, and I'm continuously in awe of his tremendous talent. And Ms. Minogue has such a beautiful voice that during rehearsals the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. She's also just as sweet as she can be.
Now, I'm sitting in my lovey's flat overlooking a quiet Frenchie street, talking/writing to you before I get back to what I was doing in the first paragraph. I hope you all had an amazing summer, and I hope to visit a town near you in the very near future - once my arms rest from all the flapping.
Another tune from sunny sessions with Hugh Coltman, (our pal, Gael, lended a hand - or two - on keys). Again, just a wee demo, but I thought I'd put it out here for you to have a listen, hear what I've been up to. Heaven forbid I start a reputation as being a lazy git! Funny, when looking for an image to tie to "Tuesday Mornings", I googled "couples" an' lo an' behold, a photo of Lindsey Lohan an' Samantha Ronson popped up. Ended up settling on the current image, which stems from a website for couples therapy.
Hugh and I recorded this about three weeks ago. It's a tune I put together back in my Brooklyn days, (the "lyrics" are those of William Blake). It's one of the many tunes that will be featured on the next album, Love Songs. Here it is in it's demo form, (featuring Hugh Coltman on counter harmony(ies). I hope you like it!
