Sunday, January 30, 2011

End of 2010/2011 USA tour

Sunday Jan 30th 2011

// Tijuana / I crossed, her eyes were sad when she started juggling / a smile for a dollar / donkey shows, peso palace / Jack, how did it all end? / who made them lower their voices? / I never turned my back / slowed my pace, stood watching / while the smile jumped from face to face / I had the jailbird inside my pocket / Johnny with pills in his guitar / who grew to dance? / yellow rising, smell of fish //

Too big to sum up. Too crazy to explain. But we are done. Flying out of Los Angeles tomorrow.  Having a relaxing day with our friends Graham and Samantha, watching soccer, packing. In the past two weeks we have been spending time in Paso Robles, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tijuana,  Joshua Tree, Malibu… we played our last show at Room 5 in Los Angeles. Apparently, that is the place where Nat Cole got the name 'King' in his name. Three months of greyhounds, rides, cars, states, miles, floors, couches, smiles, music, art, people… now coming to an end. We are moving on. Playing a show in London on the 1st before we fly to Barcelona. We will live there for some time, making the next album, planning the upcoming tours. Many plans, many ideas. Thanks to all of you who helped us make this tour happen.
Gram Parson Memorial. Joshua Tree, CA
Joshua Tree, CA

Jack and Neil? Or maybe Neil and Jack?
Joshua Tree, CA
Photo: Nicole Renee Koch. Zoey's. Ventura, CA
San Diego, CA
Hollywood Boulevard
Tijuana
Elliott Smith Memorial, Los Angeles. The wall from the Figure 8 album.
Tijuana
Hollywood Boulevard

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

City Light Moments

San Francisco Jan 8-16

//// "Ah, you are up. It is a foggy day, we mostly get foggy days. Although, if you scratch the surface… there. Reach your hand out the window. If you scratch the surface you might hear the heart, beating away in Bloody Mary's and Margaritas. You can hear it rolling up and down the hills, upon the rails, through the many rainbows to finally reach the sea lions, guarding that old prison island. You might even see it. Wipe those glaring eyes. I am telling you, you have come to the right place. Get your boots, you better brush your teeth. It was his thirtieth birthday 1967, the summer of love. The diamond is still here, just like he was here when Zimmerman went looking for Guthrie and Kerouac published that road book. These are the famous corners, see? Ashbury/Haight, the flowers are hidden, tangled in grey braids. Strike, resist, occupy everything. It's the people. The people." /////

Me and Robert decided exactly one year ago that we were going to San Francisco. We weren't sure why or what we were going to do there,  and we didn't really know each other yet, but we were sure we were going to San Francisco in the winter 2010/2011. Instead of flying straight to San Francisco, we decided to start in NYC, and reach San Francisco at the end of the tour. We saw it. And we saw it proper. For anyone who is is walking around with doubts, SF is still the SF you want it to be. Maybe even better, but I couldn't' say. I am back in the car, we are riding south to play a winery in Paso Robles this sunny, sunday afternoon. Two weeks left, before we fly out of LAX.

So, we made it to the West Coast. We started in Santa Cruz where I got to play with my good talented friend Elisabeth Carlisle again at Don Quixote Music Hall. We played a show together when she was in Sweden last year, touring. There, we also had the chance to disappear into the Redwood for hours and hours. San Francisco started with a Ty Segall show and Memphis friends, Nathan and George. Soon we met Sara Powell and played at her place, Kaleidoscope, together with Beehavers and Mark Matos. And from there, everything took off. San Francisco opened up and embraced these two Swedes. We met violinist and singer/songwriter Erma who ended up playing with us a few days later. Diamond Dave found me in the bar and told me that he was the one who showed Woody Guthrie for Robert "Bob Dylan" Zimmerman in Minneapolis. He also told Dylan inside which hospital he would be able to find Guthrie. However, I am not going to tell you Diamond Dave's story. I will let you look it up for yourselves. You will find amazing stories. Diamond was the one who invited us to play several events, kept us busy and showed us his incredible San Francisco: 'Coffee to the people', 'Common Thread on Pirate Cat Radio' etc.   

When I first saw San Francisco, i saw it through the eyes of Jack Kerouac, on my floor in a small apartment in Dublin. Jack was one of a few people who made me realize that I wanted to travel on music. It took me ten years to get here…"Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free" (B.Dylan)  
Visiting our friends Max & Tom in Oakland.

Walking up the Hill.
Common Thread Collective @ Black Cat Radio
West Coast Rockers on their way to play Black Cat Radio - Common Thread Collective - hosted by Diamond Dave.
Golden Gate Bridge..

Friday, January 7, 2011

Christmas, New Year, Roadtripping

Wednesday Jan 5th, 10.43
Sedona, AZ - Santa Cruz, CA

I could not explain to you how beautiful the mountains look from the back seat of Spencer's van. I feel like Charlie Parker who usually took care of all his business in the backseat of taxi's. I am no Charlie Parker but I have gotten pretty good, typing inside a moving vehicle. We just left our beautiful new friends, April and Jake, in Sedona and are making the big drive to Santa Cruz, where we will play tomorrow evening. 

///Memphis, TN///
glow upon holiday skies / beat-up cars on widening roads. / winter warm, love spread. / the memphis blues painted tired eyes / stars and mice sang gospel together on the porch. / rise, sly bird. / from your alley with your elephant hats / in triumph / who would expect life to be true? //////

We went back to Memphis for Christmas. Celebrated with our Memphis family, got invited to E.J Friedman's Norwegian/American Christmas, Vania's Korean Christmas and Johsua Cosby's Bonfire Christmas. Robert and I didn't think we would celebrate much Christmas this year, considering we were far away from home, but I don't think I've ever celebrated this much Christmas. We said goodbye to Memphis with a second show at the Stash House and we managed to gather all the friends we had made in Memphis, it was a magical finish.

///Dallas, TX///
not going to start any other way / true trance in back pockets / cut across the low embrace / can't send any letters so i sing for you on floors / i keep feathers in my hat so you might see me walk by, inside the big crowd / i won't love again but i will say i did / can't send any letters but i am writing on walls, leaving crumbs / i hope you will find me / now i can promise you anything

The drive from Memphis to Grapevine, TX was pretty horrific but as I already mentioned, Spencer is a driving machine. We left too late so he had to drive in the dark, and the rain came pouring down..finally there, we met lovely Danielle who we ended up staying with over New Year. We played a really fun show at Pause, TX which had a killer line-up. Got to play with Back Pockets again, played with them at the Stash House too. Got invited to play a party on new year at a big big big house owned by a lawyer named Gary…drove to Dallas to meet Danielle's friends Ashley and Jack, saw a Telegraph Canyon show. Ashley gave me a copy of 'Still life with Woodpecker' by Tom Robbins which I've been enjoying the past couple of days here in my backseat. 

///Santa Fe, NM///
year eleven / and the first night belongs to you / i will wake up inside your song / your mountains on my shoulder//////

The drive to Santa Fe from Dallas was a lot better. Reaching the desert, the mountains. This is how you should spend your days off on a tour. Again, words don't do my justice, but Bob Dylan once sang: "Santa Fe, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear Santa Fe / My woman needs it ev’ryday / She promised this a-lad she’d stay / She’s rollin’ up a lotta bread to toss away"

///Sedona, AZ///
got here with the sundown / tumbled down mountain roads / back to back / i rolled over on my back / let rain wash the dirt off my face /  it landed on my eyelid / the butterfly / no light long enough//////

We couldn't do this big drive west without making a stop at the grand canyon, but April and Jake was the big event in Arizona. Next stop: Santa Cruz. Twelve hours to go.. 









Sunday, January 2, 2011