the little venue that definitely can...

dateline: columbia, missouri

here's a few shots from a venue i played a couple of nights ago in the little town of el dorado, kansas called the iron horse concert hall.  (they pronounce it "el doraydo" in kansas...)

don koke started the iron horse an amazing 34 years ago...pretty darned cool that it's still going...they get a great cross section of artists ranging from bill staines, the neilds and mary flower to celtic fingerpickers and bluegrass bands...really attentive audiences, too!

the iron horse is one of those places with an extraordinary array of "things" on the walls, the shelves, the doors...very much like Kulak's Woodshed in L.A.

like, for instance, this well hung banjo....(sorry, couldn't resist)

there's quite a few frogs, the club mascot...or maybe don's...

and, finally, a collection of painted guitars that local artists have decorated over the years. these can even be a bit of a distraction sometimes when i notice something really cool from the stage (in the middle of a tune)...

and, of course, what folk club in the middle of kansas is complete without a giant painting of napoleon!

bottom line?  i LOVE this joint!

listening to: korby lenker - bellingham

Buh-Bye Kerrville (P.S. i love you)

dateline santa fe, nm


home!  got a little delayed at the gas stop in cline's corner, about an hour from home.  they've redone the place and i got totally distracted by a brand new pinball machine...wound up channeling tommy for a bit too long...left credits on the machine after a half hour or so...for awhile in my mind i was at aubin's drugstore, a 15 year old with a  couple of nickels and time to kill before stepping out back for a smoke....


but i digress.  it's been a hell of a few weeks, funerals & folk festivals...here's my home away from home for the past 14 days at the kerrville folk festival...camp nashbill...thanks bill and everyone else for a great time...

played my new tune, "alice dances"  up on chapel hill one afternoon...it's such a beautiful spot...my good buddy drew nelson was hosting...he played the song of his that always makes me cry, true and fine...succeeded once again...

the night before, drew played an amazing mainstage set...his songwriting is getting really powerful...i highly recommend his new album on red house records, tilt-a-whirl...

the master songwriting class continued with a set by the phenomenal eric taylor...damn....

also caught a set by my buddy ronny cox, accompanied by jack williams on guitar, karen mal on mandolin and a fiddle player whose name i missed (but he was great).  i've known ronny and karen for a while now...jack and i were in rival rock and roll bands back in south carolina almost thirty years ago...again, damn...

one of the best ever new folk years...one of the winners was the sea the sea with my friends chuck and mira...great set, kiddos...

lastly i stuck around for an extra day to hear this new kid i've been hearing so much about for the past year or so, john fullbright...omigod, he absolutely blew me away...and i'm (as todd would say) jaded, bitter and old!  the kid is the real deal...

so, thank you kerrville, texas and in particular dalis, bill nash, eric fokerth, tom prasada-rao, kc and david, vern & dirje...i came there with a very heavy heart this year and left inspired and full of life...grazie, tutti!

listening to: j wagner - disappear  (j was a new folk finalist and is  one of the many dedicated volunteers at the festival...also, a hell of a songwriter...)

98 in the shade or why i love folkie boot camp...

dateline - kerrville texas


made it.  been set up at camp nashbill for a couple of days, now.  man, did i ever need this.


i'm still kind of reeling from my mother's passing.  even though there is all the logical "she had been so sick for so long" and "hell, she hasn't known who i was for several years and wasn't sure who she was for the past year or so", all of which leads to "she's in a better place".......


and i'm sure she is, her faith in such things was pretty strong.  we all find the healing we need where and when we need it.  


once all the funeral hoo hah was over and the last car with the last seen long ago relative had departed the restaurant my brothers and i were left with........"well, shit, mom's dead and i'm incredibly sad...sad for all the questions that will never be answered, at least not here...sad for the way she left this world (angry and confused)...sad that, hell i'm 64 years old and my mom is dead..."


time, brothers and sisters....time.  i need to learn to show it a little more respect. 
so here i sit in the kerrville, texas, blessedly air conditioned and free wi-fied public library.  had a wonderful night of music, both listening and playing...like i said, we all find the healing we need where and when we need it.  sometimes we have to drive a few lonely hours pondering the state of the universe to reach our destination, get out of the car only to be engulfed by the healing powers of friends and their amazingly wonderful musicial hearts...


(hmmmm, is crying allowed in libraries?)


i love you all very much.


here's a shot of my good pal matt harlan kicking off the kerrville festivities with a great set.

so much more great music to come....

listening to.....well, everybody!

paper heart in the dirt...

dateline: santa fe, nm


...boy, sure haven't been keeping up with the whole radio/blog thing...
will try to rectify that in the future.
suffice it to say, been some places...and i'll post about 'em.
but for now, it was a wonderful pre=spring spring day in the north of new mexico.   didn't want to go to the gym and be inside so instead i walked to the post office and the library and the grocery store...then walked home carrying a big bag o' fruit and "bully - the life and times of theodore roosevelt "... saw this paper heart lying on the parched desert ground... pretty nice day off the road...

listening to: moors & mccumber - "gravity"

watching: season 6 of "weeds"

  

Speechifyin' Puffin! (where ya been? part the second)

dateline:  newport, oregon


ah, nothing like a trip to the sea for us desert dwellers...it's always good to see for myself that it's still there.


the oregon coastal museum was right next door to the hotel.  saw this guy there keeping his audience enthralled.  pretty sure it's a puffin and not an auk...great speaker either way.

the aquarium was pretty cool...it's a giant tank with a series of tubes running through it...you walk through the tubes and get a 360 degree view.

silver streaks overhead...

sharks under foot...

then there was this guy...

"hey, you eyeballin' me?"

pen plants...

jellies...

just up the road past nye beach is the yaquina head light house

the obligatory spiral staircase lighthouse shot...

and the obligatory sun streaking behind the lighthouse shot...

i was there at low tide and able to wander around the tide pools...

man, when your job sometimes is actually a day at the beach...the end of the work day can be pretty freakin' glorious...

the window of a glass gallery next door to a great thai restaurant...

not a bad day a'tall

the next day's drive inland to portland had it's beautiful moments, too...

looks like alice already took a nibble

next stop, kerhonkson, ny for the NERFA conference

listening to: dick rosmini - adventures for 12 string, 6 string and banjo

hey, where ya been? (part the first)

dateline: newport, oregon


wow, been having so much fun traveling i haven't gotten around to posting anything for awhile...so here's the first part of a catch up to this fall's wanderings.


started the fall travels back in RI where i attended my first ever high school reunion.  had a good time catching up with folks i hadn't set eyes on for a long long (looong) time...let's just say, the last time these folks saw me i was this guy...(the woman is barbara rivkin, the person who taught me how to fingerpick...thanks, barbara!)

it was funny, most folks reaction to my still being a musician was "wow, you're still DOING that...following your dream, etc".  but there were a couple of "wow, you're still doing THAT?"...it's all in the inflection, i guess.  hell, i feel both ways some days.

took a ride down to the RI shore while i was there.  still a beautiful place.

after RI, i finally got to spend some time in chicago...man, what a cool town!
once again, courtesy of my baseball fanatic agent, i had great tickets to a white sox game. boy, something about seeing a game up close...

also spent a day at the chicago institute of art where i got to visit with these guys...

also got to spend time with some old familiar faces...

a print of this hung on my wall for a long time.  simply amazing to stand in front of the original...

also saw an exhibit of incredible stained glass work by marc chagall

and these guys live on the roof of the harold washington library downtown

but after all is said and done, there's nothin' like coming home to a front yard filled with flowers...

and a back yard full moon...

next up, back to the pacific northwest.

listening to: tom waits - glitter and doom live