A BREAK IN THE ACTION, PAUSE FOR NOEL
Whether you are a Xmas celebrant or not, I find something nice about a pause in the world (at least in my world, in Paris)--all the shops closed, emails not coming in (so I could finally catch up), etc. Just some time to play with my chicken-pox encrusted daughter, not wear tight D&G threads, and...SLEEP, GLORIOUS, DEEP, UNTROUBLED SLEEP...this was the greatest.
I had another break in the action earlier this week when a worm virus that targeted web servers knocked KS.calm out of business for a few hours. Unfortunately, the forum and its archive were lost in the interruption...I hope to have it back online early next year (like, after the holidays).
Geneva, 12/19
A Bellingham-worthy rainstorm scared a few customers off, but we made a very nice night of it at Le Chat Noir. Geneva is one of those wonderful polyglot places, so, the audience had americans, south americans, spaniards, frenchies, all kinds. All listening to a guy with messed up hair tell bad jokes in English, and loving it for chrissakes!
Brussels, 12/20
Another in a string of 7am flights (I am greatly indebted to Elvira for a ride to the airport) and another bashing at the checkin for overages (I thought part of the legend of Virgin that bands could ship their gear for free...? Can anyone confirm if that was true or not at one point? So, I am off them as well. It's gonna be a long list I think. Anyway, I had a full day of radio station visits and interviews, and then did a 'KS in the round' gig, in the Rotonde of the Botanique, one of Europe's coolest community centers. It's a glorious and stately playhouse (and a greenhouse with friendly fish swimming amongst the tropical plant roots) for rock, theatre, cabaret etc. I ended up standing in the middle of the floor, with the public on the tiers of benches that line the place...anyway, you had to be there. Good one tho'. Did a couple of songs with Cristina Dona, incl. a hyped-up version of 'Christmas' by Florence Dore, that the Posies recorded at one point. As downer Christmas songs go, this one has no equal. Other special guests included Remi V. from Cheap Star, the band I had been working with in the studio this spring/summer, we did a version of one of the songs we worked on, and Dominique Stringfellow herself led a rousing chorus of 'j'entendres le loup, le renard et le bulette' then we went to a bar afterwards and I fell asleep face down on the table. Working hard.
Helsinki, 12/21
had an afternoon flight for a change, so I arrived to Helsinki (wouldn't it be cool if they had signs that said WELCOME TO HEL there?) at about 7pm, and basically went straight to soundcheck...now, I am just going to say, this show will be impossible to describe. It was one of the greatest nights of my musical life thus far...and this is on a tour that to me was all highlights, no show on the whole KS tour was less than a great experience, with audiences to die for. But, I have to admit, the night at Tavastia (where I have never had anything less than a magic time--over the course of 3 posies shows and one with White Flag) took it to another level. Guests pulled from the audience playing note-for-note guitar and piano on Posies songs, Jorgen Wall (with whom I recorded much of Soft Commands) playing a sort of drumbeat on my guitar while I played the tour(US and Europe combined)'s only version of 'You Become the Dawn'...a bona fide Stringfellow's dancer onstage during 'Here's to the Future'...I mean...this show, it was, it was, OUT OF CONTROL in the best possible way. You had to be there. Me and 500 other folks were...unreal. I don't like to compare one place to the other but Finland and the Posies have a 'special relationship', to borrow a term from diplomacy, and I benefit in turn. What an amazing night. Did anyone video it??? The next day I did press and visited my friend Markus at Radio Helsinki (where Any Love was played live on the radio 2 years before Soft Commands was released--just after I wrote it, in fact). I then spent 18 hours in a studio with Jorgen Wall mixing two songs for the upcoming Beezewax album...finished up at 6am and hopped a cab to the airport at 6.10am....the ensuing two hour flight was my only sleep...and then...
Milan, 12/23
Malpensa is a piece of crap. I mean that with no offense directed to the city it purports to attend to the needs of...but jeezus, you wait over an hour for the bags to come off the plane and then you have a 1.45 hour drive to the city...argh. But, Milan was patient and waiting for me...i visited the Radio Populare, for a fine little acoustic session...had my picture taken with dismembered mannequins and also while standing on a foosball table...and had, dare I say it...another brilliant audience, and a very cozy setting, at the Casa 139...like a speakeasy turned on its head, it's a 2nd floor salon and bar. My guitar was starting to fall apart so I borrowed an acoustic (grazie Grumpi!) and did the stand in the middle of the audience thing...anyway, I was having an out of body experience both from lack of sleep, the completion of a long string of dates wherein I faced the gaping maw of unconditional audience love...and the arrival of chirstmas eve, eating pannetone and drinking prosecco...followed by about a hundred shots of tequila...I don't even remember getting driven home (thank you Roberta!)...good night indeed OH, yes, this was my last night to play with Cristina Dona for the time being, and we did 4 songs together--Je Vous En Prie, Death of A City, Christmas and the ultimate tear jerker, Moon River...
I managed to get myself to the airport somehow thankfully it was Linate, only about 15 min. drive from the hotel...was home in Paris by about 4.30 and having lived to tell the tale, I can only give my thanks to all the promoters, Ryko folks Europe-wide, friends, and attendees for helping me have a truly...beautiful experience. And I reserve thank yous of the highest order to Marc Bernegger at Rykodisc, James Alderman at Free Trade and Barbara Mitchell for making this tour possible, comprehensible, and doable.
But wait...I have some shizz in Spain to do next week...this oughtta be good. See you there???
Love
KS
Paris
