Ken Stringfellow dot calm

11.28.2005

HELSINKI 11/21

Well, the day of our live DVD shoot in Helsinki couldn’t have started much better. No rain, good breakfast, plenty of sleep, a brief chat with Radio Helsinki. We had lots of down time in the afternoon, as the set up for the cameras and audio truck took a lot longer than the normal set up. I think around 5pm we did our soundcheck and ran thru a good portion of the set. There was a good dinner, and a pleasant interview with a local paper. With more than 700 tickets sold, the merch booth did big business long before the show; I sold out of Posies shirts right away and sold a bunch of KS and Posies CDs during the Latebirds set.

Ok, we took the stage, cameras noting our nervous pre-show joshing around, and then we went right into the set, rocking hard, sounding good…after ‘That Don’t Fly’ Jon said his guitar wasn’t working and none of what we had just done would be usable. What to do? We could only do the filming once (it’s VERY expensive to do this sort of thing--making a backup shoot the next day in Tampere, my idea, impossible to afford). So we decided to cover our bets, and played the songs in question again—not as good tho’. Broken strings, false starts, etc. Oh well. It looked like we would have to take more drastic measures later. Overdub? We moved on. The energy finally had a chance to recover, we had a chance to have fun, and thank god the audience was there for us every step of the way. By the end of the show, we were thoroughly wrung out; we hard-squeezed every drop of available energy in doing the 20+ songs for the evening. We finally called it a night…headed back to sell merch, and then…with great trepidation, headed to the audio truck. As it turned out, the songs with Jon’s guitar sounding bizarre were not bad at all. Just a few stray noises that could easily be hidden in the mix. And when we went to the video truck we saw some footage and it looked like a million bucks had been spent (tho to be fair, it was a significant portion of that). So, the day was not wasted, the DVD will be awesome, and all is well. We went to a late night bistro and celebrated with friends, champagne, and escargot! Many thanks to the audience members—a few of whom wrote in emails complaining of the awkwardness of the DVD-shoot-related delays and retakes. What can I say? We had to get it right. We knew we would be asking a lot of the audience, and we picked Helsinki as we knew it would be the best attended show, with the best audience, and hopefully they would tolerate the unusual circumstances in light of the fact that they would be taking part of a unique night in the Posies’ history and catalogue…

Further thanks will be in the DVD credits but we can’t ignore the audio and video crew, our TM and sound engineer Jan Visser, and our publicist, Jessica Ricci, who essentially produced the thing…it will probably see the light of day in spring of 2006.

TAMPERE 11/22

You have no idea how sore I was when I woke up the next day. I had really given it the serious 110%. I felt it worst in my ass, which felt like I had taken an entire regiment’s worth of gamma globulin shots in the same spot. Sleeping in didn’t cure it all the way. So, we limped to the tiny town of Tampere, to the Klubi, where White Flag played in 2002. Great little place…very wide stage, which makes things sound a little funny, like, far away, but—it didn’t seem to stop us. We blasted out a roaring show, and played ad infinitum plus ultra. A completely fucked up ‘Jungle’ at the end that carried the usual shitstorm of destruction with it. Somebody stole the footswitch that I use with my keyboard—I want it back!

Excellent set from the Latebirds, I was able to watch them comfortably from the merch table.

After the show, much fun at a local bar until quite late—with friends, the odd drinky-drinky journalist (who left his wallet at the table, for me to find and return via the ever-honest Tomi Palsa) etc.

TURKU 11/23

Not the best stage or sound in the world—stuffed into a vortex at the end of the room (you should have seen the picket fence barricade they tried to foist on us!). But, I have to say, this show was unbelievable. We played a really hard set, and then came back for encores of some 10 songs all told—including a striptease-enhanced ‘Flood of Sunshine’ with the amazing Kasperi, who stole the show at my solo Helsinki show last year, on guitar; a basically nude ‘Jungle’ too. We were quite drunk by the end, and this made for perhaps the most disorganized merch table ever…

Jon & I also got to get our Nick Lowe on by singing ‘What’s So Funny Bout Peace Love & Understanding’ with the Latebirds.

Also…as we ask for a bottle of champagne on our rider…inexplicably, they gave us a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon…no doubt we drank it as soon as we got there…

STOCKHOLM 11/24

Thanksgiving day. Slept off the 6am wake up call on the boat, til 2.30 Swedish time. Thanksgiving dinner was on board…which included an appetizer buffet of Scandinavian, Italian, and Japanese selections. I had some of each and a main course. When we arrived in Stockholm that evening, Jon & I met our label rep, Nusse, and proceeded directly to the Berns Hotel for the Sonic Magazine 5 year Anniversary Party. Berns Hotel is REM’s address of choice in Stockholm, so I’m familiar with the place. Being built in the 1860s, it has a fabulous ballroom and dining room. REM dined in the ballroom on one of our visits…one of those gilded and mural-encrusted affairs. Fabulous! Well, this was the site of the party. Jon and I got acquainted with the DJ station, plugging in my laptop etc. We also ran thru our live song for the evening’s concert bill of fare. A step back—the live music this evening was a program put together the very talented keyboard player for Soundtrack of our Lives, accompanying on piano various popular and beloved Swedish artists for one or two songs each. The band also included a small drum kit, a stand up bass, and trumpet. Some singers were just accompanied by the piano, but most of the evening had the little house band in use. Most of the singers would not be known to, say, American ears, except for the TSOOL singer and Screamin’ Pelle from the Hives. Oddly, and I think a mark of great respect, Jon & I were the only non-Swedish artists invited to perform (we did a splendid version of ‘King Midas in Reverse’ by the Hollies, with the full house band. An honor! Plus we were the only DJs for the evening (we didn’t know that til we got there, I had only planned a 2 hour set, so I had to do lots of improv, fun—the final 2 hours I handed to Jon and he seemed ever so pleased to be rid of me and have the booth to himself!). A great night—there were over a thousand people there, I really felt like a fly on the Swedish wall watching people freak out to these artists that I had mostly never heard of. It was quite cool. Hakan Hellstrom is a major Swedish artist, he did several songs that had people screaming and singing along—and he also did Big Star’s ‘13’ in Swedish!

Got a super discount on rooms at Berns…thanks Sonic for having us…it was an honor…

MALMO 11/25

Flew down to Malmo the next morning and I checked into the hotel and got the room ready for Dom’s arrival. And as always, nervously awaited her arrival with great excitement! Her train from Copenhagen airport was late so we headed to the KB Hall (site of at least 4 previous visits by the Posies) to set up. As it turns out, Dom’s cab and our van arrived simultaneously.

We had a great crowd tonight, and, as always, inspired by Dom’s presence, I went at the show with all my muscles. Lots of leaping, bending, and generally kicking ze ass. The crowd was so drunk that even before we played, when I was selling what turned out to be the most merch for one evening on the tour so far, people in line had a hard time standing up. One guy lost his knees’ ability to lock while holding some red drink right by the box of white t-shirts…all the while inviting me to the bathroom for…? Free drugs? He fell to the side and managed to not spill the drink on our stuff, thank god.

The set was superb, we went back for a great encore, and then I thought we should stop but was convinced by the others to continue. Jon was also on the fence, but Matt and Darius insisted. Well...as it turns out, I was right (I think) ‘Beautiful One’ was TERRIBLE, out of tune and sloppy. I heard several requests for ‘Precious Moments’ so I redeemed myself with a really good performance of that one, but could see that further time on that stage would be a waste of the good memories we had created in the previous hour and a half…off I went to the dressing room!

OSLO 11/26

Back at the hotel, I counted the formidable pile of merch money, ate some foie gras and had a glass of wine, and then went to bed at about 2.30. At 5.30 the alarm went off. Ugh. Got ready and we got downstairs at about 6.30. I paid for the wine and bread we ordered to enjoy with the foie gras (Dom went into a panic and said it was off and needed to be refrigerated…she didn’t want to poison me the night before I had a TV performance. I said it only needed to be kept cold after the seal was broken. I was right! It was fine. It tasted fine! What do the French know?) and the taxi to the hotel from the airport…a long one. We were told the train station was a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. Well, it’s a bit more than that, and you have to cross a canal and all this shit, and lucky we bought tix at the hotel…we were told the wrong track by the first person I asked…we found the right track and double checked with the conductor by the door-is this the train going to Copenhagen airport in two minutes? And she replied, “no, it’s the train to Copenhagen Airport leaving in 30 seconds”. On we went. 20 minutes or so later, we were at the airport, and there are big escalator ramps up to the check in area—nothing like the shitty conveyance or lack thereof from the TGV station up to check in at Charles de Gaulle—plan on an hour to get to the desk and good luck if you have a lot of luggage. Well, our timely arrival meant nothing—we spent the next hour in line and missed the flight. 2 desks to help over 150 passengers…what were they thinking? We were rebooked on a flight an hour later. No worries. Coordinated with Briskeby and all was well. Our flight was late on top of that so it was after 11 when we landed in Oslo. There was someone to pick us up and we headed straight to the Oslo Spectrum, where REM played earlier this year. This was a concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of Norway’s independence from Sweden, and was a diverse program of contemporary, classic and traditional Swedish and Norwegian artists. I think there was money going to charity, and the royal families of both countries in attendance. I was to perform with Briskeby on ‘Joe Dallesandro’ to the 5,000 in the audience, plus, it was to be broadcast the next day on TV, to a potential audience of like, a million or something! We rehearsed once—and I went back for a nap with Dom. Came back at show time, and it wasn’t long before it was time to go. And, it went like a house on fire! Totally fun. Dom said it looked good on the monitors—if anybody reading saw the show on TV, please write in and let me know how it sounded and looked! OK, party time. I met a fellow named Jordan, manager for artists like Motley Crue, Hanson, etc. who turns out to be a Posies fan…we all watched the Cardigans do their new single, which sounded very good…and then Briskeby and myself headed to the Bristol Hotel, where they were performing a private event for a phone company. We were fed dinner, given sparkling stuff to drink, and I did my song again…lots of fun. After the show, Claus and Lise from Briskeby, Dom, and myself drank and tried snuss til the room started to spin and it was time to go home! Lise was kind enough to walk us to the hotel. No hangover the next day tho’…but my throat was kinda sore. I don’t think a guy like me with shitty weak gums, should start a snuss habit at age 37…but, I’ll try anything twice (I also tried the Skoal-bandit style version in Stockholm, which was fun—didn’t kick my butt quite as hard as the loose stuff).

On that note…

Love
KS
Gent BELGIUM

11.20.2005

BERGEN 11/14

As it turns out, our boat did make it, the seas eventually ceased to roil. In fact, I awoke at about 9, and found we were sitting in a port, somewhere along the way. I had breakfast and spent the rest of the morning, and half the afternoon (as the boat was now going to arrive quite late) reading, sipping coffee, and standing on the deck admiring how shockingly beautiful Norway is. We called ahead to let the record store that Jon & I were scheduled to play at 2 that afternoon that we would be a little late. Indeed. The boat pulled in at 2.30, and we were practically the last vehicle to drive off, and we sat waiting for approval to drive on from Norwegian customs. It turned out to be a long wait. Our van, luggage, gear, and persons were searched top to bottom. Dogs were sent to sniff us and our stuff. In all, we waited in a tiny room for about 2 hours while they tore us apart—for nothing.

We still did the damn instore, albeit 3 hours late. People were there, still!
We did our thing and then went down the block to the Garage, where I played last year. The ever-friendly Dennis, who really can look like the Rocky Horror guy with the long hair (I kept saying ‘castles don’t have phones, asshole!’ that night at odd moments), greeted us, and made sure we had everything we needed…and then walked us to the hotel and dinner afterwards. At dinner, we joined our favorite promoter, Trygve, for another hearty Norwegian meal (I won’t tell you everything we ate, so you won’t have to be horrified).

Our show tonight was perhaps a little shaky—too much banter, a few botched intros, etc. – but the crowd was great and I will say it was one of the best encores of the tour—we bore down and dealt out a series of hammer blows. After the show there was much merriment made upstairs, and at some apartment down the street, I had a few sips of this and that, and walked home in the cool wet air to my super weird hotel room—like, two Murphy beds side by side, and a yellow dining table, like the informal table that inhabited the kitchen when I was growing up, with like 9 chairs around it. Huh?

STAVANGER 11/17

I couldn’t even bear to have breakfast, and I was still pretty tired when we left at 9 or whatever it was. There are 3 ferries on the route to Stavanger; the first two are short hops I didn’t even wake up for. The third is almost an hour and vehicle passengers are required to leave the car deck. So I went up and slowly opened my weary eyes to the golden light of a Norwegian late afternoon—it has that eerie, after life quality to it. More or less the sunset takes all afternoon to do its thing. On this day, the sky was cloudless, the water bouncy, a chef’s salad of finely chopped blocks of color. Other ferries and islands were available to view on the peripheries. By the time we got to the other side of this particular fjord or whatever it was, Stavanger was just a few more miles down the road. Norwegian miles?

Tonight’s venue was a student bar, that’s been a live music institution since at least the late 80s, called Folken. Great student bar with a pretty massive stage, actually. Well, this may not have been the smallest crowd of our three Norwegian shows, but damn if this wasn’t musically one of the best of the tour. And truth be told, there were almost 150 people there—it’s all relative in Norway. We were interviewed and the performance was filmed for a documentary on what goes on backstage at shows…we were hardly in the backstage tho…our hotel was next door so I spent my down time there…and then there was our failed mission to see Nazareth play across town, at what appeared to be a Red Lobster crossed with Chilkoot Charlie’s in Anchorage…they were having equipment problems that even their 5 techs couldn’t solve...not their fault but it still seemed a bit Spinal Tap. A 6’5” tattooed guy grabbed Darius’ nose and said he was too young to be at this show…well, we told him to get lost, he was awfully drunk, and he sort of behaved…amazing how easily drunk folks can be programmed.

Our show this night was stellar. We just hit every mark. The crowd was there for us, a bit shy at first, but they couldn’t help but be moved by our efforts. Yes!

OSLO 11/18

This day we arose at 7am which and drove for hours and hours…I was asleep for all of that, thank god. As when we got to Oslo, basically we immediately headed to an instore performance at a big record shop in a downtown mall…abysmal sound, unfortunately, but we worked with is as best we could. Oslo is kind of a can’t-go-wrong kind of place, and I can only say that the show was totally on, and the audience there for us.

TRONDHEIM 11/19

Now this place was something else. Again, we were up at the break of day, and we hopped a train up to the industrial northern city of Trondheim. Beautiful ride thru snow covered forests and rough-hewn mountain waterfalls—in other words the real Norway. It took all day to get there, but once we did—well, we felt pretty comfortable. I had enough downtime to go and record with the band Jim Protector, I played organ and guitar and I sang on a song, which was sounding really cool when I left—I might end up mixing the thing later. This show---shee-it, I don’t even know what to say. It burned. It seemed like every pint glass in the building was smashed by the end of the gig. The audience clapped when you would want an audience to clap; they sang along; we gave and gave and gave. It was a perfect night. Rowdier than, say, Stavanger, but no less musically sound. I quickly added this city to my list of favorite cities to play.

And after the gig, we watched the video show on NRK 2—and saw the ‘Conversations’ video (twice) and the Briskeby video that has a ghostly appearance from me…

Love
KS
Helsinki FINLAND

11.16.2005

PORTSMOUTH 11/6

As a result of my morbid sensibilities, I suppose, being faced with partial blindness, I spent the van ride this grey afternoon watching the biopic ‘Ray’, which, of course, being a great example of what Hollywood can accomplish…it’s a little manipulative, but, man-it just hooked me—the story of a man, a husband, a father, a musician, a human…it’s such a great story, there’s almost no way you couldn’t find something that affects you should you watch it…

The show tonight was one of those affairs where the audience was made fairly self-conscious by their modest size…so I spent more jokes about how shy they were than actually enjoying the show. But…in the evening’s favor, I have to say, we were served a lovely Sunday roast by the club; what’s more, I was able to spend 5 minutes talking to my friend Sarah, with whom I went to high school, and whom I adore.

I almost saw the most amazing thing—as we were loading out, I came out to the street and our roadie, Joe, was looking up the street, and said ’…uh…there’s a naked woman…uh…’ and I looked up the road and saw that, indeed, there was a fully topless woman, very drunk, stumbling up the street. Understand it was a chilly, soggy night in November on the south coast of England, and that must have been a very uncomfortable situation to be in. All the more bizarre that she seemed to accept her circumstance as a completely natural way to end a Sunday night.

CAMBRIDGE 11/7

I had a great breakfast this morning—you gotta work with the little things when you are touring secondary markets in the UK—I had a sausage, egg and salad sandwich at a diner near the hotel—the hotel that had the most hidden entrance of all time…we had to walk the full circumference of the place to find it…

The Junction in Cambridge is one of those Arts Council-sponsored places that make for such great changes of pace. A complex of intertwined theatres, rehearsal places, dance classrooms, etc. ...there’s some guvmint money to burn here! They gave us a nice bottle of bubbly, which we enjoyed safely. Anyway, this was a really fun show—we did some goofy stuff, like, when I grabbed the mic and serenaded our beloved web guru, Taylor; or when we all switched instruments for the most bizarre version of ‘Burn & Shine’ that we have ever done; or when we fit the _entire_ audience onstage for the finale of ‘Earlier Than Expected’ and ‘I Am the Cosmos’…after the show, Taylor was a mess, telling us she hated us and loved us in alternating phrases; I wasn’t much better off…and then there was the hotel…a typical Holiday Inn Express…the staff made Jon wake Matt up from the conference room floor in the middle of the night; and somehow, I found myself face down on the floor on the main floor hallway, being awakened by the morning duty manager! Score.

NORWICH 11/8

The area around the Waterfront, the venue we played here, has rows of gorgeous 15th century buildings, and several obsidian-bedecked churches…some of which you can rent out for parties, oddly enough. On the same street there are a few car garages, and we were drawn into one, where a beastly Dodge Charger was being restored.

The audience was pretty small tonight, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t make a ton of noise…we played a short sharp set and scurried back to the hotel for our 4 hours of sleep before we had to hit the road for Brussels.

BRUSSELS 11/9

In fact, we hit the road at 5. We got to Brussels in the early afternoon—it wasn’t much longer that Dominique and Aden Stringfellow arrived, and took all the attention from any possible perspective—you have a tiny, brilliant girl with a Mohawk who is willing to win your heart at any cost; and a dignified, sophisticated, raven-haired franco-italian beauty who makes all the right jokes…jeezus, how can you go wrong?

Tonight’s show was taking place in the Studio Brussel radio theatre. Studio Brussel is in a huge complex of national TV and radio studios in a big ugly 60s square edifice of brutally boring architecture. The theatre itself is quite small, and incredibly unlike a rock club. They do sell beer tho…Europe is very good about making sure everybody has access to the basics in life, as defined by the unspoken charter—people have a right to their daily ration of wine, coffee, tongue kisses, and music. Amazing, no?

So, this show was recorded for later broadcast on Studio Brussel radio, 5 songs went out last Sunday, and 10 more will be broadcast on, I guess, the 27th and Dec. 4th. There’s some mixing to be done on the other stuff. Evidently 2 songs went out live that night, too. Well, I hope you get a chance to hear it, cuz we totally had it together and played a great set. A long one, too. Plus, ‘Burn & Shine’ clocked in at 13 minutes!

MECHELEN 11/10

Now here is one of those great examples of the unexpected coming up—a 300-plus audience, totally into it, coming to see us play in a fookin’ 14th cent. chapel, remodeled to have modern features (that every chapel needs, like a full service bar!). We played an epic set, with a bunch of encores, including at least one or two done after the house lights had come up and the PA was playing the ‘go away’ music. We closed with a slo-core, duo version of ‘Coming Right Along’. After the show, we drank everything in sight…and saw many friends, from around Belgium, plus France, Holland…you know how it is in Belgium—great.

Earlier in the day a very respected eye doctor gave me the thumbs up as far as my eye recovery was concerned—my eye had healed totally, and as it turns out, I’m lucky—the doctor had seen quite a number of people in her office that had been blinded in one eye by champagne corks. She advised me to take it easy onstage for another week, but, she couldn’t detect any damage at this point at all.

After that, I went for a haircut, and followed that with lunch and seeing the girls off on the train…and then Waldo DeK, who is our label guy in Belgium, met me and drove me to Mechelen. GREAT guy.

GRONINGEN 11/11

This show was destined to be great. A club that’s been bringing great music to the people since the 1960s…not just a club, but also…the people’s access portal to the musical arts happens here…Vera. The Posies played it three years running—96, 97 and 98. The same guy has been running it since then and who knows how long before that.

We had almost 400 people there for us this night. And they were a crowd to die for! Screaming, jumping, yelling, buying drinks and CDs and whatever…man, this is why we keep having our best shows in Holland. The great design of this venue—you play, then stumble downstairs to drink basically for free, then stumble upstairs to drink for free again, then stumble back down in the morning for breakfast…(what to mention they order in absolutely slaying Chinese for dinner). You just keep stumbling, a transportation mode looked down upon in the states, but in Holland that leads you over and over to a life you’d rather be living every day.

THE HAGUE 11/12

This show was part of the ‘Music in My Head’ festival—I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, but basically there’s a two room club in this town, and bands play all the time, and they serve up some great food, all with the expectation that you will come there and kick ass. We did it---our show was another Dutch slab of wickedness. Spent a few minutes chatting with the lovely Tracy Bonham. Spent quite a bit of time drinkin’…I was invited to join the fingerprint gallery, so my art is on display at the club now as well.

Matt and I took the tram to the club from the hotel—they really have it easy there in Den Haag. And they are building some of the most bizarre Buck Rogers shit all over town. Check the tramline housing by the NH hotel (the hotel we stayed at this visit).

COPENHAGEN 11/14

We had a day to get there, with no performance. And we needed it---it takes a good 10-11 hours to get from Den Hag to Copenhagen. Plus, we had to stop in Groningen, as some T-shirts needed to be picked up there. To entertain myself on the journey, I ingested a ‘space cake’ there—I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but I was as stoned as a hemp-chewing parrot for the whole drive. We watched a bunch of films in the van—‘Dazed & Confused’. ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, and ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. Fun! We pulled up to the hotel in Copenhagen just as the cab was dropping off Dom and Aden. So, we had the short time remaining that night to have a bottle of champagne, play as a family (there is never a shortage of direction or quantity in terms of entertainment when Aden is around).

The next day, after breakfast, Dom & I did some emergency shopping, as BA had lost Dom’s bag for the time being. Jon, our tour manager Jan, Dom, Aden, our label rep. Alan and I all went out to a radio station about an hour outside of the city to do an acoustic set and interview. Great set up out there—nice folks. In the middle of one of the songs, Aden cried out ‘Bravo!’ in her baby voice (so, it sounds more like ‘Bappo’—but she claps! She picked up the ‘Bravo’ thing as she gets a Bravo for every new trick she learns).

We’ve played Loppen a couple of times before; on this particular night, a rainy Monday night in November 2005, it has a kind of Cirque du Parole vibe, but I still think it’s a lovely place. Somehow however I didn’t feel like taking a promenade with the girls around the neighborhood tho’. Which is too bad. You get all kinds of feelings as a father you don’t expect. At least I did. I didn’t know how much I would love her. I didn’t know how many things I would instinctually wish to avoid, despite what I feel is a fairly open reception I have to most places. But, the protective instinct is just as irrational yet evolutionarily supported as other instincts…you have to work hard to override them.

Ok. The show, or should I say, shows. My Norwegian friends Briskeby, whose new album 'Jumping on Cars' I sing on, supported us. I have been a fan of them from hearing their recordings and getting to know them—but, I had never seen them live (like Beezewax, who are supporting us in Norway and Spain, with whom I have logged hours in the studio going back 6 years, and have never seen live). And they kick ze ass—what a great sounding band. The combo is of different talents is really intimidating. Great tones from their instruments, great songs, great singing from Lise; it’s all an incredibly pleasing package. They are very popular in Norway, and just not really known outside of there. It shows that popularity has nothing to do with accessibility or skill. It’s just one of those contextual things, or, maybe even less than that—maybe there’s no reason for artists to be popular or unpopular.

So, I got up and sang the song that I appear on on their new album, a tune called ‘Joe Dalessandro’. I was really nervous, but I have to admit I loved it. I’ll be singing it with them on a show, a concert that takes place at the Oslo Spektrum (where REM played in Feb. of this year) on the 26th and will be broadcast on TV the following day. I don’t totally understand the details of the show—it’s a kind of charity concert, attended by the royal families of Sweden and Norway, and headlined by a mash up between a Swedish and a Norwegian artist (the Cardigans and Briskeby in this case). Anyway, if you live in Sweden or Norway, you probably know about it, and if you don’t, you probably can’t see it anyway, so moot point!

www.briskeby.com

I sang with them at Loppen; that was great. The Posies show was fantastic…full of bizarre Pink Floyd moments and several encores. In fact, I believe this night we played the weirdest version of ‘Burn & Shine’ ever…it just ended with our leaving the stage one by one while serious space sounds breathed out of our amps. I really enjoyed this night—two amazing sets that I got to take part in, and my girls were there too!

I have to admit the next morning was terrible…saying goodbye to the girls as I drove off in the van, as Aden pounded on the hotel’s glass door from the inside and screamed for papa when she realized I was leaving. It’s terrible when you can’t explain everything to them.

Today we enjoyed a really long drive to the northernmost tip of Denmark, and boarded a ferry to Bergen, Norway; the seas have been rough enough to cancel most of these crossings! However, we’re still going, and as I write, I’m bouncing up and down on the waves with a stomach full of venison and Bordeaux. I don’t get seasick—thank god for that. But we’re really rocking and rolling in a way that even I can’t duplicate on the Posies’ stage.

On to the beloved north!

Love
KS
On the ferry between Hantsholm, Denmark, and Bergen, Norway

11.06.2005

POWER POP, MY EYE

MUNICH 10/30

And so it goes, that I had a 37th birthday to rival that great 25th birthday night with Teenage Fanclub in 1993—I spent the day observing the fall colors thru the van window—Germany has such an abundance of gorgeous wooded countryside. We stopped for wurst and gluhwein, which made it easy for me to go back and nap in the van for the rest of the ride...at TFC’s soundcheck, I made a birthday request, which was honored by the guys as best they could—they played as best a version of my fave TFC number, ‘Every Picture I Paint’, which they hadn’t played in 15 years (luckily, Francis McD, who played on the first TFC album, is playing with them again)…I was feted with champagne brought onstage by Norman hisself (whose birthday is 10 days before mine, FYI). And then the show—can I get a hell yeah? I think I can, because this was a fucking monster of a set, with an audience that was behind us completely—chanting our name for an encore, even—really, the audience this night was so superb, we couldn’t go wrong. But the night didn’t stop there—I had dinner at Zum Dornbrau, a Bavarian beer hall/resto, where I had all sorts of pig bits (lung!!---OK, let’s not get into too a lengthy discussion about vegan/veg./carn pros/cons, I admit, esp. after spending lots of time in France, I am a carnivore. I was veg. for the better part of 11-12 years, and I think it’s an excellent choice of behavior in terms of personal health and planetary health….I just don’t do it.). We got back to the venue in time to see the end of TFC’s set, which was in full swing (the club was so packed you can’t believe it—and poor Jose Feliciano was playing the larger concert hall next door to about 100 people at most…) and your friend, mine and theirs, Eugene Kelly, hopped up to play ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam’ with the guys…people were cheering for a second TFC encore for about 15 minutes after the gig was done! I drank lots of champagne, chatted with Francis, went to a funky bar, and eventually went to bed…!

BRISTOL 11/1

We spent a day traveling up from Munich, stopping for the night in Calais, achingly only two hours from Paris by car. I did enjoy a great meal however, something we try and do on each rare night off on tour. Lapin aux pruneaux and a bottle of Bordeaux.

In Bristol, were escorted onstage by a phalanx of Star Wars-style Stormtroopers (having just left Munich I wanted the distinction to be clear…glug glug) and Darth V. himself, who spared our lives after being rocked to the ground! Our former tech, Matt Thomas, who lives in the UK now, was there—and a very drunk Liverpool Dave, who now lives in Bristol, stole the mic from us at several points during our ‘in the crowd’ jam…cheeky monkey.

BRIGHTON 11/2

Early in the day I went with Jon to a tiny village in the woods (and rain), and I spent the afternoon in the studio with Snowpatrol, I lent my talents to a few tunes in progress for their next album. And walked away with a fine bottle of 15 year old Dalwhinnie for my troubles! As if I had troubles spending the day playing music! Thanks to all.

As Jon & I arrived at the Concorde 2, it was raining and blowing like you wouldn’t believe; incredible, Newfoundland-esque weather…so, the crowd was a little spare—the club itself is on the road that runs along the water, so it (the club) is snuggled up against the massive wall that shores up the rest of the city and prevents surfboards from lodging themselves in the chippie.

Our friends Beachy Head Music Club (descended from the Steamkings, whom we have long championed) had a hapless encounter with the club, we had invited them to play as a second support act…but somehow, the news didn’t get thru to the club, and they were turned away! I was still en route at the time and thus couldn’t sort it out—they had left by the time I showed up!! Our show was OK; the layout of the stage is kinda weird, with a big barricade so the audience feels REALLY far away (for my tastes). OK. After the show, I was in the dressing room in the middle of opening a bottle of champagne, when in walked my friend Chris, with a bucket full o’ tequila shots. I was so pleased to see him, and the booze, I became distracted and forgot about my champagne project…BIG mistake. The cork decided it had spent enough time in that bottle (it was a 1998 Nicolas Feuillatte), and, with the muzzle removed, worked itself out. Boom. Flash of light. Pain. Cork to the eye! Magic!

OXFORD 11/3

I went to bed feeling like I had been lucky: my eye looked OK, I had iced it, etc. I had seen colors like when you stare at a bright light, but those subsided soon after the incident. However, when I woke up in the morning, there was a black spot, kind of shaped like Russia, floating in the lower half of my vision. Off to the Sussex Eye Hospital I went. The morning in Brighton was bluster-tastic, massive breakers coming in (and people were still going out on the pier…). I cabbed over to the hospital after looking it up in the phone book, and found that my first visit to a hospital in the UK was free. I waited for about 10 minutes and a nurse had a look, and put some drops in to dilate my pupil, and then I waited about half an hour and a doctor had a look as well. More or less, I had been given a very slight bruise on my retina. He said in 99% of cases this kind of injury will heal itself, but for my case I needed to take it really easy (no headbanging!), rest a lot, and see another doctor in a week’s time. The other condition I had caused was a kind of snowglobe effect, where a handful, literally, of red blood cells were knocked into the front chamber of fluid in my eye. Anyway, if they don’t heal themselves, or if it worsens either on its own or by me not taking care of myself –then, yes, I will have to have surgery, possibly. That’s the worse case scenario, and I’m not going to give that the power of suggestion—positive thinking says that when the eye doctor in Brussels takes a look this week, he or she will be pleased with what they find.

Not that this night’s show was an afterthought—but I did have some concerns! The Zodiac club has a rotten, multi flight of stairs, load in…but the club people were very generous about helping. The first time I have worn prescription glasses onstage for a rock show, maybe ever—I wore my Alain Mikli persc. shades. And I stood stock-still. And made fun of myself. It was a great change of place to stay in place, tho—it gave me space to really concentrate on my playing—I thought our jam on ‘Burn & Shine’ was incredible! Lots of twin lead madness—

Kudos to ‘Spice’, one of the best Indian places I’ve been to, which on some quiet road away from the center—worth a special trip if you’re in town. They claimed to be Radiohead’s choice of curry when they’re home, but I imagine every curry place says that…but, read it, folks—Spice is Posies endorsed!

Continuing the Indian theme, I watched what I thought was a really well done (the reviews on IMDB don’t do it justice) Indian film called ‘Ab Tak Chappan’, loosely based on the real life story of a Mumbai police officer, one of many officers who, by manipulating the circumstances of an attempted arrest, would kill criminals whom they didn’t imagine would be convicted thru the proper methods. Great ending…won’t spoil it, check it out if you can find it. It was shown with subtitles on regular UK TV, so it’s at least available here in Britain I would suspect.

LEICESTER 11/4

A real toilet of a club, but run by massively friendly folks. The show was totally fun; I think we opened with “Song #1”? I walked thru my fear and opened, without injury, and consumed, ditto, a bottle of bubbly.

NORTHAMPTON 11/5

During the day we visited a music instrument trade show held in the exhibition center part of the Birmingham NEC (REM played the arena part earlier this year). The good people of Fender, whose Twin Amp guitar amps are what we use while in Europe, invited us. We signed some stuff, chatted with fans and the Fender people (our buddy Neil leads the charge for us there, many thanks!); and did a short acoustic set on a stage that Kerrang! organizes. We did some tunes that we haven’t done in awhile—‘Open Every Window’, ‘Golden Blunders’, and ‘O-o-h Child’.

Tonight’s show was one of the most fun shows we’ve done in the UK, for some reason it was just a total blast…we switched instruments, played a Smiths cover, whipped out ‘It’s Great to Be Here Again’ for the first time in weeks, and generally had a real cool time. The Roadmenders club is a really well run organization; Jo, our point person there, was as sweet as pie. Save Roadmenders!!

I might add that we played two Northamptons in two different countries only 36 days apart! Beat that!

Love
KS
Portsmouth UK

The latest release by Ken Stringfellow is a split EP with Spain's Muy Fellini, featuring never-heard-before music incl. Ken's take on Bob Dylan, released by
King of Patio records
in Spain on Oct 8, 2009.

Order it directly from Muy Fellini here www.myspace.com/muyfellini
10" VINYL ONLY!!!