HOME & AWAY
My house had its open house on Sunday. About 78 people went thru it. Hey, Phil Ek, did you take a look? I have some strong offers on it. Nothing's over til the paint dries and the wax hardens and all that.
Also, TMF, Belgium's music channel, has made a little show on the Posies, based on An Lemmens' travels with us in Germany earlier this year and will be airing the results thusly:
"An Tour" with the Posies will be aired on TMF Belgium :
Thursday April 27th at 16.30 and 21.00
Tuesday May 2nd at 16.30 and 21.00
Saturday May 6th at 16.30
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SEATTLE 4/16
Out of the way venue, Easter Sunday, $20 tickets, the Posies. Not typically a recipe for smashing success--but, we went for it, and I do believe we played a really great show, for the small crowd gathered. The people running the show and the folks at the Premier Club are all very friendly, we had some nice wine backstage, Dom got to see me rock out. And I debuted my new pedal, that Andy at Savage audio made, sounded like a angry Pete Townshend-enhanced kind of thing. The more I think about it, the more I think, 'hey, we played a superb show'. Afterwards, Dom & I decamped to the fabulous Red Lion hotel at SeaTac...oddly, it had moved next door from its old location, but, the 13 Coins Restaurant (which, the last time I went, was still using the menu with a cover photo of spices, arranged by mom a few decades ago when she worked at a publishing company) is still in the old building, now office towers.
ANCHORAGE 4/19
Dom & I took a vacation in Los Angeles. Flew down Monday morning and back late Tuesday night. What we done did: ate many tacos; swam in the pool at our hotel; visited friends at their jobs; met people for drinks at our hotel bar; drove; listened to Deicide, King Diamond and Nana Mouskori; listened to Neil Young's new album as he unveiled it for the Warner Music Staff (inadvertantly, I also ended up peeing next to him in the men's room); slept (a little); lost our table at the bar when Vincent Gallo came in and claimed his reservation (we knew this was going to happen); etc.
I flew the next morning up to Anchorage, for the Posies' return to Chilkoot Charlie's. I can't tell you how much I enjoy flying there and back; it's the only time I request a window seat. passing over the San Juans, Vancouver Island, and the mountains and snowfields surrounding Anchorage is inspiring. The muddy indifference of the Cook Inlet is somewhat terrifying. Bays and Sounds and other subdivisions of the ocean in the temperate zones seen friendlier, more manageable...
Visiting Alaska is also an opportunity to eat and drink well, somehow I always manage to have an outstanding meal there. Halibut is fresh this time of year, and I have to admit--I never liked eating it really. I didn't see what was so exciting about tasteless white flesh. But...eaten fresh, close to the source--I discovered the fish has flavor and texture that has been missing in my lower 48 encounters with it. I had local scallops and bites of everyone else's food as well.
Chilkoot's sound system has improved as well, so our gig was a pleasure to play; my amp sounded good, there was a nice Roland keyboard provided; people were genuniely glad to have a band (other than cover bands) come from out of town. The next day I spent in the sleeper-chic hamlet of Girdwood (which also boasts a famed resto--the Double Musky Inn; unf. I didn't get to visit it this time), producing a track for Anchorage songwriter Crystal Hutchens. I played drums, bass and helped arrange some violin/viola parts on a lovely song called 'What We Take'. I had enough ideas to fill two days worth of recording but there was only one day free in my schedule to work. As the session ended, and CDs were being burned of the day's work, a fella dropped by the studio and offered to help me celebrate '420'. Meaning, it had been April 20 that day. Dominique's Birthday...also, the birth date of Joan Miro, Ryan O'Neal...and, unfortunately, Adolf Hitler. But, back to '420' as slang for the occasion to use mary-j, this guy didn't want me to miss out on either candles or a cake for pot's holiday. I don't smoke the stuff, but, he offered me a cookie with additives. It was small, bite-size Chips Ahoy-sized. On the drive back to Girdwood I ingested the thing, and sort of forgot about it. I had worked hard that day (esp. playing drums) and I fell asleep in the car during the 40-minute drive. I was dropped off at my hotel. I checked my email. I brushed my teeth. I gave Dom and Aden a call. I got undressed and went to bed.
Some time later I woke up feeling...altered. I could hear tiny sounds of people in the rooms surrounding me, that I would normally tune out. I was acutely aware of the location and function of my respiratory system. If I closed my eyes I saw white, not black. In other words, the cookie had started to take effect. Soon I was seeing rainbow-hued fireworks, I started to hear the normal sounds of the night--passing cars, etc--mutate and warp, and I suddenly couldn't tell what temperature I was. I was sweating and shivering at the same time. I thought after a few minutes that maybe I'd been given something of a stronger class than marijuana butter, and thought that was a dirty trick--and how long would it continue? Would I be able to drive my car the next day? I was getting a bit worried. And then I fell asleep.
TACOMA 4/21
Jazzbones is a well run venue with a balcony,tables, good sound (improved from last year), a very helpful staff etc. etc. Occasionally I miss the grittiness of Hell's Kitchen, but you know, this venue is more comfy. No pinball tho. Amazingly Jon was able to laugh onstage about the rather harsh review his album got in the Stranger. I tried to make him laugh a bit more, with loimited success. And then he tried to make us all laugh, with a joke that was, well, sort of not funny. I also found myself lecturing another friend after the show about calling people 'groupies' who are just fans; I drank a few 'Jaeger Bombs'. I was housed by a vrey cool fan named Jill and her dog; they put me in a Hide-A-Bed, gave me a bit of scotch, and burned a Wrens album for me. Bloody good hospitality in Tacoma.
BOISE 4/22
I just want to pat myself on the back for driving, the next morning at 8, the 500+ miles from Tacoma to Boise. I stopped for gas/coffee in Union Gap, and then again in Baker City. We all forgot that Boise is in another time zone so we didn't get there as early as we wanted to but it worked out fine. On the way back I drove the whole way with only *one* stop, in Pendleton OR. During the drive I listened to Travis Morrison, Aqueduct, Built to Spill, John Vanderslice, usw. usw. Starlight Mints. Nada Surf. A very Barsukian journey.
Our show was at the Bouquet, which seems like the place a band called the Posies should play. A much friendlier situation than the Bourbon St.where we played to about 40 people last year. This time the show was advertised better, we had a big feature in the local paper, support from local radio, and about 300 people at our show. Hey, see what happens when you take the time to do the right things to promote a show? Lee and the rest of the Bouquet folks are on the ball! And we thank you!
A kind soul, proud of his local notables, gave me the new Built to Spill album which is superb. The morning after the show, I got up at 8.30 and was on the road by 9.15. And in the studio getting set up for jim Protector that night!
Now I'm a day into the mixing, getting up to speed. In the morning I had to go thru the offers on the house, which took up a lot of time. Predictably, I was a bit depressed when I left to go to the studio. There's more letting go to be done. And I missed Pinback last night...
Love
KS
Seattle
