3.31.2009
I uploaded new photos to the photos page, highlights from my days in Chile last week. Love KS Quito, ECUADOR
Starting yesterday, March 30, I am the guest editor for the website of the highly respected and beloved MAGNET magazine. The home page is blog style, so every few hours there is a new item, and as you scroll down the page you go back in time thru the posts. So, all this week there will be several new posts a day from me, and to see the old ones, just go down the page, there is a nice intro on March 30 explaining my theme: cultural highlights of France and Norway, the countries I spend the most time in. www.magnetmagazine.comEnjoy! KS Quito ECUDADOR
3.29.2009
BLOGOTA Look, it's almost impossible--no, scratch that, it IS impossible for me to condense the last week into blog form. Even my Lima blog doesn't come close to capturing the depth, intensity and variety of experiences I've encountered on this South American visit. The friends I've made, the musical moments I've shared...it's just huge. I know I have a pretty good record for distilling my week into blog form without pause, but, somethings are just not possible to distill. This trip is an enormous chapter in my life, a time rabbit hole that seems like years long. My expectations for Santiago were on the neutral side. I knew the obstacles--this last week was an unprecedented, historic week in the live music landscape. Everyone from Peter Gabriel to Blondie to Radiohead to Kraftwerk to A-Ha to Sonic Youth to Chris Cornell to some teen sensations called The Academy Is... were in town playing. I mean, I was the tiniest corpuscle in a massive, blue whale sized blood stream of music--many of these artists were making their first ever appearances in Chile, and people were going NUTS. But, we made the best of it, and I still managed to get some press and SMOKiNG KiLLS is being played on the radio now a bit. I landed, paid my $100+ "reciprocity fee" and met my friend Cristian, of the band Radar, upon getting out of the terminal. We headed into town. We'd never met, but we had been in daily contact about the shows here so it was a friendly meeting long overdue. We went to my accomodations, at the home of Juan Manuel and Andrea. Juan Manuel is the owner of Studio Primate, which encompasses a recording studio, rehearsal rooms, and a label and promotion company. Pretty much it was Juan Manuel promoting my shows. JM is a super cool guy, he doesn't speak English really but he's lots of fun, and his g.f. Andrea was on hand to translate most of the time. Getting settled at their flat, JM put on a CD by a legendary Chilean band called Los Jaivas--I'll let you look up their whole story online, but let's skip to the part where the music stopped me dead in my tracks and I fell absolutely in love with their haunting, hypnotic folk-rock-psych grooves. I listened to this best of collection JM had, Obras Cumbres, every time I could while I was there. There's a great ending to this story, more later. The days before the shows, we explored the city, including a drive to the top of San Cristobal mountain. Santiago sits in a bowl surrounded by tall mountains, most of which you can't see--the inversion effect clamps a blanket of permasmog on the city and unless it rains, which it rarely does, you can't see far due to the brown haze. San Cristobal is a small mountain in the middle of the city, and it's from here you can cop a nice view of the city. There's a glowing statue of the Virgin Mary on top, and during the daytime, since she's not that eerie in sunlight, they use another effect to weird you out--piped in flute music, an eternal muzak of the angels. Aiyee. The main building of Studio Primate is a beautiful old home in a neighborhood known for its bars, Arabic cafes and Koreatown businesses. We spent two nights rehearsing the Chilean Disciplines set with guitarist "YoYo" and drummer Italo from the band Sintra; and bassist Guille from the band Casino. These guys were so impressive, they really did their homework; in one sense, rehearsal was more of a formality/social event (in fact, the second rehearsal was more of a barbecue than it was a rehearsal). A lot of Santiago reminds me of Beverly Hills or other Los Angeles neighborhoods. Like LA, Santiago is not shy about rabid, conspicuous consumption. In fact, it was hard not to have the impression that after the Bad Years, Santiago's citizens just want to be prosperous and that rocking the boat is not particulary welcome. in the bad years, being a great and daring songwriter could get you killed. During my visit, it was hard to detect much of an artistic underground, or much of a market for one. The second venue I played, L'Espaciocal, which is a groovy bar/cinema, is in danger of shuutting down any minute due to lack of patrons. And in this sense, Chile has a real danger of losing its soul, for the price of prosperity for all. It's a great, vibrant city, and Chilenos are wonderful, friendly people. But for all the fancy cars and elegant homes, everyone told me the same thing--Chilenos are terminally depressed. Food: much like you would find in LA, Santiago food generally takes some form of salad or sandwich involving chicken and avacado (avacados are called "paltas" here for some reason). But did I have some fine chicken and avacado sandwiches. Oddly, the idea of going to a gastronomic restaurant is not really part of the culture, at least as far as I could find. Most of the time people seem to be happiest in a kind of diner. Or a fajitas place. You get the idea? Now, one thing not to be missed is the "completo", a hot dog smothered in, typically, although there are many options, mayo and guacamole. Domino's is a soda fountain near where I was staying, and their completos are the standard by which all others are judged, and have been so for about 50 years. SANTIAGO, 3/25 The pollution finally got to me. I woke up with my throat inflamed, swollen. It had been bothering me since I arrived but one dry night and I was really suffering. So, I went to a shiny clinic in the rich part of this rich town and consulted ENT doc, who set me up with a cortisone shot and some anti-inflammatory meds and saline cleanser, and just like he said, in two hours I was back in business. He said it was very typical for visitors to suffer like this when they encounter the Santiago smog. The show was at La Batuta, a rock institution, whose tiny stage has hosted the freaking Ramones, fer chrissake. It's a very pro, tattoo's and leather kinda rock place. The program ran like this: 40 minutes of me solo, 15 minutes of RADAR (I joined them on guitar for a song) and 30 minutes of the Chilean Disciplines. All very different, and let me tell you, Santiagans were not ready for this jelly. First the intensity of my solo set, where I was so proud to be back from the dead after my trip to the doctor, and so excited to play after almost a week since Lima, was explosive. I mean, cortisone is GOOD. I was singing like a million bucks. A billion, maybe. The people loved it, no doubt! Radar played a quick set of dreamy songs from their upcoming album, and then the Los Disciplines Chileno--ROCKED. They were just great, I was totally comfortable and thus was able to cut loose and "come at ya like a spider monkey"...climbing, crawling, sweating, spitting. That was a one-two punch that NO one expected. Like having Tim Buckley and the Stooges on the same bill but it´s the SAME SINGER. Well, boy howdy. SANTIAGO, 3/26 And right back at ya. I liked this venue a little better. It's in a mall, and you will understand how uninteresting that fact is when you go there and see that Santiago is more or less one giant, interconnected mall. In fact, I am sure that Viña del Mar, 1.5 hours away, is probably accessible by some galleria or other as it too seems to be just an enormous hive of shopping possiblities. But I love a society that wants to sell you stuff, cheap, at every available second. Remember my observation of Framce, where every customer is treated like a nuisance? Anyway, L'Espaciocal is a underground gem with black painted walls and a massive, ancient cinema projection system that is unfortunately broken and not likely to recover. The staff are really nice, too. Word of mouth meant that this show was more packed than La Batuta, even tho it was further out in the posh wastelands. This show was even more intense. I played a longer, more intimate solo set--even at the piano I forgot about the mic and went a capella. They had to turn off the AC as it was quite loud so we were all sweating and going into a serious trance (it was dark in there too). Then Radar was back and I joined again, and then the Disciplines set was...well, it was unhinged. Like a snarling pack of rottweilers on trucker speed. We scorched every atom of that place. And of course we had to do more...each night we did a full band version of "So Sad About Us" by the Who, but tonite even that wasn't enough, so I did another solo set, I mean, they would not let it end. It was beautiful. The highlight for me was when I began the dreamy 6/8 intro to "Mira Niñita" by Los Jaivas, and the entire audience began to sing the words. It was one of those hair standing moments and certainly we sealed the deal on our mutual bonding at that moment. The next day Cristian, his girl Carolin, and JM and I went to Valparaiso, the ancient, crumbling port due west of landlocked Santiago. Valparaiso was one of the busiest ports in the world til the Panama Canal put them pretty much out of business. So, it's a gorgeous town, but sad and adrift, frozen in a perpetual 1905. Carolin happened to spot an open doorway and we looked into to find a jaw dropping office building from the turn of the century, with green marble stairs looking like jade, a wrought iron skylight, and massive carved wood doors, mouldings, and panels. All but abandoned, a guy fixing watches on the second floor. Much of the town are the most ramshackle corrugated metal shacks you can imagine, piled on top of each other in a whimsy that makes Dr. Seuss look like Albert Speer. Piss drunks and bloated stray dogs everywhere you look. Marvelous. Valparaiso is cold and misty, and the smell of eucalyptus trees means it is virtually impossible not to make a San Fran to Santiago's LA comparison. Well, on my last night in town we were amazed to find that Los Jaivas were giving a free concert in the old Mapocho train station--the trains don't run so now the hall is used for cultural events. Los Jaivas have made a collaboration with choreographer Gigi Caciulaeanu called "Paris-Santiago" in which the band plays accompaniment to a massive ballet by the Chilean National Company. They give these shows for free, you just have to queue to get a ticket (but, being on the same label, i was a guest). In fact, when we arrived, I was taken backstage to meet Claudio Parra, the band's keybaord player, who, as it turns out, still lives in France (the band fled to France during the Bad Years). He is a lovely, gracious man, we spoke in French and had a lovely meeting. He insisted that we come backstage after the show. The show, which is marvelous (taking Pilates has given me a whole new appreciation for what modern dance requires of the body) is designed to have encores, and the main one is "Mira, Niñita". I just about died. We went backstage and had a great chat with Claudio, with talk of some possible collaboration...woah. The fact is, I had never heard of this band a week ago and now they are absolutely required listening. I feel they are a parallel to their neighbors Os Mutantes. They are both trippy, dreamy, lefty, and highly musically playful, ambitious and challenging. If you grok to Mutantes, you will really dig this. Claudio is a wicked pianist, conservatory trained, and to unleash those skills on far out psych rock...well, come on man...this is maestro level stuff. We finished out the nite at the bar "Luke soy tu padre", owned by Guille of the Chilean Disciplines...and today I headed to Bogota, for an afternoon of shopping and eating with my label rep and my man Juan Pablo who helped set up my show here. I know the omissions in my story of Santiago are massive, it was just an enormous week, I could never recount it all, but let it be said that my friends here made such a huge impression on me...I started out thinking Santiago was kind of a big business stodge to Lima's beachy cool, but the fact is Santiago has lovely elegance, and the people there are just as generous as you will find on this earth. In fact, the tour isn't even at the halfway point and I feel like I have lived lifetimes here already. Woah! Love KS Bogota
3.22.2009
SEATTLE SWISH In a masterstroke of efficiency, I left Seattle having mixed the Red Jacket Mine album in 5 days; checked in with Alex Chilton in my duty as Big Star's tour manager; visited my friend Julie at her lovely little shop in Fremont, Show Pony, to pick up a copy of the compilation CD she released a few years back with my cover of 'Nature Boy'--the CD is serving as the master as the track will appear on a 7" single in Spain this year, along with my cover of Bob Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo"; dined with my son and my folks; took in at least one Red Mill bacon cheeseburger, one BBQ meal and a couple of meals at Palace Kitchen with legendary wines; saw a few friends; got updates for the latest versions of ProTools and OSX and shipped them to myself in France; sold a bunch of CDs and DVDs; all of this in 5 days. I am sure there was more stuff I'm forgetting. The Red Jacket Mine mixes turned out really good, the band is psyched and I am really proud of the work we did together. Sure enough, I was mixing til about 2 or 3 am on the last day, went back to Brian's place to sleep for an hour, then, Gorblessim, Brian took me to SeaTac at 5.30am. That is a true friend! I flew to L.A. and got myself checked in for my flight to Lima. Made my last calls from the USA on my USA cell, a rare chance to talk for free, then boarded a spanking new LAN Chile plane and we were off to Peru. LAN gets big thumbs up for the new planes, huge selection of on demand video, generous servings of wine and friendly staff. There were so many good movies that I never got a chance to sleep on the flight. I watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" which is about one man's doomed attempt to cure a dangerous sociopath singlehandedly, which seems to end on a successful note, but we all know that a sociopath will always give you what you want to hear when it suits them. Poor bastard. Also, there are decidedly unfunny slapstick interludes with Mickey Rooney apparently playing a 1940s newspaper jingoistic cartoon of general Tojo come to life. I did not find the charm, romance or elegance of this movie that everyone else seems to hold in very high esteem. We landed in Lima at about 11.30 that night, and wheeled my bags out to the throng waiting for people in arrival. I recognized at last a face in the crowd--Pablo " Kaboogie", who is part of the team organizing my show here, and one of the support acts as well. He and his drummer Alfonso got me settled in to my hostel, wherein I had a private room and bathroom; then attempted to take me out, which involved LONG walks in the Miraflores neighborhood looking for a bar that was still open. We finally found one, and I tried the famous pisco sour--pisco is a kind of grappa, and in order to distinguish it from automotive fuel, they mix it with egg white, sugar, lemon, etc. to make a very tasty drink that has a nasty bite the next day. I only had two and I was really throbbing the next day. But it was a nice get acquainted kind of evening. LIMA, 3/19 I got up and spent the midday wandering in Miraflores, which is a tranquil neighborhood of colorful little stucco homes, culminating in a series of parks that run along the edge of massive cliffs overlooking the sea. Observations of Lima: 1) taxis. Compared to France, where a taxi driver will do anything he can to avoid your business, taxis here are plentiful and constantly soliciting your custom. If you are walking by yourself down any street in Lima, every passing taxi, and they are legion here, will give a toot of the horn, just letting you know they're there and aware of your plight. 2) middle class bliss. I know Peru has many impoverished people, however, I see more evidence of a functioning and thriving middle class in Lima than I do in many American cities. I didn´t see obscene wealth, either, tho I am sure it exists. I found Peruvians able to enjoy quite a bit of prosperity, opportunity, and this changes so many equations--again, compare France where you can palpably feel the anger from huge sections of the populace who know they will never be allowed to get into the system that protects the wealth and wealthy from being infiltrated by people from the "wrong" race, background, class etc. People have a skin in the game here, but via the old idea of working your ass off--it's not via E*trade that Peruvians are trying to better themselves. 3) Chernobyl sized plant life. I ate half a papaya that was so big I swear it hads found next to Donald Sutherland's bed in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers film. I had a chirimoya the size of my daughter's head. 4) PMP. I politely turned down the numerous offers to purchase 100% pure cocaine for about $7/g, less than 10% of the European street price (and that stuff has been stepped on more times than a Shibuya crosswalk). I did, however try some coca leaf tea, which is available in any supermarket (the supermarkets here are the best exhange places, as they all take US$ and give you back change in Soles). It had a musky, grassy taste but was very pleasant. No, it doesn't make you chew your lips and act like Richard Pryor. But, it soothes in a very nice way. In the afternoon, I met up with Pablo and we went to the venue, L'Anfiteatro, which is a great live room in the back of an Italian restaurant. There's a high stage, and a balcony, and lots of big wooden beams, which gives the place a spacious and smooth sound. This show was totally pro, with a stage manager who took care of all the backline changeover, etc. I checked out Kaboogie's excellent set, and joined him for a version of "In the Street". I watched Catervas, who werwe also excellent, and then my stuff was set up and I did my show. I actually had enthusiastic applause just for walking on stage--people were really interested in this show and ready for it. Lima hasn't been that open for shows for that long, and it's mostly stadium-level stuff with a few exceptions. So, to have some art for art's sake was really something people were in the mood for. It's also important to note that English language study is mandatory from the beginning of school, so English is widely spoken, more so than in say Italy or Spain, and this made everyone able to follow the jokes and lyrical twists of my show quite seamlessly. So, I was very comfortable, and my voice was in great shape--nothing like warm, humid weather to enrich the vocal chords. I played for 2.5 hours, but when the venue finally told us to stop the show, I had the feeling that me and the audience were just getting started--I was shocked to find it was almost 3am. My set had three distinct parts--the solo set at the beginning, a mini-set of Disciplines songs with Catervas backing me up (three of the Catervas are brothers, BTW), and an impromptu run thru of whatever with Kaboogie on bass and a guy we pulled out of the audience on drums. I even had them do "Lover´s Hymn" in this fashion, and it was excellent. People knew my songs, the Posies songs--there was even a guy screaming for "Oslo" that I would have played had the club not pulled the plug. I sold tons of CDs, and just made a great connection to this town, that seems to imply I should start planning my return ASAP. The days after the show I spent wandering, eating, etc. Hanging out with Luis, who really put the show together, and Pablo and their friends. After months of non stop studio work, it was nice not to have much of an agenda. I went to see Peter Gabriel at a big dusty field. I stopped to have lunch whenever I felt like it. I took naps. I checked out a Pre-Inca pyramid in the center of the city, and the small museum at its base. I wandered around with Pedro from Catervas checking out Lima's incredible colonial center. Lima has done some amazing renovation projects, and the city is happier, safer and easy on the eye as a result. I feel asleep on the beach. The beaches in Lima are rocky, in fact the surfer place we were in was too rough for me to want to swim in it, but laying on hundreds of smooth round stones heated by the sun...mmm. Even tho its only 10pm, my eyes are about to slam shut. Until the next dispatch.... Love KS Lima
3.15.2009
SEA TACT I woke up this morning, not exactly refreshed but having slept maybe 7 hours, to see enormous flakes of snow tumbling earthward. Being above freezing, they are disappearing upon contact with the pavement, and dusting the lawns ever so slightly. I was working, even on the eve of my departure, mixing songs for Billy & the Firm, which are turning out amazingly well. Some of the tracks were pretty garage-y sounding, but I saw the artist's intentions and managed to pull out something much more hi fi and big sounding. I ended up mixing half the album, which was reasonable for the time I had. I had originally been under the impression I was to mix the entire album that week, which was possible but daunting, esp. since we live a couple of time zones apart, and the make mix-get comments-incorporate comments--make new mix--fine tune further process takes some time. PLUS right at the end of the day, just before I was making that day's backup, I kid you not, but my hard drive crashed, and I lost a day's work. An important one too, I had basically mixed an entire song and even done some serious editing on another one. I called some places in Paris and Seattle and was quoted prices in the thousands of dollars. Then I discovered a place in Paris called Chronodisc. They charge the same prices--IF you need it that day. Most data recovery places assume you are a big company, and bringing them vital, valuable, sensitive stuff that needs to be recovered that day otherwise biz will grind to a halt. I believe my stuff to be value, but, I had other stuff I could work on, and then I was going away for mover a month. Plus, Chronodisc (who's logo and imagery spoofs the Chronopost logo, the French Poste's Express mail service) had a tiny dropoff office in the 12th, about a ten-minute walk from home. So, we'll see. If they quote me a price in the thousands, forget it, but they seem to have a sliding scale if your case can wait, so potentially it could be a coupla hundred euros, and that would be fine. They haven't even looked at it yet so we'll see. I handed off to Bud Reichard his hard drives, as the project is done and he's going to press CDs this month in fact. All the while I was packing and preparing for my trip to Seattle/South America/New York, trying to sort out as much business as I could before I would be much less able/interested in being online. THE DiSCiPLiNES video for YOURS FOR THE TAKiNG was finished and put online, it's fantastic. Check it out on YouTube here or in better resolution on Facebook. On my last nite in town, I was finishing up the last song for Billy, which I began at the end of my day, the nite before, having to start a song from scratch despite the work, temporarily (at least) lost, I had spent 8-10 hours doing that day already. I started at about 10pm and worked til 3am, thinking that I just done the basic work, and I would open up the project the next day and find it in rough form. I went in the morning to buy more drives and drop off the ailing one, and at about midday opened up the song, and found that it sounded amazing--I had been working that night on headphones, which is a terrible way to work, very misleading. Plus I don't want to wear my ears out, so my volume was minimal (which is a good way to work, less misleading than being impressed by volume). And to my pleasant surprise, it all came together and then it was just fine-tuning via email with Billy. So I was able to sit down and enjoy a nice long dinner with Dom & Aden, and spend the last night curled up with my family. No need to say I woke up before the alarm, at 5. Always a bit nervous on flight days, esp. when they are intercontinental. I have nightmares about missing flights, and I have missed three in my life: once around 1990, I slept thru the alarm and missed my flight back home to Seattle while visiting my g.f. at the time in L.A.; once, in an airport somewhere on tour, I didn't notice the gate change and thought the flight had been delayed. Somehow in both of those instances, I was quickly rebooked and it was OK. Then, last year, when horrible traffic in Paris caused me to miss a flight and cancel a show in Barcelona, which I made up a few months later. This day, I had no such problems. My flight to Chicago was really empty, and i had a row to myself to sleep in. My flight to Seattle was full, but I slept the whole way anyway, well, I saw an episode of '30 Rock' and one of 'Everybody Hates Chris', so I caught up on US TV for the year. My friend Brian, hosting me for this trip was there to pick me up at the airport and we went directly to Palace Kitchen, where we opened up two bottles of wine that we had gone in on together...they were exquisite, I mean, these were legendary wines: we had a half bottle of the 1961 Chateau Palmer, one of the greatest Bordeaux of all time; and a 1997 Bryant Family Napa cabernet, which Robert Parker said might 'redefine greatness in Cabernet Sauvignon'. The Margaux was soft, wonderfully decayed, rich, velvety, opulent. The Bryant was bold, powerful, classic Parker huge. Of course by the end of this meal I was simply a blob but it was a perfect arrival to Seattle and a nice pause in the action. These days i am working again at my old Seattle base Soundhouse, working with Seattle band Red Jacket Mine, on recordings I produced and played on last year. These are wonderful sounding recordings, engineered by Kip Beelman, made with the four band members plus me on keyboards, all playing live together in the room. The resulting sound is so rich and wonderful, reminiscent of Dylan's Time Out of Mind which was recorded with the same theory (except we overdubbed the vocals). It's some of my favorite sounding stuff that I have worked on. Great band, great sounds, great songs. Day 1 I was reacquainted with the studio and set up with Jack Endino, the legendary Seattle producer/engineer (Nirvana, Mudhoney, et al), who runs the studio now. Jack is such a kind, helpful person, and a real character too. And a great, great mixer and engineer. So, my setting up and preparation and track cleaning and all that for the songs took a few hours, followed by mixing not one but two songs, and of course the first song is the hardest, so I was mixing til 5.45 the next morning, came back to Brian's, then slept maybe two hours, and went back to work. The next two songs went much more quickly so I was out of there by midnight, and thus, I woke up on my own jet-lagged steam at 8.30 or so. The good news is that jet lag works in your favor going this way, I have energy, and little apparent need for sleep. When I get home in April, despite the fact I am working my way eastward in South America and will be several time zones closer to home than I am now, there will be a price to pay... Love KS Seattle
3.08.2009
THE CRAM This week I finished the album for Bud Reichard, that we started in November. The last days we were mixing, including a completely insane dixieland jam that Bud recorded in Seattle. For one verse it suddenly turns into a gramophone playback--and I had to engineer that sound. Bud had found some vinyl surface noise, but to the entire track had to be EQd authentically, and the mix had to change to sound like a one mic mono mix. I also recorded just the sound of the line input with my mic pre turned up all the way, to add some white noise, the hiss you hear on these recording. Turned out astonishingly realistic! Not one to rest on my laurels (or rest at all for that matter) I went straight to work mixing Billy & the Firm, who sent me about half their album to mix. I will have just enough time to get it done. On Monday I took the early morning flight to Toulouse for a photo session and lunch with the label for the Sad Knights, and also to present the masters for the single I mixed. A vinyl single should be out late spring. It was insane, I was mixing Billy & the Firm til 3am Sunday nite, slept for one hour, and had my taxi downstairs at 5. Incredibly, with my driver's absolutely reckless (and, thankfully, wreck-less) driving, we made it door-to-door, my flat to Orly, in *thirteen minutes*. This drive normally takes 40-60 minutes, depending on traffic, and of course, at 5am, there was none. Not that the airport wasn't busy--it was full of activity. We shot the photos at the main building of the astronomical society, which lives in a park, the park of the Obelisk commerating the Napoleanic battle of Toulouse, in which 4500 Sixth Coalition and 3500 French troops were killed or wounded--despite the fact that Napoleon had abdicated the previous day and the war, in fact, was over. Later in the 19th century an observatory was built, and now there is a small library there, that's the building on whose front steps and in whose foyer (by a Foucault pendulum) we shot the photos. Rain had limited our choices, in a good way. Photographer Adrien Despeyroux, who is one of the partners in Bang Records (not to be confused with BANG! records the 60s home of Van Morrison, Neil Diamond and The McCoys) took some very arty shots of what is not an ostensibly arty band, being a roots/Americana kind of thing. We had a 12 martini lunch, and while I was record shopping I had the remaining sobriety to realize it was 3.30 and my flight was at 5. Eric from the band drove me in his van, and I made my flight no problem. I thought I would be the only jet setter (can you be a jet setter when you fly EasyJet? Dubious.) going down and back in 9 hours, but I recognized a few faces from the queue in Paris that morning. Beyond that, it's been a crazed rush of interviews, preparatory and follow up emails, packing, buying supplies, and trying to squeeze my daughter all in advance of what will be a nearly forty-day odyssey to the USA & South America. Plus mixing. Last night I finished mixing a B&TF song at about 10.30, and was surprised to have the chance to enjoy a few non-working moments. Aden was already asleep, and Dom heading that way. I sipped a bit of Courvoisier, and listened to the noise of our next door neighbor's birthday party (our bathroom is the room that abuts his flat, and it was really smelling of smoke form the merrymakers next door). At 3 this morning I was awakened by the sound of a fight of some kind down on the street below. This is not an unusual occurrence--when the bars close, and there are LOTS of bars in my hood, esp. rue de Lappe, has some sketchy ones, there are often fights and mayhem. It passed, I passed out. Reading: when I have time, the excellent book The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers. Highly recommended meditation on music, 50s/60s America (and race relations) and human life. One of the few books to really describe the nature and motion of music in real time, and done with real beauty and endless variety. This book was recommended to me by the fine folks at the Red Wheelbarrow (check last week's post for URL). Love KS Paris
3.07.2009
I added some new photos to the photos section. Also, at last I have gotten around to enabling RSS feeds from this blog (thank you Erin!). Love KS Paris
3.05.2009
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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!!!
older news :
8/3/2003
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