MONTEVIDEO/NYC/NOT MUCH TIME @ HOME
I have been going 100 miles a minute since last post, which was itself an incomplete description of the mad week making the Disciplines and KS music in Buenos Aires and Madrid. I am up late now, after a recording session, and I'm exhausted. I can't live and blog at the same rate. Something has to give.
So:
Monday, after easter. I went to Punta Del Este, and swam in the ocean, it was marvelous. Huge waves on one beach, almost scary, but I still swam until I was kinda feeling I should get out of the way of the surfers, lest I be creamed by a board. We went to another beach and I swam in calmer waters. Then I noticed something moving about 50 feet further out. And then realized a dolphin was leaping out of the water, standing on its tail in the waves, before crashing back down. I was sure I imagined it until I saw everyone around me watching them. There were four or five of them, and they stayed around for...well, I don't know how long, they were still playing in the waves when I left. The locals had never seen dolphins before in this area, so they were as amazed as I was. At one point, two of them were body surfing...I kid you not. A breaker came in and two dolphins leapt forward out of the rolling wave.
That night I played an impromptu show at Cheesecake Records, just standing out on the sidewalk, with a mic, and deep inside the store was an amp, you could hear it just fine. Cheesecake is next to the bar la Ronda, and is open during the day as a snack bar, record store, and in the back there is a tiny studio that Felipe, the owner, does radio broadcasts from! I played covers, and took requests. I sang 'Wild Horses' with local music hero Andy ***, and had a guy come up and do a harmonica solo (I gave him by worn out A Harp) and things like that. There were some surreal moments when Felipe's parents started to argue, but standing on either side of me, oblivious that there was a show (they are no longer married). Felipe's sister started to join in trying to get them to knock it off. It was fun.
Tuesday, I had a swim in the hotel pool, and a last lunch at La Ronda, and said my goodbyes to my Montevideo friends. Flew to Santiago. Flew to New York. Was too tired to watch movies which if you know me is REALLY weird.
Wedesday morning, I landed in the USA, in New York. I cabbed to the home of Paul, Pat and Roman. Paul booked my show in NY that was taking place the next night. Pat is his wife, a multimedia artist and just super cool and down to earth person, great to talk to. Roman is their son, age 12, who is great young man, bright, also fun to talk to, and just enough of a kid to be delightfully irreverent, which when you know how difficult kids can be at that age, is just perfect. He's not a thug, but he's not a bore.
They all live in this incredible little house way uptown, I guess you could call it Washington Heights. On a quiet street (yes, in New York!) across the street from a cemetery with lots of trees, so you really can forget you are in the middle of Manhattan. I mean, they have a dog and a CHICKEN. That lays eggs.
I knew it was a bad plan to nap, so I went down into the city and did some biz meetings, and then got a call from my friend Brian, from Seattle, who is tour managing Robyn Hitchcock--who were in town cuz Robyn and Scott McCaughey were sick and thus some shows got canceled. So, I swung by their hotel and saw Brian, Robyn, and Peter Buck. Bill Rieflin was out at dinner and Scott was really sick and asleep in his room. But it was great to see those I did see. THen I went to check out a band called Into the Presence, who were amazing...kind of virtuoso rock, played very soulfully...it's heavy rock but the singing is more Stevie Wonder than Bruce Dickinson. I thought it was really cool. The drummer is the drummer of A Perfect Circle, very pro, but really really good, I couldn't stop watching him play, actually. The singer is also a wicked guitarist, and there's a cellist and a bass player (which is kind of odd, but they managed to stay synchronized). Then I took the subway for a LONG ride back to Paul's.
Thursday was the show. I hung out on St. Mark's at Rockit Records with my friend Tony and then later was strolling into the Delancey, a bar right at the launch point of the Williamsburg Bridge. About halfway to the back there's a tiny stage and a small piano (called the Small Beast, which gives Paul's weekly night its name). I didn't really soundcheck, I just dropped my stuff and went and had dinner with my dad and his family. Then came back and found that I had a great crowd there for me. Of course, tons of friends that I would only be able to say hi too, and not much more. So, I started to play and had to get rather confrontational with some guys who were having some kind of reunion, but like, right by the stage. They were LOUD. And when I asked them a few times to move to the other end of the bar, they just gave me attitude. So, they're New Yorkers, right? But what they came off to my post-being-worshipped-in-South-American glow were simply AMERICANS, and I was like, "why do I come here"? But, in fact, the show from that point was really good. Not that I remember it. I was concentrating so hard after getting my groove back on that it just went by in such a way that it was totally primal and not stored in the memory banks. I played some new songs, and stood on the bar, and knocked over a big candle. The show was packed with friends, fans and music notables (Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Tara Angell) who are also my friends, but you know. Support of your peers. Good! We closed the bar out and I ended up on the floor at Paul's, because when we finally ran out of wine, and he went upstairs to sleep, I took one look at their dog, Wanda, sleeping on the unfolded-out hide-a-bed, and decided to sleep on the floor.
Friday I was up at 8, so not much sleep, and too much wine but the good thing about too much wine is that it's still less than any amount of tequila. So, I was fine. I went to Rockefeller Center and met my publicist Angie and a photographer for a photo shoot, to take place before I went and did an interview for Premier Radio network upstairs. Only, there was this incredible Seinfeld thing happening, where the photographer had no camera. He was waiting for one to show up. Hmmm. Angie and I went to a bakery and had breakfast and coffee and he showed up a bit later, and was pleased to say a camera had been delivered. Then...wanh wanhhh, there was no battery in it. We each said to him that it's highly likely that something of that nature would be for sale in a city of 16,000,000 but he decided to go home, prob. wash off the bad luck that had dusted him along the way. After the interview we almost gave up on him but he bounded in to our field of view at the last minute and we did some shots on the street and all was well. I went to Manny's and bought a new harmonica, grabbed a felafel on the street (an important ritual when I am in the city) and camped out at Paul's til it was time for me to fly home.
Saturday, I landed in Geneva at about 8am. Again, I had been too tired to watch movies on the flight. I caught my flight home to Paris and saw my wife for the first time in 40 days. So, we spent every minute together. My daughter was at our summer place for spring break (so I guess it's a spring place too) so I didn't even get to see her. Her South American postcards from me all showed up while she was gone, so I saw them before she did.
Sunday, I was packing, unpacking, organizing. I never slept...Dom conked out at 2.30, we had been in bed talking, and then suddenly it was 3.30 and I was just finishing getting ready to leave, and it was time to go. I packed my suitcase, a bag of merch for all these upcoming shows, my guitar, and such.
Monday, was still part of Sunday. But I went to the airport and caught my 6.30 am flight to Seville, and was met by Dani Llamas. He's making a record, at the studio of Paco Loco (I played in Paco's backyard last summer). I was so pleased to be working at this amazing place. So, Dani and his g.f. Sylvia picked me up at the airport, we drove to El Puerto, and got to work. Not that recording with Paco and Dani is work. Paco's scene is so chill it's hard to believe. I was stressing cuz 6 weeks in the southern hemisphere with no laptop meant a LOT of work needed to be caught up on, so I was alternating piano/guitar/tambourine/vocal/organ/etc tracks and urgent phone and email biz. I HATE to be that guy, but, I really was up against a wall on many things.
Today, Tuesday was still intense on the non-Dani and Paco scene but the recording has been a dream. Paco's studio is set up for minimal worry, in that it's big enough and he has enough cool mics/input channels to just leave an entire band's worth of stuff set up permanently. The drums, piano, amps, bass amp etc are always mic'd and ready. There's a big ol' U47 set up so vocals are always ready to go. I mean, you don't do a vocal mic shootout when you have a 50's U47 to use. Paco is always encouraging, never pushy, never bummed when I have to do 20 takes of some insane bass part to get it right. His wife is brilliant too, and they both make sure I'm well taken care of here. And Dani's songs are excellent, you'll hear the results.
After the show we went to see Clem Snide at the same cavernous university auditorium in Cadiz that the Posies played last year (and in 2001). Most enjoyable. We spent time at a bar, Paco and Muni and my Cadiz friends from the Paco party last year and the housewarming BBQ we went to this afternoon...oh, don't worry, we did some recording too....
Love
KS
El Puerto, SPAIN
