A wonderful few days of recording with Dani Llamas and Paco Loco. We got a lot done, I played 2-3 things on every song on the album, but it sill felt like a super relaxed time, we never started early or worked late. We had time to see shows like the Clem Snide show in Cadiz and this fellow Aaron Thomas in El Puerto. We had time for long talks, nice dinners, and I snuck out to the beach for a quick dip. Dani was cool that I was in a bit of stress after coming back from South America and forty laptop-less days, so there were lots of things both immediate and distant to sort out, so I had a couple of generous phone and email breaks per day. Muni left breakfast and a cold lunch before going to work each morning, AND they bought me dinner after the Aaron T. show at a wonderful restaurant in El Puerto. I could go out and get a fresh head and stand in the garden, watching birds (I was particularly fond of the hoopoe, an exotic looking creature that has been an important symbol in many ancient tales and poems), looking for chameleons (until Muni told me they see them in the gardens, I thought they only lived in Madagascar--now I know they live in Spain, Africa, and Asia) but it was too early in the year for the them to be seen, and other creatures. I did find a tiny praying mantis stalking a colony of aphids on one bush.
The songs have really come to life, I enjoyed Dani’s acoustic demos but I think he/we/they did a really good job of fleshing them out and raising the stakes a bit. The last thing we recorded was an awesome, multi part choir with Dani, Muni and myself...something between CSNY and ‘Cherokee People’ or ‘Crazy Horses’. I watched loudQUIETloud which is a film that shows how absolutely boring the Pixies are when they are not onstage. Well, actually I will confess that the Pixies live to me were never that awesome, as much as I loved the records. I saw them on the Doolittle tour, and it was OK but didlittle for me. HAhahahahah! Opening the show was Bob Mould & band, touring for Black Sheets of Rain, and they were AWESOME. When The Posies opened for the Pixies (and Marilyn Manson!!) in Belgium in 2005, I slept thru their set. Sorry guys. However, IT’S EDUCATIONAL!
MADRID, 4/24
In the morning I said my goodbyes and Dani took me to tiny Jerez airport, and I flew to Madrid, and cabbed to the hotel. (en route I watched the extraordinary tale of Alan Abel, in the film Abel Raises Cain--I had never heard of this man or his artfully staged pranks and was astounded that I hadn’t til now) My Disciplines were were out on the street having a cafe (for the price of one Iphone, Claus’ having been taken by a panhandler right in front of their noses. Sweet Norwegian innocence! Well, we spent some time catching up and talking about the future and then we walked thru the very crowded streets of central Madrid, and entered the classy Joy Eslava, a posh nightclub that was a former whorehouse for Madrid’s elite (not exactly an unfamiliar concept if your name is Stringfellow) and my guys met their Spanish label and booking team, new since our September 08 visit. And we met the headliners for this Spanish visit, the Right Ons, a rockin’ soul revue, playing old school funky garage-y good time rock. They’ve been doing really well, esp. in Madrid, and thus we were booked into a pretty big place for this double whammy. Highly motivated to make a good impression, but also playing early (since the venue shuts at 11.30 and reboots as a disco at midnight) I had to work extra hard, and plus I just missed playing with the guys and opportunities are somewhat limited to do so. In our case, it had been a couple of months, even tho I had spent March and April thus far performing theses songs for South Americans. But it was different with the guys, it was harder, I mean more intense, and I had a stronger starting block from which to kick off my mad 40-minute dash across the audience’s face...so I was cramping, out of breath, but it was most definitely incredibly hell yeah.
VALENCIA, 4/25
I woke up this morning and thought “something is wrong”. And sure enough, it turned out that somehow Alex Chilton and the driver that was waiting for him at Malaga airport managed to miss each other; Alex went to the hotel on his own and checked himself in, not finding his reservation...like, EVERYTHING that can go wrong and bum you out when you get off an international flight. So he somehow evaded the radar of all the people that I had hoped would be taking care of him til I showed up...i.e. So, some panicked phone calling in the morning.
Look, I get tired of just saying every show we do is incredible, rocked, was awesome, brilliant etc. But the fact is, that’s just how the wind is blowing right now. Also, I am an optimist and tend to take away something good from every situation. Case in point the show I did a week and a half ago in New York. I could have focused on the chattering guys during the first coupla numbers, or little details about my voice that due to fatigue and jet lag made it less than perfect. Really? Is that how I want to tell you who weren’t there about my show? But, really, the audiences I play to, my actual audiences that come to see me, are expecting a lot. And I have to deliver every night. And with enthusiastic faces in front of me, how can I not? It’s the time when I get to not think about any stressful business to-do lists, and just be my real self. So...it’s pretty much always good.
We blew the doors off the place, the Wah Wah club. It was a much more primitive kind of venue than the one in Madrid, and thus as I told my guys, we actually played Spain this night. The people were a bit scared, I think, as I went off the deep end. They need this, you know. The Right Ons were in command of the affair, tho, they really did a great job of playing sweaty rock. The guys from Oh, Libia! with whom i am working this summer came to the show and we shared an excellent bottle of rioja they provided...and then after the show the Disciplines drove back to Madrid and I went to bed.
I flew to Malaga to do some recording, but I’ll tell you about that next week.
Love
KS
Malaga, SPAIN
