August 16, 2009 - Just finished "The Culture of Lies" by Dubravka Ugresic'. Loaned to me by my friend Emily, it is a sobering series of essays written at the time of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, with some postscripts from five years later. I was most struck by her grasp of how we rewrite what we know - how we redefine our past. How memory becomes a fictional narrative or, in its truth, selectively interpretive. We believe what we remember because we keep telling ourselves it was so. Nation statelets breathe like living human beings. They use the tools we've devised for overcoming our personal trauma, they slip into a belief in a past and the construction of a reality that never was. She stubbornly refuses to give up her past and, in her glossary, defines that stubbornness. At her most pessimistic she believes this will never change - but perhaps it may be in some instances now some ten years further on... But the lessons are all too real and applicable to us all: do we rewrite our own histories to conform to a more comfortable, livable present? And further, outside of us, how does our own dialogue as a nation - the shouting of truths that are less than true at each other - falsify our national past and damage our present? Questions worth thinking about perhaps. Let me know your thoughts. cwrecord@alaska.net
Newton, Mass
August 15, 2009 - Performed tonight in Newton, Mass with Tim Mason. Disappointed that the crowd was small (guilt to those who could have been there!), but what a wonderful crowd it was! Reconnected with old friend India Spartz and her husband Alex and really enjoyed the hospitality of Kathryn Breses - thanks Kate! Looking forward to the shows coming up - taping community TV in Colchester VT on the 17th and then in the 19th listen for us on Burlington web radio WBKM from 7 to 9 on Tuesday the 19th. Hope you can listen in - I'll be playing a new song (at least I think I will).
Anchorage
August 9, 2009 - Last night's House Concert here in Anchorage was amazing - what a great group of folks showed up to hear my music and Keith Liles' poetry. Keith was on - hope he posts some of the recording - he had a handheld. If so I will link them in. Standing room only and I really felt the road opening up before me. I introduced my two new songs "Fulton Street Rain" and "Looking at you", and people genuinely liked them it seems - so finally writing keepers again. Life isn't always easy, and if it could be about not having had the experience to write those songs, I'd have preferred a little longer dry spell. Every songwriter's lament.
I'm planning on saying goodbye to Alaska for short while as I do a bit of a driveabout (in the grand tradition of the Australian walkabout). Got a crazy travel schedule emerging, but it brings a bit of solace to be out there. I have a flexible October and November - so if you know of gig possibilities drop me note and lets see if we can set something up - have car will travel - and I certainly will need the cash : - ) Well enough for this rainy Alaska morning. Time to say good day.
Mass., New York and Vermont
July 31, 2009 - Tour is set - check out the gigs page! Very cool, radio, TV, Internet and live performances with Tim Mason in Mass., New York and Vermont, but I am going to kick it all off with a House Concert at my place with myself and poet Keith Liles. Limited seating, so send an rsvp to cwrecord@alaska.net if you want in...
Been a crazy week - I am not sure if I will ever quite recover from it. Yin and Yang. Success along side loss. Too much really to describe, but I realize that you have to move forward. Finally wrote a good new song - after quite some time - Fulton Street Rain. Watch for it. Connected up with friends in NYC (thanks for putting me up Paul Schomer and Joel Berg/Lori Nazim!), visited my Brother Paul In Seattle and am in Idaho Falls tonight - heading home tomorrow. That's all for now - have to get a little sleep...
Kerrville
July 12, 2009 - Been working on the new tour and spending the last few months working on big transitions. I was in Kerrville for an incredible time in May/June, followed by Boise, Brooklyn, Wyoming, Salt Lake, Brooklyn again and a none stop ride. Since Memphis I had been back east a few times both on the music and justice fronts. Now Tim Mason and I are finalizing the gigs for our Northeast tour set for the 15th through the 25th of August. We have shows in Boston, Saratoga Springs, Burington VT (TV) and out on the Cape set up already (I'll post those soon) and are trying to land just a few more gigs. All and all it should be a great time. I soon will likely be closer to the east as well - looking at a move in the near future for a short time. As a consequence I have fallen behind in all things as I paint my house and prep my life! But not to do anything easy, my good friends Terry and Jerry Holder are coming up later this month (next week in fact) and I will be hosting a house concert for them to get their mid July Alaska tour started (email me if you are interested though as of today we are only taking folks on a waiting list). It should be a great evening and a better tour - her tour dates are linked above - just click on her name.
On a sadder note - I want to mention the passing of my good friend Rob Nauheim this past Friday. Rob was a wonderful friend, Father to his children, and Husband to his wife Beth. He was also a great music producer (the Emeralds) and was producing both my next album (a project we had been working on for a couple of years), and my first joint project with Tim Mason. As a producer, Rob new how to listen and he had an innate sense for how to make a good song better and a great song memorable. Beyond all that though, I will miss him for who he was - the way he fought his cancer (pancreatic), and held on for over three years when doctors said he wouldn't. I ran into him after not seeing him in a number of years (his wife Beth sang on my CD Albuquerque Road, but I really had not seen him since that cd was recorded). I ran into him three months or so after his diagnosis and we agreed to do the project together. Between my schedule and his illness we weren't able to do a whole lot with it, but we did have great conversations and I got to know him again. That - and becoming friends again with his family - were a treat I will always cherish. I'll miss you Rob.
Enough for now - I am off to my good friend (and Harmonica player) Rolfe Buzzell's and his partner Sharon Holland's House warming. No promises as to when I will next write...
Folk Alliance
February 21, 2009 - Tim Mason and I are having a great time at the Folk Alliance - the X M 15 Village Radio gig was great and we play for a bit longer later tonight. Should be good (at Help Me Ronda's Room - you can imagine...). Yesterday caught Blue Moose and the Unbuttoned Zippers... I know, I know, but they were great! Also Noelie McDonnell and Emmet Scanlon & What the Good Thought reminded me of just how great the Irish can be (thanks Sheena)! Great first experience of music for me hearing them. Saw old friends Kate and Bill Isles, James Lee Stanley and so many others. Two that I failed to mention during my silent time on this blog were Joe Crookston and Randall Williams who, with Lindsay Mack, invited me to join a show with them at Caffe' Lena last May. They were here also and playing up a storm. Much more to write about, but it will not be as it is time to rehearse...
Another Sonnet:
Of Age
When will she notice my imperfection -
Each simple wrinkle or silver-white hair?
My course, rough skin or time-worn reflection
in lines echoing the laughter we share?
And how will she hold me when time is through,
and before us lies just a moment here?
Will her lips still touch me, her hand move to
mine, to hold tight, grasp and calm aging fear?
Or will she just laugh off these foolish thoughts,
hold my hand, touch my cheek with patience born
of passion years past? Seeing that love, not
some shaddowed vision, unreal, fragile worn.
For age, or time, not even death alone
can erase what chance found and love has known.
Grace
February 16, 2009 - I mentioned the sonnets yesterday - done. The goal is to help reimagine this form, not that it isn't still relevant. To that end, you can hear some of the sonnets read live on the home page, but here is one in its written form (as yet, unedited):
Grace
They were awkward lovers, stumbling into
grace. Unsure how to match different strides -
or how to describe the pasts they'd been through.
But, with fingers gliding, pressing - sure guides -
they would slide into a dance or sweet tale
of two who were never meant to find this:
Where each breath - exhale, inhale - would unveil
one more irrefutable proof of bliss.
So it seemed as he sketched her with his hand,
drawing this perfection in air. Or when
she slept and innocence framed her face - to
leave him breathless, knowing this would soon end.
He clipped a curl and held it to his face,
and inhaled this moment of awkward grace.
And this photo I took from the inaugural:
A new President
February 15, 2009 - Could I have really let 10 months go by without writing here? Yep! I decided to send e mails, make some cash to pay for the never-ending remodel of the house (it nears its end now - perhaps two weeks away, though it started in November of 2007...). And soooo much has happened since then. On the surface, a new President, a new Alaska U. S. Senator that I happen to be related to (my Brother Mark was elected this past November!), I mentioned the house, deeper down lots of travel and reflection on the world, music, writing, love and life. As some friends say, I smell an album there, and they may be right.... Tim Mason (whose new book of poetry "Feral Voices" was just released) and I have worked on a new collaboration of spoken word and music following a great gig up at Whole Wheat Radio this past September, while playing with Rolfe Buzzell again in Dillingham this past November reminded me of exactly why I do this (posted some radio clips from the two stories in Dillingham in the Press section). I not only travelled all around the states since that last entry, I managed to have my first Kerrville experience in May (won't be my last - worked theatre security!) and a second in the fall. Spent much of June in Idaho and August in Europe, September and October in Alaska and all over the East and West coasts, November in AK, December in DC, Idaho, Washington state and AK and January at all of the election festivities in DC (with a quick stop in New York and Boston). There is probably much to say about the great folks I have met and the things that went on, but those will have to slip out over time. More importantly, in the process of all of this, I rediscovered the meaning of love and happiness - something that has eluded me for a few years. I suspect I'll write more on that over time, but suffice it to know it is there.
Also new for me - I finally (today) joined Facebook - so now my every word can be seen by all... I keep swearing that I am going to reduce the technology vicegrip on my time, but keep failing. Alas, more perhaps to that as I struggle with tech and the web over time. In the meantime I am finally starting to re-book shows for the coming year and hope to have a full two year calendar up in the near future. Keep your eyes out for that! First up is Memphis and the Folk Alliance where I will be in the Club Passim Showcase with Tim Mason (later to be Broadcast on XM 15 The Village). I would be remiss if I also did not mention that Saturday February 21st mark's the release of my good friend Terry Holder'sthird CD "Ticket to the Moment". She and husband Jerry along with a raft of good musicians have made a great CD. Do try to stop by if you get a chance and are in the area.
In the meantime it gets late, so I will sign off with a full intent to try and keep this blog up....