It’s been a while (since last November) and I’m trying to figure out - find an excuse - why I let “What’s Up” drift away for a while. It must have to do with my chamber works. I get into writing and the world goes away.
After I last wrote, I did, indeed, play Town Hall in NYC on A Prairie Home Companion. That show is always a pleasure for me. This time we had a terrific horn section for me to write for…. big fat stuff. All went well. I sang “Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning”, a tune I performed as a member of The Jim Kweskin Jug Band over forty years ago on the same stage. At that time we were backing up the great blues singer, Sippie Wallace. Sippie sang it just right. She was such an inspiration.
I returned to LA for the Christmas Holidays, but what I really spent time on were my new chamber works. I’ve been writing original compositions and for cello, French horn, bassoon, clarinet and violin. We – me and some of LA’s finest - performed ten pieces at McCabes in Santa Monica. The writing continues.
In February, I was fortunate to witness a rare Indian ceremony in the Southwest. It’s not something that I should, or want to, name or identify by location. I drove from LA to the Southwest, spent the night with friends and then drove up into the reservation before dawn. At dawn it began…. strange spirits (tribe members in costume) appeared in mysterious ways throughout the day until, by mid-afternoon, the streets of the Indian village were filled with the wildest ‘creatures’ one could imagine. We were very lucky and honored to be able to have breakfast and lunch with an Indian family in a hut. I wish I could tell you more about this day, but this ceremony has gone on for hundreds of years without National Geographic’s intrusions, so it is best left that way.
In early March I headed to Portland, OR (our most European city) for a performance; then up to Vashon Island, Washington. Now that’s one beautiful place. The Island folks turned out in healthy numbers for my gig and good old-fashioned island hospitality continued for a couple of days. My host for the weekend was an old school chum Mike Fox. I shall return.
On that Sunday, I took the Vashon Island ferry back to Tacoma and played a church gig called Blues Vespers. Very special; a church full of people from all walks of life. They took up a collection for me – for which I was grateful - and I headed down the road… back to Portland to fly home.
I then began preparing for a few days of recording in Austin, Texas. There were two parts to the project…. string band music and big band blues music. It was the big band music that took my time… preparing rhythm charts and horn arrangements. I asked my friend, Howard Johnson, to contribute an arrangement and he offered up a beauty. The writing and the prep went on until mid-month at which point I drove up from LA to the Bay Area (San Francisco) for a few gigs. Included was an appearance at the quintessential American folk music club, the Freight & Salvage, in Berkeley. It’s a very special place. They offer up a wide range of music to various groups in the community… a full service operation. It’s always an honor to play there. May they live on and on.
After a brief stop back in LA, I headed for Texas… first to play a gig with my buddy, Stephen Bruton, in Ft. Worth, and then down to Austin for recording sessions. The first two days of recording were with The Texas Sheiks. We’ve been scheming this group for years and we finally put it together. The group consists of Stephen Bruton (guitar, mandolin, banjo), Cindy Cashdollar (dobro and National Resophonic Tricone), Suzy Thompson (fiddle), Johnny Nicholas (vocal, guitar, bass drum, banjo, etc.), Bruce Hughes (bass) and myself (vocals, guitar, banjo). (Google this bunch) We recorded acoustic music of the funky string band variety for two days.
The third day we recorded live with full electric band (guitars, bass, B3 organ, piano, drums) and five horns….. Cindy and Suzy were excluded for their own protection. Howard Johnson’s chart (for Groove Merchant) hit the spot. We also recorded a screaming bop-style boogie tune called Natural Ball, a slow Minor Blues piece, a new arrangement of (Nobody Knows) The Way I Feel This Mornin’ and a wonderful N.O.-style (oddly comedic) piece written by Jeff Gutcheon called Slow Death…. This was one of the tunes I did on Garrison’s show. After the show aired, we got emails from the Hemlock Society saying they were considering Slow Death for their theme song! I you-know-what you not.
After my special time in Texas, I flew to St. Louis, Missouri to begin a month-long tour of the Midwest east to New England. Missouri is a swing state, but not musically. They used to be, but not any more. Their current state slogan, the one they print on license plates, is “The Show Me State”. Rather lifeless, wouldn’t you say? How about a new slogan: “Missouri Loves Company”?
I met some very nice folks on my way through the Midwest. In Southern Illinois, I was hosted by Jeannie and Troy Bullard at The Espenschied Chapel…. first for a guitar workshop, and then for a concert. The chapel is a beautiful, restored structure from the 20s. Volunteers, cookies, smiles. Gigs like this one are the reason I’m doing what I’m doing. Jeannie and Troy are in it for the love. (Gee, what a coincidence.) After heading over to St. Louis (Van Ronk called it “The Gateway to Inertia”) for a gig at The Focal Point – always a treat because of Judy and Eric Stein - I headed up to Princeton, IL for a gig at the Open Prairie Church. There were more cookies and smiles thanks to the efforts of Bill and Sallee Beneke. Princeton is a good-looking place, nice houses, quiet streets, shade trees… with a town square.
That night I headed on to Davenport, IA so I’d be close to my 12:00n brunch meeting with The Bix Beiderbecke Society folks.
These guys have become part of my extended family. On this occasion, Julie Craighead, Susan McPeters, Ray and Muriel Voss, et al put together a group of local musicians to rehearse a few of my arrangements of Bix’s piano pieces. What an honor. On top of that, Susan rustled up some very serious grub. We will keep at this…. and some day I’m hoping we will finally perform my arrangements at the annual Bix Beiderbecke Festival. Oh yes, I forgot… those nice folks gave me a print of an old Davenport ferry called the W.J. Quinlan. It was built in 1904 (the year after Bix’s birth) and was originally named the Davenport until it’s name change in 1925. It would have been chugging back and forth across the Mississippi when Bix was a lad. The reason behind the gift was new grandson – Quinlan. How thoughtful can you get?!
After brunch and rehearsal, I headed off to Cedar Rapids for a gig that night at CSPS. Cedar Rapids was gearing up for flooding. The sirens were blasting during my set. Ah, springtime in the Midwest is so meteorologically exciting. We had hail down in Ft. Worth, a heat wave in southern Missouri, and now flooding. And in a few days when I played up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota the sirens were wailing again during my performance, this time warning of incoming tornados.
From Sioux Falls I drove to Minnesota for gigs in Mankato, hosted by a very friendly and courteous Bill Smith, and Minneapolis where I played my usual haunt, the Cedar Cultural Center. The Cedar is another seasoned American folk club like the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley…. a performance space with an eclectic offering of American music.
The next day I flew from Minneapolis to Michigan for a gig in Ann Arbor and tospend a little time with friends in nearby Birmingham. I have a thing for Michigan. I spent a few years there working in the steel business while on my sabbatical in the late-‘80s and ‘90s. The people I worked with taught me a thing or to about just shutting up and doing your job. (not that it stuck) I fell in love with Michigan women. There’s something about them…. I live with a Michigan woman today, and I can attest to her warm nature, humor, beauty, steadfast nature, good teeth and firm, healthy gums.
I drove from Birmingham to Cleveland and couple of days later to play a venerable Cleveland club called Nighttown. It’s a restaurant, so there’s a little noise, but for some reason, the vibe is so nice that I am comfortable. We had a good turnout, including my friend, film maker Todd Kwait and his family with whom I stayed in Shaker Heights.
From Cleveland, it was on to Rochester, where I played a very nice gig for Tom Kohn at The German House. Tom runs a ‘Mom & Pop’ record store called The Bop Shop. There aren’t many of these stores left in the United States, so we wish everyone of them nothing but the best. They are national treasures.
The next day I made it all the way to ‘little old’ Rhode Island. There I played a gig in Pawtucket for a group of true hearts… an organization called Stone Soup. It was another church gig – I love ‘em – at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Lots of folks. Rhode Island is my favorite state. You can’t play a gig there without someone asking you over for chowdah.
From Rhode Island I headed to Martha’s Vineyard for a little R&R and to see family and friends… including little Quinny. Such a good boy. It was watercress time on the Vineyard and I couldn’t get enough of it…. not to mention the fresh fish. I’ll be there again in the Fall to play with Jim Kweskin at the Katherine Cornell Theatre.
After Martha’s Vineyard, I drove up to Boston for more gigs; one at Club Passim…. my old haunt (when it was Club 47) and another church gig in Hingham at the Old Ship Coffee House. Ah… more smiling volunteers, cookies…. it’s heaven on Earth.
Now I’m off to Japan. There will be stories for sure. Got to get to the airport…. Sayonara…
Geoff