What better place to play for us in Middleburg, Zeeland than Bar American? Ha ha.

Middleburg is on the southern coast of the Netherlands on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic. It's not far from Oostburg, a town we have played a couple times before. It is nice to be close to the sea and cross the scenic bridges, dams and dykes. It was a windy day, but the sun was out and we walked around the square after we set up our gear.

It seems everywhere we go there is stunning architecture. "Another old building- better take a picture" we would joke to ourselves. 
 This night's gig was arranged by Kaas ("Case"), the guy that hosted us at his bar, Penny Lane in Oostburg. He runs a blues society, and offered us a spot at his festival but we couldn't make that date. Bar American is a small grungy club with a portable stage that sets up on top of a pool table. Somehow it works... 
 We had an enthusiastic crowd that night, and one crazy fella made his way backstage with a peculiar way of showing his affection:
 Uhhh, I think he liked the show.

We stayed that night in a Hotel back across the water in Oostburg. Even though it was only 5 miles away, we had to backtrack to get there, so it was a 45 minute drive. Thank you Eric for driving- the rest of us were not legal behind the wheel at that point! Our innkeeper remembered us from last year (when we played Penny Lane), and gave us a fresh beer when we arrived.

After another breakfast of cold cuts and cheese, we drove east into Germany to a little town called Recklinghausen. We stayed in a teeny tiny hotel in a suite with a nice "shath" - a shower/bath. Ugh.
 The gig that night was in a small bar by the bus station called Rauber & Rebellen - "Robbers and Rebels." It was like any other club gig except they had huge black leather couches on the floor, so everyone was practically horizontal during the show. We were right next to the city center, and had a good time drinking coffee in cafés and walking around checking out the shops. One thing that is big there: kababs! You can find them all over the place- and they make a great late night snack...

After Recklinghausen we had three gigs scheduled with Stony Roses, a band from Germany lead by guitarist Udo Löw. Udo found out about our band from the Tonehunter website (thanks Ralf!), and asked us to headline the shows for them. I was curious to meet Udo- he looks like he might just kick everyone's ass! Haha, and his English was about as good as my German, so it made our Facebook messaging challenging. 
 
We rolled into Zweibrüken to a club called the Hobbit, so named because it looks like Bilbo Baggins' basement. I have to say, the stench when we walked in there was incredible! It was hard to breathe. I thought to myself this might be the first gig we cancel on account of stale air. 

Fortunately, they open the back door and turned on a huge exhaust fan. Whew. It was fun to have a band open for us- we would play only one long set and get to watch them play. They do a funky rock thing with an operatic female lead singer Daniela"The Voice" Rössler. Udo turned out to be a real sweetheart of a guy, and we all got along well. The place was small, so it looked really crowded when people showed up.
 
The next gig was in the neighboring town of Saarbrüken on the French boarder. This gig was one of the more memorable ones on the tour. We played a club called the Garage, and they had a nice big stage and pro sound system. The crowd was fantastic, and loved the show. In attendance that night was a guy named Dragan Nikitovik, a concert promoter who does HUGE shows like AC/DC in Moscow, Justin Bieber shows, Celine Dion, etc... But Dragan likes blues rock guitar, and he knew of me through a mutual friend at M.i.G. records (thanks Bernd Ramien!). He lives in Saarbrüken so it was easy for him to get to the show.

Afterwards we all hung out and had some food and beer at a place right down the street. Dragan vented to me a bit about working with another Blues Rock artist with whom he had great difficulty. He seemed to like what we were doing, and offered to help us find some bigger festivals for the summer of 2016. I am looking forward to working with him, so stay tuned!

The next morning we got a tour of historic Saarbrüken from one of the Thorny Roses entourage. More old buildings! So we took some pictures.
 
Our last show with Thorny Roses turned out to be uh, memorable as well. We played a tennis club in Dillengen, not too far away. I've never gigged at a tennis club before, so that was interesting. The staff there treated us well and the food was great. The turnout was just ok, but we all had fun. That night, however, was one for the history books. I'll let Eric Robert explain:
 
 

We were leisurely investigating the castle, taking our time and enjoying the sights when I checked the email that listed the address for our next gig in Burghaun. It was about 12:30 pm, and I noticed that the gig started at 3 and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive. 

Uh oh.

We hightailed it out of there and drove 160 kph (about 100 mph) the whole way, got there 30 minutes before the gig start time, set up and hit the stage about 15 minutes late. Not too bad! And not too good either. We don't have any crew with us - no tour manager, Front of House mixer, merch salesperson. So I do all of the logistics, and I didn't check the start time. 3 PM on a Saturday gig? My bad.

Our gig there- at "Zur Sonne" turned out to be one of the most interesting experiences we had. The place was a bed and breakfast house that also hosted small events like wedding receptions and family reunions, and bands once a month. They have a nice little stage.

The crowd sat on picnic chairs at little tables and chewed their food while watching us play. It was a nice day- about 72° and few clouds in the sky. They had a little bar next to the stage, and the beer was flowing. After the gig they served us hot dogs and french fries.
 
A little while after we finished our sets, the matron Alida Hisku grabbed the microphone and belted out a traditional Albanian song! Apparently she was a sensation back in Albania and surely misses the spotlight.


We spent the rest of the evening drinking beer in their living room which had been converted into a bar. They had a small aggressive dog that fearlessly growled at me in between drinking cap-fulls of beer. As the night wore on, the dog got belligerent and was ejected from the room. Alida talked about singing for 3 hours everyday, kept our beers full and gave us some old Albanian currency. 
 
The next morning the proprietor Thomas took us on a tour of the nearby town of Fulda, and its impressive baroque architecture- churches and government buildings that were spared the mass bombings of World War II. Golden pineapples adorn the rooftops of some of these old buildings, and symbolized great wealth back in the mid 1700s. 

  The south of Germany has a charm to the rolling countryside. My imagination ran wild with the thousands of years of human history that transpired in those hills and valleys. The old stucco and wood farmhouses lend the place an elegance in its advanced age. Our drive that day went right through the heart of this countryside to our next stop (was one I was really looking forward to) Reichenbach an der Fils, a small town southeast of Stuttgart. The venue is a big hall up on a hillside with a large stage and excellent lighting and PA system. The first time we played there the crowd was small (60 or so) but enthusiastic. The guy that ran the lights told us it was one of the top 10 shows he had ever seen there, and that next time there we could expect a bigger crowd. Sure enough, there were a lot more this time. It's fantastic to see the progress that we make tour after tour. 

It was a good place for me to have my pic taken with the Tonehunter amp I am lucky to use (thanks again Ralf!). I always get great compliments on my tone from the audience and sound techs when I use the Tonehunter. If you are a gear head, check out Ralf's site HERE. Aside from the excellent circuit design and tone stack, Ralf always uses the absolute highest quality components and everyone can tell the difference.
 The next morning we got rolling early and headed back north to Vriezenveen, back to Anko and Helga's place. We had an early gig there- this was a Sunday- at a bar in town right next to the Shamrock (our go-to place to eat). Anko's good friend Thijs Jeurissen-Borst was there and took some great pictures (see below). 

After a few shows, we were really hitting our stride and refined our sets. The new tunes we added were working quite well, especially the title track from the soon-to-be-released CD, Skin and Bones was especially fun to play. John, Eric and I trade 4's (4 bars of soloing) on Freddie King's Going Down, and that became one of the highlights of the night! 

We had the next two days off, and did some laundry at Anko and Helga's place. And of course we hung out at cafés...

"Yes. I know we have coffee shops in the US, but you are more likely to see people glomming free wi-fi, bent over their laptops in private worlds, or else grabbing a go cup of some high-end mocha. I think go-cups must be an American phenomenon, representing everything a European café is not.
 
In Europe, when you occupy a table you have that table for an indefinite time. There is no sense that you are on a schedule, and must be constantly consuming something to justify your existence there.  At first we thought the service was just bad until we understood that their waiters did not hover expectantly. If you want something bad enough you can walk over to them. It’s a courtesy really, not intruding or rushing you." - John Kessler

Wanting to get some exercise, we rented some bicycles in Dem Ham and rode into the little town of Ommen. It was a perfect day, and the ride through the countryside was fantastic!
 

European Tour Blog 2015
PART 1: APRIL 22 TO MAY 1 2015
 
"There is nothing quite like sitting at an outdoor café, spending an hour or two over a cup of coffee or a beer. Or both, as has been known to happen."
-John Kessler

John is right! And that is one of the many joys of touring Europe. If you have read our previous blogs about our tours of Europe, you can see the progress we have made. Our first tour consisted of about 8 shows in the Netherlands, and it was just John and me with a Dutch drummer. Then we brought our ol' buddy Chris Leighton along to play drums with us on the next one. This last tour consisted of 19 shows and four of us Americans in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. While a lot of people may think touring Europe is Shangri-La, it is actually a lot of work. You have to slowly build your audience just like in the US. After five tours in four years, we are reaping the benefits of our hard work. (And a few hours at the cafés!)
 
We have established bases of operation- one at a friend’s house in Vriezenveen, Netherlands and another at the Tonehunter headquarters in Cologne. After all these tours we have become great friends with Anko and Helga Lammers and Ralf and Kristin Reichen.
 

 
I was very pleased to take my wife Michelle with me before the tour started to do some sightseeing and "Amsterdamage" then meet our European friends. 
 
 
So, let’s get started.
 
Returning for this tour, we had Carl Martin on drums, and Eric Robert on keyboards, and of course John Kessler on bass guitar. It was Eric’s second tour with us, and Carl’s third. So we all knew the process, and this was by far the smoothest running tour so far. Also we had the best weather of any tour we've done over there. It is easy to overlook that most of the places we play are WAY north of Seattle and the Canadian boarder. Some of the towns we visited are as far north as mid Hudson Bay in Canada. So even if you are there in May, it certainly doesn't mean you will get much sunshine or temperatures above 68°. We had a lot of 65°-70° weather with ample sunshine.
 
I was fortunate to come a week early with Michelle, so I was quite adjusted to the time change when the guys arrived from Seattle on April 22. After a long flight and nine hour time change plus a two hour train ride from Amsterdam’s Schipole airport, the boys set up their gear for a quick rehearsal. Running on ‘fumes’, we worked through a bunch of new songs for the sets and everyone did their homework- the new songs were ready for prime time. 
 
As is the ritual, we headed into Almelo for a quick dinner at the Shamrock, where we usually have salmon. We had to settle for fish ‘n’ chips though, because they were out... However, Carl and I got started on the great European beer, Eric joined us with some 0.0 (non-alcoholic) and John stuck to "water with gas."
 
Our first gig was in Roermond (pronounced roo-monde), about a 2 hour drive to the south. The place was called Den Heiligen Cornelius, and we had a nice Thursday night gig there to kick off the tour. We played there about a year ago at another venue, so we saw some familiar faces. 
 
We spent the next day in Roermond hanging out with our friend Ron Pennings- if you are on Facebook, he’s the guy behind the Hit-Tracks Top 100 list. Our songs “Red Line” made it to #1 a few months back, and he gave me a nice framed picture of the chart position! 
 Ron took us for a walk around the city centrum where we spent some time sightseeing and hanging out at cafés...

"So much of life in Europe happens outdoors. The design of their cities enables this. In the countries we traveled (The Netherlands, Germany and Poland), generally speaking, each city or town has a Centrum or Central District where cars are not allowed. Shops and restaurants line the streets and cafes spill out from the restaurants with tables and umbrellas. Some smaller towns might have only one main street or square, but in the larger cities it’s totally possible to get lost in mazes of curving streets, tiny alleys and plazas." - John
    
The next day we drove to Sint-Michielsgestel, a town we know well having played there twice before. They have a nice stage and lighting system and there’s always a great turnout. This time we stayed at a bed-and-breakfast just outside of town, where Eric had a good time feeding their horse.
 
The next morning after some scrambled eggs (we are lucky when we can get them), we drove down south to Heerlen in Limburg. Yeah, that's where the Limburg cheese comes from originally. We hit our accommodations first: another bed-and-breakfast place a few miles down the road. The southern part of the Netherlands is wedged between Germany and Belgium, and has a much different feel than the rest of the country. More rolling hills and meadows. Our gig that night was at the Openlucht Theater- a small amphitheater in a park. The event was put together by our old friends Skinny and Gabi Bertram who we first met at the Blues Garage in Geleen. That night was particularly fun because the stage was much larger than the clubs we had been playing, and the extra legroom helped us all cut loose! I have to say we prefer the bigger stages...

Our B'n'B was funny. It had a shower that had no contour to the floor, and the thing was about 10 sq. ft, so the whole floor was pretty much 'flooded' if you used it. Only one of us did... The other funny thing was that the bathroom was LOUD because the whole place was concrete and cinderblock, so anything you did in there was extremely amplified. (Oh the joys of close proximity!) The next morning we had the traditional 'cold cuts' and bread breakfast, and this time with some raw prosciutto-lookin' stuff.
 
We are lucky to return to many of the Dutch venues every year- we start to get to know our way around the town and which hotels and restaurants are the best to hit. So going back to Oss was a blast. We play a little club there called The Machinist. Franscha Brands and her sister Pamela run the place and always makes us feel welcome. There's a music store in the city center and a few great cafés.
 

"But there is nothing quite like sitting at an outdoor café, spending an hour or two over a cup of coffee or a beer. Or both, as has been known to happen. And you are never alone, likely you’ll be in an area with several cafes to choose from, and so there will be dozens if not hundreds of other people having a coffee or a beer, or both."
- John

One thing that the Netherlands have over the US: more clothing options for men! In lots of these little towns and villages there are several mens clothing stores that put the US offerings to shame (unless you live in a big city). Eric and I were always on the hunt for cool new shirts for our gigs. The next day, Monday, was King's day- a big celebration marking the birth of King Willem-Alexander, and everyone wears orange in observance!

We headed back south to Helmond to play on King's Day, and we set aside the all-black uniforms for orange! It was a rowdy night, with people celebrating all throughout the day- I'm sure the country drained several million gallons of beer. At our gig that night was an old buddy from Seattle who had a day off from his European tour- Mr. Johnny Smokes! After our sets he and his mates took the stage and played a few killer Seattle grunge tunes for us!




The next two days we had no shows, so we drove back to Vriezenveen to do some laundry and get some R&R. The pacing on this tour turned out very well; we didn't have many long drives between gigs (in the Netherlands you can't drive more than 3 hours and still be in the country), and we had time to rest after a stretch of 5 or 6 shows in a row. We got to sleep in and spend the days hanging in the city center of Almelo at the cafés. We persuaded Anko and Helga to let us take them out to dinner to thanks them for the countless meals they fix for us at their place.

The next leg of the tour included shows in Germany, so we drove due south to a small town called Epstein, and had one of my favorite experiences of the tour! We were following our GPS (the only way to go in the EU), and ended up at a train station scratching our heads. Uh, this is the venue?
 
Well it turns out it was indeed the venue- inside the old train station. Oddly enough it was one of the coolest gigs we played on the whole tour. It reminded me of Jazz Alley in Seattle where everyone sits down and watches intently. We got a big introduction and the crowd was on their feet in the little packed club before we even played a note. Some of them had traveled hundreds of miles to come see us. Incredible! We were smushed onto a tiny little stage and gave it everything we had. I announced an old song- "This is the title track from our first CD..." and some dude in the front row yelled "YES!" and sang along with every word of Left For Dead. The crowd bought our t-shirts and CDs like they were the last ones on earth, and we signed autographs for over an hour. 

From the train station we saw a huge old castle on the other side of town, and knew we had to go check it out. So the next morning we headed straight there and took the tour. There was a big German dude giving some friends a tour in English so we followed along. This was the oldest castle we had ever seen- constructed in the 1300's complete with lookout tower and embrasures for defending archers. It had a tower in which one convicted of a crime would be lowered into for 30 days with minimal food and water!
 

This was the most successful of our four tours of Northern Europe. We continue to build our audience in the Netherlands and Germany, and are off to a great start in Poland. Also, it was Eric Robert’s first trip to Northern Europe with us. 

First off, a note about language and pronunciation (pro-nun-ski-ay-shkun) from Johnny K:
 
I always start the trip by flying to Cologne, Germany where I rent the van and pick up gear from Ralf and Kristin at Tonehunter. Ralf has supplied me with a pedalboard, a guitar and one of his killer amplifiers on each of our four tours and also let’s me keep our t-shirts and CDs in his storage room. It's a win-win for us; Tonehunter gets exposure and I get to play one of Ralf's killer amps. (www.tonehunter.de) We have gotten to be great friends over the years, and have dinners at his house and my favorite Cologne restaurant the Bitzhof every visit. I am priveledged to have such great friends!

 

1979. Indianapolis. 7th grade. Art class. Barrow Davidian was the teacher, and a bit of a hippie though he had short hair. He was the ‘coolest’ teacher we had in 7^th grade. He was laid back and played records all day. Though there was a sticker on the record player that said “variety is the spice of life”, he only played two or three records. Over and over…
 
One of them was a Buffalo Springfield album, and I loved the vocals, guitar work and creativity of tracks like Expecting To Fly.
 
Another album Mr. Davidian played was Harvest by Neil Young. Of course Neil was a member of Buffalo Springfield, and I was happy to hear the more acoustic side of his music. 
About the same time, I had started playing guitar, and only had an acoustic. Neil’s songs were accessible to me, because I could handle easy open chords at the bottom of the neck. I couldn’t sing just like Neil, but at that young age I could hit all the notes.
 
I got my own copy of Harvest, and then After The Gold Rush. I learned bunch of those songs with the help of my guitar teacher and a chord book. I was off and running! I was building a playlist with a lot of Neil’s songs, and I didn’t know it then, but they came in very handy my first year in college. (The ladies like Neil Young tunes.)
 
Being able to play these songs gave me the confidence to write my own, and feel like I was somehow in the same ballpark.


Cortez the Killer off of Zuma primed me for the Rust Never Sleeps album that had great live versions of Hey Hey My My – one acoustic, one electric. It was a bit like Lou Reed’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal to me: the acoustic players getting a good dose of distorted guitar. Now I had some great tunes to practice on my brand new Strat copy in my bedroom.


 
The music just kicked my ass, but it was the lyrical content that captured my imagination and my heart. The song After The Gold Rush had some great visuals in the lyrics that evoked some grand fantasyland not unlike some Bowie stuff:
 
Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming
Saying something about a queen
There were peasants singing and drummers drumming
And the archers split the tree
 
And that great line for young college stoners:
 
There was a band playing in my head
And I felt like getting high
 
Wise reflections on a relationship gone wrong from A Man Needs A Maid:
 
It’s hard to make that change
When Life and love turn strange, and cold
 
To give a love, you’ve got live a love
To live a love, you gotta be part of
 
When will I see you again?
 
There’s loss, recovery and regret all right there. There are so many moods that song may just help you get through. A great songwriter will help you find words for your experiences and feelings that may just help you frame your situation, your emotions. It also lets you know that you are not alone. Feeling dark and gloomy? Wistful? Nostalgic? Uncertain, insecure, lost? Defiant? Neil is right there with you.
 
It is the slower moody stuff that really made me come to love Neil’s music. One of my favorites is Pardon My Heart, a love-lost story. It’s gentle, moving and sad. A great song to play at 1 am! Pocohontas, off of Rust is right in there as well. Hell, I could made a great long set of his tunes for after midnight! And I could probably play 80% of them myself. In fact, when I do live acoustic shows (I haven’t in a while), I try not to play TOO MANY of them. Not everyone gets Don’t Let It Bring You Down!
 
As with my other songwriter heroes Reed and Bowie, the earlier stuff resonates most with me. Perhaps because I soaked them in as a teen and young man, I am not sure. In the 1980’s Neil did some strange stuff- the Trans album and Everybody’s Rockin’.
 
Rockin’ In The Free World and the excellent album Harvest Moon brought me back. But I never really strayed that far. I think Neil does his best work when it’s just him and his acoustic guitar. Man, I wish Bowie would do a whole album just on acoustic. That would be Epic!
 
Neil Young rocks on, and will always occupy a huge slice of my playlist.

David Bowie 

When I was in Kindergarten, back in the early 70’s, there was a woman who came every week or so to play the piano. She played a lot of corny stuff like Hot Crossed Buns, Yankee Doodle Dandy and the like. One tune however, stuck with me and I asked her to play it every time she came. She would gripe a bit, but always played Somewhere Over The Rainbow for me.
 
What a fantastic song. It had a number of things going for it. The melody itself is magical, the chord changes, the bridge… To me the words were a bit sci-fi. You’ll find me somewhere over the rainbow, above the chimney tops, in a land I’ve heard of once in a lullaby. WOW. That sounds cool! My fantasy-land. Sign me up.
 
This was the song that really got me interested in music. It somehow justified my wild imagination. Apparently it was okay to have your head in the clouds (as long as one foot was on the ground).
 
I realize that my love of David Bowie’s music has a lot to do with the vibe of Somewhere. Space Oddity, Ashes To Ashes, Life on Mars, Five Years, Moonage Daydream, The Man Who Sold The World – all of these songs share an otherworldly character. We can escape and enjoy another place of our own making if we so desire, at least for a few minutes.


 
In my last blog I wrote about Lou Reed and his influence on me as an artist. Bowie’s is certainly equal, if not a bit heavier. Isn’t it interesting that they had a deep mutual respect for each other even though their music was so different? That is what is cool about the Transformer album- their brief influence on each other. Satellite of Love is a great example of Bowie’s ethereal approach mixed with Lou’s sensibility. “Satellite’s gone, way up to Mars, Soon it’ll be filled with parking cars.” Lou rooted the fantasy with the mundane – parking cars on mars? Hahahahaha. Sounds like there’s some Warhol influence in there- another way to frame the everyday objects we take for granted.
 
Bowie really took us out there, sometime to the point of no return. Like the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth- he takes us into a strange world where we get lost and never find our way home.
 
For a kid growing up in the Midwest among sprawling fields of corn, escape was damn attractive. Smoke some crappy Columbian bud, put the headphones on and drift off. At least until my Mom told me dinner was ready.
 
Early in Bowie’s career, Mick Ronson was heavily involved in realizing the vision. I loved the guitar work on Ziggy Stardust especially. That has to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Each song seems to have a couple of choruses! Incredible. Of course Mick was involved with several albums, including Hunky Dory. Mick’s work on the string arrangement for Life On Mars is moving, as is Rick Wakeman’s piano playing. This song reminds me of Somewhere Over The Rainbow quite a bit. Bowie described the song as “A sensitive young girl's reaction to the media… although she's living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she doesn't have access to it".
 
I think Bowie made sure that he had access to a greater life and changed his definition of that frequently. He reinvented himself in art-school fashion over and over again. He spent so much time over the rainbow that perhaps the real-world is now as fascinating to him. He lives in Greenwich Village with his wife Iman and daughter Lexi. Maybe family man is his current great adventure.
 
Speculation aside, his lyrics certainly conjure vivid imagery and leave you with more to consider than say, Highway Star by Deep Purple. (Luckily, there is a place for both in my collection!)
 
There have been some great songs on his last few CDs that warrant attention. Some of my favorites include Seven from Hours, Dead Man Walking from Earthling and Days from Reality. In fact, Reality is quite good from start to finish. The song Days may have some of his most down-to-earth lyrics:
 
All I’ve done, I’ve done for me
All you gave, you gave for free
I gave nothing in return
And there’s little left of me
 
All the days of my life… I owe you
 
Maybe this is for Iman? His children? I don’t know, but it does seem uncharacteristically personal.
 
I have a new song coming out on my next CD called Tears In Rain. Originally I was going to riff of the line from the end of Blade Runner: "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain". Somehow it morphed into longing for the love of someone who has passed away (perhaps a blues influence?). Looking at the lyrics for the song, it may have quite a bit of Bowie influence. "Moonlight reflecting on dust in the air, Our years have come and gone, Moments that we shared..." A coming together beyond the stars after our lives have ended. "Far beyond the edge of time, When the stars turn to grey, I'll be there with you to float away, Tears in rain." Like some of Bowie's lyrics, I am not sure what it means exactly. Maybe that's the point.

Listening to one particular artist for decades, I suppose you feel that you know them in some way. That is the success of their ability to connect to the listener. Though David Bowie’s lyrics and music evoke the celestial and sublime, they have made a connection to me and my musical heart, if you will. The heart that lingers somewhere over the rainbow.
 
 
 

I discovered Lou Reed when I was about 12 or 13. 
Lou provided an alternative to the bombastic cocksure rock of the 70’s, and somehow his music caught my ear in spite of its lack of the guitar-hero element. He was a character like Bowie, but genuine and grounded to the real street life of New York City.
 
Sally is losing her face
She lives on St. Marks place
In a rent-controlled apartment, eighty dollars a month
She had lots of fun, she had lots of fun
(From Sally Can’t Dance)
 
Every time I go to NYC, I hit St. Marks. Maybe to connect to the great stories of Lou’s lyrics, maybe just to try on some punk rock clothes at Trash & Vaudeville. I imagine Lou and his characters walking around Greenwich Village, searching for identities and acceptance.
 
I didn’t really get the Velvet Underground. Maybe I was too young, or obsessed with lead guitar. I prefer his solo work. Something about Lou’s voice conveying a gritty truth caught my interest. These were songs that I could sing and play on my acoustic: simple chord changes and wild imagery. I played “Vicious” in a cover band in college. That always went over well. “Vicious! You hit me with a flower, you do it every hour, you’re so vicious.” Great bass line in that one, too!
 
Wild Child had some great verses, images of strange conversations:
 
I was talking to Chuck in his Ghengis Khan suit and his wizard hat
We spoke of his movie, and how he was making a new soundtrack
 
Sleeping out on the streets, oh, living all alone
Without a house or a home, and she asks you please
Hey baby can I have some spare change?
Can I break your heart?
 
My introduction to Lou was the cassette version of Walk On The Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed. I borrowed it from a friend and never gave it back! Then I found the Rock and Roll Animal record, with some great live performances and killer lead guitar work courtesy of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner.
 
Transformer has some real gems. Satellite of Love, with the Bowie-esque outer-space lyrics and New York Telephone Conversation, which reminds me of the playfulness of When I’m 64 by the Beatles. Interesting, the collision of a young Bowie and Mick Ronson with Lou’s street-rock sensibility.


 
Lou’s songs paint great little scenes you can get lost in. Images of a New York City that was distant and removed from suburban Indiana. People in his songs seemed like they were on adventures, out there doing all the real living. I was just in my room with headphones hoping someone had some weed. Hahahaa…
I guess I had Indiana experiences. I would hop on my moped and ride down into Indianapolis to my friend Andy’s house in the middle of the night. We would listen to ‘sides’ in his brother’s room- the Stones, Bowie, Lou Reed, Zeppelin, The Who, etc… We had our own little world. That was my adventure.
 
Lou sang about the people you didn’t hear about in most other songs. Like Average Guy:
 
I'm an average lover and I live in an average place
you wouldn't know me if you met me face to face!
Average in everything I do, my temperature is 98.2!
 
It made me feel better, knowing that I was a bit average, maybe like Lou? Easy stuff to play. So many of his songs were just D and G…
His Blue Mask CD was great. A bit more of a ‘modern’ sound than Transformer or the Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal stuff. Exquisite guitar work by Robert Quine, and bass guitar mastery by Fernando Saunders. This whole album is a great listen, from the haunting mood of a lost spirit in My House, to Women (I…love…women!) to the spooky/junkie vibe of The Heroine.
 
Another great CD was the Growing Up In Public – he had a fantastic NYC band for that one and it really rocks. Funny songs like The Power of Positive Drinking – with a dry wit that LA rock bands could never touch. Somehow Lou made you feel like you were in it with him.
 
I have listened to the albums after those, but they don’t quite have the impact that the earlier ones did for me. Maybe it was my age, I don’t know. There is some special place in my heart for those recordings that seeped into the fabric of adolescence. From Van Halen, to Jimi Hendrix to Bowie and Neil Young to Lou Reed, it didn’t matter what kind of music it was, just that it made a connection to my younger self.
 
Lou was a pro at painting the pictures. Like Tom Wolfe is in prose, Lou was in poetry. So, I will continue to celebrate his life and work. I recorded a version of Sally Can’t Dance on my last CD, and now I am going to go listen to The Blue Mask…
 
Lou will always be just a couple clicks away.


 
 

Over the last few weeks, there has been much progress in the recording studio! 

Local sound engineer Ashley Shepherd (who has worked with Peter Frampton) made a trip down to Nashville and returned with a bunch of “extra” gear that Sir Frampton did not want. Part of that was a killer 5.1 speaker system for the projection screen in the control room.

 
Also, I received a bunch of old-school effects devices like delays and reverbs. Yeah….yeah….yeah…yeah….


 
And a few microphones… Those will take a while to sort through, but there is one that looks really cool, and was used in the Hunbger Games:


 
Mixing has begun for album #3, Screaming In The Wind. The first track I mixed may just be the album closer, “Say You Will”- it has a long spacey solo section at the end (I call it an Epilogue), and may be a good way to end things.
 
Once I get the levels set for the drums, acoustics, clean guitars, ect… these nifty faders in the center of the console can control those groups and make final level setting easy.
 

Meanwhile, with a bit of spiritual guidance from Jimi Hendrix, the studio kitchenette has turned purple and the bathroom bright red! The big purple wall will soon be populated with photos and memorabilia from previous bands.

Apparently I have been “volunteered” to host the family Christmas party this year, and my dad is insisting on a big jam session in the studio, so I’ll have to find a drum set!
 
It is nice to be able to get back to work after two months of unpacking, painting and fixing things. What’s the code that gets you in the studio? I’m NOT TELLING YOU!! Hahahahaha…. Back to work!