Friday, July 13, 2007

TEXAS MUSIC MATTERS // MOHAWK TONIGHT // TOUR DIARY

David Brown will be spinning my song "Sandy Says, 'Zombies'" on his program Texas Music Matters. Tune in on 90.5 KUT if you're in Austin, or on KUT's website if you're elsewhere.
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I am playing a show tonight at The Mohawk. I promise to give my best possible performance.
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Here is a journal entry from my last tour through the UK:

i woke up after edinburg with the bus parked in some bizarre parking lot out in the english countryside. green fields, horses bucking about, and elizabeth, our video pal, feeding them some carrots. I stepped off the bus and soaked the sunshine. fed the horses. the dominant horse, a big black stallion, had dreads in his hair. when i stoppped feeding him, he nibbled on my shirt. Given the smell of my shirt, he must of been quite desperate. Or perhaps these horsies like pungent odors.

Speaking of odors, I decided to bathe. Our bus had parked in front of a rather large warehouse, which emitted screeching and banging sounds every second or so. A car repair warehouse.

I marched to the restroom and found a small shower: soapdish fileld with brown grime, assorted glittery "bath gels" discarded on the floor, a large plastic bag of clean ( ? ) towels... I hopped in and scrubbed. Hadn't showered in days and felt quite recharged, not only by the shower, but by the bizarre refugee-like conditions.

Pulled into Leeds several hours later. The Cockpit, the club was called. A stank quonset hut right underneath a railroad overpass. Sticky floors, sticky couches with all sorts of disconcerting cartoons drawn on them. I did a short interview with a British music writer lady, fed her several beers and spoke ecstacially about British dairy products. Played the show, fairly well killed it, I think.

Spent the evening downing more beers. Beer, mmmm.

Woke today in a fairly bleak parking lot, somewhere near the city center of Nottingham.

Spent hours wandering about several of the city's malls. Not surpirsingly, they're much the same as American malls, only with "Jacket Potato" stands thrown here and there. Still haven't tried a jacket potato.

I bought several beautiful tambourines in the mall that I will smash shortly. I've been rather enjoying the whole "desctruction" aspect of my percussion playing. Certainly cheaper than Pete Townshend's habit.

The Nottingham venue was called "Rescue Rooms" and seemed a half finished club. The whole upstairs area was under construction; we sat up there with construction workers disdainful of our laptops.

Next day we had off: headed over to some ridiculous castle. The most ridiculous castle I've ever had the misfortune to visit. I asked for, and received, a refund from the ticket agent. Then went on one of my patented "walk-abouts" --- headed about 4 hours walking time in a southern direction, filming the graveyards. Amazing thing to me: the graveyards seem the best places for peace and quiet in the dense, congested British towns. I visited several graveyards, hopped a mossy stone wall, walked along a vagrant campsite area.

1 comment:

Maverick said...

Sounds like a hell of a hike. BTW, Edinburgh = capital of Scotland. Edinburg = Rio Grande Valley shit hole. Sorry -- I'm in editor mode at work.