poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
the stars in Grand Central
the stars in Grand Central
are reversed on the ceiling
as if painted by aliens
from a distant galaxy
or by the hand
of an omnipotent God
or, more likely, by painters
who set the star map on the floor
rather than holding it above
their heads as intended
Grand Central is for traveling
to the Hudson Valley, to Connecticut
without meaning to, the painters
added another destination
millions of miles away
25 January 2013
Auburn, AL
/ / /
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Eli on fire
the back of the room was so dark
I couldn’t see my hands
but I could see his hands clearly
holding that silvery trumpet
a cloud of mist around the mouthpiece
the bell burning under the lights
and Eli, still as stone
and every bit as strong
calling down the walls of Jericho
in a basement under the West Village
24 January 2013
Auburn, AL
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| From East River Ferry Adventure – July 10, 2011 |
bohemian gangster
(for Nicole)
he waits for the boys to come back from the job
he’s in the back of the café, smoking a clove cigarette
picking lint off the front of his plaid work shirt
he keeps a hand-crafted artisanal hatchet
concealed in a quick-draw sling under the table
you can’t be too careful these days
there was a time, not so long before,
when the gangster’s life was easier, safer
the coffee shops and independent bookstores
and the head shops — especially the head shops —
paid their money and kept their mouths shut
no one bought a bong or a copy of Ginsberg
in this city without him getting a piece of it
now, though, with every Barnes & Noble
selling coffee and Kerouac like it was nothing
things just ain’t what they used to be
it was getting so a man couldn’t even ride the L
without some flip-flop-clad Portland beard
sitting in the seat he always sat in
he was starting to wonder if he shouldn’t go legit
open up a little place of his own in DUMBO
or maybe Sunset Park, where the normal people live
hell, even a hookah shop would be easier than this
he stabs out his clove, runs the stirrer through the
foam leaf on top of his latte, sighs deeply
15 January 2013
Auburn, AL
letter to [ ]
I send you incomplete truths
little notes that don’t say
everything I’d like them to
there’s something about you
there has been ever since that first
spring day in New York City
since then I’ve been listening
inspired by the strong and selfless way
you move through the world
I think you’re one of the most
beautiful women I’ve ever seen
but there’s no way to say that
and no point in saying it anyway
not from all the way down here
where I didn’t even wear a coat today
3 January 2013
Auburn, AL
I hesitate to write this, but 2012 may have been the most tumultuous year of my life. (Dear 2013, please don’t feel you have to break any records.)
Toward the end of 2011 I met someone who in 2012 turned out to be one of the great loves of my life. By the end of the year, she was gone, we were finished, I was in Alabama and my show was over. I also spent half the year without a home of my own, and several months of it traveling more than 13,000 miles on Greyhound buses.
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| From Bushwick and more – Dec 2012 |
JANUARY
New Year’s Day 2012 included an interview for my former show, The Jazz Session, and a trip to the Museum of Modern Art in my former city with my former girlfriend and our former roommates. (Sensing a trend? So am I.) I did a lot of interviews in 2012, including with some major names in the jazz world. January was a good month for drummers – I spoke with Jack DeJohnette, Matt Wilson, Barry Altschul, Aaron Staebell and Deric Dickens. I also gave a talk at the annual JazzTimes conference. My topic was musicians telling their stories. You can hear the entire thing here (and see part of it, too).
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| From Trip to PA: Feb 4-5, 2012 |
FEBRUARY
Early in the month, I went to State College to visit my sons. For various reasons, my visits to PA were usually quite short. This one was just overnight. Back in NYC, I interviewed Charles Mingus’s widow, Sue, and saw great shows by Pete Robbins, James Shipp, the Mingus Big Band, Tim Berne’s Snake Oil, Peter Eldridge & Matt Aronoff, Enrico Rava, Ken Filiano, Vernon Reid, Myra Melford, Jeremy Siskind and The Wee Trio. (In one month!) I also went to a Vegan Shop-Up at the wonderful Pine Box Rock Shop in Brooklyn. I met DJ Soul Sister and Jeff Albert for the first time in person, and interviewed jazz giant Jimmy Heath at his Queens apartment.
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| From Warm nights, warm days in Brooklyn |
MARCH
The month started in fine style with a show by Matt Wilson’s band at Dizzy’s. I’ve never been a huge fan of that club, but I do love me some Matt Wilson, and his show was hugely entertaining and musical. A few days later I traveled to Jersey to interview Billy Hart. I also saw a show by one of my favorite singers, Trixie Whitley. I went to State College again, this time for my son John’s sixth birthday. My sister, Gretchen, went with me. Carmen Staaf and I got together for the first of a few sessions of my poetry and her piano playing, although we never ended up doing a gig. I also hung out one-on-one for the first time with my friend Sally, who would go on to become an indispensable part of my life. On the 18th, a gang of us got together at the apartment my girlfriend and I shared to read Walt Whitman’s “Song Of Myself†(the 1855 version). It was a moving experience, as it always is. I went to Albany for one day to visit my doctor. My partner and I went to see Nellie McKay perform a show about Rachel Carson at some ultra-swanky place where we clearly didn’t belong. The show was worth it, though. We also went to another vegan shop-up. Oh, and I took my sister’s cat to the vet. Although this trip was no big deal, Chloe would go back to the vet later and be given a few months to live. But by the end of 2012, it turned out she was fine. I still don’t understand what happened.
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| From Trip to PA: April 26-28, 2012 |
APRIL
I went to a CD release party for Theo Bleckmann’s album of Kate Bush songs. It was so good – a real show, not just a performance of the songs. I took an extended walk around Washington Heights, one of my favorite parts of Manhattan, and talked with a friend about my role as a father. I saw Natalie Cressman play at The Jazz Gallery, months before she would become the final interview I conducted for my show. For the first time ever, I showed up at an interview without my recorder (the aforementioned Theo Bleckmann), so I had to go back home. I took the self-guided East Village Poetry Walk, which I can’t recommend highly enough. You can download the guided tour here. I saw my pal Josh Rutner play gospel music at St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan. It’s the “jazz church.†I interviewed Dave Brubeck’s son Chris in the Teddy Roosevelt Room at the Museum of Natural History. I went to a tribute to the poet Philip Larkin. Paul Simon was one of the readers, making it the only Paul Simon performance I’ve ever attended. I went back to State College to see my older son, Bernie, play saxophone in his first school concert. On the last day of the month, I interviewed one of the smartest people around, guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour, etc.). Other shows I saw in April: Romain Collin, Jo Lawry and Kate McGarry.
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| From Daryl Shawn & Todd Reynolds at The Firehouse Space, May 2012 |
MAY
In May I met and interviewed vocalist Maria Neckam, whose album Unison was one of my favorite records of the year. I saw my pal Jill Knapp in New York, who would become my first host in June at the start of my tour. I interviewed my good friend Nicky Schrire, whose Freedom Flight was another of my faves. I also heard her perform at Rockwood Music Hall. At the beginning of the month, my girlfriend and I learned that we would have to move out of our apartment. She moved in with her parents, but I had nowhere to go and no money. So I decided to go on tour instead, taking The Jazz Session and my poetry around the country. At the end of the month, my friends Andrea Wolper and Ken Filiano hosted a farewell dinner for me. I did a ton of interviews in May, and also saw shows by Gregoire Maret (whose final song with Raul Midon was one of the live highlights of the year for me), Daryl Shawn and Foolish Hearts.
Me, somewhere.
JUNE
On June 1, my girlfriend accompanied me to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where I boarded a Greyhound for Wilmington, DE. I stayed with Jill for a few days and had a great time with her and her partner, Matt. I also interviewed the guitarist Judith Kay. Then I went to State College to spend a couple days with the boys before heading south. I ended up doing an interview there, too, because Barry Kernfeld, the editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, lives in town. On the 5th I went to Shepherdstown, WV, where I gave a poetry reading and interviewed Jeff Cosgrove. On the 7th I went to Washington, DC. I attended a tribute to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks at the Library of Congress and met poet Sandra Beasley, whom I subsequently interviewed at a nearby coffee shop. I was also briefly naked in the Library of Congress because I was very overdressed and stripped down in the men’s room so I could put on cooler clothing. Certainly a career highlight for me. While in DC I did a freelance interview for an education company, and jazz interviews with several musicians. I saw a show by saxophonist Brian Settles. On the 10th I went to Richmond, VA, where I stayed with drummer Scott Clark and then with guitarist Scott Burton. I interviewed both of them, too, as well as educator Doug Richards. I read poetry at Chop Suey Books and saw a show by Janel & Anthony, who were kind enough to come to my reading. On the 14th I traveled to Charlottesville, WV, where I met my Twitter pal John Mason and heard John D’earth play at the club that launched Dave Matthews’ career. I was interviewed on WTJU and I did two interviews for my show, too. On the 16th I took a long bus ride to Nashville. I did a poetry reading there the following day and conducted several interviews, including with Jeff Coffin, saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band. I spent most of my time with Jeff and fellow saxophonist Evan Cobb, who has a great dog. I heard the Nashville Jazz Orchestra perform and saw fantastic shows by The Time Jumpers and the comedy/country team Doyle And Debbie. I did another radio interview, too. On the 20th, I went to Knoxville, TN, where I interviewed pianist Donald Brown. I also took a canoe trip on the Little River and did a poetry reading. On the 23rd I took an insane bus trip from Knoxville to NYC to see my girlfriend. Then on the 26th it was back down south, this time to Raleigh to meet Twitter pal David Menestres. From there it was on to Atlanta, where I interviewed jazz organist Matthew Kaminski at his day job – as the organist for the Atlanta Braves. On the 29th I traveled to Auburn, AL, at the suggestion of Twitter pal Patrick McCurry. I did a poetry reading at The Gnu’s Room bookstore on the 29th and was interviewed there for public radio on the 30th. Little did I know the role Auburn would play in my future.
A second line in New Orleans.
JULY
On July 2 I realized a lifelong dream when I traveled to New Orleans. I went to Jeff Albert’s Open Ears Music Series and also went to several second lines to commemorate the death of Uncle Lionel Batiste. I spent a week in New Orleans before heading back north to New York to see my girlfriend, then to State College to spend time with my sons. I stayed in State College from July 18 through the 25th, when my debit card was hacked and I had to travel to NYC to get a new one. I returned to State College the next day and stayed till August 3.
This happened in August.
AUGUST
I spent the weekend of August 3 in beautiful Tarrytown, NY, with my girlfriend. Then it was back to State College until the 7th, when one of my relatives by marriage, um, caused my plans to change. In somewhat of a scramble, I went back to New York, where my sister and my friends Daryl and Deborah were kind enough to give me places to stay. While I was back in NYC, I saw shows by Keith Ganz, Aaron Parks, Josh Rutner & Twelve Gates, Fay Victor and Jersey Band. I also did a solo two-day meditation retreat. At the end of the month I flew to Detroit as a guest of the Detroit Jazz Festival.
With my friend Mike and his son Jack in Mississippi.
SEPTEMBER
I spent Labor Day weekend in Detroit at the Jazz Festival. I MC’d a few shows, including one by the wonderful David Binney. I interviewed Geoffrey Keezer and Donny McCaslin, and did my third interview (the first one face-to-face) with Sonny Rollins. After the interview, Sonny and I and our mutual friend Terri spent an hour or so talking about life. It was beautiful and humbling. On September 4, I took a bus to Windsor, Ontario and then a Greyhound to Ottawa to stay with my pals Renee Yoxon and Craig Pedersen. While in Ottawa I did a Skype interview with the Upaya Zen Center, where I planned to go stay after my tour. I also interviewed bassist John Geggie and journalist/pianist Peter Hum. And I locked myself out of the house briefly. On the 9th I took a train to Montreal, where I met and interviewed Twitter pal (and pianist) David Ryshpan and stayed with David’s friend Sarah MK. The next day was my 39th birthday, so I treated myself to a little boat trip. Sarah and her friend gave me a little cake and sang to me, which was lovely. I also saw music by the Kalmunity Collective. On 9/11 I went back to NYC, where Jonathan Matz, a listener to my show, kindly offered me a place to stay. I had a small birthday dinner with friends. I met the guitarist Joshua Maxey for pizza. I saw shows by the DIVA Jazz Orchestra (with the wonderful Nadje Noordhuis), The Respect Sextet and Anat Cohen. And I did the final interviews for my show. On September 21 I got back on a Greyhound bus and went to Jackson, MS, to spend a week with my friend Mike Roberts and his family. Mike and I were union organizers together, and he’s one of the most important people in my life. While I was there I was accepted to the Upaya Zen Center and made plans to go there in October. On the 28th I went back to Auburn to stay for a couple weeks.
The Gnu’s Room in Auburn, AL.
OCTOBER
In early October, Tina Tatum offered me a non-paying job as the assistant director of The Gnu’s Room. I accepted, canceled my trip to Upaya, and decided to live in Auburn. I went to State College for a few days to spend time with the boys, then headed back to Alabama. I did a poetry reading at The Gnu’s Room on the 12th and attended the store’s fall music festival the next day. On October 19, I posted the final episode of The Jazz Session. I saw quite a lot of music and heard several authors read. Late in the month, my girlfriend and I had our come-to-Jesus conversation about the end of our relationship. At the end of that same week…
With my pal Marie, who plays in a band called HeY!ALLigator.
NOVEMBER
…I missed Bernie’s 10th birthday, the first of my sons’ birthdays I’d ever missed. Between that and the break-up, I was thinking I’d made a horrible mistake. By Monday, though, I decided I needed to stick it out in Auburn for a while and take a shot at rebuilding my life. So I made a one-year commitment to myself to stay. I went hiking at Chewacla State Park and at Lake Martin. I went to a Diwali celebration at the university. I saw lots of music at The Gnu’s Room and heard Katie Martin perform several times. I went to Thanksgiving at the home of Tina & Kelley (owners of The Gnu’s Room) and made another Thanksgiving dinner with a friend. And I did the first interview for a new podcast series based at The Gnu’s Room. And at the end of the month I had my heart broken in what turned out to be the real end of the love story.
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| From Christmas In PA (2012) |
DECEMBER
In December I was hired by the College of Human Sciences at the University of Auburn to do web work and create content for the college’s various sites. My first full-time job in two years. I also signed the lease on my first solo apartment in two years. Thanks to some help from a very generous friend, I was able to fly to State College to spend Christmas with my sons. I met several new friends, too. As the year ended, I worked at The Gnu’s Room while the university was closed. I moved into my new place on December 27. And on New Year’s Eve I was on my weird built-in couch relaxing with a cup of tea.
So there you have it. Twelve months of change, travel, love, loss, music and discovery. Who knows what 2013 will bring?
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There’s a Brooklyn-shaped hole in my chest
At night I listen for the sounds of traffic on the BQE.
When my feet hit the floor in the morning
they point, on their own, toward Terrace Bagels,
a quick thousand-mile walk from here.
Buying freshly made tofu from the nice Korean lady;
using one of our woks to make fried rice in my little kitchen;
watching Billy Bragg and Steve Earle on Coney Island Beach;
coming up from the subway next to the church.
These phantom limbs are attached like my arms and legs.
I can feel the sidewalks of Windsor Terrace and
the cobblestoned streets of DUMBO, smell the miso ramen
at Naruto, hear the church bells on our corner.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy the news channels
are filled with photos of the flooded city.
All I can think about when I see them is how much
I miss those streets, those tunnels, those bridges.
12 November 2012
Auburn, AL
Second Cemetery of the
Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
Wedged fiercely into place,
the smallest graveyard in Manhattan
holds its ground against the grid,
mourning its fallen neighbors.
Silence has settled over these stones
where once Portuguese and Spanish
intoned the blessing of Yahweh,
sought solace for resting souls.
An obstinate triangle of rock and dirt
shelters the few remaining markers;
faded, illegible, forgotten.
The families who mourned
lost fathers and mothers,
read Kaddish over the bodies
of brothers and sisters,
are themselves lost like seeds on the breeze.
Perhaps they’ve left this island of
concrete, stone and shadow,
called away by greener pastures
across the river.
Or perhaps they’re speaking English now
at synagogue, lighting candles
to the old bones waiting
patiently on West 11th Street.
2 November 2012
Auburn, AL
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This poem was inspired by a story from scoutingny.com, a blog that all lovers of New York City should read. The photo at the top of this post is also from that site.
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Prospect Park
the ducks are in the algae
the dogs are in the pond
the women are in the water
without their sandals on
I am on a wooden bench
you are in your bed
that’s all I know for certain
and even that’s just in my head
late summer here in Brooklyn
winter’s ending down below
the birds are flying south from here
so that’s the way I’ll go
we say we’ll be together
most days I think it’s true
so look for me at your road’s end
at mine, I’ll look for you
16 September 2012
Brooklyn NY
Hemingway’s mustache
last night at the bar, chatting
she had your name
which seemed about right
for me, a new kind of conversation
the weight of which
depended
from some romcom screenplay
with younger actors
meanwhile on stage everyone is so
self-aware
struggling
to deliver the wit were promised
in the program notes
she said at 30 she feels she must
focus
that it’s too late to reinvent herself
I laugh, say at 39 focus still
eludes me
she grew up in Plains, Montana
a tiny
misnamed
mountain town
I think of the screenplay again
of course that’s how they’d cast it
back on stage they’re blindfolded
pinning cut-out mustaches
on Ernest Hemingway
it’s as easy as that
after all
14 September 2012
New York City
soon
“I’ll see you soon,” she always says
so she doesn’t have to lie and say “tomorrow”
he’s tossing breadcrumbs to the pigeons
so that something will notice he’s there
25 August 2012
Upper West Side
Manhattan
/ / /
I wrote this a couple weeks ago and intended to expand it. Then I looked at it again and decided it was complete.
Leave a CommentUHaul enlightenment
sitting in the UHaul office
trying to be a bodhisattva
two women on the phone arguing
nearly everyone here is fighting
“I was promised this”
“I was told that”
we’re all promised things
we aren’t going to get
the trick is learning to work
with what we’re given
4 August 2012
Grand Central Station
New York City
(July 16, 2012) NEW YORK CITY — The trick to writing a public diary is figuring out how much to tell y’all so you’ll be able to follow along with what’s happening, while not (a) revealing more than I should about my private life or (b) turning this into an open-air confessional. I mean, (b) is what my poetry’s for, right?
I’ve been saying for the past few days that I expected this brief visit to New York to clear up some major questions I had about my personal life. I wasn’t wrong. In the past 48 hours I’ve figured out that I want to come back to NYC after the tour, and I’ve also defined or redefined two major relationships in my life in ways that were both helpful and painful. Those three outcomes will help me plan what happens next, but I can’t say I’m completely thrilled with the way they turned out.
That said, I also feel like I’m getting a better handle on what I’m doing right now. This tour (the part that is ending now and the part yet to come) is stripping away so much of the excess detail and bringing me back to the core of who I am and what I’m about. You’d think at 38, with two children and about a dozen careers behind me, I’d have a fairly clear picture already. You’d be wrong.
I often feel that everyone around me has figured something out and I haven’t. I look around at the people in my life and think they’ve learned how to be happy in their current situation in a way that I never have. I don’t mean they’ve settled for what they’ve got, nor do I believe they live problem-free lives of all-day bliss. I just mean that most of the folks I know appear to be reasonably well adjusted to what’s actually happening. That’s something I’m working hard to achieve in my own life. Meditation is one technique I use. Close observation (through poetry or photos or this diary) is another.
So now I’m at a place in my life where I’m faced with one “Hobson’s choice” after another. Frankly, that lack of choice has been useful in pushing me out onto the road and in defining, at least for now, some sort of path to follow. And so for the moment I’m going to just go with what presents itself and see where I end up. More about that later.
/ / /
Meanwhile, I saw two wonderful bands tonight, neither of which I’d heard of. My pal Daryl Shawn invited me to go to Galapagos Art Space with him. It was my first time there and I was stunned by what I saw when I walked inside. It’s gorgeous! The floor is a walkway through a pond to platforms with tables. Apparently the building is very green, which is cool.
The first band was Loop 2.4.3, a percussion duo. That’s a hilariously incomplete description of the band. Thomas Kozumplik and Lorne Watson made a crazy amount of music on dozens of drums and also vibes, piano, voice, loops and samples. The music alternated between achingly beautiful and thrillingly polyrhythmic. And I loved every minute of it. They were joined by very talented guests for a couple tunes, too, although to my ear the duo music best showcased their skills. The last piece they played really tickled my Phil Collins/Chester Thompson bone, reminding me of their classic drum duets from the 80s and 90s. I’m going to buy Loop 2.4.3’s new album, American Dreamland. If you’d like to do the same, go here.
The second band was Clogs, a quartet that combined classical counterpoint and folk lyricism with the open-space sound of bands like Oregon. (They were helped on the latter count by having a bassoonist as one of the lead voices.) Violist/pianist/singer Padma Newsome’s songwriting was unlike any I’ve heard, with each song even more beautiful than the last. But I’m too in love with this music to describe it. So go buy their records and listen for yourself. I also wrote a poem inspired by one of Newsome’s songs which included the idea of a Hobson’s choice. You can read the poem here.
Tomorrow is my last full day in New York. Then I’ll be in State College, PA, for a month to visit my kids before heading west on the second part of the tour.
(If you’d like to support my tour, you can make a one-time donation and get great thank-you gifts HERE. If you’d like to become a member of The Jazz Session and make recurring monthly or yearly payments, you can do that HERE.)
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(July 15, 2012) NEW YORK CITY — As you can see from the photo above, I figured out a way to get around the country that’s even cheaper than Greyhound. Same amount of legroom, too.
I spent the day in Manhattan today, wandering with a friend from Central Park to Teddy Roosevelt Park to two good vegan places, with a brief detour to Land Of Buddha on MacDougal Street in the West Village. And I realized something: I’m a New Yorker. This is where I want to live.
As much as I loved New Orleans, and as much as I want to spend a lot of time there, it’s New York City that feels like home. It’s been so long since someplace really felt like home to me that I think I should pay attention. Of course I’ve had “a home,” meaning the place where my wife and kids and I lived. But I’m referring to the cities in which we lived. I always felt like a short-timer in all those places, even when that wasn’t true. But walking the streets of New York, I feel like I belong here. I mean, where else can you walk down a street lined with tall buildings that ends at a cliff?
Or find a Pet Fetish van?
OK, that one’s a little creepy. But all in all, I love this city.
That said, I do intend to spend far more time in New Orleans than I did during part one of the tour. And I still have the rest of the country to visit in part two, which will begin in late August or early September, depending on whether or not I make it to the Detroit Jazz Festival.
It does look like I’ll be on my own for part two of the tour, rather than traveling with a friend as I’d thought might happen. Given that I expect to be gone much longer for the second leg than the first, I’ll need to find better ways to deal with the loneliness that hit me a few weeks ago and never really left. For one thing, I need to get my daily meditation practice back. I think staying in State College for a month will help me do that. I hope I’ll be able to then carry my practice into the tour, although I failed almost completely to do that during the first leg.
In the next week or so I’ll start putting together the itinerary for the rest of the tour. But if you’re reading this and you live in the Midwest or anywhere west of that, please consider hosting me and suggesting someone to interview in your town. Thanks!
I’ll leave you with this guy, who looks grim but not unfriendly:
(If you’d like to support my tour, you can make a one-time donation and get great thank-you gifts HERE. If you’d like to become a member of The Jazz Session and make recurring monthly or yearly payments, you can do that HERE.)
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(July 14, 2012) NEW YORK CITY — Woody Guthrie would have been 100 years old today. And there’s no better place to celebrate one of our greatest songwriters and activists than at the place he called home for so many years: Coney Island in Brooklyn.
My friend Kate and I went to Coney Island tonight to hear Steve Earle and Billy Bragg sing and to watch a movie about Woody called Bound For Glory, which is also the title of Woody’s book.
Coney Island isn’t what it used to be, if the stories are to be believed, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind place full of nonconformists, as Nora Guthrie said this evening. There an amusement park crammed with rides that look both fun and harrowing — mostly due to their advanced ages. There are still stalls selling every trinket under the sun, and you can still get a hot dog and Coney Island fries at Nathan’s on the boardwalk. The beach is long and, to my eye, lovely. It’s not the perfect beach you might find in Hawaii or the Caribbean, but it’s a classic Atlantic coast American beach and I like it.
We got some food and set out our blanket in the shade of the enormous inflatable screen, still several hours before the performance and the movie. Woody Guthrie was coming through the big speakers and filling the beach with songs of regular Americans and of hope for a better tomorrow. A tomorrow we’re still working on, all these years later, and who’s approach is even less certain now than it was when Woody was around. At least in my opinion.
Billy Bragg’s advance man, Graham, was a joy to listen to all on his own. He had the perfect tone of voice to get exactly what he wanted out of the sound engineers without ever seeming like a dictator. It was the most entertaining mic checking I’ve heard in quite some time.
Just before 8 p.m., Billy and Steve appeared together on the boardwalk. I love Billy Bragg with a desperate passion. I discovered his music in Tokyo, of all places. My friend Tom Hals had a greatest hits collection of Billy’s music and he asked me if I’d ever heard him. I’d never even heard of him, but from the first few bars of the first song I was completely in love with his songwriting, his lyrics, his voice, his guitar playing, everything.
This was back in 1997, I think, as I was becoming radicalized by my exposure to non-American media and a different way of looking at the world. That process had begun years earlier, in high school, but I had a lot more data to work with by my second time living in Japan. Anyway, after Tom played that record for me, I was hooked and I started buying Billy’s records.
When I came back to the US at the end of 1998, I was lucky enough to see Billy play twice and to meet him, too. In 2000, my then wife and I moved to Brooklyn. That year, Billy played at Symphony Space on a bill that also included Ani Difranco, if I remember correctly. Nora Guthrie was there that night, too. I think she sang a tune with Billy. Later that year Billy played an in-store show at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square during lunchtime on a weekday. I went there on a (cough) long lunch (cough) from my job uptown. I got to meet him and stammer something idiotic and I also got him to sign my copy of one of the Mermaid Avenue records he made with Wilco. It was a real thrill.
But back to tonight. Steve Earle played first. Earle is one of our sharpest and most insightful songwriters, and he showed his stuff tonight with a song of his called “Christmas In Washington.” He also sang Woody’s “New York Town.”
Then Billy performed “She Came Along To Me” and one of Woody’s songs for children about not wetting the bed. For this latter song, he was accompanied by Nora Guthrie (Woody’s daughter) and also by two of his great-grandaugthers, who were just about the cutest kids you’d ever want to see or hear.
Then everyone took part in a rousing version of “This Land Is Your Land,” which should be our national anthem and which stirs me in a way “The Star-Spangled Banner” never could. (And yes, I think we shouldn’t have nations anyway, but if we’re going to, I’ll take Woody’s song any day.)
Woody Guthrie is very special to me. I didn’t really discover him until the 1990s, but when I did he hit hard and he’s stayed with me ever since. And in light of the recent beginning of my tour of the country, reading poetry and interviewing musicians, I’ve turned to Woody’s music again and again for inspiration and comfort and for a kick in the ass when it’s needed.
We didn’t stay for much of the movie — Kate wasn’t feeling too well so we left soon after it started. We stayed long enough to see David Carradine as Woody, which was a funny coincidence given that I’ve been watching Kung Fu recently. I liked Carradine a lot and thought he made a good Guthrie. I’d like to see the movie someday. I’ve still never read the book, either, even though I’ve owned it for decades.
Today also answered some questions about the next phase of my life. I’ll probably tell you more about that when the tour starts again in August. I don’t mean to keep you in suspense, but I’ve still got a lot to process for myself before I start sharing things in this diary.
(If you’d like to support my tour, you can make a one-time donation and get great thank-you gifts HERE. If you’d like to become a member of The Jazz Session and make recurring monthly or yearly payments, you can do that HERE.)
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