Summer slows down
September 5
Bonnie Raitt was in town last Sunday. Its always good to see her - she's so normal. She's a great singer and fabulous slide guitar player - her band kicks real serious stuff and she has a wonderful connection with the audience. But she's normal. Get her off stage and she's normal - just someone you could hang out with. I've known her since about 1979 when she came up to me while I was writing a letter outside a studio complex in LA. I think it was called The Crossroads Of the World, or something like that, and there was a statue with no arms, and I was writing about how that statue would probably like it if his body was finished, when a pretty red haired woman came right up and sat down and said, "Hi, I'm Bonnie Raitt. I'm a fan." There were some tapes of me floating around and she got a hold of one. I barely knew who she was so I probably changed the subject or said thank you, its been too long to remember. But we've know each other since then. She's a great writer too. She's all around smart and talented. And she works all the time. That woman is not lazy!
I had comp tickets and back stage passes so I asked Niceol Blue if she would want to go. Niceol is part of our Buskers' Guild. She was the chair for two years running. She said yes, of course, but could she bring her girlfriend Orla. Fine with me but I only had one extra ticket. Not to worry, Orla assured me, she had good luck with this sort of thing most of the time. I won't go into details but it was all good to go all the way through. And we all got to hang out later on with Bonnie after the show. Joel Tepp was there too. Joel played in Bonnie's band ages ago and also played with Little Feat. He's a wonderful musician and a great guy. And he just lives up the street from me... So we made a commitment to play some tunes together and see what happens. Could be good.
Busker Fest is coming up on the 17th. And I'm on the festival committee so this is crunch time. I can only imagine what its like to put together a larger festival like Bumbershoot or Folklife. This thing is tiny and it still takes the wind out of you. Check out the link: http://pikemarketbuskers.org/ Click on the "festival" tab on the left hand side. And come on down if you can, its a blast! Today we got all the show odors on the stages correct so that the program can be printed. I have a logo to get ready for the Swingside Cafe. Actually, Brad's Swingside Cafe - I should say it correctly. More about that later. People who sponsor stages and so on get special mentions and I have some tasks to perform in that regard. I also have been doing a bit of the publicity work. We may get some TV, its hard to tell with those folks. Also radio. All the press releases are out.
Before I forget, somebody put up a song of mine on YouTube. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." It's pretty cool. I can barely watch it because I have a modem but if you have cable or whatever you won't have any problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slt0Iq72MY8
I'm going back to Taiwan and I'm really excited about that! I was there for a festival last December and now the same people are putting on another festival in Taipei in October. It's very interesting to be there - the people are wonderful. And its such a liberating experience to be in a place where they don't even use an alphabet you can recognize! All you can do is laugh. It challenges your trust in humanity. I'll write more on this later. Right now I have to sleep... I'm cleaning out the garage and that, let me tell you, is a major excavation.
Bonnie Raitt was in town last Sunday. Its always good to see her - she's so normal. She's a great singer and fabulous slide guitar player - her band kicks real serious stuff and she has a wonderful connection with the audience. But she's normal. Get her off stage and she's normal - just someone you could hang out with. I've known her since about 1979 when she came up to me while I was writing a letter outside a studio complex in LA. I think it was called The Crossroads Of the World, or something like that, and there was a statue with no arms, and I was writing about how that statue would probably like it if his body was finished, when a pretty red haired woman came right up and sat down and said, "Hi, I'm Bonnie Raitt. I'm a fan." There were some tapes of me floating around and she got a hold of one. I barely knew who she was so I probably changed the subject or said thank you, its been too long to remember. But we've know each other since then. She's a great writer too. She's all around smart and talented. And she works all the time. That woman is not lazy!
I had comp tickets and back stage passes so I asked Niceol Blue if she would want to go. Niceol is part of our Buskers' Guild. She was the chair for two years running. She said yes, of course, but could she bring her girlfriend Orla. Fine with me but I only had one extra ticket. Not to worry, Orla assured me, she had good luck with this sort of thing most of the time. I won't go into details but it was all good to go all the way through. And we all got to hang out later on with Bonnie after the show. Joel Tepp was there too. Joel played in Bonnie's band ages ago and also played with Little Feat. He's a wonderful musician and a great guy. And he just lives up the street from me... So we made a commitment to play some tunes together and see what happens. Could be good.
Busker Fest is coming up on the 17th. And I'm on the festival committee so this is crunch time. I can only imagine what its like to put together a larger festival like Bumbershoot or Folklife. This thing is tiny and it still takes the wind out of you. Check out the link: http://pikemarketbuskers.org/ Click on the "festival" tab on the left hand side. And come on down if you can, its a blast! Today we got all the show odors on the stages correct so that the program can be printed. I have a logo to get ready for the Swingside Cafe. Actually, Brad's Swingside Cafe - I should say it correctly. More about that later. People who sponsor stages and so on get special mentions and I have some tasks to perform in that regard. I also have been doing a bit of the publicity work. We may get some TV, its hard to tell with those folks. Also radio. All the press releases are out.
Before I forget, somebody put up a song of mine on YouTube. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." It's pretty cool. I can barely watch it because I have a modem but if you have cable or whatever you won't have any problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slt0Iq72MY8
I'm going back to Taiwan and I'm really excited about that! I was there for a festival last December and now the same people are putting on another festival in Taipei in October. It's very interesting to be there - the people are wonderful. And its such a liberating experience to be in a place where they don't even use an alphabet you can recognize! All you can do is laugh. It challenges your trust in humanity. I'll write more on this later. Right now I have to sleep... I'm cleaning out the garage and that, let me tell you, is a major excavation.
posted by Jim Page at 11:55 PM
1 Comments:
Great story Jim...
And BACK to Taipei...?
Wow, some people really get around!
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