Just back from hearing a great singer/songwriter. Eliza Gilkyson. From
california (or Texas) She was phenomenal and had a couple of great
musicians, one of whom was her son on drums. I was particularly
interested to see the dynamic and it looked pretty smooth. I was most
interested to observe that, because I intend to get into some music
projects with my son Joel who's about the same age. Except Joel and I
will be doinf something entirely different than what I've been doing.
It will be an interesting side project - and likely have more popular
appeal than my rootsy stuff.
Opening for Eliza was the winner of the OCFF Songs from the Heart
contest (which I enter every year - with the *same* song). Her name is
Michelle Rasky and her winning compsition was very deserving. I told
her she beat me fair and square. All her tunes were quite involved
musically and lyrically. In my own songwriting I'm always thinking I
should change it up again - and a bridge..some new chords. I could have
made three songs out of some of her more elaborate pieces - there must
be someplace in the middle where you can keep things moving - keep
people's interest up. Then again, if it's not helping keep people's
interest up, better to just stick to one chord or one idea.
While I was in Provincetown I got word from the record company that our
FACTOR loan is approved so now we have to get into mixing mode -
pronto! In P-town, I went out on a whale watching expedition and got to
know a couple of whales. The boat makes its way out to the whales'
feeding area and it doesn't take long till you see one surface and blow
out a column of mist/breath. Then the boat would get closer because
they knew he/she would be back up for another three or four breaths and
sure enough the whale would re-appear a little further (or closer). The
captain of that boat was very good at guessing where the whale would
pop up and we had some great looks. We would stick with one whale for a
half-hour or so, then move on and find another one. It was an
education and I was just thinking today that I should have been
concentrating more on "communicating" with these guys but I was just
standing there in amazement. Now that I think about it, I must have had
some psychic link because I was always looking the right way when they
popped up for air. The only time I missed one was when I was at the bow
and he popped up right behind our boat.
I brought my guitar because both Linda and Joel knew places where I
could sit in but when it came down to the crunch, nobody was about to
invite this old Canadian bluesman to jump up onn their stage -
certainly not in the first set. I kinda knew that, in fact I'm
naturally reluctant to have someone I don't know sitting in with me
when I've got a gig - though I might do it at the end of the evening.
Anyway, I did get to play some of my new tunes for Alice Brock who is
an icon of the folk music scene (remember Alice's Restaurant?) and she
cooked us a big dinner, too. Even made sandwiches from the leftovers
for our trip home.
Still hoping to set up some gigs in New England for next year - One
club was willing to give me a couple of dates so I could apply for the
visa ahead of time (and not get hit with the "expedited processing fee"
of $1000. US)