Monday Travel Day

02010-01-11 | Photos | 6 comments

Cold and rainy for much of Saturday in Naples. This was my hotel room’s window that Morning – from the inside!

At lunch I ordered a Hot Toddy, because I felt quite chilled. The reaction of the waiter illustrated how unprepared Florida was for this winter :-)

He brought a glass with whiskey, a mug with hot water, a honey dispensor, two slices of lemon and some tea and said, the bartender doesn’t know how to make it, but I know these are the ingredients. Maybe you can make it yourself.

Yes, that’s a can-do. I lived in Boston for nearly seven years. And yes, I felt much better afterwards.

Two more shows in Naples on Saturday evening. The Naples Philharmonic Orchestra played in the big hall and they sounded really good. By now we had it figured out. We stayed on stage after the bow for the first show, and left the stage after the bow for the second show. We played an encore both times.

Sunday Morning we woke up in Clearwater. It was nearly freezing, with a bone-chilling wind coming off the ocean. What do I think? I think all those melting icebergs are cooling off the Atlantic. The wind blowing across the colder water is making this an unusually cold Winter.

This was the sign out front:

DM-View of bus in parking lot:



Here is a photo of Michael Chavez tuning the bottom-head of Sunday’s rental drum. He makes them all sound really good and sounds like Laozi when he explains it to me: I am just finding the drum’s natural resonance…

Here is Sunday’s guitar chair:




I like how the cable suddenly becomes visible and have been thinking of little stories I might be able to tell with three or four photos – like this one from Milan last October.

Today was a travel day. We had been warned that Tampa Bay’s airport has no deicing equipment and that it was possible that flights would get canceled. But we got away without a problem. Arriving in Dallas around noon, I noticed the new Rolling Stone magazine cover in a store. Then I sat down and started reading Birds Without Wings and immediately noticed this:

Since those times of whirlwind the world has learned again and again that the wounds of the ancestors make the children bleed.

And earlier in the week I had come across this article in Time about:

At its most basic, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation.

Would Tom Waits find a way to connect these into one great lyric?

Oh, and I also liked this saying, which in a different form I noticed in another book recently:

Destiny caresses the few, but molests the many.

Jon sent me a link to this, very likely the best tour press conference ever.

Paris cafés and nightlife in 1962 – Popwuping
Unplanned candids taken in Paris cafés and nightlife in 1962 – after the runway shows.

Direct link to the slideshow on Flickr.

I was going to post last week’s first rehearsal of a couple of brand-new tunes, but then I started thinking how it might ruin that “brand-new-album-experience”! Or does that no longer matter? I mean our audience in Florida heard three new songs already… and yes, they really liked them!

If more songs magically appear before me, as has been happening, we might record a new album next month or in March, with a possible Summer release (((probably CDs, mp3s via the ListeningLounge, iTunes, amazon and such, as well as HD 24/88.2 FLAC via HDtracks.com)))…

6 Comments

  1. Matt Callahan

    The songs seem to continue to evolve as the recording process moves on so, I don’t don’t think you need to worry about ruining the “brand-new-album-experience”. Besides, who doesn’t like a handful of slightly different versions of a song? :)

    Reply
  2. Ottmar

    While I do enjoy that approach of evolution and discovery very much, I want to use a different approach for the next recording. I want to record the trio live in the studio, like we recorded the “Up Close” album, but without the binaural head. But you may be right anyway.

    Reply
  3. Brenda

    I really enjoyed reading what you shared with us today. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. marijose

    Hopefully they didn’t charge you for the labor of making a Hot Toddy. I like the idea of a DIY bar.

    It’s going to be hard to look at press conferences the same way again. A friend of mine said that one time at a concert Waits started playing a song and during the intro someone began clapping (to show that he knew the song). Waits stopped playing and said, “You can’t know this one, man, I only wrote it yesterday.”

    Reply
  5. Carol

    I think I would enjoy the anticipation of just knowing a new album is coming, and maybe just give us the titles of the songs, etc. and let us have a spring surprise with it all at once.
    But whichever you choose to do, I know it will be outstanding.

    Reply
  6. Panj

    Yes…lil surprise nuggets of Magic…:-)))
    Thanks Ottmar! and Gang…:-)))

    Reply

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