Whirlwind Weekend

What a fantastic week! It began on a thursday to record The Local Show that would be aired on Minnesota's public radio station The Current. I was invited by local columnist/musician Jim Walsh, who hosts a show called the Hootenany in Minneapoils. He get's a handfull of musicans together to do an intimate show in which they all share stories and songs. This was a promotion for photographer Tony Nelson's Hoot photography and pictures artists in there place that they like to do their songwriting. He took a picture of me walking in my neighborhood. I like to take walks and come up with ideas for songs.

The radio show was great. I played a song called Not Quite So High from the new album, which is about hubris, being ego-less, the stress of promoting yourself and the tarot card The Chariot. The song became The Currents "Song of the Day" on June 26th.
You can listen to the entire show HERE.

After the radio show I packed up and headed over to the Turf Club for sound check with Ike Reilly. My good friends were back in town and Ike called me up last minute to join them on leads guitar for the evening (see previous posted blog). We got to go over a bunch of songs and then hit the stage at 10:45pm.

I think the club was sold out. From the stage I saw people backd up to the entrance door!

We played really well and the people loved it. Having been the second official show as guitarist for these guys, I felt alot more comfortable in knowing my parts, so it was mostly having lots of fun and enjoying the moment. After the show, Ike invited me on for the rest of the tour but I had to be in Seattle the next day (or should I say that morning!). We stayed up late and caught a plane out west just hours after the show.

My wife and I flew into Seattle and then drove to Portland for her brother's wedding. We spent some time checking out vintage stores like we love to do (see a previous posted blog) and got to visit the Jimi Hendrix memorial. What a feeling. It was really cool to be standing where his body is. That physical form that been to so many places and "experienced" so many things and was the home to a real unique talent we called Jimi Hendrix. He was a huge insperation to me. Emotion through a feedback guitar changed how I approached my playing. Surrounding the grave were some of his lyrics in his handwriting on big flat marble stones. It was raining. I got out a peice of paper and wrote the first thing to come to my mind, "Love, Always, Love" and placed it on a spot above his graved to be burned into the ether.

Brigid and I took a limo from Portland to the coast with the wedding party. Her brother was passed out while my wife and I shared shots of vodka witha man we called the Mad Russian.

In his thick accent we toasted and he continued to tell us, with many stories, that "life is short". Not sure if I told him my band's name was Little Man. Anyway, when Brigid and I got to be on the ocean beach together, in the wee hours of the morning, we seriously thought about that theme and enjoyed the moment.

Next morning we headed up the coast back to Seattle to catch a plane home. Lots of white knucle driving up and down and around these seaside roads, beautiful view, hardly any sleep. But we made it to the airport just in time, sank into our seats with a sigh of relief and came home. What a whirlwind!