Blue Lamp, April 30 (Sunday afternoon)

Just in case you didn't get my mass-mailing today. We're taking over the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen on Sunday afternoon for a great day of blues- electric and acoustic. Here's the schedule:

2 pm: doors open
3 pm: solo, acoustic country blues
4 pm: band takes over for two sets.

It's all very complicated, but I'll play a set of acoustic slide guitar based country blues, and probably break out the acoustic lap steel as well. From there we're playng two band sets and making our first real gig as a 4-piece band.

Don't let that last bit slip by un-noticed. We've added a second guitar player to the band after a year of working as a trio. It's great for all of us, opens up some material that we can't play as a trio- covers and originals. Lets me play some harp too.

Another great CD

Just a thought, for those that aren't plugged into Kelly Joe Phelps. I discovered him years ago as a slide player- he's probably the best acoustic lap player around. He stopped playing slide at all a couple of years ago, focusing on his fingerpicking style instead.

The live CD he recorded, 'Tap the red cane whirlwind' is a monster disk, some original songs and a couple of traditional blues from Skip James and the Reverend Gary Davis. Next to the original, I think his version of Hard Time Killing Floor is probably the best around. Cardboard box of batteries is my favorite song on the disk, though.

I'd totally forgotten about this disk- I had it loaded up on my MP3 player and haven't listened to it for a long time. But on my way back home I was sleeping on a long flight and using my earphones as a cheap line of defense against a terminally talkative person sitting in the middle seat. Hard Time Killing Floor woke me up out of a deep sleep in mid flight, and the CD kept me awake until the last note. I won't tell you what CD it was to put me back to sleep.

Ironically enoough, the person next to me had been carrying on a one-way conversation for about 6 hours. Odd how people can do that, no?

Princess Irene

I've been playing that old Leadbelly song "Goodnight Irene" for years. Interestingly enough, it turns out my grandparents (all 4 of them) came to the U.S. at different times on a ship named the Princess Irene. I found this out from the Ellis Island Web Site, which now has all the immigration records on-line. It's a pretty powerful thing to see that someone was brave enough to leave everything behind at the ripe old age of nineteen. Man, I wasn't good for anything at that age, to think they had the presence of mind to make a decision of that magnitude is intimidating.

It's not blues, but on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning it seems appropriate. Hope you all, no matter how you chose to celebrate or what you believe, find a small corner of peace today.

Blues Central, Anchorage on Monday

It was a treat to play with some old friends Monday night at Blues Central in Anchorage. John Clark, Joel Lockman and I held court for an hour or so, playing songs off the new CD. Those guys are top-shelf, and played butts off. It was great. From there, we dragged up Patti Greene, Alison King, Bob Parsons, Special Ed Christenson, Todd Glazer to play. Gary Lamar and Texas Jimmy left guitars at home, too bad! But a good time was had by all.

Odd, but really nice to be back home playing a Blues Central too. Shelby did a great job with the live sound, room was great!

Oh, and the life-saver of the gig? KB! Thanks for the amp KB!

Reunion with Friends, blues style

Back in Anchorage, can't wait to play Monday Night!

Details and photos, for now I'm changing strings and getting re-acquainted with my old national...

I'm all for Airport Security....

But let's stop picking on guitar players, ok?

I'm posting, which means I made it from Aberdeen to Alaska. It took over 37 hours of travel time what with:

1. The computers being down in Aberdeen and my flight out being an hour late.
2. Missing my flight to San Francisco out of Paris by 5 minutes (see above)
3. Going from Paris to Atlanta, and sitting on the runway for an extra hour waiting for 35 other passengers to get there.
4. An extra hop from Atlanta to San Francisco
5. Going as far as Seattle on Thursday and sleeping in the Seattle Airport
6. Arrive in Anchorage on Friday 16 hours late.

All of that isn't really surprising these days, you travel and you get delayed and re-routed. No big deal.

What I noticed is that EVERY time I had to go through a security check I got flagged for a 'random' search. EVERY time. Once in Aberdeen, 3 times in Paris, twice in Atlanta, Twice in San Francisco and once in Seattle. Random. In Paris they even went so far as to take my guitar apart. I was well-dressed and polite until the screwdriver came out and my guitar was turned into pieces while they were closing the door of my flight.

Some interesting observations:

1. Everyone with a guitar got the same treatment.
2. People with Baby Strollers were also subject to random searches.
3. Skanky people slid on by.

I am in complete support of airport security. After all, my baby brother is an Airline Pilot. But I can't help but wonder if we've now instituted profiling against guitar players and young mothers. Odd combination, no?

Sorry, that's my rant for the day.