Ugh. I feel iffy. Exhaustion and too much interesting food, not enough sleep and running night after night after night is finally taking its toll and my belly is aching and I’m more tired than I’ve been in a long, long time.
Since we’ve gotten to Houston we’ve had a really amazing ride. We’ve fallen in with the right crowd, sold out of CDs and generally worked our asses off. Now we’re biding our time till we hook up with another box of Fifth Circle in Austin where we’ll be staying with one of my brother’s friends while wandering SxSW. I’ve heard a whole lot of good things about this festival, and whereas before I was mostly showing up early just to see Amber Rubarth, now I’m really eager to see this monster festival and the city of Austin.
I fear that whole parking thing, but it’ll be cool to wander. We’ve played every night for a couple of weeks, I think, and we’re finally taking a day off today. I Love my job, but at the moment I’m a little burnt-out. I had a hard time mustering the flash and smile I needed to be talkative and interested and interesting and listening last night even though, for the third night in a row, soooo many of them have been interesting and worth listening to.
I’m typing at my brother’s apartment in Houston, Texas where Heather is trying to put a hat on Pica (my brother’s dog). Pica is actually more interested in her underwear and yarn and keeps running off with both. Watching Heather chase her and watching Pica’s self-satisfied expression really brightens a rainy day.
And rainy it is – I actually had to move the Saturn because the street was flooding. I found high ground, occupied it with the tour mobile, and now I’m just hoping for the best.
Monday night we played at the Mucky Duck, and despite my increasingly jaded demeanour, there were a couple of players who simply dropped my jaw. Ryan Forrester was visiting from California – I’ve seen a LOT of tappy guitarists from the School of Michael Hedges and it’s getting pretty old. They tend to maintain similar rhythms, similar demeanours and they tend to be local heroes. This guy blew me away, and of course his myspace page ISN’T a myspace page, but this guy was like watching Flea on a guitar. Amazing slap speed and swift percussive noises followed by beautiful blues swells and screams. I’ve never seen anything like it.
This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Video in the Journal… and on top of that… Heather riding a mechanical bull. Count’em. 16 seconds she rode that puppy at the Houston Rodeo in Houston, Texas.
And then he got out of the way for his friend Dave Ransom who did a killer cover of a martin Sexton song that previously I’d only heard performed by Pat Klink of We’re About 9. Dave did a really beautiful rendition and then went on to do a tune of his own that was simple and simply Lovely. Unfortunately the length of his tunes disgruntled the host a bit and he only got the two songs.
Time was short, but WE were actually asked to play a fourth tune – a huge compliment considering the talent of the night. I’m just basking in having seen some guitarists who put me so far to shame it’s like receding from Betelgeuse at 75% lightspeed.
Blues players especially have been really affecting me – people who really make the guitar cry. I need to spend some time in cellar blues clubs in Mississippi and Chicago soaking some of this stuff in, and then I need to go back to my guitar and back off the speed and find the beauty of the sustain you can draw out of my fine cedar top.
Music is such a spectacular thing – and the Houston singer/songwriter community really has a beautiful warmth to it – but I think I need a couple of nights to myself, and I wish that the business end didn’t supercede the need to just sit and listen.
I’ve spent today running around Houston doing maintenance stuff. I got an oil change, and I finally got to a luthier to fix the crack in my Alvarez. Last night at Cosmos my new-found friend Melissa Sam pointed me to a great guitar repair guy right around the corner from the bar – if you need any guitar-oriented work GO TO Neil Sargent. Call him at 713.869.2588. He is genius. Fast and friendly.
I made it back to the apartment as the waters came down, got the car to high ground and have been hiding inside, watching Star Trek ever since.
It’s the only way.
