Kansas City

Short after waking up with a slight beat in my forehead I’m on the road again. It’ a long drive and the sun is burning down. I wish I had a working AC and a white car instead of a black one but so far it’s been really good to me. Around noon I stop for breakfast in a small village about 15 miles off the main highway. Two musicians play some jazz and I enjoy listening.

One hour later I’m back on the highway. It takes longer than expected until I finally see the Kansas City skyline.

I get lost in the maze but find my way back to the Westport Coffeehouse Theatre just in time to have a Latte and set up.

It stays pretty empty most of the evening but it’s a paid show.

The barista's Will and Esther are very nice and each one buys a CD. Tom the owner also really appreciates my music and we have some good talks about music in general. I play until 11:30 pm, pack my car and am back on the highway. It’s a very long haul to Denver and I want to get in as many miles as possible before the sun comes up but after two hours I can’t keep my eyes open and have to rest a little. An hour later I’m back but only for another hour before I have to stop again.

The Great Big Sky

It’s an early wake up around 7 am. Lea and John are already busy in the garden. I visit with them and get some radishes for the road. John roasts the coffee for the Coop and they just got some Fair Trade Guatemala Beans. It’s interesting because I’ve never seen green coffee beans.

After I say goodbye I go to the Penny Lane Coffeehouse for breakfast. I meet the same people as yesterday and it is a family, Randy a schoolteacher and musician gives me his latest CD for the road

Then it’s time to say goodbye. I really like Heidi and Paul, they created a wonderful Oasis in southern Indiana.

I make a quick stop at the Library to check my email, somehow the WIFI at the Coffeehouse was not working for me. It’s a beautiful day and it’s very hot outside and even more inside my car. I wish I had a working AC. I have to have my windows and roof open and so it’s kind of loud. With my short hair flying in the wind I pass by that beautiful field of yellow again.

Then I hit I64 straight to St Louis. I don’t play tonight but want to make some miles towards Kansas City. Look at that great blue sky! It’s fascinating and I start writing some poetry in the car.

All over sudden I realize that I’m running out of gas and there is no service in sight. I slow down to make it last longer. Not one minute to late I see an exit with a gas station.

A couple hours later I’m passing through St Louis. The traffic starts to get denser and the heat drives the sweat out of me.

It takes several hours before I clear the city and I’m toast. I need a Motel soon and don’t want to drive any further. I find a cheap one with a little Italian restaurant (well, not really Italian, more for truckers.The Cesar/Chicken salad is a pure nightmare and I have to rinse it down with several Budweisers. Then I start talking to James, a highway worker who also stays at the Motel. We buy beers for each other until we sing fragments of our favorite songs to each other.

Luckily the dive closes early and before I hover out I take another photo with James and the barmaids.

I fall into bed and wakeup a couple of hours later, still in my jeans and the TV running. I’m a bit embarrassed but then again it was a great social study with me in the midst of it.

Hang low

Today is my off day and I hang low - no photos, just Coffee, Email and a movie (MI3) later on (no clue why I did that) I stay with Lea and John this night. They have a wonderful old house with lots of rooms and a food COOP.

Kentucky Detour

I wake up with a slight headache from the smoke yesterday. I’m not used to that anymore. Another famous one arm shot with Kevin before I leave his house.

I find a little coffeehouse with wireless and do my biz for a couple of hours.

I play in southern Indiana and the drive should not be more than 4 hours. I have to cross the great Ohio River into Kentucky - my first time!

Somehow I miss a turn and end up going straight South towards Lexington. That’s a good 120 mile detour and another 2 hours on the trip. Luckily I also cross a time zone and make up one hour. Here is a pic of Louisville, KY

I arrive in Evansville, IN just about in time to set up. But before that I tale a quick stroll around the block to stretch my legs.

Heidi, the owner and Ross, tonight's barista are very nice and welcoming and create a great atmosphere where everybody feels at home.

I have about 12 listeners and feel good about it. It’s again about the quality not the quantity of the audience. Heidi and her husband Paul invite me to stay the night at their house and we chat until late hours.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

The motel was right next to a railroad so I wake up quite early and get going again. It is still raining and slowly I’m starting to be affected by that.

I haven’t had a breakfast yet and just take an exit on the highway. It says Jeffersonville or something like that. Did I mention Twilight Zone yet? Gosh it’s scary, there is a huge mall with simply nobody there. Everything seems deserted and boards are nailed across the windows. Do I ever get out of here?

I’m glad when I see Cincinnati. I still have some fond memories of the last time here where I played a contra dance with Jamie. It’s different and downtown is pretty depressing, well maybe it’s me. It takes a while before I find some good coffee and a muffin I feel better and see actually a cool building close to where I paked my car.

I drive out the venue which is in another mall.

The staff is really nice and Kevin, who got me the show is a great songwriter who just got a publishing deal in Nashville and is now going back and forth between TN and OH. It’s a bar style show but the people seem to enjoy my songs.

Kevin and me play alternate sets from 7 pm to 11 pm and the last one we jam together.

When we’re done we take a picture with the owner mark and the staff.

Kevin, his friend Neil and me are going out to another club in town to see a great salsa band. They’re cooking and the room is overflowing with dancers. I love watching people salsa dance. It must be the most sexy dance around and a lot of the people there are really good. It’s also mixed ages which I like a lot.

Twilight Zone

I get an early start from Jenna’s house going to Columbus, OH. It’s pouring again and my wiper can’t keep up with the rain

Driving is certainly and adventure and especially if big trucks pass you with more than 75 mph. This one was crazy, he almost crawled in my trunk before he passed me and made me blind for some seconds. I was just holding the steering wheel straight hoping there is no curve in the street.

That’s my usual facial expression. The guy on the other pics is my double!

Coming into Columbus is like driving into a twilight zone, There is no one on the street and I feel like in one of those movies where you wake up after everybody else was snatched by aliens.

Billy is already at the club 202 and sets up the PA. He’s a very nice guy and good singer songwriter. Here is a picture with everybody on the bill including Molly & Grace.

Jamie the owner had agreed to open the venue on Sunday to try out a show. I thought that was great to facilitate that!

We get some people there and play the first half kind of like a house concert all acoustic close to the audience. I love that! The second half is on stage and amplified because more people are showing up and it makes sense to get the PA going. This time nobody offered a place to stay so I pack up after the show and start driving out of the city towards Cincinnati, my stop tomorrow. I find a motel 6 and hope there is some food somewhere but everything is closed already and I go for a beer, chips and snickers. That’s bad, I know but I’m starving!

Being on the road can be strange sometimes and it takes me a little time to relax and get in a positive mind setting. Eventually it is ok and I’m fine with the way the day worked out.

Steel City

When I wake up I feel transferred back 15 years when I played with my band Moka Efti at a German farmhouse and we all slept in one room with bunk beds. I go down to the kitchen and grab cup of coffee. They already started preparing food for lunch. When I’m done I pack my guitars in the car and work on the computer. It’s almost noon when I realize that I’m supposed to play a 5 pm show in Pittsburgh. I thought it’s 7 pm and dash out the door. I drive faster than usual and average about 75mph and it’s raining again.

The shadow lounge is right next to a huge church in a kind of funky neighborhood.

Like on the train in Brooklyn I’m the only white dude around but I don’t care and so does everybody else. The venue has a great atmosphere and I’m looking forward to the performance.

The two owners Justin Strong and his friend Tim are very nice and created a little oasis in the hoods that is slowly starting to pick up.

They have mostly Hip Hop acts or full dance bands and I’m an exception. For sure there is nobody in the club at 5 pm and so we wait. I give Tim a guitar lesson outside and we sit in the sun who finally decided to peek out between the clouds. Justin didn’t get anybody else on the bill so I can start whenever I want. Jenna, Abby’s cousin who lives with her daughter Gab and husband Jeff in Pittsburgh comes by for my rescue. She and Ivan, a gentle spoken African American are my only audience besides the owners and the staff.

I do about 4 of my original songs and then start jammin’ out with Dahu, a local drummer who’s playing with his band at midnight.

By that time this venue is probably cooking over with people. However, I made some good new friends and they respected what I was doing despite age and cultural differences.
Around 10 pm Jenna leads the way home through downtown Pittsburgh.

It’s a 15 minute drive to her home and have to pick up Gabrielle her daughter who spend the evening with her grand parents. By the time we get home it’s about 11 pm and we chat until 1 pm before we all go to bed.

Leaving the City

This is my last morning in Brooklyn and I gather all stuff together and get ready to drive again.

It’s raining this morning but as soon as I get over to New Jersey the sun comes out and by the time I drive across the Bridge into Delaware I have a blue sky.

Maryland is beautiful and it feels good to be surrounded by green again. I loved NYC but the again…

The concert today is at a little community that lives off the grid somewhere in the woods. I get lost between “York RD” and “Old York RD” and end up driving about 30 miles in the wrong direction. It’s a long driving day but at least it’s a beautiful day.

The people at Heathcote are very nice and inviting and their community house has a wonderful room for the performance.

I have between 20 and 30 people there and am very inspired to have a good audience that really listens. It can be so simple! Here are Paul and Dana just showing me around.

After the show I talk to a lot of people and feel great being connected and having made so many new friends. At the end of the evening we take one last pic with everybody that stayed.

The community has some bunk beds in the upstairs and I’m glad to lay down and get some rest. Somehow I’m very tired but happy.

Disoriented

I have a little headache when I wake up from partying a little too much, well there has to be some Rock’n Roll. After a couple of hours of email and biz I get ready to go to my students house in uptown Manhatten. Frrom Andy’s house ot’s a little walk to the subway.

I have to change trains several times and somehow I get disoriented and take the 2 train in the wrong direction. I’m slow processing and only realize it when I reach the last station in Brooklyn 25 minutes later. When I take the train back I’m the only white dude and it’s actually kind of funny. I have to get out at 96th Street and take a cab to Riverside Drive. All in all it took about 2,5 hours in the subway to get there – well including my little detour.

Shiro is from Japan and works as a translator. He wants to learn DADGAD tuning and somehow found me online and got in touch. He lives in an apartment on the 11th floor and from there I can oversee the Hudson river.
After a 2 hour lesson I make my way back to Brooklyn. This time I get into an express train and fly by my exit – darn, not again. Four stops later I can take a train back. I says local which means it stops at every station, not just at a few. It is another Express and this time I pass by in the other direction. What’s wrong today? I’m quite exhausted when I finally reach Andy’s house. I have to get myself ready to leave for the Vox Pop pretty soon and just have time to have a little bite with Sheila and Calli.
The Vox Pop is only about 4 minutes driving away but I get totally lost and it takes me about 45 minutes. I can’t believe that, I’m usually pretty good with directions. Jeff Jacobson a Singer Songwriter from NYC that I invited to share the bill is already there. He’s a very nice fellow and a great writer, so I get to enjoy some good music.

After the 4th song I get up and play with him the rest of his show. Then Tom and me go on.

It’s a nice atmosphere and I like the combination of books, coffee, beer and friendly staff. After the show I hang out with some of them and share some more songs off stage. The guitar makes the round and several of them play a song or two for me.

It’s getting real late and I need to go back and get some sleep. Again I get lost and can’t help but laughing out loud – this is pathetic and it’s amazing how disoriented I’ve been today.