Brigitte DeMeyer Trio: Holland

Brigitte, Will, and myself landed very early this morning in Amsterdam and are now safely camped out at Joanna’s townhouse in Den Haag. Earlier, while Brigitte caught up with Joanna and Will slept off some travel malaise, I took a six-hour walk that ranged from the seafront and dunes west to the city center, with numerous stops and diversions en route. I credit the multiple cappuccinos I had before 2pm for keeping me out from under the tires of the cycling hordes.

Home-made spaghetti Bolognese and an early bedtime tonight, and tomorrow in Utrecht we begin this quick run of four Netherlands shows.

Coal Train Railroad Update

This week, Coal Train Railroad not only made Time Out New York’s Top 25 Bands for Kids list, but also announced its July 2012 concerts at Wolf Trap’s Theatre-in-the-Woods which mark the project’s second debut for a major national arts institution.  Click here for video from last year’s Lincoln Center gig.

There are more exciting plans for the project that will remain under wraps for the time being.  For now, Katy and myself remain very grateful for this burst of forward momentum and are eager to learn what else the future holds for CTRR.

Brigitte DeMeyer Trio review

Alan Harrison’s take on our recent Brigitte DeMeyer/Will Kimbrough gig in Newcastle from the forthcoming May issue of Maverick Magazine (UK):

Brigitte DeMeyer Trio – Cluny2/Newcastle, UK (review)

Lakou Mizik (Haiti)

As I now expect to be pushing the “record” button for Beken down in Port Au Prince by summertime, I thought it a good time to introduce my friend Zach Niles and his Lakou Mizik project as a little primer on contemporary Haitian music traditions.

Zach, who has become a good friend and invaluable collaborator on the Beken project, is the driving force behind Lakou Mizik, an inventive and heartfelt collaboration between older Haitian musicians and their younger counterparts.  Beken and his son Dickens appear together in this Lakou video performing “Tounen Lakay Mwen ” (Return To My Home).

At the same time, Zach continues to manage the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, the reggae band he discovered in a Guinea refugee camp in the late 1990s.  Zach and his partner Banker White followed the band for three years and co-directed a very compelling film about the band’s  return to their homeland (post-civil war) that you should definitely check out.  The film and album are available on iTunes, and the film streams on Netflix.

King Crimson – Three Of A Perfect Pair 1984

Inspired by a brief encounter with Adrian Belew at the Mercy Lounge last night. I saw this tour at Pier 84 in New York and never heard music the same way again.

Rehearsal Vignettes

Upon arrival, the kids were given a tour of Todd’s sprawling, self-built manor home hidden away on several acres smack in the middle of Inglewood. Highlights included the studio, the “aqua-theater”, the main terrace with firepit and deep-fryer, the horse stable (her name is Cocoa), the guest house, and the open living room in the main house equipped with a stage, lights, monitors, and fog machine.

As the rest of us set up our gear, Shawn amused himself with the blow-gun and discovered that it WAS possible to shoot two darts at once through the tube. A kronk, shank, and tap-tap-testing-1-2-3 later, we jammed on some Sabbath before messing around with the F&J tunes we hadn’t played in twelve (!) years. They all fell into place rather quickly.

The main disruption of the night was a shoot of hay that became lodged under Minty’s fingernail – it took a trip to my studio for tweezers and nearly two hours of diplomacy before she allowed Fleming to yank it out.

Once the tears dried and the bomb pops were distributed, we ran the last tune before gathering on the terrace and winding down the night with cordials, laser pointers, and an open fire. Cocoa joined us briefly for some fresh hay by the fire before Todd and the kids walked her back to the stable (she found the concrete a bit slippy on the hoof).

While comparisons to Villa-Nellcote wouldn’t be entirely accurate, I do like the idea that I can walk five minutes up the road from my own studio, through green urban pastures, to find a horse and a Baldwin grand piano waiting in the living room.

Fleming, John, & Kim Collins

Laura and myself toured with Fleming and John for a period in the late nineties (Fleming’s brother Shawn McWilliams played drums).  In recent years, and with the addition of children to both families, our relationship with Fleming and John has evolved from friends/musical collaborators to friends/neighbors/PTO collaborators.  We still remember fondly those days of catchy, clever, and occasionally bombastic rock tunes, the tiring but rewarding travel, and the fashion…oh, my, the fashion.

This afternoon, children in tow, our F&J lineup is getting together to rehearse for tomorrow night’s reunion performance at “Shine – A Benefit for Kim Collins” at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge.  Along with Will Hoge, David Mead, and numerous other fantastic artists, we’ll be raising money ($15 suggested donation at the door) to help Kim cover her medical expenses after a recent bout with breast cancer, and we intend to go all out.  The key question is not “What’s the set list?” but “What are we wearing?”

Also, F&J have hinted that they may initiate a Kickstarter campaign for a new album sometime in the next year.  Let’s hold them to it.