Back in NYC now for a few days from a whirlwind of a Dutch tour, an excellent outing with the guys and myself playing in Utrecht and Amsterdam wherein the band jelled as never before...ran into my friend Ori Kaplan of Balkan Beatbox at JFK before we embarked and had a nice unbumpy flight over the pond (knock wood for the future...)

Due to a passport snafu Jerry had to miss the first show at the Tivoli...but we made up for his absence in the lineup that night with a firestorming set that alternately skirted the edge of the free improv abyss at times without a total descent into the maelstrom and soared into the blue(s) empyrean (like way over yonder...)--meaning, we had a hell of a good show, considering we parachuted into Schipol Airport in Amsterda, that morning, drove to Utrecht and after parking at the club made show at the Tivoli wioth barely any recovery time (less and less clubs these days throwing in that extra recovery free day...what me worry, I discovered enormous reserves of energy back in the Knit Fac 21 shows in 22 days barnstorming era of the early 90's and learned to operate at full firepower on 2-3 hours sleep...)...Jack Pisters and his crackerjack S.C.A.R excellente trio (hi Jamie hi Victor) opened both nights for us and proved a very complementary opening act for us, they did a real good psych rock set replete with sitar and long hypno-grooves and were fun to be on the road with (plus Jack lent me his Showman and in tandem with his Roland JC-120 I really got a 3-D sound going particularly on my '46 Gibson J-45)...

"The Milky Way Express--ALL ABOARD!" croons an ecstatic Jimi on my favorite (albeit little known) Hendrix jam entitled "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" (a psychedelic acronym if ever there wuz'n, check it out), and sho'nuff our maiden vouyage at the Melkweg next night was a good 'un, Jerry Harrison showed up fit and ready to rock in the company of his lovely wife Carol, and my guy Co de Kloet taped the whole set for NPS and I'm listening back now to a tape of our show composed of equal parts thunder and lightning (such low and powerful drum and bass frequencies as to put one in cardiac arrest), it'll air Sept. 6th over there-- one of our best shows I kid you not!! My band fucking ROCKS (and gyres and gimbols...)

Next day I went down and did an acoustic workshop at the good old Paard in the Hague thanks to my Jack and Marielle for hooking it up, followed by an evening acoustic concert there...and did an interview with Paul Tingen, who wrote a terrific book about Miles Davis entitled "Miles Beyond" (Billboard Books) which is particularly insightful about the great unsung electric fusion period, you can order this directly from Paul at www.miles-beyond.com--and well worth it, do it now-- I inhaled most of this tome on the flight back and it is a must--read--

the next day flew to Paris for my best show ever at the Sunset Jazz Club in Les Halles, an acoustic romp enlivened by my guy and fellow Mod and Gonster ace saxophonist Jason Candler who took the bus from Amsterdam that morning so's to sit in with me (what a trooper!)-- the club had bumped me up into the main Sunside room for the occasion, and the joint got nice and packed, my friend Elli Medeiros looking lovelier than ever sat in on a plangent "Dulce" and an avant-tangent "Skin Diving" from my new album (Elli's in the new Catherine Deneuve flick and is on posters all over Paris)--Melissa Mars had to play a show in Tunisia unfortunately so couldn't make it, but next time...

My French label posse from Production Speciales was there and Christel and Emmanuel really made me feel at home...saw lots of old friends and fans like my guys Mark Lyon and Laura Brunelliere (newly-weds now, I dedicated "Our Love is Here to Stay" to them) and new friends like Herve Bossuat from the French Ministry of Ecology and the Environment...what a great night, played 3 hour long sets and was ready to keep going and going and going, and after the best crepes with nutella and bananas from a street vendor I made my way over to Roy Stuart's atelier (where the covfer shot for the US, French and Russsian editions of "Coming Clean" was snapped) and crashed into an 8 hour trance, most sleep I've had in months, and then had to awaken Sunday morning for an interview which was okay really, nice weather in Holland but chilly damp weather in Paris so stayed in and jammed with Roy whose new movie "The Lost Door" looked really hot on his Avid editing system, new Chinese girlfriend Ellisa cooked us a great veggie meal, and then was back to Amsterdam to pick up my gear and do a little r and r looksee, then home...

but no peace for the witty and last night the Gods and Monsters trio of Ernie me and Billy played a great benefit for Question Mark of the Mysterians at the new Highline ballroom where we ran into Legs McNeill, Danny Fields and Jim Marshall (just re-read Legs' seminal "Please Kill Me"--wotta great book!)...and now I'm off to play a semi-private publishing party for my guy Mitch Myers at Sweet Rhythm, check out his "The Boy Who Cried Freebird" (HarperCollins), gonna play solo and then jam with my friends Sex Mob...a bientot!

xxLove

Gary

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Posted By Gary Lucas to Gary Lucas at 5/24/2007 04:27:00 PM