Went to a reading by my good friend Sari Botton today at
Housing Works on Crosby Street.
Sari is an extremely gifted writer and I do whatever I can to support
her. It’s a breath of fresh air to
attend an event that involves a friend that isn’t music related (although I
love going to see my friends play music as well). The topic was essentially NY
apartment nightmare stories.
I tried my hand at film making! Well, I am exaggerating, but I did film her reading with an
app on my phone called 8 millimeter and it has a lot of fun filters to play
with. I heard that part of
“Searching for Sugarman” was filmed on a phone using this app, but admittedly I
can’t verify that. Anyway, I used
the “70s” filter. It was a great
reading: here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ch55zffr6karpxx/IMG_2251.MOV
In other news, all the artwork for the new cd is done and
promotion for the tour in Europe has started. One of the venues, Kulturforum Weissenbach, posts a picture
of me almost every day and tags me in the post. I must seem EXTREMELY narcissistic. But it’s not me posting… Really, it’s not!
I feel like I’ve been given a 2nd chance with
this tour/new cd. The cd was made
possible by a grant from the Chengzong Foundation. Look it up, pretty cool (http://www.czfoundation.org/) This foundation has given support
mostly to schools but is now branching out to artists. In addition to the grant, the founder
of the Chengzong Foundation took a film class and made a documentary about me
for his class, which is pretty good!
I’ll post that soon. I
can’t believe how lucky I am to have received these gifts. When I was half way through finishing
the cd, I called my European agent (Peter Walser) and said it was time to do
another tour. It had been seven
years since I was last there. And
he agreed.
We have about 15 shows booked plus a few workshops. Peter and the label over there
(Sowiesound) want to record a blues cd with me and the two guys I’ll be touring
with, Klaus Kircher (bass) and Robert Kainar (drums). I can’t express how lucky I feel to have these
opportunities. I’ve been playing
guitar and mandolin for a lot of other folks and subbing on Broadway. I love
doing that and hope to be able to continue. But it is quite an honor for someone to say, “we like your
tunes, we want to market you as a guitarist, etc.” After seven years, it’s a huge honor.
In preparation for the tour, I’ve purchased “throat coat”. The minute I land we start rehearsing
and the tour/recording schedule is pretty intense. I might have a day off in three weeks…I have to really take
care of myself, particularly my voice.
Ok, that’s enough for now. Time to walk the dog.
Ann, it's alway a great pleasure for us having you here in Europa.
ReplyDeleteWe are all grateful working for an artist like you!
(MUSIC ART CONSULTING)