Interlude

  

Happy Birthday, Bob; Band Books, and the obligatory top ten list; How I spent my vacation;

Groundation is gathering for its first Tribute to Bob Marley tour away from the West Coast. We will miss our fans at places like The Belly Up, The Catalyst and The Mystic Theater this February. Maybe we’ll see some of you in the new places we’re visiting like Howlin’ Wolf in New Orleans, Sullivan Hall in New York, or the opening show at the Flamingo Cantina in Austin, Texas. We’ll also miss Horsemouth and Stephanie Wallace, but we’re consoled by the prospect of seeing vocalist Kerry Ann Morgan and guitarist Will Bernard again. New singer, new drummer, new guitarist, new driver, and new tour manager. The man formerly known as TM, that is the great Nick Harris, is passing the torch to Rich ‘the B3 doctor’ for this run around the contiguous forty-eight.

Like any nine people crammed into a small space together for a long time, the band spent its break escaping to places as far away as Israel and Cambodia. My vacation in Oregon and Arizona wasn’t quite as exotic as Kelsey and Harrison’s, but I had a great time. Everyone seems quite proud to have a working musician in the family, and they’re pleased that with hard work I beat the odds and made it in a successful band.

I had to go to four different cities to see my parents and my wife’s parents, but it was no burden. Family is the root of everything, and I have my family to thank for much of my good fortune. I learned to play the trumpet sitting at the piano with my mother and father. My mother could sight read on the piano, and my father, in addition to playing a decent clarinet, worked to bring jazz legends like Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus to perform in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I was a baby in my mother’s arms Duke visited our house, pinched my cheeks and flirted with my mom’s best friend. I won’t say that that sealed the deal on me becoming a musician, but like I said, family is the root. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are touring veterans, meeting and performing alongside legends like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Josh White, and Jose Feliciano on the folk music circuit in the 1960s and 70s. My wife and I recorded a CD with her father last year.

Sadly, this winter saw the passing of Patrick Colleony, one of our first supporters in Europe, a great friend to the band, and a great lover of music and life to whom we are indebted. Also, in the wake of the Haitian earthquake, I encourage you to treat yourself to some uplifting music. Our good friend Joshua Alo is hosting two benefit concerts this month in Holland. You can find the details here.

This wouldn’t be an interlude if it didn’t contain some random information so I decided to include a short list of the most talked about books on our tour bus in the last few years.

Guns, Germs and Steel, and Collapse by Jared Diamond

The work of this multi-disciplinary scientist has emerged as the one of the most persuasive explanations for the vast differences and disparities between global cultures, their levels of technology, and their role in history. Kelsey and his girlfriend are big on nonfiction; in addition to Diamond, I’ve seen them reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman

The Match by Mark Frost

Frost, who also wrote for cult TV show Twin Peaks, wrote this book about a famous golf match which developed around a boast and a bet. Ryan, Nick, and Mingo are avid golfers, and Rufus is a certified pro, so this one went around the bus like wildfire. Why all the fuss? You’d have to ask them.

Shardik by Richard Adams

The Magus by John Fowles

The Plague by Albert Camus

Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, The Glass Bead Game, and Journey to the East by Herman Hesse

Nothing makes a long drive pass quickly as well as a really intense conversation, and these books have fueled some of our longest and most heated discussions. Harrison and I both love novels that grapple with philosophical issues, and Kelsey and Ryan read fiction as well. Sharing a good book can provide the reservoir of ideas that can make nine people on a bus feel like they’re standing on common ground. Other authors we like include Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, George Saunders, Tom Robbins and Jack Kerouac,

The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene

This highly controversial book uses history and literature to identify the tools used by John F Kennedy, Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe and many others to make themselves irresistible. By chance, Kerry Ann and I were both firm believers of Mr. Greene’s theories, even though his picture of a world of manipulation and deceit should not be confused with the art of love, which is a very different thing.

Here is my personal list of my ten favorite fiction books published in the first decade of the 21^st Century:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

2666 by Roberto Bolano

Europe Central by William T. Vollmann

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

Pastoralia by George Saunders

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

And here’s a photo essay of what I did on my vacation:

My wife, Gillian, loves hiking.

Arizona is one of the most beautiful states in the US.

The desert is teeming with critters like birds...

...snakes...

...and bobcats.

It's also a great place for lovers of art...

...and history.