Blog From the Road
August 20th, 2009 by Isabel received No Comments »Phil has given us a pretty detailed blog of his and Bobby’s adventures on this Dangerous Summer Tour. They’ve seen old friends in New York, lived it up in Dallas, and even were rejected from entering Canada. With all the highs and lows of the tour it still seems like the boys are really enjoying their time here in America. You can read all about the adventures of Bobby and Phil below in the blog!
Hello from Denver.
Sorry I have not kept you up to speed, its just that we have moved so far so fast. As Rolling Stones, Mick ‘n’ Keef put it so eloquently on Exile On Main Street, “We’ve gone ten thousand miles and been in fifteen states”. Well not quite, but it feels like that…
Bobby Long and I have had a great time since we arrived in the USA on the 25th July. New York was huge fun, meeting up with lots of our old friends and meeting a lot of industry people. I love the energy that NYC gives me. How I don’t fall asleep mid sentence all the time I am there I will never know. However my friend and mentor Ms Vicki Wickham assures me that in her estimation “no one ever died from lack of sleep” and she should know! I seem to survive on about two hours at a time with a quick “rock snooze” mid afternoon! Bobby sleeps like a baby unless he is on a plane, where he would agree I am usually out cold by the time the thing is half way down the run way…
Philadelphia is a place I have always wanted to go to. We had the luxury of being driven there by friends Evie and Sarah (Sarah also designed Bobby’s T. shirts). We arrived to a lovely hot early evening after a car journey punctuated by fantastic old freeway signs offering a “GUN SHOW” and Bobby doing phone interviews for local and national press, or “media outlets” as they call it in LA.
After a quick photo session with Brett Martelli who is our smudger of choice on the east coast, Bobby took the stage at the North Star Bar to a sweaty and riotous welcome. An hour and fifteen minutes later Bobby was soaked to the skin and smiling uncontrollably. 40 minutes later still, we were both tucking into a pair of Philadelphia Cheese Steaks!
Next day we flew to Dallas to play two shows at Poor David’s Pub. Both were sold out and have proved very popular on youtube. I loved it in Dallas, its another place I had always wanted to go to. It was not at all what I had expected. I know it sounds silly, but I have these images in my head of what places around the world will look like. The trouble is that my minds image is generally formed by old 78 records, old films which may or may not involve cowboys and of course by old books. I arrived expecting wood fronted buildings only to find one of the most impressive sky lines any where in the world. It looked to me like the rich peoples of Dallas had hired architects on the basis that they could build a more visually stimulating structure than all the others already in place. It is what I am sure my Americans cousins would describe as “auwsssome”, and I agree. A quick shout out here if I may to Lizzy, Lacey, Amy, Gina, David Card and co and all the other lovely people who helped Bobby and I get through the marathon of late nights and endless taxies.
Austin was hot and sticky, just the way we Brits like it. This was to be the last ever show at Room 710, which is a shame, because it suited Bobby’s needs perfectly and we would love to play there again. Almost sold out, but not quite Bobby had the whole place singing along and sweating as one by the end of his first number. They served Mexican beers in tins there, with a slice of lime delicately placed under the opened ring pull. Nice touch.
However hot you have ever been, and no matter how tough you think you are, or how thick your olive skin, nothing could prepare you for the 118 degree, still, dry, all consuming heat of Phoenix. Especially if you cant get a hire car with out walking three blocks through cacti and rattle snake desert to the nearest Chase Bank! Knowing that the press would be waiting for him in LA, I asked our hosts to drive us to the nearest guitar shop as soon as we got out of the airport. Ten minutes later Bobby was the very proud owner of his first Gibson J200, a true instrument amongst guitars. Gibson have been kind in lending Bobby guitars for the last 6 months, but as recording and touring kick off for him big time, its better he has his very own one to fall in love with.
Bobby played at Mamma Java’s Coffee House in Phoenix. I booked him this show tiny intimate gig because I know how much he has always wanted to play a coffee house like the folk artists of the 40’s 50’s and 60’s that he grew up with. Phoenix felt like a day off for us, it was such a laid back time. This simplicity and laidbackness was only possible because we stayed with some friends of my Dads. Thanks Kay and Joel!
Next up we are back in my new home town of LA. I love it there. Its a place where people from around the world come to do business by the pool. Except if they get any work done, they rarely see any pools as they are too busy meeting and a greeting and shaken’ and a faken’. I avoided all that and steered Bobby towards the ABC studios for the 7news Red Carpet interview and live session. We met Sharon Weisz Bobby’s genius and extremely hard working US press agent in the car park. Sharon was all smiles and humour as she whisked us into the studio to meet her old friend George Pennacchio who was to interview Bobby. You can see the clip here http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/hollywood_wrap&id=6950508
LA is always the place Bobby and I get to hang out with old friends and meet new friends. Both Hotel Café shows were sold out and we turned up each night to a line of people waiting to get in that stretched round the block. Bobby got photographed for the first time leaving the Sunset Marquis Hotel and again coming out of the Chateau Marmont Hotel. Its strange for us when this happens. We expect it at the shows and in situations where Bobby and I are working, but it is odd when your walking down the street looking for the next boozer…
San Francisco is a lovely old town. It feels a bit like the back streets of Chelsea in London to me in some places. Very pretty with a turn of the century feel and some great vintage clothes shops. The day after the Elbow Room gig in San Francisco was our first day off since the 25th July. I settled down to my emails and phones while Bobby and Penny (our friendly personal travel agent and some time tour manager) went out shopping and looking around. We all met up again that evening and headed out for what Bobby and I call “proper food” which is really more about eating at a table with a table cloth and not out of a bag or a plastic triangle box in a plane, a train or a car. Then several liveners and light ales in Jack Kerouac very own Vesuvio before getting to bed very late once again.
The famed stomping ground of Elliot Smith and Kurt Cobain, Portland has a lot of historical nourishment to offer the touring musician with a free afternoon. One of the first people we ran into was our favourite west cost photographer Lisa Serrano who was in town to catch Bobby’s gig and capture a little bit more 35 millimetre magic for us. Bobby had a guided tour of Elliot Smith’s hang outs and places with Trace our new friend who owns the Voodoo Doughnut shop that is chiselled into the side of the venue Bobby played at that night.
Our party was knackered by this stage in the game, so we all sloped off to our beds early and tried not to think about the train journey to Seattle that awaited us at 6.30 the next morning!
The gig in Seattle was one of the best for my dough. Lots of people braved the rain on that dreariest of Monday nights. The venue El Corazon is your classic local live music dive, just as it should be. Friendly staff and door people who give off a sense of humour rather than of a sense of dread. We all loved it and Bobby played a blinder.
Another 6.30am start for the train to Vancouver ended with our arrival at about 1.30pm. We all lined up at customs and it seemed fine. As Bobby and I went through to the sharp end however, we soon realised we were not going to get in to the country. With total professionalism and the utmost politeness we were graciously told that we did not have what it takes and asked if we would not rather leave on the next train for Seattle. This is the sort of thing every artists manager dreads. “Is this my fault”, “oh fuck” etc etc etc.
Happily for me the nice Mr customs man told us that in his opinion we were not to blame and that we would, with added paper work from the relevant venues, have no problem coming back later on in the year.
Huge apologies to every one who bought presale tickets for Vancouver, I have re scheduled the show for the 7th September after Bobby plays Montreal on the 5th and Toronto on the 6th. All Vancouver tickets for the cancelled gig will be good for the new one in September. Donc, tres, tres bon!
What was there to do but get back on the train and enjoy the rather beautiful views on the way back to Seattle. We drank wine as well.
And so here we all are in Denver staying in the glorious prairie surroundings of a private cattle ranch availing our selves of every imaginable facility that such a place can offer. I saw a chipmunk this morning in the garden and rode horses with Bobby yesterday. The two shows that Bobby has played at the High Dive in Denver and at the Loft in Colorado Springs could not have gone better. Both sold out. Both attended by really useful industry people who want to help out and become further involved. But more than any thing these few days of normality have given Bobby and I a chance to recharge and get ready for the next leg of this Dangerous Summer Tour.
We will need every hour of sleep we have clawed back while we have been home on the range. Tomorrow we fly to St Louis. (home of my hero Chuck Berry), we will be met by a person who has booked Mr Long for a private party (in a park!). Straight after the party we will go and sound check at the Firebird Club ready for the show tomorrow night. The minute Bobby comes off stage we will be driven through the night to Memphis where Bobby will record an interview and a live session for Good Morning Memphis at 7.30am. After that we have more press before a quick look round Sun Studios and then back in the motor and off we go to our friends in Nashville, for a kip and some home cooked southern delicacies. How very charming.
TTFN.
Phil
Elizabeth, Denver, Colorado.
Check Bobby Long out now at www.myspace.com/musicbobbylong
