320 flights cancelled out of Heathrow and at the last minute, mine wasn't. I was meant to be home for Christmas and I am thankful. I was going to attempt to make a hockey rink in Kennington, which is a bustling suburb of Oxford, however I believe that plus 0 temperatures would have detered the progress. After 16 hours of travel i made it home to snow, -15 degrees, and furry animals. Yay!
The last two weeks in the UK were splendid with only one disaster. Whenever the word "Cambridge" comes up in conversation, I twitch. I will spare the details except for the flat tire at midnight. We drove away from a bustling night and then heard an all too familiar noise- similar to a military helicopter about to land on the roof. It was a flat tire and we all cringed at the thought of unloading all of the gear in order to find the spare. Usually in this situation, i take the perverbial bull by the horns and get down and dirty, but this time Hamish and G strapped on their powertools and went to work while I cheered from inside my parka. Well, long story short, the tire iron didn't fit the nuts and so for 2 hours we tried to get the nuts loose with no help from the good folk of Cambridge (twitch). Then finally a good gent from the neighborhood pub offered up his tire iron and finally the nuts came loose along with G's and Hamish's due to feezing temperatures and we all cheered. He then offered up a gig and we said no but thanks and were back in Oxford by 5 am thanks to G's expert driving.
Other highlight shows were the Borderline in London and The Jericho in Oxford. Thank you Charlbury and Weston-on-the-Green for coming out to support the show. You guys are the best!
Thank you to Dickie for the great tour of Real World Studio again. I love your Camobodian blues players! My goal is to lock myself away in the piano room for a week and write the new album. Joby and my manager, Theresa, came as well and we then proceeded to hang out at Tchad Blake's studio. I love his gear! He has Billy Gibbon's old white Fender amps from the 50's! I was in seventh heaven. You all have to check out the new Los Lobos record and hear Tchad's magic!
The last two days in the Uk were spent recording at Mick Glossop's 'Magazine Studio' in London. We put down three new tunes including one brand, spanking new one that hangs in 7/4 time. Yes I get bored of 4/4 and step out of the box. I found G some ham and Hamish some chocolate and we managed to have one heck of a session. It's important to know the things that make your band click...ham and chocolate. Thank you Mick for recording us and letting us use your high class facility. Thank you to Crate Amps and John Henry's for my kick ass sound!
I now have 3 weeks off and am going to relax and hang out with my cows, horses, chickens, dogs, cats, and family. Oh, and check out page 118 in the January issue of Shape Magazine. It's a start....
