Onward and outward...

Out on tour in Australia. Time to kill, time to post! This is a shot of a small prop plabe we were in. VERY small. But the phone scanning speed is slower than the prop, so you get these amazing image results - incredible really...


This next place was in a hellhole of a town, called Newcastle, Australia. (Motto: Proudly Novocastrian!" Not too catchy...) This establishment had gone out of business, I wonder why...



Another great sign, outside a pub here.
In my thinking, this probably means to a lot of people "THAT is the place I want to go!" or it becomes the FIRST choice of strippers and drug dealers in the locale...



This is how my day today started - we worked and got in around 1:30 AM to the little Travelodge we are in. And have to wake up for lobby call to get on the bus at 4:40 AM! Ouch. Very hard. Then fly at 6am to another city, drive to venue, set up, wait for show, pack and get to next hotel around 11pm. Not all work, but not your typical life, is it?

Alright, I will....

On another trip home I shot this from the plane window: HERE shows where my apt. is... weird to find it from this wide a shot. Puts it all in perspective, and explains the parking issues.


It might NOT be so impressive now when you hear people say "We're playing the Hollywood Bowl!"






Kitchen table aftermath of Monica's sister's birthday in Oklahoma City; drinkers of ALL kinds.






The (in)famous Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport. They lost about 20,000 bags the first day it opened, just last year. Yikes. But this was even more chilling - the 6th floor up has GLASS floors going to the elevators. Psycho. I know many people (Hi Dad) who would never go near that.

They don't really have earthquakes there, either, but we Californians always think of places you would not want to be in one - Terminal 5, above OR below!

Mmmmm.... dessert at my fave restaurant - Andina in Portland.

WhiteWater rafting....

I was up in Canada for some shows. We had a day off and I got invited to go whitewater rafting the next day. My mind said "NO!" so I said "yes" (this is a new theory I am learning to try). Minds are overprotective watchdogs that worry when there is no need.

Or is there? We were in the mountains, beautifully covered in snow and ice, about 6 hours North of the US border, past Calgary. The rafting adventure was for "advanced" - so, as the 3 of us were all beginners - we felt bold enough to try. Hmmm....

We asked one ranger "what's the worst that's ever happened?" (minds again) The ranger said "someone sprained an ankle". But once in the raft, the same question to a new guide returned "Well, one guy fell out of the boat last year, lost his helmet and we found him drowned a while later. Maybe a headwound or heat attack or something." So.... one person's idea of 'worst' is "sprained ankle" OVER "dead on the bottom of a river"!

What it looks like there when calm (none of these are my photos). I was desperate to hang on or paddle.

Even more tour pix...

DEFINITELY a movie I would want to go see...


This sign (in Munich/Munchen) means "Joe Jackson descending here"...



You know when people say "that guy in the middle pic looks just like you",
and you say "No, it doesn't!" Well THIS ONE DOES...



Taking pix of the highly foreign countryside in Germany, and THIS happens by the window, I didn't even know it til I developed the film (inside my computer darkroom). I can guess what it is, but I don't like it...

Also in Munchen/Munich, I go to a local record store and - in the front window - they have a show poster from an AIR concert I played there 10 years ago! I asked if they have more or if they would sell it to me. The guy said "No! That's mine - it was a GREAT show...."
And then I told him why I wanted it, but he still wouldn't sell it. (Maybe I can ask The Eels to sell me one of theirs)

More WHO tour pix

As I am houseridden for a bit, I have sorted out a buncha pix from the long long WHO tour. Starting HERE I will post piles of them when I can...


Some more to prove Galstonbury had mud. In excess.
The breakfast we walked a LONG way to get was this yummy concoction; wow!


But it wasn't ALL mud - this is the staging area behind the main stage. Our gear is in the back because we (like the US Marines) are always the first in (7am), and the last out (past midnight).

Capitol Tower

My friend Kevin was here this week - he and I wrote the "Recording the Beatles" book together, and more... We visited our friends at Capitol Records, in the very famous landmark building. Of course, never ones to decline an invitation to the roof of anything, we went UP....

My week in photos...

I saw a huge internet celebrity on my way to work - Mr Peter Pan!

Had to pull over when I saw this.... anyone who knows Alan would laugh.

The TShirt booth at a Cluster concert....


Iron Maidens (female Iron Maided tribute band we saw - truly great fun)

Glastonbury Mudfest !!

We played at the UK's most (in)famous festival; Glastonbury. Great crowd and lotsa great music. But the MUD was SO SO SO SO bad. Not that they can control the weather, but pick a better place for it or something... imagine walking through 14" deep chocolate pudding,


Catering tent for the rock stars and crews. Yuk.
Orchestral players near the stage!
Backstage for the rockstars - a nice walkway!
7am (our load in after leaving Liverpool at 2 am!). Good thing the breakfast tent was over a mile away. Yum.

40 Days in the Desert

Well, a week. But it was longer than I've ever had to spend out there. My great friend Annica took me in, her home is right up against the hills (next door to nature). It is a quiet and comfortable retreat. We get along great and she introduces me to her nature-based neighbors of the animal kingdom. They creep down from the hills and check out the water (or smaller critters who came for water - that old story...)

Here you will see; the house, the hill, two bobcats, some local color, the top of a hill I hiked where there was a bench.House from front, then from the hillside above...
James, the beautiful bobcat.


An old mother bobcat perched up high...



Local color...

The bench! If you look closely, it's at the top of a hill/cliff, which falls away on three sides in front of it. Looking towards Yucca Valley...


James, again, on the patio for water...

More perusal possibilities...

Model of Downtown LA at the museum. Pretty good. I can almost see my house from here...
I did not stay here, and I did not show you the full logo they have. Better.
Somebody brought their Honda Civic to sell at the Auto Meet. Easy to transport I guess...

Timing is everything.

Just look at the TIMES I put all these posts up. Hmmm....

Onward... to the future!

PINBALL Wizard is SO passe now....
(looks like Roger!)
























Miss Lisa Jane Persky, nee Miss Lisa Jane Persky-Zax, looking cool preshow at the Hollywood Bowl. Of all the Hootie shows we saw this year, this one was in the top 30...





















Me, recording in 1733 at the Ben Franklin studio
(anyone know this reference?)