Shoving Off

Hello all:

We have played our third gig. Things continue to go well, although I must admit, I've been having a problem with jetlag. We have been carrying on in spite of this, and I think we're being well received. Last night we attended a guest night at the very first English folk club that we ever played. The club organizer requested a song that we played that year, which was 2001. The song was "The Crow".

The guest last night was very interesting. He sang everything accapella, and sang a fairly large variety of styles including English musichall, and a John McCutcheon song I'd not heard. He ended the night in top hat and tails singing a couple of very funny musichall songs. He also had a bag full of different objects from down the time continuum that were interesting. We sang "The Crow", and Kristi sang "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya", and "Wish You Were Here Waltz". People sang along, and some people wanted us to sing even more, which of course would have been pretty rude, but it was nice to go down well.

It was Kristi's birthday yesterday. We took our friends here out to dinner at a pub, and they gave Kristi a gift. I had already done birthday presents for her, and this was her second birthday party, perhaps not even her last for the year. I think it was a nice evening for her. Just after midnight on the 13th we made Skype phone calls back to the states, and Kristi talked to a number of people. Skype really works well, and was a lot of fun calling people who knew we were in England, so it was a large surprise for them to hear from us.

I started talking at dinner about times in Alaska, and some of the moments that were notable. It has been interesting to me over the years which moments in my life stand out, as they can be seconds, minutes, hours, or particular days, but seldom larger increments of time. I've thought for a long time that most of our lives are forgotten. I mean we forget most of what happens to us, and even places we've been, certainly people we meet. On the other hand we remember the odd person, who in another circumstance we wouldn't even notice. I think there are a large number of criteria responsible for this selective memory. There came a point where it was obvious that the guests at dinner weren't nearly as interested in my reminisces as I was. That's interesting as well . . . maybe not so much to you. I was talking about a certain day in Cordova, AK. It was a fishing trip, and for me that evening is engraved on my memory vividly. I see the particular beauty of the place we were, but in describing it, it seemed I only alienated my audience as it seemed to them (I'm guessing here) that I was agrandizing myself by describing my experience. The decription was an attempt to bring them along on the journey, but alas, I did not succeed, and moved on to other topics more salient, the food at hand, and the evening coming along.

I suppose that the evening of our first UK folk performance was brought back pretty clearly by last night, but it isn't an evening I could easily forget, as it was a huge inconvenience logistically. I couldn't forget that we stopped in England briefly on our way to Paris to make that one performance, which involved renting a car and doing my first driving in England under the influence of extreme exhaustion, and in a slight state of panic. We met our first booker once again last night, and whatever possessed him to book an unknown American couple, who knows? At any rate, it was the beginning of a big adventure for Kristi and I that is continuing now.

Tonight we will play our fourth date on this tour at Hambledon. We played there in 2008, and were well received, so it should be a fun night. The night before last we played at the Tudor Folk Club in Chesham. We missed a turn on the way there and ended up out in the boonies of England. It's interesting to note that this is in the vicinity of London. The rural is maintained here, otherwise the entire island would undoubtedly be covered in concrete. It was annoying to get lost because we found ourselves in a lovely English country scene, but were unable to enjoy it as we were focused on finding our way, and that didn't allow us much enjoyment of scenery. I find that as the driver, I am not able to much enjoy scenery anyway as roads are often very narrow (and this one was exceptionally so), and the rules of the road are different, and require and enhanced level of attention. I think we got off on a bad tangent with this initial disorientation, as we continued to have difficulty finding our destination. It's a good think we gave ourselves plenty of time, and we arrived at just the right time in the end, but with ruffled dispositions.

The club in Chesham was very friendly, and although we could have used a PA, chose to play acoustic. I think it was a good choice as it very much more puts you in contact with your audience, not having a microphone in your face, and not having to worry about annoying someone with your volume. Of course Kristi is always amplified as she plays electric bass. She is usually too cautious about her volume as far as I am concerned, although I've had to contend with her drowning me out on occasion too. Either situation is untenable to me, as I want to hear us just so. I know that the people in front of us hear quite a different thing from what we hear. I recently had a friend pick up my guitar and play it. I was astonished at what a fine sounding instrument it is. I don't hear at all what those in front of me hear.

It is laundry day for us here in Southampton. Jane is teaching Kristi how to do laundry by hand. There is a machine they're using as well, but Jane insists that by hand is more efficient. Jane grew up early in a household that did laundry all by hand, and had an outhouse - no conveniences. Yesterday we listened to her talk a bit about the role of women in society, the dearth of opportunities that she has experienced, and you could hear the yearning for freedom. She doesn't complain about all of the things that she does around here. She keeps a neat, clean house, does major organization for their folk club, and I always find her charming.

Tomorrow we head off for the Fleetwood FC near Blackpool. We played a festival there in about 2004. It is reputed to be in a very small room, which will be nice for us. The people we met at that time were a friendly lot. I'm sure it will be great fun. We are being treated well, enjoying ourselves mostly having a relaxing time. Keep the home fires burning. We'll see you when summer is a little bit closer.