Train from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt, Sunday November 26th 6.21am Two young men are drunkenly walking themselves to a standstill in the wrong direction on an escalator at Dusseldorf’s main train station. They are pretending to check boarding passes of people walking in the more traditional direction. One of them has […]
Hotel Am Brillantengrund, Vienna – Thursday November 16th, 2017 I’m sitting in the cafe at Hotel Am Brillantengrund in Vienna. I like this place. Myself and Clare stayed here last year. It is super relaxed, artsy and cool. The coffee is really great. Leafy courtyard. Minimalist art. And tomorrow I’m […]
Andrea’s Kitchen, Piove di Sacco, Italy – November 7th, 2017 They tell me it didn’t rain in the North of Italy for sixty days. Until I arrived. It has been raining almost constantly since. Italian farmers, you are welcome. Aside from the damp, all is going well so far. I’m […]
Sunday November 5th, 2017 – Terminal 5, London Heathrow The other side of my pre caffeine conversation with four separate British Airways employees regarding my protestations at their new rule banning guitars as carry- on luggage: “I understand, there’s nothing I can do.” “I understand, there’s nothing I can do.” […]
In the van somewhere in Monaghan, September 18th, 2017 ‘Artificial Lake’ has been included on RTE Radio 1’s recommended playlist. Blue and White religion book skies. Scruffy fields. Sheep with blue paint tags. A horse scratching its back like a puppy rolling in the mud. We’re on a narrow road […]
Tonight I return to Dream Away Lodge in Becket. I love it there. Hidden away in the woods in Western Massachusetts it was a former haunt of Bob Dylan, Rick Dank and Joan Baez. It’s a great room to sing in and the proprietor Daniel is fantastic host. Dream Away […]
February 25th, 2017 Cambridge, MA I read somewhere once that eavesdropping is good for writing. Hearing that gave me great freedom and shameless confidence. In eavesdropping. It is unseasonably warm. I’m in a non barducks coffee chain. An hour too early for being an hour early is two hours early […]
February 19th, 2017 – On the Road to Saarbrücken I am in the back of the car on the way to Saarbrücken. Well Saarlouis, outside of Saarbrücken. The sun is trying to shine. Jack Lukeman is on the stereo. Mel and Ulf are driving. I’m feeling a bit tired but […]
RIP Robert Fisher ( Willard Grant Conspiracy) Sometime in the early 2000s Mick at the Pine Lodge in Myrtleville asked me to open for Willard Grant Conspiracy. I was blown away. Robert Fisher’s low vocal accompanied by lush guitar, piano and one Dennis Cronin on trumpet. I went to see […]
February 12th, 2017 On the road out of Ghent to Mehr. Casey Black on the stereo. “Fire, fire, fire, fire in my head tonight.” Roadblocks in Ghent thoroughly confused the satellites and us. Windmills on the E17. The road, not the boyband. Direction Antwerp. Ghent is a fine town. I’ve […]