House Concerts and NYC

We've been back in Boston for three days.  I can't explain exactly how it happened (it would take an hour to write down) - but it looks like my truck will be up and running by friday, thanks to my uncle Bill who's a mechanic in Holbrook MA.  I didn't think it was possible - Sabzi the big green Tundra rides again!  We were on the brink of buying a 99 Subaru when we discovered the good news.

The brooklyn show this past Saturday drew a small but devoted crowd including my Cousin Billy, his partner Adam and my friend Hanon.  We had a blast hanging out with them and eating German food (you ever had spatzle?  Don't miss it.)  Earlier that day Hanon shot a three videos of Chris at Billboard.com studios where he works: 2 music videos and 1 short piece of theater that tells people about our house concerts.  Speaking of those, I'm really looking forward to a show I just booked with my buddy Ken Leavitt in New Orleans.  He lives on Avery Island where they make Tabasco sauce and sent us a really warm invitation to come play.

So here's the one about house concerts - another video will be ready soon (Hanon, you kick ass).  I'm editing the other one...don't hold your breath...

Baer's Den of Wonders

Chris' friend Gretchen from Bisbee AZ arranged for us to stay with her folks while we played our island show; Jackie and Gene Baer were a fascinating pair.  Their lives were full of painting, sculpture, music, writing...and their home was like an incredible museum (sort of a fine art museum meets an antique store meets a children's playhouse.)

Join me on a brief trip through their wold of fantastic imagination...

Jackie and Gretchen decorated a whole table with treasures from a local MV institution "the dumptique" and glued them to a table:

and when she was done, a truly magical land spread over the garden...

Gene was, among many other things, a children's book creator.  He opened a treasure chest full of books he had made by hand, some of which had been published and some of which hadn't.  This one was made of hand cut paper shapes

And before we left Gene sang us an amazing husky piano blues about how you can't get any love if you eat onions before you come over.

Jackie and Gene really inspired me; they are both so committed to doing things they love.

Martha's Vineyard

This moning we got a ride with a woman named Treather from Martha's Vineyard to Boston; now we're riding with Senayit and her family to DC. Had a Reubin at Rein's Deli in CT. Napping...

(from the Che's Lounge show last night)

Ford Wagon

It's almost 1AM and we just finished our show: another great one. The truck crisis took an incredible turn tonight; more on that tomorrow. Sleep beckons...

***time warp***

It's the next day (well two days later; 2AM in Washington DC) - the new truck development went as follows:

 at our Che's lounge show in Vineyard Haven I was about to go on stage...when I looked over and saw an old friend - well a family member really.  Sharon's dad was my stepfather for most of my teen years, a wonderful man named Gene.  Anyhow, she caught our show and we spent the night catching up...and after she heard about truxplosion 2010 she told us she had an '66 Ford Falcon Family Wagon that had been sitting in her and Mic's driveway for two years - and that we could have it if we wanted.

As you can see, it's a beauty.  It killed Chris and I to have to turn her generous offer down.  But it needed a little more work than we were prepared to put into it.  Now Sharon is investigating other car possibilities for us, which I appreciate so much.

Martha

As requested by the website What's Up, Martha?, Sandino and I wrote this Martha's Vineyard rap.  Well, he wrote it and I helped a little.  I rhymed Gay Head (a town on the island) with K-Fed:

"When I say Martha, I ain't talkin' 'bout Coakly
Who lacked the chipotle to get enough votes, see
I don't mean Martha Stewart or Nancy Pelosi
I'm talkin' 'bout the Vineyard, y'all rock like Lynnrd Skynrd
My name's Sandman and even though Che's dead...
There's a riot goin' on from Nantucket to Gay Head
I'll be at Che's Lounge just loungin' like K-Fed
Stupid as Scott Brown, but sexier naked"

Thanks to Elsa and Jim for taking good care of us for the night, Elsa made a wonderful homemade pizza and salad.

We hit Che's lounge in Vineyard Haven at 7PM tonight.  Tell your island buddies.

Hog Farm, Seed Pod

Our last two shows represented a major breakthrough for me.  I've finally started to loosen up on stage, feel the music, see the crowd.  The Hog Farm Annex in Biddeford Maine was the best place ever.  Coco and Gil, the couple who run it took incredible care of us - feeding us jumbelaya and muffelatea (a meat sandwich) and put us up for the night in their incredible farmhouse (formally an actual hog farm).  They also run this cool store in Biddeford called Loving Anvil (and they sell Mary Robbins' shirts - the woman who made my tour shirts (see this old entry.)

Gil and Coco are also fine artists; I didn't get a chance to see Coco's work (that I know of) but Gil's paintings are some of the most exciting pieces of art I've seen.  Here are a few I really like:

And this is their daugher Chloe; she's six and plays in a band called Sparklefive.

My set at Hog Farm Annex

We're playing three shows with Senayit Tomlinson (next stop DC...

if we can get there without my truck...) Senayit is an amazing singer and songwritier with a gorgeous fingerpicking style:

Senayit and her daughter Koki

Sandman, rockin' it

We do a few of his hits together

I cooked a persian dinner (with Chris as sous chef) for Senayit, her husband Jeff, her daughter Koki and her mom Sally in Orfard NH

And a few photos from the (awesome) Seed Pod coop show last night in Dorchester.

My friend Ayisha and I communicating on paper (since I don't speak sign language)

And finally the incredible Elizabeth Saunders who put the show on, got Sandman and I paid a nice sum AND managed to come up with quite a bit of extra money to give to our friend Pete's non profit AIDG 

who is involved in the Haitian relief effort.

What a smile!

cell phone post #2

With no truck to take us, Chris and I are hitching a ride with our dear friend Elsa to Martha's vineyard. The tour enters it's second chapter: busses and rides.

Crisis: Truxplosion

After our best show yet at the Hog Farm in Biddeford Maine, the check engine light went on in my truck on our drive to play a Dorchester show in Boston.  It turns out my truck is no longer at all drivable and I need to find out how to get another truck (after months of work I did to be sure that this wouldn't happen)...I am now in emergency mode.  But I will not be stopped.

Home show at the Seed Pod Coop in Dorchester tonight.

Nima on the Radio??!

Played a show in Montpelier on tuesday; my best set yet (but still a little shaky).  More on that soon.  Just remembered I'm being interviewed on WKYRS's Persian Radio Hour on May 1st in Spokane WA - a guy name Sharo does the show, this is him:

Persians, baby.

cell phone post #1

I just foud out that Chris hates Lyle Lovett. It is the first major rift in our friendship.