Northern Roots

Hey all-

It’s a busy time- details below, but long story short I did two radio interviews this morning with one more to go, my new CD Soul of the January Hills is officially out, I finished sequencing another CD last night for a June release, I spent part of last week filming my first classical music video and I’m about to go on the road with my buddy Riley Baugus (whom you might have seen the other day on Letterman or The View playing with Willie Nelson.)

SOUL OF THE JANUARY HILLS

The CD came out officially on May 4 and after talking with quite a number of journalists and “fans” (aka people who happen to like the same music I do) I’m pleased to report that people seem to “get it.” I made the album mostly because I love unaccompanied singing and think it’s an intense and immediate way of telling a story, but doing a whole CD of it is also partly a way of throwing down the gauntlet. “You want stripped down? Beat this!” Or something like that. It’s also a way of bringing the voice back to the forefront at a time when, even though the singer is usually a band’s most visible member, the singing is more often than not the weakest link.

It’s customary to thank one’s record label, but I think Appleseed Recordings deserves special recognition for having the courage to release this album at a time when most labels are in retreat mode and trying to find the thing that sounds the most like the thing that sold the most copies last month.

TE AND RILEY BAUGUS (scroll down or click here for tour schedule!)

Riley and I figure we have about the strangest possible combined resumes for a couple of clawhammer banjo players. Riley’s played with Willie Nelson, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and I’ve done the symphony orchestra/hardcore punk thing for starters. We met working on the film Cold Mountain in 2003- you can hear us together here on youtube, although you’ll be looking at actors Brendan Gleeson (my voice) and Ethan Supplee (Riley’s). Jack White was hiding behind a log at this point in the film.

Over the years Riley and I have appeared together at the Newport Folk Festival, done stray gigs in Ireland and the US and shared a tour bus on the Great High Mountain Tour headlined by Ralph Stanley and Alison Krauss. I don’t know what all we’ll be doing in these shows, but it will surely include some harmony singing, some banjo and fiddle, some songs from Cold Mountain- maybe a couple of Willie Nelson and Ramones covers for kicks. Hope to see you at one of the shows!

Riley Baugus

THE OLD BURYING GROUND VIDEO SHOOT

It’s almost out! I’ve been talking about this so enthusiastically for so long you may have figured it was already ancient history. But this time it really is about to come out! I spent two days last week in the Old Burying Ground itself, up in Jaffrey, New Hampshire filming a video for And Pass From Hence Away with composer Evan Chambers and Dorian/Sono Luminus Recordings’ in-house film-makers Nate Rhodes and Strider Jordan.

Photo by Nate Rhodes

Strider filming my boots

A number of people who have interviewed me recently have asked how it was that as a kid I got involved at about the same time with experimental and new classical music, hardcore punk and American folk and vernacular traditions. For a long time I was inclined to hide one or another of these interests depending on who I was talking to, so it was very cool that the guys who came to shoot my first classical music video met at a DC punk show and were blasting Doc Watson on the car stereo when I drove up. We walked among the stones as I performed my first ever lip-syncing, and at one point a baby squirrel jumped on me and spent several minutes climbing my shirt and snuffling into my lapel microphone. Should be an interesting video.

Baby squirrel making friends

The OBG is only about ten miles from where I was born over in Winchendon, MA, ad even though I only remember it as a place we went to visit friends, the area is still rich with association for me. It was nice to make some new associations, and to spend some time among the hills and homes and gravestones of people I’ve been singing about for several years now. I’ll let you know when the CD is really and truly out!

Next time…

-More banjo, this time on the road with Tony Trischka.

-Northampton Harmony CD recorded in 1997 finally seeing the light of day.

-Cordelia’s Dad double live album? I hope so!

TIM ERIKSEN AND RILEY BAUGUS TOUR SCHEDULE, May 2010 (details at http://timeriksenmusic.com/calendar.html)

Mon, May 17 – Glen Echo, MD – FSGW @ Glen Echo Town Hall, 8 pm (shape-note singing school with TE)

Tue, May 18 – Silver Spring, MD – FSGW @ Washington Revels, 8 pm

Wed, May 19 – Roanoke, VA – Kirk Avenue Music Hall, 7:30 pm

Thu, May 20 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle, 8:30 pm

Fri, May 21 – Whitesburg, KY – Summit City Lounge, 9 pm

Sat, May 22 – Winston-Salem, NC – The Garage, 8:30 pm

Sun, May 23 – Cary, NC – Page-Walker Arts & History Center, 1:30 pm (shape-note singing school with TE)

Tue, May 25 – Columbia, SC – The White Mule, 8 pm

Wed, May 26 – Atlanta, GA – St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church – two events: shape-note signing school with TE at 6:30; TE solo acoustic at 8:30

Thu, May 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl, 9 pm – supporting Truth & Salvage Co. and Visqueen

Fri, May 28 – Johnson City, TN – Down Home, 9 pm

The peepers are out and the sugar houses are full. It’s been a busy month- I’ve been enjoying a much-needed break from touring, but in the “downtime” I’ve been working on seven separate CD projects. The biggest news is that my new solo CD Soul of the January Hills is coming out in a little over a month on Appleseed Recordings! In my next newsletter I’ll include a coupon you can use on my website to get the CD at a friends and family price. (Well, I usually don’t charge my kids anything at all, but that’s different).

"Soul of the January Hills" cover, beautifully designed by Sonya Cohen

Soul of the January Hills, in case you’re new to the email list, features 14 songs for solo voice recorded in a single take in a tower on the perimeter wall of a Benedictine abbey in southeastern Poland. It’s really a different experience to listen to the songs done this way. I’d almost say it represents a different way of life with a slower pace, tighter focus and deeper engagement. For me the stories come to life in a way they rarely do in more elaborate arrangements (although I love doing that too). The songs are a mixture of old hymns, ballads and love songs, the main theme being that each was exactly what I felt like singing in the moment. The whole thing flows really differently from a studio CD or even a live CD.

Here’s a description and brief status update of the other six projects:

- Josh Billings’ Voyage: the long awaited northern roots solo CD featuring appearances by Laura Risk, Peter Irvine, Eliza Cavanaugh and hopefully a surprise or two. It’s finally almost done, but I have no idea when it’ll come out or on what label.

- Hope: This is the even much longer awaited Northampton Harmony CD of songs from D.H. Mansfield’s American Vocalist (recorded in 1997!) The original plan was to have it out for the book’s 150^th anniversary in 1998, but 2010 is Mansfield’s 200^th so it seems as good a time as any. It should be out by summer on Bison (suitably located just a few miles from Mansfield’s home in Hope, Maine).

At D.H. Mansfield's grave in Hope, Maine, September 2008

- The Old Burying Ground: done and coming out in June on Dorian! Keep an ear out for this amazing symphonic piece by composer Evan Chambers.

- Star in the East: a solo Christmas CD of old standards and cool shape note tunes mostly for voice, bajo sexto and hand frame drum with a little dulcimer and maybe some handbells for good measure. Hopefully it should be something of an antidote to the trans-Siberian orchestra. It’s also just about done, but I don’t have a label for it yet.

- Cordelia’s Dad double live CD: “in the can” as they say, but no label yet. We’re trying to get it out before the summer and will probably end up just putting it out ourselves. The band will be doing a reunion show in Sidmouth, England in July- the first time we’ve played with Cath in 10 years, so book your flights today!

- Speaking of Cordelia’s Dad, a version of the band just recorded a track for an English compilation called Oak, Ash and Thorn. More news to come.

Along with all the recording work I’ve had some great singing opportunities. I had a great time singing at the Ohio State Sacred Harp Convention near Dayton last month, a couple of weeks ago at the Western Mass convention and a few days ago we had a little Harp of Ages singing at the house. In Dayton I taught the longest one day singing school ever -from 9 until 5:30. It was exhausting, but fun, and I really appreciated the singers there bringing me out. We had a really nice singing the next day and ridiculously good food both days.

It’s been a short and mostly snowless winter, but I’ve had some great shows, nearly got a couple of Grammies with Omar Sosa and made a lot of progress on several upcoming CDs. We finally got some decent snow last night, but it isn’t nearly enough for a snow fort. I’m going South in May, but I’m guessing their freak snowstorms will be over by then and they’ll be on to volcanoes or something. Which reminds me that I have an outstanding traffic ticket in Iceland from the time Peter Irvine and I took advantage of a layover on the way to gigs in the UK to get a coffee in Reykjavik. We took a wrong turn and encountered a sign that read “Lava Flow!” Not being from a place, it’s hard to know what to make of a sign like that. Somebody obviously had time to put up the sign so the danger didn’t appear to be immediate, but they were still concerned enough to bother putting it up. We decided it was best to slowly flee.

I managed to miss the flooding in Los Angeles, although I unfortunately missed my gig there too because of a combined snowstorm and mechanics strike. I really hope to make it out there soon- thanks to everyone who would have been there! I did make it to San Francisco and Berkeley, and this time around didn’t even get stuck on the bay bridge, part of which collapsed about 18 hours after the last time I drove over it in October. It was great to see everyone. On the way out of California I made one of my favorite recent videos on the ocean and was reminded how ridiculously big their trees are out there.

I had a couple of great shows in Oregon, where Jessica Beer who was road managing the tour came up with the best catch phrase of the season- “you can eat your tacos on the way to the donut shop.” I surprised myself by declining a bacon donut after the Portland show, which made me wonder if I’d lost my sense of duty. Maybe I just don’t find food that funny anymore. In any case, I loved playing with the Brothers Young and Rachel Taylor Brown and have been listening to them both a lot recently. Rachel gets called “quirky,” but I don’t think that does justice to her inspired and unexpected music. Seattle was fun too- it was great to meet the Tallboys, one of the liveliest and most active string-bands out there.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been through O’Hare airport in recent months, but the shoeshine guys don’t even bother commenting on the state of my boots anymore. Second to last time there I was on my way to the Old Town School for a gig with the Wilders and Lost Bayou Ramblers that started with me singing unaccompanied and ended with the Ramblers bass player playing his upright while riding on the back of the Wilders bass player while walking between tables in the front row. It looks like I’ll be doing some shows with the Wilders’ Betse Ellis next fall in her new duo with KC Groves from Uncle Earl. Keep an eye out- should be a lot of fun.

In the past month I even got to do a couple of shows within driving distance for a change- had a great time at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA and the Lane Series up at UVM in Burlington. Hope to be back in both towns before long. My latest jaunt was a week-long residency at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Their Unit One is a very cool experimental program- thanks to Laura Haber and the whole crew out there! I had a great show, a chance to sing Sacred Harp and some very interesting workshops and conversations with students, professors and community members. One student even taught me how you’re supposed to hold a fiddle bow! I’ve since forgotten, but it was a nice thought. And now on to Dayton (hopefully via O’Hare).

A Present: I recorded a song for you to download for free and, if you like, share with your friends and family. It may be familiar to some of you from my CD Every Sound Below, but this new recording features bajo sexto.

SALE! CDs are only $12 – 20% off – here at my website from now until December 25.

More Grammy News: I just got word that my collaboration with Omar Sosa Across the Divide received a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, why not get a copy for your grandmother or favorite mailman here at my website -cause nothing says “Christmas” like Afro-Cuban world jazz with banjo.

YouTube: Check out my new video to see what I found yesterday…

Well, the Latin Grammy Awards were on November 5, but my nominated collaboration with Omar Sosa Across the Divide didn’t win. Of course, it having never occurred to me that there would be any reason for me to be nominated for a Latin Grammy, it felt a bit like not winning the Algerian Chess Finals.

I did, however, have some fantastic barbecue some days earlier at Everett and Jones in Berkeley, CA – a favorite spot of mine. This time I had the brisket, largely because I’d had ribs for breakfast at another place a few hours earlier. In case you’re wondering, it was actually a bit much. I could barely look at food until midnight waffles at the Santa Cruz Diner.

THANKS FOR COMING TO THE SHOWS.

It’s been a good month of gigs, and it was great to see everyone who came out. Thanks! I could write at length about each of them. The West Coast was as westy as ever. I played the SF Jazz Festival with Omar Sosa, saw some friends, taught a singing school and even spent some time with a pelican. Minneapolis was wonderful and heavy. It’s been too long since I’ve spent any time there, and I saw so many dear friends in such a short period of time that it was about as much as I could handle. That was followed by three longish days of solo driving- first to Cedar Rapids Iowa to play with Beausoleil, then to La Crosse almost via Dubuque (d’oh! still, I managed to get there a whole five minutes before I was supposed to go on, so gimme a break) and finally on to Chicago where, yes, I did have the ribs, but only because I hadn’t eaten anything but an apple all day.

Most recently I even got to play within an hour of home for the great benefit series Music for a Change in Hartford. It was nice to meet a bunch of you there, and to see my old friend Kristen who played trumpet with the Lobstermen which eventually turned into Cordelia’s Dad. (If you’re wondering what on earth that previous link is about, it’s a photo of the band’s lead singer Colin taken by Diane Arbus. At the time all of us in the band were about 19 except Colin who was like 30, a condition so inconceivable as to make him seem like a martian or a spider monkey or something. Good singer though.)

FINALLY, SOME REALLY GOOD NEWS!

I got word from Evan Chambers the The Old Burying Ground is set to be released this summer. I can’t wait! I’m really excited about this incredible piece of music, and hope I get to sing it again. Who knows, maybe it will even not win a classical Grammy.

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the Book Mill, and my apologies to those who weren’t able to get in. I had a great time – next stop California. If you have friends in the Bay Area you might let them know:

Thursday, October 22nd, 7:30 pm
Omar Sosa Quartett featuring Tim Eriksen
San Francisco Jazz Festival
Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
Tickets: $25-65

Friday, October 23rd, 8 pm
Opening for Chris Smither
Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley
tel. 510-644-2020
Tickets: $20.50 in adv., $21.50 at the door

Saturday, October 24th, 1-4 pm
TE teaches Early American Shape-Note Singing
Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley
tel. 510-644-2020
Tickets: $25

Sunday, October 25th, 7:30 pm
Solo acoustic show in support of the new CD “Northern Roots Live in Namest”
Cayuga Vault, 1100 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz
tel. 831-421-9471
Tickets: $14 in adv., $17 at the door

NEW PHOTOS

I’ve finally come around to the realization that in my line of work one needs to have nice photos of oneself. I have some here by a great photographer, Michael Murphree, recently of NYC now relocated to LA. What do you think? Any favorites? I’d love some feedback, since my inclination would be to draw a stick figure with a banjo and I don’t have the kind of business apparatus to insulate me from such decisions. I’d be happy to return the favor with my opinion of whatever baked desserts you’re currently unsure about and feel like sending me samples of. (Don’t pay much attention to the captions; they are only there for easier reference.)

1. Green. Photo by Michael Murphree

2. High-contrast headshot. Photo by Michael Murphree

3. On Mt. Pollux. Photo by Michael Murphree

4. Singing with Banjo. Photo by Michael Murphree

5. Singing with Fiddle. Photo by Michael Murphree

6. Portrait at a Barn. Photo by Michael Murphree

7. Holding the Fiddle. Photo by Michael Murphree

FINALLY, A REQUEST FOR SONG TOPICS

Also, I wonder if anyone has an idea of something they think ought to be a song. In a songwriting class I taught last year at Amherst College I wrote a song based on such a request, to which a student replied “well, I picked tomatoes yesterday.” I bashed out a song about picking tomatoes and it has since become one of my favorites. My most recent songs have concerned a creepy Finnish children’s book character relocating to the Quabbin reservoir, and a love song involving black trumpet mushrooms and singing gravestones in the Pelham woods. In retrospect these topics seem kind of eccentric. What else do people write about these days?

Friday October 2
The Book Mill
Montague MA
8pm
$10/12

Hey local people. In case you didn’t hear, I’m making a rare western MA appearance this Friday, celebrating the release of my new solo CD “Northern Roots- Live in Namest” on the Czech label Indies Scope. It’s the first in what will hopefully be a series of concerts in places I just like to be, whether or not they’re established music venues. I hope to include performances in regional parks and museums, in the woods, on a boat in the Connecticut and other great out of the way places. The Book Mill features two really cool restaurants, a little water fall, an independent record store and, as the bumper sticker says it “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.” You can find directions here:

http://www.montaguebookmill.com/visit.html

Tim Eriksen Solo Acoustic
August 17, 8 & 10:30 pm
Blue Note Jazz Club
NYC
Monday nights are only $10 for a table seat, $5 at the bar!

AMERICAN FOLK FESTIVALS

The Newport Folk Festival aka George Wein’s Folk Festival 50 was a lot of fun- Mavis Staples, Balfa Toujours, Elvis Perkins and a bunch of shape note singers sounds to me like the beginnings of an interesting weekend. If they’d had Esma Redzepova and Motorhead I might have even considered buying a ticket. As it was I was working so I didn’t get to see any music, but it was still great to be there.

A highlight for me was singing from the Sacred Harp with a bunch of friends and former students. Elene Stovall came up from Alabama to sing with us, which was great. She’s a wonderful singer and one of the few remaining Sacred Harpers Bob Jones and George Wein brought up to sing at the festival in 1964. It’s really interesting to hear her talk about the experience, especially in tandem with the perspective of the festival people.

Another great moment was performing an impromptu rave up of the Old Ship of Zion with Elvis Perkins in Dearland. The youtube video doesn’t quite capture the ecstatic rock and roll moment, but it’s fun to see it anyway. Check out a better recording of my set, the Sacred Harp singing, Elvis’ set and, I believe, the entire festival, available as a free download on NPR’s website.

The Champlain Valley Folk Festival was also a lot of fun. My thanks to Pete Sutherland and everyone who came out! I got to hang out with my old friend and musical collaborator Laura Risk, a one time Cordelia’s Dad member and fabulous fiddle player, in case you didn’t know. A very welcome surprise was some exceptionally good Bosnian food from a restaurant in Essex Junction, VT. Go figure.

So Newport was Sunday, the two days before that I was in northern Vermont, the two days before that I moved house, and the night before that I got back from three weeks in Europe. By the time Pete Seeger finished singing Kumbaya or whatever on Sunday I was already asleep in a box of kitchen utensils.

Hiking in Southern Moravia before the Namest festival

FINALLY, THE MOUSE
Rolling back the tape a little further, two weeks ago, while I was still in Namest nad Oslavou, I was defeated by a 12 inch mouse in as much as I was only able to eat about half of it in the hours between when it was given to me and when I had to leave for Prague. Yeah, well, it was a cake in the shape of a mouse, but it was a challenge nonetheless. You see, it all happened like this (insert harp arpeggios and wavy lines to indicate the onset of a flashback):

In 2008 I had the pleasure of playing at the great Folkove Prazdniny festival in Namest nad Oslavou, Czech Republic where they put me up in a totally fine though somewhat funky hotel a longish hike from the festival grounds. My greeting there was “Hello. Mr. Eriksen? I am service man. You like hemenex?!” “Yeah man! I mean, probably. What are you talking about?” I thought. Well, I’ll tell you if you don’t already know that Hemenex is what’s for breakfast in Czechia, and it’s delicious. It’s sort of a combination of chicken eggs and salty pink meat that’s apparently meant to go with a liter of beer. (The morning kind). Anyway, there I was in the hospoda eating my hemenex, which is actually how it’s spelled, while Waterson:Carthy were eating, I don’t know what, probably caviar, up at the pension in the castle. Well, this year, possibly because of the release of my new solo CD “Northern Roots: Live in Namest” I was promoted to staying in a castle suite, which was less funky but really great. It’s really one of the loveliest places I’ve ever been put up- even nicer than the W in Hollywood, though lacking the $18 french fries.

On my first night there I did a set in the castle courtyard which was followed by a little ceremony launching my new solo CD and a book by journalist Jiri Moravcik called something like “16 stories in World Music” that has a chapter about me, as well as chapters on Omou Sangare, Eliza Carthy, Mariza and an interesting array of other folks. I’d love to be able to understand it, as Jiri is a very thoughtful writer from what I’ve seen translated, but in any case the book has a lot of nice color photos. Due to an oversight, I didn’t have a translator that night, so I’m still not exactly sure what all happened, but after my set a bunch of people, some of whom I knew and others I did not, came up on stage and said a bunch of stuff after which they presented me with a copy of the CD and book and promptly poured champagne all over them. Irony aside, I’m very proud to be associated with these folks and really appreciate their work- Dusan Sviba for producing the CD, Jiri for taking my music seriously and asking great questions, and the festival for treating me so well and being a haven of musical sanity.

The next morning I was in the castle restaurant eating my slightly fancier hemenex (chopped hem, more ex, garnish) and noticed a mouse running around the place making some of the patrons a little freaked out. I got up and cornered it, and one of the waitresses and I coaxed it into a bucket. I don’t know what happened to it after that, but a number of people told me “everyone was talking” about how I caught the mouse. It didn’t seem at all unusual to me, but I guess with perceived status (a redundant phrase, probably) comes expected behavior that might not include mouse catching. I’ve been famous a number of times before and have often been surprised by the seemingly random side effects.

Anyway, after three days of Sacred Harp workshops my final event at the festival was a midnight concert at the beautiful Baroque church on the town square, including a singing demonstration by the Sacred Harp class. I was just about to launch into “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” when down the aisle came a festival entourage bearing the unbelievably lifelike giant mouse I’ve spent so long building up to for no particular reason. I had a translator this time, but it didn’t help much. I got the general idea and mostly just thought “I like these people.”

Photo by Katerina Mullerova

It took me until after the show to be sure that it was actually a cake and not a sculpture that I would have to sheepishly pawn off on someone. The most surprising part is that it was an unbelievably excellent cake- a real one- walnut flour, layers of not too sweet chocolate cream and raspberry jam, covered in just the right amount of marzipan, sculpted and colored in amazing detail right down to a disgusting little pile of marzipan mouse poop. I think if you could find anything like it in the US it would probably cost a couple hundred dollars. One thing I did understand is that it was the idea of the waitresses at the castle, which didn’t surprise me seeing as how when Dusan asked for something “sharp” to pour on his hemenex they brought him a plate of thumbtacks. What a great country.

I was sadly unable to eat the whole mouse, but I tried hard and did manage to eat a big piece around 3 in the morning, a pound or two for breakfast and another big piece for lunch before bequeathing the rest to the people in the festival office on my way out to the Brno bus station. Sometimes I wish I had the kind of job that ended at some point in the day, but this big mouse was somehow reassuring that I’m in the right line of work.

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the festival in New Bedford- I saw some old friends and acquaintances including Louis Killen, and made some new ones. I also ate fish and scallops and whatever else I could find that was fried and/or Portuguese in addition to  publicly proclaiming the impending meteoric rise of Northern Roots Music, or whatever it will be called when it becomes a thing.

There’s an interview with me coming up on WBUR’s Radio Boston, and a link to an extended version. I haven’t heard it yet so I don’t know how much sense I was able to make, but I really enjoyed hanging out with producer Adam Ragusea, who came out to Amherst to record the piece. He is one of an elite group of used to be high school kids who discovered Cordelia’s Dad through a mix tape given them sometime early in the Clinton administration.

I’ve really enjoyed getting title suggestions for my next record. Thanks a lot! If you need a title for yours, let me know and I’ll see what I can do- maybe something about a sandwich, or even sandwiches depending on your style of music.

I’m posting from Belgrade, where I arrived without losing any instruments this time- just two suitcases left in Paris, and they came in today without incident. Last year a banjo and guitar were two of some 10,000 bags waylaid by a strike in Rome. I eventually got them back, but I had to change a flight and nearly had to choose between canceling shows or going on without them. The part I enjoyed is that while I checked in my guitar tuned to C,  it came back in perfect standard tuning. This led me to imagine a heartsick Italian baggage handler sitting in a sea of lost luggage singing Santa Lucia.

On my last trip to the west coast people were so generous with their instruments that I decided to make this trip with only my bajo sexto and a Jews harp and see what other instruments show up along the way. With much help from booking agent extraordinaire Dusan Sviba I have high hopes.

ARCHITECTURE AND COMMUNITY IN NOVI BEOGRAD

Sounds like a term paper title- skip this if you’re bored already- but last August I started making a video about the architecture in Novi Beograd  that I would love to finish this time around. There’s an article in this month’s JAT inflight magazine about it, strangely enough, including observations by architect Rem Koolhuis. The  thing that struck me most is the incredible difference between the socialist era buildings and the ones they’re putting up now.

The older part of the new city is famous for its small apartments, miniscule by American standards, in largely identical buildings set around large public spaces. Each apartment has a little balcony overlooking a courtyard, a soccer field, a garden or a playground. In summer every window is open, and you can hear, see and smell pretty much everything the neighbors are doing. After years of  economic turmoil, not to mention being bombed, much of the area has seen better days- the play structures have mostly been reduced to scrap metal, the siding is patchy, there’s a lot of grafitti and cigarette butts around. But everyone is out! There’s always something going on- pick up soccer games, make out sessions, grandmothers out for a walk, kids playing on the few remaining swings or finding a use for a broken see saw, somebody with a guitar.In the back parking lot there’s a colorful array of old Yugos, Skodas, Zastavas, Ficas and the occasional Ford Fiesta.

Just down the street, on the other side of Beogradska Arena, there are buildings that, although they are brand new, look similar enough that you might walk by them without thinking anything. But something isn’t quite right- it’s all strangely quiet. On closer inspection, almost every window is closed, and in the evening they glow a soft, flickering  blue. There’s no public space except the sidewalk and the bus shelter, the apartments are all air conditioned and, when you do the math, appear to be three or four times the size of the older ones. Out front there are BMWs, Astras, Benzs, Hummers and the occasional Ford Fiesta.

A long time ago I was unable to write a song about the fact that when you live close to people they can all hear you, and when you live in isolation they can’t. I’m glad somebody’s making some money, keeping cool and finding some privacy around here, but there’s  something melancholy about the possible decline of the problematic and lively urban community drama that socialist architecture seems to foster, possibly in unwitting imitation of older social structures.

AND FINALLY…

Tomorrow I’m making the long drive/sail to the island Ugljan and hope to return with some new songs, possibly including a restart of the one mentioned above. I’ll try to make a video while I’m there as well, and then I’m off to Praha/Brno/Namest. If our country is gonna get through this economy thing somebody better keep eating the sandwiches while I’m gone. Thanks in advance…

bunny