LATEST NEWS

Pre-tour Reunion. At one or those all-too-seldom get-togethers of old friends, all accomplished performers, at Yeshe and Lyn's wedding in Byron Bay, I cut my left index finger in a foolish incident with a banana. Thus postponing the beginning of the Spring Tour by about a week, now set to commence on Sunday, May 4th, in PARIS.
Five one-man bands, among others, who had not been together in one congregation for ten or fifteen years, met on April 17 in one of the most beautiful and renowned locations on Australia's eastern seaboard. We rented a large house on the beach for a week and a good time was had by all...well, with the caveat that I almost chopped off the tip of my finger. Let's not talk about that.
Harry Manx, by far the best known of all of us, (try googling him and you will know what I mean), is just beginning his forty date Australian tour with Yeshe opening for him on Mbira (African thumb piano) singing traditional African songs. Harry is a world class lap steel player, who incorporates elements of Indian Ragas into the Blues as well as playing Mohan Vena, banjo, and writing beautiful songs. He is one of those multi-talented guys and also did a stint as a one-man band. Yeshe is best known in Byron Bay as an accomplished percussionist in many styles of West African drumming. Harry's stuff also gets used in film scores and after the Australian tour he will be doing some dates opening for Richie Havens.
John Greet is the force behind KFM radio in Auckland which he has expanded into a tea house and a theatre space, but he is also the guy without whom I would not be a one-man band in the first place because he loaned me his rig in the beginning...back in Zurich in '83. When I first met John he was making a living playing the bagpipes in full kilt and playing bass in the Bootleg Band. He is also an accomplished guitar and mandolin player and a bit of a magician in more ways than one. John is one of those guys who is always encouraging others to go beyond themselves. He taught my wife, Helena, how to tap dance and a few bits of magic...Lots of magic in that girl already!!
Although she is now an accomplished interior designer, Helena, is a performer in her own right. In the early days, in Japan, she and my daughters sang with me in the band we called the Showtime Family Singers aka Sunshine Family Singers. She has a sweet voice and good ear, as do my daughters, and is a great mimic. Beyond that Helena designed our sets and costumes and choreographed the girls dance routines.
Gerry Nelson and Bruce Smith aka Blues Myth are both native Australians who have built their greatest followings, as one-man bands in Japan, in Tokyo and Osaka respectively. Gerry is a great finger picker whose greatest fault is his modesty. He has studied intently many facets of finger picking and I am always most impressed my his integration of bass line and melody with movement in the inner voices. Maybe it's that voice leading thing they are always talking about. He is a perfectionist in what he presents to the people but saves his best stuff for us in the lounge room. I have always thought he should take that Jackson Browne and Ken McKay stuff to the streets. Bruce has a double dose of that South Pacific-driving rhythm thing that is the hallmark of Australian guitar players, and a natural way of vocal phrasing, especially when it comes to singing those old 40's and 50's standards. Bruce is also a closet comedian who was born, it seems, full blown out-of-the closet. He keeps everybody in stitches. (oops, this finger of mine keeps trying to insinuate itself into this monologue...). Bruce also knows to play the drum kit, and you gotta check out his "head splash", a little splash cymbal mounted on the headstock of the guitar that he plays with a drum stick attached to his head. "Gnarly" as my surfer friends would say! The "head splash" is, in fact, Yeshe's brain child.
Unfortunately, our dear friend Nils, the "fastest juggler in Denmark", who had been slated to attend this reunion, was unable to make it, having prior commitments. We missed you, Nils! The wedding, by the way, was a beautiful and extravagant affair.

May 4th Jimmy will be doing his first shows of the tour on the Pont St. Louis just behind the Notre Dame. He will be playing every day, weather and finger permitting, for the next 2 1/2 weeks in and around Paris, with the two Saturdays in Chartres. May 21-25 Kornelimunster near Aachen. This will be my third year in a row playing in this beautiful old town at the Jahrmarkt. May 26-June 6 Two weeks of intense recording at Wabi Sabi Studios. We did some important ground work on the new CD in September and December of 2007. I have been back at home in Australia wood shedding a few of the tunes and working on some new stuff, (when I wasn't in the ocean or the garden), and we are hoping to pretty much wrap it up in these two weeks. Truthfully I am supposing it might need one more session in mid to late summer, to finish it up, which probably sets the production date sometime in the autumn instead of the spring as had been initially anticipated. On these two week-ends and a couple weekdays during these two weeks when Chris Hermann, my producer, has prior commitments, you can find me playing in my favorite spots in Aachen.

May 25-27 Because I scheduled recording dates before I learned of the dates of the Ludwigsburg festival I will, unfortunately, miss that festival this year. Last year I finished 9th out of 50 some acts and my good friend Mark Gillespie (accompanied by Thomas Drost on flute), who sings some beautiful harmonies on my Same as the Wind CD, finished second.

THERE WILL BE A NEW BATCH OF PHOTOS IN THE GALLERY SOON. NO KIDDING!!!!!