Maastricht is a beautiful city tucked down in the southeast corner of
Holland close to the borders of Germany and Belgium. It looks and feels more
like
France--the architecture and the rolling hills--a charming old city center
that feels as if it could be in Paris. I did an afternoon radio show with
Hubert Van Hoof. Hubert is a very cool, famous DJ here, who for years has been
a
supporter of the best and eclectic in music. Afterwards we had dinner in a
great restaurant off one of the cobblestone streets. It's a magic city I
look forward to returning to.
radio show set list: 1. Richie 2. Nobody's Girl 3. Folksinger 4. Faces
You Loved 5. For My Wedding
On the road again for an 11pm show at a club called Cafe t'Spektakel in a
town called Asten. That's Asten not Austin though it had the same
roadhouse feel as a bar in Texas might. Loud and smoky, that is, but some good
listeners mixed in with the raucous crowd. Someone requested "Black
Guitar"--oddly enough the most requested song on this tour. I'm not sure
if people
know it from Leni Stern's CD or from my CD "Loose Ends" or from "Dandelion
Soul."
Asten set list: 1. Richie 2. Folksinger 3. Nobody's Girl 4. Black Guitar 5.
I Love
To Wake Up In New Orleans 6. Chain Link Fence 7. Moving day 8. Why's Your Skin
So White
9. Long Drag Off A Cigarette 10. Love Is a Ruthless Thing 11. Love Is Everything
12. I Love To Watch a Woman Dance 13. Tomboy 14. Just My Imagination 15. Ain't
No Sunshine
Cool club called The Cotton Club (Katoenclub) run by a drummer named Willem
and his wife Inge, a very warm and hip couple. Nice big open room with a
wooden floor and a great sound system. Just from soundcheck I knew that I
would have a good time playing here. It was probably the my best performance
on this tour as I was warmed up and it was a leisurely pace with a small
but warm and receptive audience. Played some songs I don't usually play and
got to do something I've long wanted to try which is a spoken word intro to
"Tar On The Roof" including my reading a Raymond Carver poem called
"Photograph
Of My Father In His 22nd Year." Afterwards, I jammed with Willem and the
house band and got to let rip a few blues licks.
set list: 1. Richie 2. Folksinger 3. Nobody's Girl 4. Why's Your Skin So
White 5. I Love To Wake Up In New Orleans 6. Chain Link Fence
7. Black Guitar 8. Sidewalks Of Summer 9. Moving Day 10. Can Joe
Cocker... 11. Tar On The Roof 12. Love Is A Ruthless Thing 13. Love Is Everything
14. Long Drag Off A Cigarette 15. Just My Imagination
A few free days in Amsterdam. Ran into Luka Bloom at my hang, The Villa
Zeezicht Cafe. Funny synchronicity after just seeing him play for the
first time (coincidentally someone at the radio station in Maastricht had given
me Luka's new CD to listen to in the van.) We spoke for a moment and I told
him how much
I liked his version of the old folk song, "Black Is The Color Of My True
Love's Hair." It is on an earlier CD of his called "Turf" which
I've since
ordered.
He mentioned that Nina Simone does a great version of it. I noticed over
his shoulder that he was reading an article in The Irish Independent called
"How The Troubles Began," which I later picked up to read. Irish brothers
across the water.
A live radio show at a bar called The Zwarte Ruider (Black Rider). All the
Dutch people say that The Hague is boring but it seems cool to me--next
trip I need to wander around here a bit. The DJ named Hans has a group Sportivo
something that I think was on David Byrne's label in New York. The club is
loud and smoky and I'm tucked in between several Dutch rock bands, but I
can see that there are at least a few people into it. I meet Sandra from a
cool record store in Amsterdam called Plaatboeuf that I hope to do an in-store
at on my next visit to Holland.
setlist: 1. Richie 2. Folksinger 3. Chain Link Fence 4. Why's Your Skin
So White 5. Love Is A Ruthless Thing 6. Love Is Everything
8 hour flight back to New York. Sad to leave--glad to be going home to my
own bed!