Bone Bash

I recently had the pleasure of lending my lead guitar stylings (such as they are) to the hard-rocking southern sound of the Jackson Stone Band, led by my good buddie, Dave Verno, on the occasion of the FM 107.0 "The Bone" Bonebash VIII this last Labor Day weekend. We were on the side stage and played between sets for the likes of Pat Travers, Kenny Wayne Sheppard and the legendary Lynard Skynard. I'm always honored to be invited to play with Big Dave and it gives me a chance to get my ya-ya's out and play it hard, fast and loud.

Milner Family Values

Took a little road trip down to SoCal for the fourth of July week. The Milner family is pretty far flung across the state so these reunions don't happen nearly often enough. Met up with my baby sis, Shawn and her boys here in S.F., then picked up our cousin Pat in Fresno before heading down to Ojai for a visit with the Ol' Man, Tom.

Here's the the crew out in the 100 degree sun, blinding the camera with my fish-belly.

Here's Mr. Science at the Griffith Park Observatory with Sis, Billy and Brandon.

Young Brandon and old Albert conferring on the great infinite.


Then, on down to Long Beach where, BTW, I was born, for a visit with Uncle Jim . They say skill at billiards is evidence of a misspent youth, and I'm here to tell 'ya: you got that right! Here I'm shooting a couple games of 8-ball with my nephew Brandon in the very pool hall in Belmont Shores where I learned to hustle pool when I was exactly his age. I feel confident, though, that he'll turn out a lot better than I did.

Found in Translation

Here is a show review from a concert in Germany that we did a few weeks ago.This one is fascinating in that the syntax as translated is hilarious, but still, a good review is a good review and you get that at the heart of it.

A lift ‘o th’ lid to our good buddy Rob Griffith for the translation. Rob is from here in N. California, but he's been an ex-pat living in Germany for a number of years now. His German is actually very good and I suspect he is having a bit if sport with us here.

So...here ya go:

"Well that from their personal record clearly it follows that Jenny Kerr originates from San Francisco. Who believes to be able to lead away from the musical work of the US American any references to its origin it notices very fast that he is on the wood path. Jenny Kerr, that is a little Country, Blues, a Folk and a skirt, that is Robert Johnson and Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal and Bob Dylan; Music, which can be never put into a drawer, except into the one: all first quality! The Singer Songwriterin has a pleasant, transformationable voice, which gets along in all style directions so reliably, like an experienced American pathfinder into the Everglades. But Jenny Kerr does not only sing, it plays also guitar, banjo and harmonika. A multi-talent, that convinces with their albums just like live. A meeting in co-operation with "the province lives e.V.", www.solingen info.de/cobra

…and in the original:

Gut, dass aus ihrem Lebenslauf eindeutig hervorgeht, dass Jenny Kerr aus San Francisco stammt. Wer nämlich glaubt, aus dem musikalischen Werk der US-Amerikanerin irgendwelche Hinweise auf ihre Herkunft ableiten zu können, merkt sehr schnell, dass er sich auf dem Holzweg befindet. Jenny Kerr, das ist ein wenig Country, Blues, Folk und Rock, das sind Robert Johnson und Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal und Bob Dylan; Musik, die sich nie in eine Schublade stecken lässt, außer in die eine: allererste Qualität! Die Singer-Songwriterin verfügt über eine angenehme, wandlungsfähige Stimme, die sich in allen Stilrichtungen so sicher zurechtfindet, wie ein erfahrener amerikanischer Pfadfinder in den Everglades. Doch Jenny Kerr singt nicht nur, sie spielt auch Gitarre, Banjo und Harmonika. Ein Multitalent, das mit ihren Alben ebenso wie live überzeugt. Eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit "Die Provinz lebt e.V.", www.solingen-info.de/cobra

Cultural Exchange

Here, a young, aspiring guitarist named Benjamin
asked me for a few tips on technique...

proper pick handling...

and making my day.

All about the people

For this show and for the festival, they have a really cool system of doing much of it as a community. So, instead of some guy promoting a show himself with profit as the main goal, all the folks around here get together and contribute their time, talents and homes for all the various things that need to happen. Fer'instance: instead of spending truckloads of money on hotels for the artists, we stay at volunteers' private homes.
Talk about hospitality! These beautiful people offer us warm, homey beds, cook for us and open the fridge and bar, but most importantly we are treated as family and get to know everyone as well as learning more about the country and its

language and customs than any normal tourist ever could. All these folks are huge music fans, so there is always lots to share. Above, our hosts from last summers' Labadoux appearance, is Johan (did I spell it right this time?) and his lovely wife Karin. Below is the family of Rik and Christine who were our hosts the first night and fed us Belgian chocolate for breakfast. Talk about paradise. The baby lambs were just too cute to leave out.

Clown Porn

No comment. Just thought you might like to see the kind of debauchery that goes on at these wild folk shows.

Best of Belgium

We are in the small western Belgium town of Ingelmunster on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the De Fagot Pub, a wonderful folk club here in Flanders that has hosted some pretty big names like Elliott Murphy and Alvin Youngblood Hart. Our hosts, Jean-Pierre and his lovely wife, Carine (the most amazing cook in Belgium!) are also the organisers of the Labadoux Folk Festival here, which we had the pleasure of playing last summer. So, a wonderful three-day party with live music, great food and, of course, Belgian beer. Lots of Belgian beer.
Did I say a lot? Truckloads, actually. All served so graciously by Marie-Christine (above right)

Musik Messe

This is the largest industry convention for musical instruments and sound gear on the face of the planet and one I have wanted to see for years. We had a bit of time off between shows and said: what the hell! So spent one frantic day seeing as much as possible, but it is simply so huge that I doubt anyone can see it all even in the full four days. But, we tried!

Just taking it all in.

These guitars really do look and sound wonderful, but they may have
a little trouble with the name when they go to sell them in the USA.

This drumkit really cooks! Plus, it's dishwasher safe.

An obligitory visit to the Mecca of metal, Marshall Amps.


And, finally, to the shrine of the holiest of holies,
the sunburst "wailing" wall.

Klink...I'm going to Dusseldorf for a few days!

When in Europe, perhaps the greatest things to do is take in the rich artistic and cultural heritage that is on view nearly everywhere. Dusseldorf is renowned as an important modern arts center and we would be remiss if we didn't take full advantage.

So here I am exposing myself to art. Puerile, perhaps, but I am fairly sure that Dali himself had a pretty nasty sense of humor

And, it's not just famous museums where you will find great works of art.
The streets are filled with many beautiful masterpeices of sculpture and architecture.

Sorry. Had to do it.

Fahren, Fahren, Fahren on the Autobahn!

On The road, again heading out of northern France, through Belgium and on towards Germany for the next leg which is the Mettman Bluesweek Festival in Mettman (near Dusseldorf) "Mett", by the way, is the local bar snack and is basically raw chopped pork on a bun. Think: pork carpaccio or...pig sushi! Yum!

Now here's a destination

I can really get behind.

Our good buddy, Fritz Kappner, the hardest working man in German rock 'n' roll and a few action shots at the Grand Finale show to end the festival week.

Flying

Back in Amsterdam, once again, and having cheated death on the 11 hour, non-stop from San Francisco, we find our bags and the two checked guitars have made it OK, so another tour commences with no real problems. We are met by Ronnie Oor, one of the fine drummers we work with here in Europe and we are off in our little van for the open road.







Just to get a jump on things, we are driving down to Antwerp, Belgium for the first night to get over the jet-lag in one of our very favorite cities. Here I am in the Old Town market square paying my respects to the great Brabo.





And a couple of very large Romans welcoming all to one of the frequent street festivals here. No time to tarry, though as we are outta' here for France.

Life, Love, Llamas!

Just a couple weeks ago I had the disinct honor and pleasure of serving as guitar tech and all-around stage wrangler guy at the Independant in San Francisco on the occasion of two benefit shows for one of mine and many, many others' most favorite people, Wally Ingram.
For those who have yet to know Wally, he is a drummer who has toured and recorded with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Keb'Mo', Bonnie Raitt, and Eric Burdon and the Animals, among others, as well as local guitar god (and our housemate) Eric McFadden.
He was even gracious enough to lend his talents to some demo recordings for Jenny and I.More important than being a really talented musician, which he most definitely is, Wally is arguably the nicest guy in the biz and certainly a prince among men. So it was no surprise to see so many show up to support him as he battles throat cancer which I am very happy to report, is now in remission, turning out for two wonderful nights of killer funky rock 'n' roll.
Stockholm Syndrome featuring Wally, Dave Schools, Jerry Joseph, and Eric McFadden reunited for the two shows along with Danny Louis (Gov't Mule, Warren Haynes Band) on the keys.
In support were the Ronkat Katdelic Revival (members of P-Funk) and The Axis Bros.
In addition the one & only Les Claypool was on hand to add to the general pandomonium.


And here I am schmoozing backstage with Eric and Les. All in attendance had a great time, with plenty of smiles and not a few tears.

You can find a bunch more at: http://www.wallyingram.com/ including how you can give your support, too

Peace,
Philbillie

Good God, Let's Eat

Religious holidays and food often go together nicely, but it's extra righteous when you can actually consume your fave deity. Like those tasty christ crackers they enjoy so much at Sunday mass or this yummy little fellow. The question is, do you just bite his head off and get it over with or just sort of nibble around the whole issue. And speaking of papism, it looks like one of the Soprano crew knee-capped the baby Jesus.

Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside.
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied - Tom Waits

I'm not really trying to run down anyone's faith here. Just having a wee jest.
After all, if they can make these vaguely sacreligious treats then we can poke a little fun.


God and jesus have been packaged in one way or another for years, but now they have finally got him canned for your convenience. And, apparently, in a couple different flavors.

Road Food

As Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly said: "an army travels on its stomach" meaning, I think, that you can come loaded for bear in the snappiest uniforms with the most devilishly clever stratagem, but if you haven't got it together to feed the troops properly then you will, sooner or later, have your ass handed to you. Putting a rock 'n' roll show on the road is really quite similar. There's nothing like the camaraderie, the esprit de corps, the solidarity that a band on the road can develop together over time. Great shows, fun new sights and meeting cool folks can all go a long way to smoothing over the little frustrations and discomforts that are also part and parcel to a life "On The Road". But if circumstances conspire to deprive your once-jolly band of merry minstrels of their next meal, this will bring down the bummer hammer real quick-like.

This happens much easier when touring in Europe simply because they just don't have the whole consumer-is-king, have it your way, get it when you want it, customer is always right sort of thing we have invented here in the good 'ol U-S of A. Although we are feverishly exporting every aspect of our pop culture, including Hip-Hop, Paris Hilton and fast food, to the rest of the planet, they are still insisting on many charming and quaint notions concerning things like operating hours and choice.

Fer' instance: in France everything closes each day after lunch between 2 and 4 pm. Period.
You pull into the average town at this time looking for a bite and you are S.O.L., my famished friend. No Bistro. No Pizza stand. No Shwarma. Not even a grocery store. Now remember: we are musicians. Meaning we have a certain life-style and schedule that is fairly different from that of the honest, hard-working folk who do things like eat breakfast before noon. So, after the so-called "continental breakfast" at the hotel we are in the van and on the highway. Then, after a couple of hours everyone is getting hungry at around, oh, you guessed it: two o'clock.

C'est tout ce que j'aime! (I'm Lovin' it!)

Thankfully, America has, for the second or third time, come to the rescue here in the form of that ubiquitous and shining beacon of culinary crapitude: McDonalds'. The French just love McDo (pronounced Mac Dough). The first was built in 1979 and since then, despite some famous protest, has grown to over 800 stores with a special ambivalence in the french heart. Of course, France is perhaps most famous for their haute cuisine, but on any given visit the local Mickey D can be full up with happy froggies tucking with absolute relish into their "Maxi Menu Best Of" avec "Le Big Mac", "Royale Cheese" or "Salade Recette Poulet". It's pretty much identical to what we are used to at home, with a few regional specialties, and this brings us to the point: if you are on the road at this time and you're hungry and have failed to plan ahead sufficiently then this is what you get. Finding them can be a little tricky, though. Even as popular as they actually are, the French treat it as this dirty little secret and tend to hide them from view and keep signage to a minimum.

This in contrast to, say, Holland where they post a sign at the motorway off-ramp and the golden arches can be seen for several kilometers atop a 50 meter tall post. I'm not proud of all this. I'm just sayin'. Sometimes when you're out there and hungry enough you're damn glad to find it. One little difference: in all the countries where we've eaten at Chez Ronaldo (all of them) the employees appear much less doomed than they do in the US and even seem to like the gig. This is probably my own imperialist perception, but when they see Americans coming (Yes, we do stand out. Alot.) you can almost see them thinking: "Are we gettin' it right?..Are you lovin' it?

Rolling in the Aisles

Some months ago while on extended assignment in France, I posted a blog on some (unintentionally) funny items I regularly stumbled across in the supermarche'. (That's, supermarket to Les Americains). Well, I still have a pretty good backlog of these. So now, due to overwhelming popular demand...

You don't have to be tripping to find the humor in a typical market day here, but it doesn't hurt.
I think this is some kind of gummy candy.
You half expect to see ravers floating down the aisles
sucking pate' pacifiers and saying "J'taime, J'taime"
to complete strangers.







Of course, we all know how addictive those yummy, salty snacks can be, but we always though it was just the MSG. One sees many such "Crack-o-Snacks".



























Strictly speaking, this is not french, but British. At least the french always show you exactly what the food looks like (as we shall see)
But this stuff could be anything. "Mmmmm! can I have some more of the shiny green blob?!" And I'm glad to see we can still get the original formula. I never really cared for the Mushy BBQ
flavor or the zesty Mushy Mexican.








Sliding over to the frozen foods aisle we find Croustibat brand "Crousti Balls" which we always thought was something we experienced after a long hot day in the
tour van.