SHAKESPEARE
Today Stephie and I are flying out to Texas for a couple of duo gigs. A couple of duo gigs? That sounds like New Math.
ANYHOO: Looking forward to getting out there and playing and maybe catching a bookstore along the way.
So, I worked on a Warren Zevon record once. Life’ll Kill Ya. It was a challenge. But, I found I did have one thing in common with Zevon: We both had the ability to sit in a Barnes and Nobles for hours at a time. Hear me out. When you’re out there crossing and criss-crossing this great nation, those bookstores just off the freeway? However corporate, they’re some kind of oasis. Sometimes I just find myself there. With no memory of pulling off the highway. I once sat in a Borders in Omaha from the time it opened until it closed. People came and went. Kids doing homework. I got to know the staff. Got hired to restock. Got fired. It was a full day. That’s one thing I remember about the Zevon session. Everywhere I turned in the studio, all over the place - in the bathroom even, there’d be a book laying open. Some Russian novel or whatever.
I mean, these aren’t great bookstores. Nobody is on a rickety ladder wearing a cardigan sweater like in the movies. Expecting strip mall chain stores to have that dusty vibe is too much to ask. The vibe where as soon as you walk in you’re thinking you might find something mind blowing. A book could even fall off a shelf into your hands. (I saw that in a movie once. On a plane.) I mean, you’re in a strip mall. Get real.
But still, I can’t explain it.
After Warren Zevon died, there was a documentary. And I think Warren said [paraphrasing as usual]: “We love to buy books because we believe we’re buying the time to read them.”
Wouldn’t that be nice.
Anyways, thanks for being on this newsletter. And staying in touch. For me it beats going around from city to city with a staple-gun hanging posters all over the place. And it’s better for the planet too.
Onwards,
-CP
PS: In a few weeks, the East River Truckers [Yours Truly, Charlie Sexton, Vicente Rodriguez, Steve Adams), will be heading over to Spain to perform all of Some Girls. Yes, THAT record. Which is practically Shakespeare by now. (Maybe he even co-wrote it through a séance or something.) Well, at least it’s not a double LP like London Calling. When the promoter reached out about doing it we had just played the Continental in Austin with Charlie. And I said something like, “If Charlie does it… ” Charlie was brief and to the point. I could barely get out the words when he said, “I’m in.” We both agreed we were going to need a really great drummer. So we’re thrilled to have Vicente in the engine room. More on all that later.
PPS: Another broken rule for the newsletter: no outside promo. Just this once, in the aftermath of furious behind the scenes negotiations: Have a novel inside you waiting to get out? Or is it already in the drawer, half-finished? Poems, manuscripts, laundry lists ... klip is taking all comers at https://www.lipschutzediting.com/ There’s even a quote from me there that I don’t remember writing, but that’s another story.
GIGSVILLE:
Chuck Prophet and Stephanie Finch Duo:
12/13/2018 HOUSTON TX COFFEEHOUSE LIVE AT ST. ANDREW’S - CHUCK PROPHET AND STEPHANIE FINCH
12/14/2018 AUSTIN TX CACTUS CAFE - CHUCK PROPHET AND STEPHANIE FINCH
Chuck And Charlie Sexton “The East River Truckers” - (new rescheduled dates, old tickets honored at new shows)
1/24/2019 BILBAO,SPAIN KAFE ANTZOKIA w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
1/25/2019 GIJON, SPAIN SALA ALBENIZ w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
1/26/2019 GALICIA, SPAIN TBC w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
1/29/2019 MADRID, SPAIN CHANGO w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
1/30/2019 BARCELONA, SPAIN RAZZMATAZZ 2 w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
1/31/2019 ZARAGOZA, SPAIN LAS ARMAS w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
2/1/2019 VALENCIA, SPAIN 16 TONELADAS w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
2/2/2019 CADIZ, SPAIN AULARIO LA BOMBA w/CHARLIE SEXTON PERFORMING SOME GIRLS
