Washington D.C.
The venue was the Howard Theatre, which was an old place that had in fact been closed for about 40 years but opened again only a year ago and is really nice. Friendly helpful staff, and excellent catering. In fact after the gig one of the big beefy security guards who looked like Mike Tyson in a tight black suit shook my hand and said 'Great job'. That does not usually happen.
In the morning I went for a coffee with Guthrie. Near the venue was a coffee shop that from the outside looked a bit bleak and rough. Like you would walk in and all sound would stop and people would turn round and stare at you. But we walked in and it was a great cafe, very vibey, excellent coffee and croissant, and cool music on the sound system. Perfect.
Then back to the venue where I took a shower and caught up on emails etc. I tried Guthrie's TC Electronic 'Ditto' looping pedal. This enables you to play lines, record them and repeat them instantly, then add layers on top. It enables a solo line player (eg. someone with a flute) to create layers and tapestries of sound and play very differently to what you are limited to without such technological assistance. I have done a lot of such playing and recording with other foot-pedals eg. my solo alto flute album 'Slow Life', and all the performing and recording I have done with Robert Fripp, solo and with Steve Lawson. This new pedal is tiny, pretty intuitive and sonically clean. I was impressed and think it could be a useful addition.
Dinner was a thoroughly delicious very tender brisket steak and collard greens which I have not had before. Sort of kale/ cabbage type vegetable which I understand is cooked for a long time with bits of turkey in. Then Apple Cobbler and ice cream. Ridiculous (good ridiculous!). We wandered around the dressing room feeling stuffed and joked about feeling so fat we would not be able to play and all the tempos having to be half speed... I did notice on the gig I was very thirsty and drank more water than any other gig we had done on this tour. It could have been because the food had been pretty salty. Maybe.
The gig itself went very well. Not much to report, but it all felt good. After the gig and going out to sign some CD's and programmes, Adam noticed that in the club next door to our venue was a live band playing 'Go-go' music. Adam explained that Go-go is type of funk that originated in Washington D.C, made famous by Chuck Brown, and what we were hearing was the 'real deal'. We listened outside the fire exit to the band for a while and it did sound great. The easiest way to explain the Go-go rhythm is to point to either Chuck Brown or Grace Jones' 'Slave to the rhythm', on which she used that rhythm borrowing some of the best players from that scene for her song. It is interesting how different parts of America have their own particular grooves and regional music styles: Go-go here, New Orleans has a special shuffle, Chicago has its own thing, etc.
At about midnight, Harv, our excellent and quirky but uber cool tour manager offered to take us all to a special local bar where they do alcoholic milk shakes. It sounded intriguing so about half a dozen of us went. Someone orders a peanut butter, whisky and cream shake (yes really), someone an avocado, tequila and cream one and a few of us go for the espresso, hazelnut and hennesseys cognac drink. Well I have to say they were most delicious. Rich though with all the thick cream, but ooh yes! Then back to the tour bus, and late night hanging out and chatting till about 3 am before sleep. Next stop, Buffalo, New York.
Theo Travis
