Patty Larkin at Strathmore

Just returned from a fun concert on the lawn at the Strathmore Arts center with Patty Larkin. I've been a fan of Ms. Larkin's for a long time and own most if not all of her albums. Her album, Perishable Fruit is one of my favorites. She's a been a bit quiet the last couple of years since her last release Red = Luck. She played many of her "hits" including the fun CBGBs inspired tune, Wolf At The Door, that's included on her live album. She's quite a story teller with an acerbic wit. True to form, she could not help herself and let fly a few comments about the new Supreme Court nominee and her distaste for President Bush. I was prepared for this, but mercifully these were fairly brief and easily ignored. A typical Northeast knee-jerk liberal via Milwaukee, Wisconsin!

I really enjoyed her song Coming Up For Air from the aforementioned Persishable Fruit. I kept filling in (my mind) the lilting ethereal harmonies of Jane Siberry who is on the album version.

Of course, Patty is an awesome guitarist bordering into Michael Hedges, et al territory. Her quirky song writing and adventurous open tuning forays are what really seal the deal for me. Another fun highlight was an update of The Book I'm Not Reading with allusions to the children's Maisy the Mouse book she is now reading to her child. Quite fun!

I last saw Patty at the Wolf Trap Barns many years ago. That concert was more accomplished because it was inside and she was accompanied by a guitar "colourist" that helped recreate the feeling of the album versions of her songs. Still this outdoor concert was quite charming and a bargain at the price of free!

London and New Song

Well, the cowards of the Middle East are up to their old but increasingly ineffectual tricks. They continue their retrograde march back to the 10th century. Like the evil losers of the past they will end up on the dust heap of history but will leave a wake of carnage on their way to their doom. As a former resident of London, I am saddened by this blight visited upon such a great city.

On a lighter note, I posted a new song using the latest Project 5 version 2 software. I started this on a laptop at the beach and finished up in my home studio. You can listen to it here and download a good quality MP3 as well. This in the style of a german keyboard player Rainer Bruninghaus who is a renowned artist on the ECM label. Most notably he was in Eberhard Weber's Colours.

Let's hope the world has a better day tomorrow.