November
11th, 2002
Lola's
Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR
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THE
CARROTOPS
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We
performed on a Monday at 6:30pm.
I started the set with coffee
and ended it starting my usual
snifter of cognac... this was
an accelerated stage version of
the day. Even starting at such
an unusual set time, the Portland
audience was warm and welcoming
and by the 9:00pm set, the large
room was full. I scheduled a set
with all
of our best tour material, much
of it from "Verse."
performing regularly like this
does throw you deeper into your
art.. your senses while performing
become more acute, the combination
of adrenaline, the other artists
onstage, the muses, the lack of
distraction, and the need from
the audience all conspire to make
you the artist you thought you
wanted to be. This concert was
especially meaningful for me because
my family in Portland was there.
This photo is of the carrottops
lined up in the plane home. We
have less than a week to rest
before we are off to Madrid, Granada,
Prague, and Belgrade.
What I would really like right
now is a night security job. The
kind where I check in around midnight
and sit at a desk and watch a
black and white projection of
a hallway where nobody comes or
goes. Every now and then I walk
around with my keys dangling from
my belt and check the doors. My
uniform is cool slate grey.
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November
8th, 9th & 10th, 2002
Jazz Alley,
Seattle, WA
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FISH
GUYS
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What
a gorgeous jazz club this has
become! Its big, like a 400 seat
theatre, with sound board, Steinway
piano, beautiful stage and lighting.
One of my favorite amenities here
is the private dressing room.
It makes such a big difference
to me if I can go somewhere to
rest, read, eat, put on makeup
and mostly hide. One of the biggest
sources of stress in performance
for me is being watched. To compound
that with being watched while
I'm offstage makes the entire
undertaking almost impossible.
Jazz Alley has a wonderful staff,
they are professional, kind and
attentive. This is the place you
want to play in Seattle if you
are a jazz musician. You needn't
bother with the rest. The band
had many good moments here; one
serious train wreck when I opened
the set with "Giant Steps"
and counted the tempo way too
fast. It was a bloody accident
right at the top of the set.
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PAN
PACIFIC HOTEL
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November
6th, 2002
San Francisco
Jazz Festival
Its
always a thrill to be in San Francisco.
The city is one of the most beautiful
in the United States in my opinion
and I again was surprised by California
weather. People were still sitting
at outdoor cafes in November.
This jazz festival is the biggest
and most well-organized. The concert
went well with over 700 tickets
sold. We stayed at a wonderful
hotel (24 room service and a gym
are essential these days) called
the Pan Pacific. The funny thing
about the hotel is that it looked
like a bit like a Japanese jail.
Very Orwellian. And in beige.
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October
18, 2002 Valence
October 19, 2002 Massy
October 21, 2002 Opera Comique,
PARIS
October 22, 2002 Rouen
October 23, 2002 Toulouse
October 24, 2002 Avignon
October 25! HOME!!!!!!!!
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OPERA
COMIQUE POST SHOW
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OPERA
COMIQUE FOYER
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After
the initial leg of this trip,
things became a bit of a blur,
a French blur, which means a beautiful
and good tasting blur, nonetheless
a blur. The concert and city that
stand out in my mind now is of
course Paris. Playing at the Opera
Comique was a thrill. What a
gorgeous theatre! Here are a couple
of photos of the theatre, but
of course these cannot convey
the sense of playing in front
of so many tiers of enthusiastic
Parisians in such a stylish venue.
Our set for most of the tour revolved
around "Verse," but
I would insert different standards
here and there for variety. Here
is the setlist from the concert
in Paris and it is the basic set
we used for the tour with three
or four variations each concert:
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PATRICIA
BARBER
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OPERA
COMIQUE - PARIS, FRANCE
OCTOBER 21st, 2002
Bumper to Bumper
Touch of Trash
Dansons la Gigue!
Caravan
Wave
Jitterbug Waltz
Laura
Like J.T.
I Could Eat Your Words
Pieces
If I Were Blue
You Gotta Go Home
encore:
The Moon
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MICHAEL
IN FRANCE
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ERIC
AND NEAL
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TGV
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Traveling
through autumn means, of course,
that Europe is raining. Going
to the south of France was a needed
tonic. We sat in the warmth and
sun at outdoor cafes when we had
a minute, which unfortunately
wasn't very often. My mental escape
route was to take a plane to Morocco
if I got too tired or cold. (I
always have an escape plan and
have used it from time to time,
unfortunately tracked and ultimately
captured by my American Express
card.) Avignon is stunningly beautiful.
The tour was enormously successful,
but music should not be played
under these difficult travel conditions..
It is too delicate and fragile
a gift to brutalize this way.
One pays a high price wresting
inspiration from a tired body
and brain. You will never see
a dense schedule like this again
on this website unless the travel
distances are short and we are
driven. However, these guys, Eric,
Neal, Michael, and Jay were travel
soldiers during the day and sublime
artists at night and I owe them
a huge debt of gratitude for their
hard work, artistry, and equanimity.
On my Polygram recording, "A
Distortion of Love," in 1992,
I dedicated the song by Richard
Rodney Bennett, "I Never
Went Away" to Paris, and
I never will... |
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