Monday, 03 November 2008
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2nd November Asheville NC
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
JFK airport is full of people wearing medals they won for completing the New York City marathon yesterday, looking tired but happy. After three weeks and nearly 3000 miles in our Econoline van, I feel the same, buoyed by the fact that the best show was saved until last.
Asheville is a town in the Appalachian Mountains renowned for its activism. Across the road from the Orange Peel, a huge hoarding keeps a toll of the cost of the Iraqi occupation in dollars as well as Iraqi and American lives. I’ve been here once before, five years ago on the Tell Us The Truth tour, and have a strong memory of a well attended after-show discussion at a nearby squatted community café with most of the audience and all of the artists.
This time I had a little longer to check the place out. We got to town around 3pm and I took a leisurely stroll in the afternoon sunshine down to the venue past shops selling second hand clothes and American folk art. We even found our first Indian restaurant of the tour. Joy.
The gig was highly charged from the start, the audience responding as if it were Saturday night, not Sunday. They pulled songs out of me that I hadn’t been playing thus far, including the first US performance of One Love/Drop the Debt, along with all the arm waving actions. They seemed to be all ages, from earnest young beardies to old whiskery wobblies, and they knew most of the words too. By the end my voice was hoarse and my fingertips sore, but we’d all had a great time.
Back to the hotel for a farewell beer with the Watson Twins, who have been a wonderful support act, warming the crowd up for me with their southern harmonies and singing like the Staples Sisters every night on Sing Their Souls Back Home.
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1st November Durham NC
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
Considering how many miles we’ve driven in the past three weeks, opportunities for roadside recreation have been far and few between. Early on, we diverted off of I-80 near Jenny Jump Mountain after seeing a sign inviting us to The Land of Make Believe. Our wise-cracks about it being full of Obama supporters were intensified when we drove through a little town called Hope, but when we finally got there, we found to our disappointment that it had been closed since Labor Day. Nothing looks sadder than a funfair out of season, so we headed back to the highway and our engagement in West Long Branch.
So imagine our delight at seeing a signpost inviting us to The Dismal Swamp on the road out of Norfolk, Virginia. Having no show to do that night, it provided us with a classic day-off detour. Of course, in the beautiful autumn sunshine that has blessed our tour, the swamp was far from dismal, but we still had a lovely time, like a bunch of schoolkids, climbing on rotten logs to cross ditches of brackish water. While huge buzzards soared overhead, Andy saw a snake, Grant tore his shirt on the brambles and Vaughn nearly fell off the log into the water. Meanwhile, Billy was busily recording all this on his blog.
Saturday afternoon we drove from Durham to nearby Chapel Hill to take part in an early voting drive. Concerned that their right to vote may be challenged on election day, millions of people across the USA have been taking advantage of the opportunity to cast their votes early, thereby giving themselves a chance to overcome any problems they might face at the polling booth. There have been reports of both Republican and Democratic party officials looking to exclude people who have moved house, have lost their homes due to repossession or simply do not have the relevant document to prove their identity. African American supporters of Obama have been particularly concerned, recalling what happened in Florida in 2000, when thousands of African Americans were denied the right to vote having been illegally removed from voting rolls by Republican officials.
At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, student activists have registered over 5000 new voters and are making a concerted effort to get them to vote early. Members of the band Superchunk organised a midday concert to get people down to the polling station and, as they heard I was in town, they invited me over to play a few songs. Looking at the assembled crowd, some of whom had brought their young children along, it seemed fitting to sing Laura Nyro’s ‘Change The Country’, with it’s line about ‘babies in the blinking sun/Singing we shall overcome’. The red and blue graphic designed by Shepherd Fairley, of Obama above the word HOPE is everywhere to be seen on this campaign and that audience waiting to cast their vote seemed to me to be the embodiment of that hope.
Sunday, 02 November 2008
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30th October Norfolk Virginia
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
The Attucks Theatre was opened in 1919 and is notable as the oldest remaining theatre in the USA that was entirely financed, designed, constructed and operated by African Americans. It seems entirely fitting that I should be appearing here as the country is alive with the possibility of electing its first African American president. The man himself seems everywhere, on tv, on the front pages, on lawn-posters, t-shirts and buttons. It’s physical too. He was in Norfolk so recently, his uniformed secret servicemen are still checking out of the hotel as we leave for the show, where the promoter shows me a picture on his phone of Obama and himself taken just the day before.
The sense of excitement has been palpable at the gigs too, from rural Pennsylvania to metropolitan midtown Manhattan, from New Hampshire in the north to down below the Mason-Dixon Line in Virginia. The relatively low voter turn-out at American presidential elections has served to undermined their claim to be the worlds greatest democracy. This time feels different. People are energised by the possibility of change. Both candidates have used the phrase to promote their campaigns, but the Republicans pitch is tarnished by the record of George W Bush, who has been the invisible man of this campaign season. How much genuine change can you expect from a candidate who time and time again voted with his president?
The Attucks, which takes its name from Crispus Attucks, an African American who was the first US citizen killed by crown forces in the War of Independence, is an old style theatre. Built before the use of amplification, the auditorium is taller than it is longer, ensuring an intimate gig. Sam Cooke features among the names of great artists who performed here in the past. Could it be that the change he yearned for is finally going to come?
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Saturday, 25 October 2008
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21st/22nd October Boston
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
Two consecutive nights at the Somerville Theatre in Boston presents me with the problem of how to sound fresh on the second night. The simple answer is to play different songs but then the challenge is to find a way of refreshing the set list without changing the narrative of the gig, which at the moment is focused heavily on the forthcoming election and the prospect of an Obama victory.
As ever, the set list is shaped by external events. On our way to the first show in State College, I got a call from BBC 6 Music informing me of the death of Levi Stubbs. As a result, I have to include Levi Stubbs Tears in the set every night and give it a prominent place to allow me to pay my respects to the great man. On the second night, while showering in my room in Ithaca, I hear George Bush call for the leaders of the G8 to get together to preserve ‘democratic capitalism’. I could hardly believe my ears – surely this was an oxymoron, like ‘self-regulation’? This nugget gave me a whole new angle from which to approach NPWA, so that has to go into the set too.
My dilemma is if I take out too many songs from the set on the second night, will it lose its political potency? Fine for those who like to hear the love songs, but disappointing for those who come for the firebrand politics.
Backstage at the Somerville, I’m playing in a newly restrung acoustic guitar. Long-time Bragg ultra Stephen Walker sits on the sofa, so I ask him what he wants to hear – ‘Love songs’ he says. His wish list is helpful, even if his no 1 choice – Strange Things Happen – is well beyond my current range. In the end, I change a third of the songs in the set, bringing in mostly love songs, but still managing to hit my bullet points in the show.
Naturally, I play ‘Old Clash Fan Fight Song’ on both nights. As anyone who has heard me introduce the song will know, it was written and first performed here at the Somerville in March 2006. As always, the line ‘George Bush will soon be gone’ elicits a huge cheer but reminds me that in just a few days, this song will have to be retired from the set.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
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18th October State College PA and Ithaca NY
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
Interstate 80 is probably the longest road in these United States. It runs from New York City to San Francisco, south of the Great Lakes rolling on across Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada before crossing the Rockies into California, 3000 miles of freeway from sea to shining sea.
The first 240 miles, from Manhattan to State College, Pennsylvania, are beautiful in the bright autumn sunshine. The hill country of eastern New Jersey is in stark contrast to the industrial wasteland that I’ve come to associate with this place after years of slogging up and down the NJ Turnpike. Once into Pennsylvania we enter the Appalachian Mountain region. Here the foliage is breathtaking, green giving way to yellow and orange, then to rust-red and crimson as the leaves prepare to fall.
Our visit to State College happens to coincide with Homecoming Weekend – so the main route into town is closed off. We find a friendly cop who guides us through the roadblock and around the back of the town to the venue and while Andy, Grant and Vaughn set up the set up, I mingle with the crowds on Main Street watching the Homecoming Parade. It’s a noisy procession of all those things we Brits don’t quite understand about American student life – fraternities, sororities, gridiron and nice white teeth.
The theatre is an ideal setting for a first night show, intimate but also a bit rowdy – some of the homecoming weekend spirit must have snuck in. Having got into New York in time to see the last presidential debates two nights before, I litter the set with references to Joe the Plumber and his morbid fear of redistribution of wealth.
Ithaca is a small town in rural New York state and home to Cornell University. We get there early enough to hit the record stores and for yours truly to get a seriously great haircut. Asking the barber to summarise what he had done, so I could get my barber in Bridport to do the same, he said it was ‘kinda freestyle’. J.C. Knight’s Barber Shop is located at 208 Commons. Just walk right in and ask for Ivan.
It being Saturday night, the crowd at the State Theater is up for it. A rousing cheer greets the fifth line of opening song ‘Help Save the Youth of America’. How odd I think, until I realise that Grant has only just managed to get my voice into the PA.
Despite this setback, the gig is highly charged, with a predominantly young audience responding vocally to my comments to the forthcoming election. At the end of the evening a sizeable crowd hang back to speak to me and have their shirts written on. Concerned about a noisy drunk lingering at the fringes of the group, Vaughn asks the security to eject the noisy character acting strangely at the back of the hall. Three burly guys proceed to try to throw Grant out. Given how the evening had begun, maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.
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19th October West Long Branch NJ
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
Driving south on Route 96 from Ithaca, we pass many roadside signs cautioning us to be aware of snowmobiles appearing from driveways. No fear of that on this warm October Sunday morning. The sun shines down on weathered clapper-board houses and roadside diners offering smashed pumpkin sundae. On winding roads through tiny townships, we pass white-washed churches, their car parks full. As we head towards the Susquehanna River valley and the I-80 East, the Fleet Foxes provide us with hymns to this beautiful Appalachian morning.
The first three gigs on this tour are all in places I’ve never played before and after nearly 20 years of touring in the US and Canada its nice to get off the beaten track. West Long Branch is on the Jersey Shore, the Atlantic coastline that stretches south from New York down to Chesapeake Bay. Asbury Park, home of Bruce Springsteen is nearby.
The gig is at Monmouth College and has all the necessary ingredients of an intimate show – seated auditorium, no bar, Sunday night etc. – and I enjoy playing a less intense show than the night before, talking and singing to the audience in an almost conversational manner.
In the front row away to my right I become aware of a little kid leaping around during the songs, playing a toy electric guitar. He is active all night, windmilling his arm like a tiny Pete Townsend and throwing some classic guitar hero shapes. His name is Ossie and, the end of the show, I invite him up to perform with me during A New England. He steals the show.
You can see footage of Ossie and me here:
Thursday, 01 May 2008
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Episode 13: There Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me
This entry was originally published at Billy Bragg's Blog
In the early 1990s, Nora Guthrie, daughter of Woody Guthrie, sees Billy in concert in the States and adds him to her shortlist of musicians to write new music to her late father’s undiscovered lyrics.
Later that decade, and with the participation of alt-country rockers Wilco, led by Jeff Tweedy, Mermaid Avenue is born. Widely admired and commercially successful in the USA, Mermaid Avenue volumes 1 and 2 are each nominated for a Grammy, and bring Billy a new audience in America.
Billy tells the story behind the making of the albums, and offers the prospect of unreleased tracks from the sessions becoming available in the next few years.
Billy_Bragg
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- Name: Billy
- Birthday: 12/20/1957
- Gender: Male
- Member Since: 2/15/2008
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Singer-songwriter and political activist
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Making an in-store appearance in support of Mr Love & Justice at HMV 150 Oxford Street, London, at 6pm on 7 March.
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Playing a sold-out show at the Roundhouse in London on 4 March.
