venicehere in Venice I thought I’d better catch up on blogging and more before we move on. The tour is going well so far and according to Eddie we’re actually making some money, although the band has yet to see much of it.  Hank and Harold (the Headstock Brothers) managed to get out to the country to visit some friends of theirs and returned with wine and cheese of a most excellant nature which they shared with the rest of the band, much to our delight. I guess the next gig will include a private birthday party for an old business associate of Eddie, but so far no more details on location. At any rate, Eddie says the musical recording of the week is “Hommages” by Gavin Bryars  released on Les Disques du Crepuscle in 1981(Belgium). This disc is a collection of four pieces performed by an ensemble  including Gavin Bryars himself.  The tone of three of these pieces is decidedly ambient in nature , the other track “The English Mail Coach” is a more strident but still minimalistic composition. The players on this record do a wonderful job of maintaining a delicate balance on the quieter tracks that results in what I would term “ambient acoustic  jazz” or something on that order. All in all I agree with Eddie, a very nice recording indeed. One more musical note on the week. The band and Eddie would like to express their personal thanks, admiration, and respect to the one and only Les Paul, who played and invented his way into the musical fabric of the world, in a way few have or ever will. He will never be forgotten. Time to get my stuff together for the next leg of this trip, have a good day, more to come soon.

image courtesy of twistedpapers.com