music

I'd been home from my errands for hours this afternoon before the boyfriend remembered to mention that he'd gotten call from a guitarist on St. John he sometimes plays with. He wanted to book the boyfriend for a gig next month...opening for Bonnie Raitt. I was like, "Yeah! Some music I actually wanna hear!" I'm a horrible music spouse--I rarely go to his gigs here. That's largely because over the years, his music career here has evolved into playing a lot of wedding receptions and corporate events and background dinner music at restaurants and the occasional jazz show. Those kinds of gigs pay better than club gigs, and there are hardly any clubs here anymore anyway. He's playing with a rock trio tonight (as he did last night). It's one of the last weekends for an infamous spot here that's popular with the boaties. I told him I'd go next Friday (his last gig there before the place gets turned into some kind of corporate tiki bar). The owner plans to auction off the memorabilia that's nailed to the walls and ceiling of the (open air) place.

I'm actually shocked that the little blues festival here managed to book Bonnie Raitt. We'll see if it really happens. It's a great setting--one of our favorite spots on the island.

I can't wait till we get back to the States so boyfriend can start playing some 'real' music again, at a level that's more closely matched to his musicianship. This has been a great break for us, but it's time to get back to civilization, culturally.

Moments ago I stumbled onto a "Soundstage" show on PBS which is Stevie Winwood in concert. I love Steve Winwood! We have a dear friend who has always reminded me of Winwood. Our friend also plays the Hammond B-3 (organ) and has the same kind of soulful vocals. They even look similar. (If anyone had told me at age nine that there were Hammond B-3's in the world, I might not have had such fierce resentment about being forced to play the organ in church. As it was, I couldn't wait to leave that shit behind.)

My brother called awhile ago. They were just pulling into their hotel in Reno. He and my sister-in-law packed up their three kids and the kids' friends and went up to see the air show tomorrow. It's an event they've never been to, which is surprising since they go to Reno...a lot. Tonight, they're leaving the kids at the hotel and going to see Robert Cray--which instantly made me think of our friend in Switzerland who was in Robert's band for a long, long time. I just realized he doesn't know yet that we're moving. Seems an email is in order.

About a week ago I finally got an email from one of our N.Y. pals. I'd just been saying to the boyfriend recently that I wondered what our friend was up to because we hadn't heard from him in awhile. Turns out he'd spent the last couple of months in L.A. editing a long-form video for Duran Duran. (Yes, they're back.) They evidently have an album coming out next month and plan to tour. I was never into them, but mention it here in the event that any of you were (or are).