July 2002 Journal...

Long time no update, sorry to have disappeared. Balancing all the odds and ends is, I guess, not my current forte. I've just returned from two festivals in Europe ... Midfinns outside of Copenhagen, and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Wow.

The Danish one was a crazy trip. My band got stuck in LA because of the airport shooting, none of the later flights had connections that would have gotten them to the festival in time. So I went on solo. Some guy heckled me about my orange pants, another seventh grade moment, but I realized it was cuz he wanted some for himself. Actually the gig went great. I had fun, and the audience was really cool. I do love the space that playing alone creates, the way I can bend time and change up the vocal anytime without screwing up the boys.

Then Montreux, the festival I've dreamed about almost as much as I did being on the Letterman show. What a treat. We got to play on a bill with David Sanborn and Take 6 (their new record "Beautiful World" is out on Warner Bros. LOVE IT) at the Casino on a Saturday night. I love this festival, and European audiences in general because they're so open to these odd combinations of artists on the same bill. Good music is good music. Sunday night, I was asked to sing a Jobim song for an impromptu set. So Joe Sample played piano and I sang. Scary but so cool to be part of that kind of spontaneous moment. Got to see Michel Camilo and Erykah Badu andGilles Peterson, Joao Basco, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis. And the town of Montreux is enchanting, winding tiny roads up into the Swiss Alps, looking across Lake Geneva to Evian (of the water), stunning biblical clouds every afternoon.

When I got home (new home, NYC) there were still a million boxes -- we never had time to blink before we had to get on another plane ... and I'm still trying to figure out where you put everything in apartments with only two closets. But the city is inspiring, infuriating, HOT, and there's a story every ten paces. People just launch into full life dramas completely unprompted. And I'm there memorizing it all. It really is the best kind of information overload. Oversharing?? Never.

I'm really psyched about the run of dates in August, NEWPORT yeay, and Bearsville, Amagansett and Ocean City, NJ. Then back to the Northwest in late August ... the Aladdin in Portland, Bumbershoots festival, WOW Hall in Eugene ... These are some of my favorite places.

I'm settling in, trying to work on some new ideas for the new record. Hopefully I can finish most of it by the end of the year, and release it sometime next spring. Muse willing, it's always such a battle. I hate that it never gets easier. Perhaps you become an even harsher critic of yourself as time goes on. Or is it that all the good songs have been written, and it's futile to try to trick yourself into thinking that you've got anything new to say.

I'll try and check in on the postings board soon, I know I've been completely negligent on that end. And moving cross country is really a lame excuse!!

Cheers, stay cool,
Jonatha