The Name Is Jones, Tom Jones...

I congratulate Tom Jones on his soulful new album '24 Hours' following interviews with LA Times' Geoff Boucher and some other print publications. Tom proved totally gracious and indeed dapper, living up to his reputation as larger than life. Directly after this photograph was taken, he said, of my tie, "We used to call those slim jims in the '60s."



If you haven't yet seen it, you must check out Tom Jones absolutely killing on Jools Holland (BBC2).

A Pair of November Birthdays, Celebrated as One

The kitchen was full this afternoon for the dueling birthdays of Matt Hanks and Miya Hannan. We were forced to choose between the former's rich Peanut Butter Pie and the latter's scrumptious Pumpkin Cake, still appealing even though the Halloween season's overpa.

"We'll Fly To Sydney For A Holiday, A Sunny Christmas Day"

It had been months since I had a month sabbatical planned starting in mid-October, and I still hadn't figured out what I was going to do. Then one day at work I was listening to 'Arthur' by The Kinks. The song "Australia" came on. About ten minutes later I purchased my ticket to Australia.

I was there for nearly a month and traveled between Sydney and Cairns, and most destination points in between including: Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Fraser Island, the Whitsunday Islands. I had the experience of a lifetime and have stories that could fill many pages of the Shore Fire Blog. Instead of writing an epic travel diary (which I've already done), here are some of the most memorable highlights:

• First five days or so: Jetlag. Not that wimpy jetlag you get from Europe. This was real jetlag from a 15-16 hour time difference. Rather than toss and turn more one morning, I decided to get up, take a walk down to the beach and take some pictures of the sunrise in Bondi Beach:Apparently Australians eat kangaroos. Ew:
• Surfing with dolphins in Coffs Harbour. I was surfing a nice point break one afternoon in Coffs Harbour when about 10 feet in front of me I see a fin pop out of the water. My first thought is, shark! Then I noticed another and another, and realized they were dolphins by the way the fins were bopping up and down in the water. I tried to get them to surf a wave in with me but they blew me off. Typical locals. Sadly I have no pictures of this (don't have a water proof camera) so you're gonna have to take my word for it. Pretty amazing.

• Birthday in Byron Bay. Don't remember much from this but apparently I had a good time.

• 4WDing and camping under the stars on Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It's about 120 km long by like 15 km wide. I've never seen so many stars in my life. My fun was somewhat stifled by a Dutchman who was crazy paranoid about driving through saltwater. While it's true that hire companies impose big fines for this, they are renting you a vehicle to DRIVE ON THE BEACH. Of course you're going to go through a little bit of saltwater. Anyway, I can still hear his voice warning me as I drove: "watch aut! saldwada!" Here's a view from the 4WD on way to the beach:
And though the ocean looks beautiful and inviting, you cannot swim in it; it's infested by sharks and stingers. Imagine not being able to swim in this:
• 2 day/night trip to the Whitsunday Islands on a catamaran. The white sand beaches of Whitehaven Beach is surely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen:
• Being a 39 year old backpacker staying at youth hostels. The kids I roomed with must have thought, "Oh god. Who brought dad with them!!!???!!" Surprisingly I survived this without too many nightmare incidences. However there was this little nugget: there was an Irish couple staying in a private room in my dorm room. At least I think they were Irish. Their accent was hard to decipher as they had lost the ability to form complete sentences. Well, I guess they must have had a fight while out partying because I was woken up at 1:30am to a chorus of "*^@$ off!" "No, you *^@$ off!!" This went on for what seemed like hours. Awesome.

• Election Day in Australia. Once I saw that Obama had won PA I felt safe enough to go out for a quick surf while the rest of the results came in. There was a nice 6 foot swell at Bondi Beach and it would have been a waste spending my last day in Australia inside watching the election results. After surfing I went up to the roof top of my hostel, watched the waves roll in and called a friend of mine in the States, a fellow political junkie.

When it came time for Obama's speech I decided to venture out to find a larger TV than the 12" one in my room (also known as "the smallest TV in all of Australia"). I went to a pub around the corner and as I walked in the door, the opening piano chords to "Let It Be" rang through the mostly empty pub (it was like 3pm on a Weds after all). I asked out loud who played the song, and this guy saunters over (obviously already drunk) and gives me one of those half handshake/half hungs with a smile from ear to ear. Seriously? You can't make this stuff up.

Hanging with the Hadens

Legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden has been enjoying a raft of attention lately for his stellar new album Rambling Boy, released recently and featuring music near and dear to Haden when he began his career as a kid, touring the U.S. and performing traditional and country music with his family band.

Things have come full circle since, with the new album featuring his three daughters (triplets Petra, Rachel, and Tanya) as well as his son Josh, his wife Ruth Cameron, and a remarkable collection of special guests including Ricky Skaggs, Dan Tyminsky, Roseanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Haden's longtime collaborator Pat Metheny -- as well as famed actor and musician (and Haden's son in law) Jack Black, among others.

And it was an all-star lineup indeed that convened for two broadcast performances in New York this week. Here's the band taping remotely from WNYC's studios in Manhattan for an upcoming episode of World Cafe. There's almost too many legendary musicians to see them all, but in the frame you may be able to make out Charlie, Petra, Tanya, and Josh Haden; guitarist and fellow bassist (and album producer) Mark Fain; Dan Tyminski of Union Station, O Brother Where Art Thou, and solo fame; dobro master and Blue Highway member Rob Ickes; fiddle legend Stuart Duncan; and acclaimed guitarist John Leventhal.


The next day the same all-star cast reconvened for a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, with Josh singing the lead on his self-penned "Spiritual," the wrenching ballad also known for its appearance on Johnny Cash's "Unchained" album.

Here's the band getting warmed up:


And performing:

An annotated guide to the Letterman mirror...

The band dressing room at the Letterman show sees its fair share of traffic, needless to say, especially given the cramped quarters upstairs at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

At some point it appears a tradition has gotten started of bands leaving their mark on the mirror, and of course once such a thing gets started...

On a recent trip over there I couldn't help but notice a preponderance of Shore Fire artists, current and recent, and thought I'd post an annotated guide to Shore Fire's representation on the upper left portion of said mirror -- dressing room, sixth floor, Letterman show.

Enjoy:

Interviewing Susan Tedeschi For NY1

Matt Hanks and I went to Susan Tedeschi's show at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza on Wednesday night. She rocked the nearly sold out crowd playing tracks from her new album 'Back To The River.' Her five song encore was killer including a cover of one of my favorite songs, "Evidence" by Candi Stanton.



After the show I filled in for George Whipple and interviewed Susan for NY1. No, not really I was just holding the mic while the camera man asked the questions.

Morrison Hotel Brings Music Back To The Bowery

Last Night Matt Hanks and I attended the Django James and the Midnight Squires show at the Morrison Hotel Gallery's Bowery location. The gallery now occupies what used to be part of CBGB's and last night's show was the first live musical performance in the space since CBGB's shut its doors. Check out some photos from the show below.

Django James and the Midnight Squires perform. Photo by Rick Edwards

Django James, Goergina Jagger and Jordan Hewson hang out after the show. Photo by Rick Edwards

A visit from the incomparable Mark O'Connor

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming the virtuoso violinist and composer Mark O'Connor to our offices to talk about his incredibly ambitious plans for the coming year, which include debuts of new symphonic and chamber music works, a stepped up initiative to educate the next generation of musicians, several CD releases and re-releases, and... well, more than I can possibly recap here.

It was an honor and a pleasure. I'm not sure when I was first introduced to O'Connor's music -- since I rushed out and bought as much as I could get my hands on so quickly. I think the intro came from the bluegrass/newgrass landmark album The Telluride Sessions and work with David Grisman, and other early favorites that were perennially in the CD changer in college include The New Nashville Cats release, and later a semi-rare album -- Markology -- entirely composed of Mark's performances on guitar when he was just 16 (!!). But I think it was hearing Appalachia Waltz that gave me a sense of the full range and breadth of his diverse talent, not just as a blazing performer, but as a composer and vanguard for a new movement in Classical music, drawn from American forms. What can I say, I'm a major fan.

Well with that gushing out of the way, it's a pleasure to be working with Mark on his next set of releases, and an honor to have him stop by.

Here's Mark with members of the Shore Fire gang at our offices in Brooklyn. From left, Andy Silva, Chris Chafin, myself, O'Connor, and Nancie S. Martin.

Music Television (On Your Computer)

MTV has put every music video that they've ever aired on their new website, including highlights from their Unplugged series and interviews. It's perfect for reminiscing and indulging in guilty pleasures.

One of my faves from the heyday of MTV:

Nirvana |MTV Music

In other Nirvana news, this guy just recreated the photo he's famous for being in.

Costello Kicks it on Letterman

Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello kicked it out of the ballpark last night when they performed "Carpetbaggers." The song appears on Jenny's new album Acid Tongue, but the impetus for last night's gig was its inclusion on an upcoming episode of Elvis' TV show, "Spectacle, Elvis Costello With...." Costello also had a sit down segment with Dave to talk about Spectacle, which debuts December 3 on Sundance in the US.



Jenny Lewis is terrifically sweet and it was a pleasure to get to meet her before the taping.

Barbara Orbison Relates to the Cuz

Earlier this month, Barbara Orbison made a trip to Sirius Satellite Radio to meet Cousin Brucie and talk about the definitive Roy Orbison anthology 'The Soul of Rock and Roll.' After listening to several never-before-released songs - including "Precious" a romantic serenade that was written for Ms. Orbison and offers a rare solo acoustic performance by Roy - Barbara shared stories of Roy's inspirations, hardships and legacy.

Tune in this Wednesday, November 5th at 5pm EST to hear the interview on "Rockin' With The Cuz" on Sirius's 60's Vibrations Channel 6.

The Kids Are Allright on Halloween

Shore Fire Kids were out in force on Halloween, as in years past. The classics are still in, witches, mummies, superheros and more.


Here's Matt Hanks with Emma as Dorothy and her little sister Sally as the Wicked Witch, in front of their apartment house in Brooklyn.

Eli Satlof as Speed from Speedracer, next to his brother Leo, the Mummy. We've got a nice family tradition going of homemade costumes...the kids continued the streak this year. (Notice Eli's yellow rubber kitchen gloves).

I think we're up to our fifth year of getting all the kids on our block together for a group trick or treat. Here's the gang gathered on my neighbor's stoop. We've got lots of princesses on the block, and this year, two Speeds.


It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Supergirl, by day a nursery school student name Roxy Shapiro (Rebecca's daughter).



Here’s some Halloween pix of Maureen's kids as a cheerless cheerleader and a witch and their friend Lukas (the werewolf).