What A Day .....

Rarely do days like the two that just past happen. A series of events so unfortunate that all you can do is laugh .... until the humor at the situation goes from funny to downright insanity.

Yesterday morning found us just outside beautiful Palm Springs in Indio, CA. The plan was to get a late check out from our hotel, drive 2.5 hours to LAX and get on a plane that would take us first to Seattle, change planes then onto Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). Sounds simple enough right? Listen to this...
We got to LAX about 5PM, checked our 24 pieces of luggage and proceeded to the gate. Arriving at the gate in plenty of time to have a coffee, get some reading material and find a choice seat in the waiting area until.... Flight delayed an hour. Ok, no problem. Not too bad. We still had more than enough time to make our connection in Seattle for the Victoria, BC flight. After about 45 minutes it's becoming apparent that the 'one hour' was going to be more like a two hour delay. Then, 2 hours turned into 3 hours and our window of opportunity to make the connection in Seattle was rapidly vanishing. Our courageous Tour Manager Bill was being told not to worry, the flight to Victoria was going to wait for us! Cool, ok. So it was safe to get on this first flight instead of waiting it out in LAX overnight and traveling the next day. Unfortunately, Bill got some erroneous information. By the time we took off at 10PM! there would be no plane 'waiting for us' in Seattle. We arrived in Seattle at midnight and were told not to worry, we would be put on the first flight out the next morning at 7:15AM. Ummm, this is a rock band your dealing with. That hour doesn't exist on the road unless you're just calling it a day about then. The next flight was at 10:17 so we opted for that one. Now ... do they keep all our bags in the airport or do we ask to have them pulled and tote them back over in the morning from the Hotel at the Airport? Pull the bags please. There is no 'leaving bags' anywhere on the road if it can be helped.
We were all re booked on the 10:17 flight except for Meat and Bill who choose to take the flight after that at 2PM.
By the time we got our bags off the carousel and out to where the Marriott shuttle would pick us up from it was 2AM. We got to the Hotel by 2:45.
Only now we have to get up by 7:30 to go back over to the Airport and recheck the bags on to the flight to Victoria at 10:17.
Made it. Got there, got boarding passes, checked luggage and proceeded to the gate in Seattle.
An hour later .... Flight Cancelled. OH WHAT A DAY ALREADY. Now ... this was supposed to be a nice relaxing day off. OK, they could get us all on an Air Canada flight to Vancouver then onto Victoria. We decided to take it. BACK down to Baggage Claim, get our bags and check them onto the Air Canada flight. I was beginning to question if we were supposed to go to Canada at all.
We got our bags, struggled over to the Air Canada ticketing desk and hoped for the best.
No problem. About an hour and a half later we were boarding the flight to Vancouver.
The story doesn't end here .....
We arrive in Vancouver only to find that 14 out of 18 pieces of luggage didn't make it. Mine included. @@@@##$$%%*****!!!!!!!!
We went through Immigration and Customs in Vancouver with no luggage, onto Victoria with no luggage, checked into the hotel with no luggage. I treasure the little things I take with me on the road. My tea, my boil pot, my honey, a toothbrush, my Mug, and it was somewhere other than where I was. UGH!
Well, the story has a happy ending...
Late tonight, all the missing luggage was delivered to the hotel here in Victoria.
I just had to share this nutty story.

K

Carpe Noctum

The first two shows are in the history books.
The rust is clearing and we're on our way the The Great White North.
Although we did have a full five days of production rehearsals in L.A., nothing really beats being in front of a crowd.
The show is pretty much the same as the one we debuted last year in London, Toronto and N.Y.C.
There are some additions in terms of staging and extras which I'm not at liberty to give away.
You'll just have to wait for someone else to let that cat out of the bag.
I have decided to do a little filming backstage before the shows so you all can get a glimpse into the glamorous life all of us lead out here.
Matter of fact, I did a short one last night which you can view here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7agxh7xl1A
I've typed that address in as it appears in my browser. If it doesn't work, just try going to YouTube and typing my name in the search.

For those of you patiently waiting for the All Sides CD, I've been told that our first order will be delivered sometime this week. So, don't fret... your order is but a few days away from being filled.
I'll make sure to let you know the minute we get them in from the duplicating house.

K

All Sides

For those of you who weren't able to come to the last round of solo shows, I thought it would be fitting to impart the short story / explanation I've shared on why and how I decided to put the above mentioned CD together.
Last year I celebrated a milestone. Three decades playing, performing and recording. During that time I managed the amazing feat of four (yes, thats right, I said four!) solo albums. Well, one was a collaborative effort but 'three solo albums' sounds so unexciting I decided to designate Price / Sulton as a solo effort.
So, sitting in my suburban version of a cave this past December, I thought ... "Might be time to put the requisite compilation CD together." After all, I did have enough material from the FOUR solo albums to make a decent package. Some of the stuff was hard to get and I had fairly decent copies of my first EMI album and Price / Sulton. All the material on The Basement Tapes I have on DAT Tapes and Quid Pro Quo was easy enough to lift songs from.
I then said to myself ... "self, why not put those three new songs you've finished on as well? Make it slightly more interesting."
Well ... as long as I was doing that much, didn't I have some older demos lying around that people might want to hear? I sure did! I have more Demo's than Imelda Marcos has shoes.
I settled on 27 tracks. Pretty much the kitchen sink of material from my first decent recordings at Bearsville Studios in 1976 to the latest warblings of my dulcet tones.
The next hurdle came in terms of fitting all the pieces together. The biggest problem was re-mastering the older stuff to today's standards. Jim LaForest to the rescue. He's a good buddy of mine from the S.F. Bay Area who generously gave up a month of his time to the project. Tweaking knobs and plug-in's like the pro that he is to make it sound the way these things should sound before being presented as a body of work.
Most of the songs on the CD have gone through a dozen small changes before we were satisfied enough to say they were as good as they could be. I think anyone listening will appreciate Jim's relentless pursuit of a good sounding record.
The Artwork was another story. I didn't want to take the easy way out. Put a mug shot on the cover with some cheesy all knowing smirk and soft lighting so, Dave F. and I went out on a limb and tried to create a story with the cover. I have to hand it to him. The cover and artwork inside is the most creative stuff I've ever had my name associated with. The only budget we had was me buying him dinner after each photo session. I think I still owe him one.
It's done now. It's being assembled and printed as I write this (well, maybe not right now as it's 3:30 AM) and I'm thrilled at the final result.
I think you will be too.
Now I can start number five.

Kasim