It's Wednesday. A 'mini-hurricane' hit New Orleans last night. The Quarter was flooded, but the music went on. Hear a cajun band and a rocker. Wish I could remember their names... I sat in with Kim Carson and Jason Bishop at Kerry's Pub on Decatur Street. Jason's a good picker and singer and plays country music in the Quarter 7-9 gigs a week! Kim is a really good country singer and bass player; she playes every night somewhere in the Quarter and hits the road a lot too. A tour of Europe is coming up. Thanks, Kim for showing me the ropes.... There are thunderheads outside this morning for my drive to Orange Beach, AL - yikes! I'm playing with Cowboy Johnson over there. He's a really great singer and writer, the "real thing!" I've felt real tired and under the weather most of the time out here. Bad dreams, not sleeping much. But the gigs have been fun. When I walk on stage, everything seems to melt away and I'm in another world....
Ok, I'm starting a new blog out here on the trail... It's Tuesday, March 29. I'm in New Orleans staying at Ken and Karen Triche's house. There's Armidillos rooting in the gardens, Kamikazi Mosqwuitos at dusk and alligators in the back yard... This is the beginning of the Southeastern Pilgramage Tour. 26 shows in 30 days or thereabouts. I've played three shows so far: Chickie Wah Wah on Friday 3/25, the Triche House Concert 3/26 and Banks Street Bar on Sunday 3/27. The shows were good and we had a lot of fun. Next is Orange Beach, Alabama on 3/3- & 3/31. I'll write some more soon, but for now, I'm going down to he Quarter and do some street singin'. Always wanted to do it. For compleat tour info see www.BobLivingston.org. See ya later!
Yesterday we played Machabeng College here in Maseru. 300 young students who knew nothing about folk or country music all singing along and yodeling! We played the Maseru Prep school today and had the same reaction. They were very young kids, the sweetest kids I've ever seen. Wait untill you see the photos and the video! (I'll post them all after the State Department photographer sends 'em to me...)
Tonight we played a concert at U.S. Ambassador Robert Nolan's house. A lot of folks in the diplomatic community and Lesotho government were there including the Prime Minuster. Seems the PM lives right next door to the Ambassador, but has never had the opportunity to come over before tonight. He came to hear the music, he said...(!!) Richard and I had a chance to have a good talk with the Ambassador and the PM before the show. The PM is a former professor and taught at the college where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu went to school. We felt it an honor to be there with these two interesting and important men in the scheme of things. We played the show and rocked the house. It's the first time the State Department in Lesotho has has a music group here and we feel we went a long way to change that! The PM and the Ambassador and all the other Ambassadors and guests from many countries were really into it. The power of music and entertainment as a diplomatic tool and a cultural bridge were alive and well tonight! Afterward, we packed up and mingled with the guests. There were some mighty interesting folks there... And quite a few Texans too. Many were were there working for the Embassy, US Aid and the Peace Corps. After everone left, Ambassador Nolan asked us if we wanted to have anything to eat. I said peanut butter and jelly and so he had his chef prepare us toasted bagles with peanut butter and jelly from South Africa. Real American comfort food! The photo is taken in the Ambassador's kitchen amid Christmas stockings hanging all 'round... Great night! Tomorrow we go on a field trip out to Morija and an outdoor show downtown and open to the public... Saturday morning we take off for Namibia and the last leg of out African journey. To be continued... Sent from Bob's iPhone
I'm in the Johannesburg scareport waiting on a 7am flight to Maseru. That means we got up at 4:30am brothers and sisters. Yipee! I'm wireless in the waiting lounge. We left Lilongwe this morning at 5am and I'm quite the space cadet right now having been run into the international proving ground...
OK, now I'm in Maseru, Lesotho at a hotel that used to be a Holliday Inn. Driving in from the airport, it looks a LOT like New Mexico: mesas, canyons, ravines, rivers, high plateaus, pine and scrub...and snow in the winter. Maseru is the capital city. We have a king here and a prime Minister too. This place like so many places in Africa is full of surprises and so much different than I expected... Richard and I have a full slate of events while we're here. Gigs and workshops, but they're also taking us to see some native crafts and art between shows. Mohair weavings... If you want to know more about Maseru, "check out US Embassy Maseru" on Facebook. OK tgen, I gotta get some sleep... To be continuezzzzzzz.... Sent from Bob's iPhone
Today we held a workshop with a group of young Malowi musicians. We had a great discussion and heard about their problems developing a music scene here and told them About Austin's success as a music center. We gave them a lot of practical advice and charged them with organizing an association and actually got our State Department to agree to help. We also met the head of their local government tonight and gave him Austin's key to the city! (the Austin City Council made us goodwill ambassadors and gave us several keys to the city to get the right folks...) The best thing about the workshop was we all got to play music together at the end; beautiful African traditional songs that raggae, blues, rock and hip hop artists all sang...wait til you see the video!
Tonight we played a "house concert" for US Ambassador Bodee. A lot of cool folks including musicians, poets, foreign diplomats, music lovers all, were there. Tomorrow morning we catch a 7AM flight for Lestho and more fun. (And that what Richard and have been having loads of. In spite of the hard travelin and somwhat grueling schedule, it comes down to having a lot of fun and playing music, music, music!) Thanks for all your good wishes...ONWARD! To be continued...
This morning I threw up. I've caught a pretty good cold and went to the embassy doctor yesterday here in Lilongwe. He gave me a RX of antibiotics. Then we drove the 5 hours up north to Mzuzu to play last night with our Malawi State Department PAO, John Warner. We played to a packed house of Mzuzu locals. There was also a Austin fellow there named Matt that Richard knew. Small world...
