eric sommer / Blog
ATHENS, OHIO....
Came into Athens to promo the Saturday show and it was great - I was walking down the street, people came up and said hello, see you there on Saturday, I went into the venue to post a few posters and in a second people were all around me asking about the show, times, songs... so great! But the amazing thing was just outside of Indianapolis - I am driving along and a car pulls up next to me and they start beeping the horn - I look over and they wave and when I waved back they started to scream and go crazy... so cool! Love those INDY FANS!!
Get the name right...
OK - in Knoxville TN this thursday night and for some reason the venue - THE WELL - listed me as Billy Don Sommer. Never heard of him. So the Metro Pulse, the local music rag, listed me that way too only because the venue sent it in that way... but sadly the Metro Pulse is challenged a bit on these sorts of issues and we can't seem to find anyone there to make the change; too bad. Anyway, we are doing what we can so the show looks like it is still on, that's at The Well in Knoxville on Thursday, April 5th, 10pm.
Terra Haute, Indiana...
The lights in downtown TH went completely out last night for a few hours and the venue used flashlights and candles to keep it all going... in the parking lot across the street I pulled out a guitar and tried out "This Car won't Drive" on Kris Chaney and Kathy and it was ok... takes a while for new songs to work their way into the program and this one is going to work really really well... but with the lights out everywhere, the downtown urban landscape was transformed by a fantastic full moon that covered the buildings and the streets and the shadow people with a beautiful pale blue glow and it was a magnificent study in grey scale halftones courtesy of the celestial mechanics of the universe... http://www.facebook.com/ericsommermusic and http://www.facebook.com/itsericsommer for more details
Desolate Storefronts...
Usually I head up to Little Rock on the local roads - it takes a lot longer but the features are so much more visually interesting. Not today. I have seen so many empty storefronts in so many downtown city scapes and so, so many malls that are not even a third occupied - I can't bear it any more because I feel so powerless to make any difference. This is wrong, but I believe - and hope - that change is coming in November in a very, very big way...
Eudora Welty
I am sitting at the terminal in The Eudora Welty Library in Jackson, Mississippi; Eudora Welty is one of the great southern writers, along with O. Henry and William Faulkner - I have been to his home in Oxford, MS called Rowan Oaks and it was striking in its simple tree lined beauty and understated repose... you can see him writing As I Lay Dying, Light in August and The Sound and Fury...some great music in Oxford!
Jackson, Mississippi...
I just love the deep south; people are friendly, fun and there is a real appreciation for the musical heritage of the area and the importance of their place in it... Jackson is great - the State Capitol, very cool... and now I am out and about on the streets, pretty quiet but warmer than NYC and the Gulf is pretty darn close... been adding shows daily and it's amazing that once I'm on the highway, shows, melodies and streams of words come out, become available live a river of words and musical note rushing by, and some jump up and have little ballon scripts that say "catch me" or "I'm ready" or "great idea here", "pick me" or "me, me me" or something like that... Picasso was right - there IS such a thing as inspiration, but it MUST FIND YOU WORKING... the one thing that is constant everywhere I go is the incredible anger towards Washington, Barry Sotero and the current situation with jobs, the economy and the insane bickering... If I were in Washington and in Congress or The House, I would be really, really scared.
Getting back on the highway...
The Johnson City Folk Festival is finished, it was incredible, and now getting ready to hit the shows.... a lot going onin November!!! Here's a link to the Folk Festival https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Johnson-City-Folk-Festival/155169261217822
Southern New jersey...
OK - good morning from New jersey.... the leaves turning were beautiful coming up! from Knoxville; The scene in Pittman is like a little Princeton - leaves falling, lots of folks hanging around on the streets.... a brisk fall day and this is a beautiful little one road rural village in Southern new jersey - so cool!!! I grew up here in Middlebush - a small farming village in the outskirts of New Brunswick - now the the DIY capital of Jersey and home to The screaming Females ... Middlebush had two streets -Front Street and Back Street. And Amwell Avenue that connected us to the universe... looking for a coffeeshop to do some writing; senat all the promo to Chicago and Kansas City, got great acts on the bill in Milwaukee and The Southgate House is ready to rock...
Living on the road from show to show...
This weekend was great for shows, rough for the car-house... got some great press in Savannah - "Every time Eric Sommer plays around here, inevitably someone comes up to me the next day and says "Man, did you see that incredible acoustic guitarist last night?" I've been preaching the gospel of Sommer (pictured) for a while now.
Originally from Boston, he now has no permanent residence - it's just him and the van and a bunch of guitars, playing gig after gig after gig around the country. He plays in open and standard tunings, has the digital dexterity of Leo Kottke, and his bottleneck slide work will stun you." and the audiences were some of the best I have seen in the area, but I was already raged when I got there and I have noticed I am waking up and sleep driving - once I am awake, eyes open, I know I need to be going to the gig, looking for the gig or loading out from the gig and a few times I've driving along and suddenly it dawned on my that I have no show to go to and I need to be in bed... pretty wacky!!
memphis, little rock...
Little Rock continues to defy all know musical stretegicalness... Show at The Midtown on Saturday was the biggest crowd ever for me there - the most money they had ever seen thrown onto the stage and without a doubt the cutest Arkansas Girls you coul imagine- thanks so much to everyone for coming, thank you for making that night so great - I finished load out at 6:45am... what a rocket!!! And Little Rock is beautiful in the early morning - perfect sky, perfect weather. Then recovered in the motel, hit the river early afternoon for a little R&R, wandered around Little Argenta which is the LR Arts District and hit the road this morning around 10am. In Memphis at the moment, doin'some music biz, then Nashville, tonight in Knoxville, and this coming weekend in Savannag - 2 nights!! Hey - everyone checkout http://www.johnsoncityfolkfestival.com and http://www.facebook.com/johnsoncityfolkfestival...!!
