John Hiatt ~ As Good As He Can Be @ City Winery

Life rewards. Sometimes, it sneaks up on you. Other times, it punches you in the face and you never feel more alive. John Hiatt smacked the audience around last night at City Winery NYC. We loved it.

Here's a link to more photos.

This Thursday, August 20th @ 7:30pm, I'm telling a few good ones at Apryl Miller & Friends Summer Reading Series #9 Feat. Thomas Pryor.  Send Apryl an RSVP to learn the address ~ apryl@aprylmiller.com

Check out my Yorkville memoir, "I Hate the Dallas Cowboys - tales of a scrappy New York boyhood." Available at Logos Book Store and online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
The book has 109 Amazon five star reviews out of 109 total reviews posted. We're pitching a perfect game. My old world echoes TV's "The Wonder Years" ~ just add taverns, subways and Checker cabs.

You can also purchase my photography portfolio,"River to River - New York Scenes From a Bicycle" on Amazon.

go, John, go

John Hiatt's Slow Turning

Certain songwriters inspire me to the bone. Last night, I saw John Hiatt at the City Winery on Varick Street.  This venue made sense since long ago the space was the dance hall known as Heartbreak, a subject Hiatt lyrically majors in with a minor in regret.

Hiatt has a new record out, "Mystic Pinball," he played four songs from it last night and nothing reflects the quality of an artist like the seamless integration of new work into a show that knocks out the audience. Listening to the new tunes now and I love them.

But I do admit I snuck in Paper Thin, Drive South and Slow Turning  (lyrics below).

When I was a boy

I thought it just came to you

But I never could tell what's mine

So it didn't matter anyway
My only pride and joy

Was this racket down here

Bangin' on an old guitar

Singin' what I had to say
I always thought our house was haunted

'Cuz nobody said boo to me

I never did get what I wanted

But now I get what I need
It's been a slow turnin

'From the inside out

A slow turnin' baby

Spring St. & West Broadway looking south

But you come about
A slow learnin

'But you learn to sway-ah-hay-hay-hay

A slow turnin', baby

Not fade away, not fade away, not fade away
Now I'm in my car

Ooh, I got the radio down

Now I'm yellin' at the kids in the back

'Cuz they're bangin' like Charlie Watts
You think you've come so far

In this one horse town

Then she's laughin' that crazy laugh

'Cuz you haven't left the parkin' lot
Time is short and here's the damn thing about it

You're gonna die, gonna die for sure

And you can learn to live with love or without it

But there ain't no cure
It's just a slow turnin'

From the inside out

A slow turnin'

But you come about, ya
A slow turnin', baby

But you learn to sway-ah-hay-hay-hay

A slow turnin'

Not fade away, not fade away, not fade away...

My first book of photos, "River to River ~ New York Scenes from a Bicycle," is on sale for $12.95 @ Amazon. 

Ain't Nothing But a House Party: Central Park 1979

Peter Wolf is sensational. The J Geils Band is one of the top live acts ever & Peter solo blows me away. Bruce Springsteen, Garland Jeffreys, John Hiatt & Peter send me home with a shit-ass grin every time I see them perform. Each one, inspiring in countless ways.

My favorite J Geils memory: In 1979, my friends and I struck gold in Central Park. A group of us played rugby for St. John’s, we were good friends with one of John Scher’s bouncers at the summer Doctor Pepper concerts in Central Park’ skating rink space. Tony rucked for the Long Island Rugby Club. The deal: we met Tony at the VIP gate and as each of us shook his hand; he palmed the five dollar bill we each gave him. This was simultaneous with the entrance of the general admission crowd giving us access to the third row in the orchestra right behind the press and special guests. Unfortunately, this routine was cut short when Tony relocated in fall 1980. But for two years we had boss seats for all concerts.

J Geils was our band. They played Central Park the summer of 79. When we vamooshed a cocktail hour inside an apartment before the parents came home, “I’m Looking For A Love,” was our go out song from the Lp “The Morning After.” Important element for beginning a solid evening.


It rained weakly for an hour before the J Geils show. Since it was a sprinkle they let us in at the normal time. In the third row, we used our shirts to dry the rain off the seats. As I turned to sit down over the Plaza Hotel I saw a breath taking cloud racing towards us and a minute later it dumped buckets of rain. So intense, I laughed and let it run over me. A stream from my head to my chest to my lap to my feet. My Converse sneakers were squeaking, my tee-shirt and shorts were attached to me like suction cups. After a “It’s never going to stop,” ten minutes suddenly the sun burst through and pushed the cloud away. It was over but there was three inches of water under our seats.Canceled I thought.” We sat there waiting for them to tell us to leave.


Two minutes later, Peter Wolf came out on stage looked us over and the less than half filled place and started laughing then the band joined him. He looked down at us then out at the audience and directed us to do the canoe, and his arms went back and forth like he was traveling upstream without a paddle but thought he had one. So we did the same thing and Stephen Jo Bladd banged the drums and the band went into “Ain’t Nothing But A House Party.” They played for two hours and forty minutes. We did The Canoe. Life is good.


I have no J Geils button from that year but I do have The Cars & Southside Johnny buttons below. Here's Evelyn Champagne King for nothing. 1978 was pretty good too.

Slow Turning

Thank you to my old soul pals, Marie Sicari, Stefanie Demas & Stacey Kahn for being my guests on the Yorkville radio show on the Centanni Broadcasting Network. We got silly. Marie will be back in the near future as my co-host, and Stef & Stacey will be back to share their work.

Stefanie and Stacey are terrific writers ~ I promise you'll be reading their work in many publications. Stacey is an assistant editor at Epiphany Literary Journal, a prominent small press, an excellent submission target for young writers. Stefanie is an editorial reader there, and freelance writes and edits. Their bios are in yesterday's blog entry.

http://www.epiphanyzine.com/

Here are two tunes Stef & Stacey picked out for our show that fell off because we gabbed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEY6_jcrzI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQHstA0cZDw

If you like to listen to last night's radio show please go the archive link or the main Centanni link:

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/id56.html

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/

Pardon the technical issue on last night's show. We fixed it. We'll have no problem going forward, be well, Tommy

ps here are two for Marie & me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2xD0bM5IA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UrueP3aM40&feature=related

Slow Turning ~ John Hiatt

When I was a boy,
I thought it just came to ya’
But I never could tell what’s mine
So it didn’t matter anyway

My only pride and joy
Was this racket down here
Bangin’ on an old guitar
And singin’ what I had to say

I always thought our house was haunted
But nobody said boo to me
I never did get what I wanted
Now I get what I need

Chorus:
It’s been a slow turnin’
From the inside out
A slow turnin’
But you come about

Slow learnin’
But you learn to sway
A slow turnin’ baby
Not fade away

Now I’m in my car
I got the radio on
I’m yellin’ at the kids in the back seat
’cause they’re bangin’ like charlie watts

You think you’ve come so far
In this one horse town
Then she’s laughin’ that crazy laugh
’cause you haven’t left the parkin’ lot

Time is short and here’s the damn thing about it
You’re gonna die, gonna die for sure
And you can learn to live with love or without it
But there ain’t no cure

It's a slow turning

Drive South

Picture on the left: George and Emery on 83rd Street with their banana seat bikes in 1969.

Above George's head, to the left, is a piece of my wall art. My drawings earned me a hard smack to the head from my grandmother. She easily identified my doodles on the wall at the 1st Avenue corner. "Do not embarrass me." One shot was enough to silence my graffiti.

A new section on the Hudson River bike path opened this week from about 96th to 110th Street. You can stay on the river path from the Battery to the George Washington Bridge without detours. Cool!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ruuydWOY4&feature=related



Off to France for two weeks in one hour. Hope to write here while I'm away.

Bye, bye, Tommy

Drive South/John Hiatt

I didn't say we wouldn't hurt anymore

That's how you learn,

you just get burned

But we don't have to feel like dirt anymore

Though love's not earned,

Baby it's our turn

We were always looking for true north

With our heads in the clouds,

just a little off courseI left the motor running,

now if you're feeling down and out

CHORUS:Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love

Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love

I'm not talkin' 'bout retreatin' little girl

Gonna take our stand, in this Chevy van

Windows open on the rest of the world

Holdin' hands, all the way to Dixieland

We've been tryin' to turn our lives around

Since we were little kids, it's been wearin' us down

Don't turn away now Darlin' lets fire it up and wind it out

CHORUS BRIDGE:I heard your mama callin', I think she was just stallin'

Don't know who she was talkin' to, baby me and you

We could go down with a smile on,

don't bother to pack your nylons

Just keep them pretty legs showin', it gets hot down where we're goin'

We were always looking for true north

With our heads in the clouds, just a little off course

I left the motor running, now if you're feeling down and out

Come on baby drive,

come on baby drive south,

come on baby drive south