OCTOBER 19, 2004: LOTS OF NEWS

COFFEE WITH DEAN & BRITTA
The month started with a mixing session for Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, a duo and, of course, members of the group Luna. I’ve worked with them before when I partially produced and mixed their CD L’Avventura. This time I mixed a song called “Forever” written by Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. It is for a compilation CD by various artists called Sweethearts 2. The label is HEAR MUSIC, owned by Starbucks. We don't know the release date yet.

Dean, Britta and Tony

KASPER'S NEW YORK ODYSSEY
Later in the month Kasper Eistrup from the group Kashmir arrived in New York City and we got to do a fair bit of hanging out. His pal, Robert Lund, of another great Danish band called Kitty Wu, accompanied him. One fine day we took a subway ride from Prince Street to Times Square to hunt for a 1966 Fender Telecaster. Kasper already has a few nice Teles but wanted this elusive year. We started on 48th street, the New York mecca for musical instruments, and ended up walking back south stopping at various vintage guitar shops. I believe Kasper ended up buying two Fender Mustangs instead.

Kasper at Vintage Guitars, 30th Street, Manhattan (by TV’s Nokia Phone)

Two other events of note should be mentioned. I thought it would be a nice vibe to introduce Kasper to some people at Sony in New York as he is signed to Sony Scandinavia. Matt Pinfield invited us to lunch, but as we were leaving his office he got an urgent call to go to K-Rock’s studios immediately. He was supposed to interview Keane later in the day but they had shown up much earlier. So Matt dragged us along, we sat in for the Keane interview and chatted with them afterwards. What a nice bunch of English lads they turned out to be. I asked to see Howard Stern’s studio featured every night on the E! Network and Matt took us to see it. It was odd seeing it in person, without Howard, Robin, Fred and Artie – but there was the all-too-familiar set, the tickle chair, the wheel of sex, the guest couch. I was star set struck! Then we went to lunch. Matt knew of Kashmir and he and Kasper had a lot to talk about. Eventually Matt started to pump me for T.Rex and Thin Lizzy stories, two of his favorite bands. Afterwards Kasper told me how impressed he was by the speed and directness of the New York music biz scene. Of course, a conversation with Matt is like being in a cyclone (just kidding Matt).

Another highlight for Kasper and Robert was seeing Kristeen Young perform at Pianos in Soho. Robert made her day by saying that she plays keyboards like Jimmy Page [plays guitar].

Kasper Eistrup, Kristeen Young & Robert Lund at Pianos. Soho, New York

David Bowie 0

The crowning glory of Kasper’s visit was meeting David Bowie at The Killers’ concert at Irving Plaza. David asked me if I would like to see the Las Vegas group and I said yes, but can I bring a friend? I introduced the both of them and David asked if Kasper was a member of my tai chi school, as I had just came from there. When I told him he was the lead singer of Kashmir, he extended his hand across the table and said, “You guys are great!” Apparently someone from Sony handed David a bunch of CDs when he was in Scandinavia for his Reality tour and Kashmir’s was among them. To say that Kasper was thrilled to hear this is an understatement.

LONDON, T. REX AND KRISTEEN YOUNG
Shortly afterwards I was on a Virgin flight to London. Sanctuary records are producing a T.Rex project for DVD and I am involved in it. Part of the project has me being interviewed by Rolan Bolan, Marc’s son. It’s too early to say what this is but T.Rex fans will rejoice when the DVD is made official.

TV and Rolan Bolan at Town House Studios, London, England

As if that wasn’t enough, the very lovely and talented Kristeen Young played at the Barfly on Oct. 12th with her drummer Jeff White. She opened for a British band fronted by a lady called Pearl. Ticket presales were so good Barfly asked Kristeen to go on at later time. She did and played to a full house comprised of her fans, lots of which were Bowienetters, and some of Pearl’s fans including model Kate Moss. A notable new fan of Kristeen’s was also there, James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers. My ex-manager and good friend, Steve Budd, asked some A&R people to come and see Kristeen. It was a magical night. The crowd was exuberant and Kristeen and Jeff kicked arse (as it happened in London I’ll use their spelling).

Jeff White and Kristeen Young at Barfly, Camden Town


The Deadly Duo in Piccadilly Circus

CHEN TAI CHI STRIKES AGAIN
Another wonderful thing happened this month, but it was not musical. Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang came to town to conduct a weekend seminar. As jetlagged as I was from returning home I was there at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. We spent all day being tutored in Pushing Hands. Look closely and you’ll see someone who used to walk on the wild side.

Students pushing hands on left,
Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang overlooking on right.

The next day was spent studying wristlocks and explosive power. Grandmaster Chen is the 19th Standard Bearer of the Chen Family style of tai chi. In other words, he’s the boss, reaching the highest level possible in this martial art. My teacher, Master Ren Guang Yi, is his disciple. I had one of the best peak experiences of my life pushing hands with Grandmaster Chen.

TV and Grandmaster Chen

TO MY KNIGHTS IN SHINING WHITE SOFTWARE
And finally, thank you to all of you who answered my cry for help earlier this month. My problem has been resolved with my equipment incompatibility. Your collective thoughts (all the solutions were different, incidentally) and my son Morgan’s diagnosis have me up and running. Today I’m expecting Logic Pro version 7 to arrive, but I’ve heard that the Logic/Pro Tools conflict has been resolved in this version anyway (but you know, we’re all beta testers for software manufacturers.