Gewerbegebiet

Gewerbegebiet. Yes this is one of Leo's song titles. He seems to like off beat titles for his acoustic instrumentals. I think he just likes the way the word sounds. The English translation is 'Industrial Park."
Leo is my kind of person. He thinks a lot and has a real unusual perspective when he analyzes things in life. He left me with a phrase I found astoundingly insightful last night. "The Germans did for the consonant what the Hawaiians did for the vowel." Think about that one.
What a nice night. After two hours Leo came back on stage a final time to a standing audience and played "Vaseline Machine Gun," a song he wrote in the 1970's. I have been listening to Leo that long. I remember the first time I heard him. It seems like it was just yesterday.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tew_fIhz3eY

Leo storytelling...

Leo starts his show by saying very little as he blazes through several songs. He then moves the single microphone back towards him with the drag of a foot. Soon he starts talking and explaining that "By the end of the show the audience will be pining for him to quit."
Well I never did. He had me laughing for two hours at his songs and sitting on the edge of my seat watching his hands move a eye-blurring speeds across the fretboard of his guitars.
Leo talked for what must have been five minutes about ants. He made the whole thing a comedy routine by discussing several genera of the creatures. After I wiped the tears from my eyes he launched into the music he wrote, one called "Ants."

Leo Kottke in Concert Last Night

Last night in Greensboro, North Carolina. Leo Kottke http://www.leokottke.com was in the house and I had a second row seat that had an unobstructed view over the orchestra pit.
It was a very cool night and I had just enjoyed my second serving of fish and chips for the week, this one at M'Coul's http://www.mcoulspub.com/ Pub across the street. . It did not take long for the memory of the malt vinegar and Irish beer to fade however. Leo captured my focus from the moment he walked to the center of the stage with a guitar in each hand.

Chuck Leavell.

Here is a cool picture of Chuck, my friend Pinetop Perkins, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood.
I was just reading my favorite new magazine "Garden & Gun." Marshall Chapman http://www.tallgirl.com/ turned me on to this publication as she is submitting stories for it. The periodical is all about the South. They like to say the New South, I just say the South. Anyway, I ran into an article about Chuck Leavell and really enjoyed it. If you can't go buy the November 2008 issue go read this story online. It is very cool.

http://gardenandgun.com/stories/features/a_hunter_at_heart-188

Chuck Levell with old Friends

Chuck Leavell http://www.chuckleavell.com/ with Jaimoe Johanson, Gregg Allman, and Butch Trucks. I thought this was a cool picture. Chuck has played with all kinds of bands like the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Allman Brothers Band, and most recently the Rolling Stones. Read on as I want to highlight a story i was just reading in one of my favorite magazines.