the trip was so good. we got back 3 days ago. London to Avebury to Oxford to Paris, the weather was just so perfect. we felt blessed by the powers that run the atmosphere. (i mean, we went to London and got tans and sunburn?) even though when we went looking for Rob Ryan's studio in Hackney, no one was home when we got there.
beth and i even got to sit in on the planning sessions for the royal wedding. don't ask, but we were invited.
when i was at Temple U London a lifetime ago and living in Notting Hill, i used to walk this road down Kensington Hill every day to school, and then back up every night after hot knives sessions at Decolator's flat in Earl's Court. christ that was eons ago now.... and RIP Paul Decolator.
on the first night in London, we got to see Patrice Chaplin speak about her books. we got to meet and talk with her, at Watkin's in covent garden, right near where i used to work for a jazz mag. she is one cool woman who's lived a pretty ideal life. we want to our lives to be like hers in City of Secrets and we feel super fortunate to now call her a friend.
*******
i felt so grateful to be have been included in Editions Of You in Oxford. it was a really great day and we met lots of good folks and bought lots of artfully produced books and zines and cds and vinyl and tees. afterward, i felt so good and happy walking around that beautiful town and then up headington hill in the night, sleepily talking Dickens and books with john from SLEEPS IN OYSTERS. walking along leafy walks uphill toward Dial House, the pretty B&B where they put us up, complete with a sweet green english garden and CRASS records scattered everywhere, i wanted to stay there forever.....
roy DIASONIC on guitar and laptop electronix, John SLEEPS IN OYSTERS on drumsOxford is so totally cool looking and pretty (coming from someone like me who grew up in late 50s beaver cleaver suburbs in eastern Pennsylvania).
'are you awake?' this is Dr Lisa Busby of the Popular Music Research Unit at Oxford Brookes. she curated and ran the whole Editions Of You shebang. check her out in SLEEPS IN OYSTERS of which she's one half
we stopped at Avebury on the way to Oxford and got blown away by the ancient stone circles that once pulled lightning energy out of the cosmos to fertilize the land, as well as powering up the testes & ovaries of the prehistoric dudes and dudettes that lived there. totally the best fertility machine forevz, so be careful while there.*****
then we split to Paris and hung out with James and Kara and checked out their current lifestyle. and i read at Culture Rapide again. let me tell you how much i love Paris in the spring when flower petals fall to the streets in such numbers its like a snow storm of fragrance on a warm spring day. and hanging out with james and kara, and hitting spots together in the 13th where they live, and then Bimbo Tower to score recs and deliver Jon Vance's and my books, because Bimbo Tower is into American Type:writer even though the Am.Type books are in english, it was a sunny aweso day for sure.
this is the scene outside Culture Rapide at intermission. the Paris scene is currently blowing up.
james and kara and glasses advertisement in the City of Lightthe first thing we did in Paris outside Gare du Nord station was take pics under that stupid space invader graff thats everywhere
good times.
good times forever. and kicks. and creativity. thats what i wish for everyone. Paris makes me feel so positive and true... and oh yeah, Francois at Bimbo recommended the new FEELING OF LOVE record and i must say that he was right because it is really really cool and good. go get it here. been jamming it nonstop since leaving Paris, you know how it is.............
because,
"life, life, life is the only thing worth living for...."
-FLIPPER
**********
