| - Essays: On The Road (And A Little Off) |
 Sign Panama's Guestbook
|  |
PANAMA PLAYS ROCHEFORT EN ACCORDS
(Part Two) (Editor's note: When we last left our dashing hero, he was on his way with his friends the impresario Karel Beer and the lovely but tough as nails Alice Brennen to meet and have dinner with the other early arrivals to Rochefort En Accords. Our story continues.) THURSDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 25: Karel Beer's idea for Rochefort En Accords was to take performers of his acquaintance who, though they might not know each other personally, were aware of each other's work or of the works of those with whom they might have previously been associated, toss them together in a conducive environment and see what happened. Kinda like a musical salad. The attraction for Karel was that he got to be the chef, choosing the ingredients and how they were mixed. Here's who was at dinner Thursday night: David
Thomas, a Texas expat living in England whose most recent work is with the
two pale boys and Ubu Projex. To describe his music as other than just plain startling,
is impossible. I've never heard anyone play accordion with a wheeze so close to
a death rattle, or a texture so dark. And yet somehow the guy's hilarious. John
Lester, massively talented singer/songwriter bassist and guitarist from the
USA, who next day would join Paul Tiernan, an Irish balladeer who has worked
with the likes of Donovan as a sideman, but whose accomplishments as a guitarist
and mandolin player pale in comparison to his abilities at writing and delivering
a song. Clare
Muldaur Manchon and Olivier Manchon: Yes, she's Geoff's daughter, but
on her own, Clare is an American chanteuse, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday come
immediately to mind. Her new husband Olivier plays remarkable violin behind what
she does. Great legs, too. Clare, not Olivier. Johan
Asherton: a founding member of The Froggies, Johan has the mellowest voice
I've ever heard and the sweetness of disposition to go with it. An unbelievably
good performer and an exceptional human being Rodolphe
Burger -- A great Alsatian musician with the weirdest approach to electric
guitar I've heard since about 1969, and matinee idol looks to go with it. Though
they'd never played together before, when Karel paired him with David Thomas,
they blew every mind in attendance. A
surprise in the person of Jacques Higelin turned up also. Jacques is a
French institution, a singer, movie actor and writer. French people swoon at the
mention of his name. Like, the dude is in the French pantheon, right up there
with the little sparrow. Some
American guy named Panama Red. Dinner was exquisite, as all dinners in France seem to be. They eat bread and butter and cheese for breakfast and lunch, but when it's time for the evening meal, they take about two hours and during that time converse animatedly. About everything. I sat next to Lisa Phelan, John Lester's wife. They have just moved to Amsterdam, living in the De Pijp. A baby is coming soon, which John solemnly promised to name Panama. This was at about the third bottle as I recall. Lisa, who has one glass of wine a week, was kind enough to say she thought this an excellent idea also. But anyway, mindful that I had promised those at home not to eat anything good while in France(yeah, right), I restricted myself to just the fish and mussels. The dinner ended and we began to get acquainted with a tune from each all around, and we went to our separate hotels. ***** -30- Discuss
this on the Panama Red Forum > |
.
