SUBWAY SPEAK

On the way to meet the gnomeheid for a wander around Century 21 and J&R Records yesterday and over the subway tannoy comes ’this is a broken down 4 train to…….’.
There is no sign of anything being particularly wrong with the train as we’re veritably speeding along in the air-conditioned loveliness which is the underground in this city, so I thought no more of it until he repeated it again at the next station….and the next. Very confused now and then slightly alarmed when, between stations, tannoy man then announced in a drawl which was laid not back but totally down
‘We have personnel on the tracks close by….’
Uh?
Not one person is even looking up from their starbucks/dead tree media.
At the next stop a heavily armed policeman appears at the door of the carriage, does a quick sweep, and then moves off again. I’m thinking something really odd is going on by this point but again nobody even looks up.
‘You watch your step and have a nice day now’.

I tell you this is a frigging crazy city. Folks wandering around in subway tunnels/holding job interviews, broken down trains racing along with no concern for human safety, armed police checking out you’re not dressed to kill on your way to work.

I relate all this to the lovely gnome on arrival, she’s unfazed because she’s from Leith (so that was pretty much all in a days commuting to her in the first place).
But she’s been living here for 6 months now so we did manage to clear up one small mystery - ‘Brooklyn-bound’.
Not ‘broken down’.
Doh!

Executive summary:  A lesson in dialect
    

Sea trade meets e-trade 

Here's that rainy day

BLOGARITHM

So, courtesy of Steve’s blog, here’s a little blogarithm for you all.

1. If you were stuck in Bexley with an internet connection to only one blog, whose would it be?


2. Which is the blog that makes you laugh most?


3. Which blog is most likely to make you cry?


4. Which blog is most likely to inspire you to part with cash for a CD/DVD?


5. Which blog is most likely to cause you to change your mind about an issue?


6. Which blog do you read first thing in the morning?


7. Of the blogs you read by people you don’t know, who would you most like to meet?


8. And finally, one I added myself – who should be blogging who isn’t yet?

And here are the results from the New York jury.
NB. All references to Steve are in no way influenced by my offence at not being mentioned in his original list. Not at all.

1. If only Google Earth were a blog and could lead you the hell out of Bexley. But as it’s not, then it would have been Steve’s blog. His brain is firewired directly into the net, so he is able to create complex and untraceable coups controlling World events as they unfold (who wrote that? – Ed). He also posts roughly every 10 seconds so you’re never going to miss anything important. (Is there really a Labour Party Conference on at the moment? USA press huh…..) But as it’s no longer Steve’s blog I’ll settle for Lizzy ‘cos she lives on my old block, and she’s a good mate, so if I commented on my plight she’d send a car to rescue me.


2. It’s no laughing matter not being mentioned on your mate’s best blogs list, so it ain’t Steve. It’s a toss up between PabloKickasso, travel journalist extraordinaire, who makes the simple act of reaching for a beer across the table into a Martin Amis-esque ROTFL half hour, and comedian Richard Herring’s ‘Warming Up’. On the basis of consistency PK has to win.


3. Well Steve’s did today, seeing as I wasn’t on his original list. But no – this one goes hands down and cat-rescue up to the lovely Marquis, who is right now estranged from his New Orleans home and has written some very moving accounts of his recent experiences.


4. Steve has some good recommendations it has to be said, but no, really this has to go to Aurgasm. That’s all I’m saying. Check it out and go purchase.


5. I argue with Steve online all the time, (and occasionally change my mind), but having just read about collapsing walls and drug dens I’m on the verge of changing my mind about having rented my London flat out to the Catster……


6. It used to be Steve’s ’cos his was just about the first blog I ever read daily when I discovered blog world, but now it’s my little sister Fudge. We used to see each other almost every day and now we’re both experiencing totally new lives across the globe. She is a Hausfrau and myself a Shark in the City.


7. Quite intrigued by Tom Karlo’s photoblog.  At least I keep on checking in. I know Steve so he can’t possibly even be nominated for this award.


8. Steve blogs already. All the time. So BigBuzzard get writing!

Now go answer them on your own blogs…..I know you all have them …

Executive summary: Blog summary
Live Music: Tina Dico – The Living Room NY
                        

WITHOUT THE RAIN THERE IS NO RAINBOW

Under the weather today.
Literally.
90 percent humidity. Again.
When is it ever going to get cooler and rain? Longing for some proper London rain. All you get here is the odd droplet from faulty air conditioning units 20 floors up.

Out for dinner at a lovely restaurant in the East Village last night with Harry’s friends - a really fun bunch of people. Two degrees of separation in the air as one of them not only knows my NY friend the Rev. but also used to work at the Archduke 20 years ago. But seeing them all together, familiar with each other’s lives and quirky behaviour, just made me miss the commuter jazz gang. Want to go out with the cjazzers tonight. Want codenamelizzy round for tea. Want to go to the Archduke with the HM’s.

Turned on the TV just now to distract myself and after flicking through 1034 channels and still finding nothing interesting I’ve practically lost the will to live.
It’s clearly time to escape into the Harry Potter book I’ve been lugging all over the world for the past 2 months.

I’m done with this living here thing. Tomorrow I’m going to stop ever answering the door to the persistent pernicious pig-owner and start behaving like a tourist again.
          

WEEKEND UPDATE

Have spent most of the weekend in Croydon.
Well it felt like Croydon, because Ikea here is identical. In true Ikea-behavioural form, we somehow failed to have on our person the correct measurements for shelving yesterday, and were obliged to return today. We still don’t have any shelves because today we had a ‘colour’ dilemma and were forced to ‘acquire’ a small piece of wood to check it out at home against floorboards.
The TH reckons that if we go back every day for approximately 2 weeks and ‘acquire’ a piece of wood, we’ll have the shelving anyway. This suggestion is quite something coming from the man who had to be dragged there kicking and screaming yesterday morning because he hated Ikea so much. What’s actually happened is that he’s realized Ikea is the cheapest date he can take me on. The shuttle bus from Port Authority is free and has fine Manhattan views and very effective air conditioning. The breakfast at Ikea is a mere 99 cents and they even have a jazz band (of sorts) playing in the restaurant. Plus, I can never decide what furniture I want so it’s not like he has to BUY anything. The suggestion that shelving can now be ‘acquired’ stealthily is just an added bonus.

Met my match last night. Dinner with our best man Harry (who’s staying with us this weekend), and his friends in Chelsea. One of his friends the feisty and clearly impossible Misty. We bonded. Big time. We will make much mischief together. Of that I am certain.

Neighbour update.
I watched the DVD of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ yesterday morning.
For it is they.
We need a door chain.
Mrs. N. has been round four times in the last three days. And that’s the number of times we’ve actually answered the door to her, as opposed to the number of times she’s rung the bell. We now have a whole closet of donated towels. The sort of towels you wouldn’t dare use on account of them having a dangerous fringe thing going on which seems to consist of Christmas tree decorations. Just what you don’t need in a towel.

A word about the lovely Amy Kohn. Her gig on Friday evening was just gorgeous. Even though I’ve known Amy for many years, I’ve never before managed to catch her performing a whole show of her own and I was knocked out. Her compositions and arrangements are complex and extraordinary – with influences from classical to jazz and much in-between, and when you add this to her soaring, impressionistic vocals and instantly recognizable voice, the resulting music is totally unique. Even though this was only a duo gig, Peter Hess provided very creative accompaniment on a variety of instruments – saxophones, whistles and percussion, implying much of the harmony of the full-band CD arrangements. But above and beyond all of this, Amy has that rare indefinable charisma, which reminds me of the time when I first saw Jamie Cullum perform (in the Spiegeltent in Edinburgh many years ago - to an audience of five!) – she comes totally alive on stage with the conviction of a true artist unconditionally committed to and at one with her music – she’s witty, charming, talented and enthralling – and you simply can’t take your eyes off her.

Executive summary: Amy Kohn gig, neighbour visitations and Ikea revisited.          

ENTERING INTO THE SPIRIT

So much of my life here at the moment is a recce and as yet, I have few reference points. It’s a huge new playground, and even if I know the names of the games, I can’t always be sure that the rules are the same.

So it transpired that Spirit was rather more spiritual than spirited and the evening bore a remarkable resemblance to London’s Whirl-Y-Gig club nights (unfortunately minus the parachute), with an abundance of didgeridoo-brandishing bare-chested hippies (not quite the ‘hunk mania’ I’d been expecting), long-haired flower-powered girls in white with babies strapped to their chests and free condom stalls. Hell, we even saw another mixed-race couple (a rarity in New York). The dress-code was obviously tie-dye and bare feet. (Now why didn’t they just SAY that on the phone. I can DO that).

We arrived at 7.30pm, which is when the gig was advertised to start, hoping to blag some seats. No seats at all, unless you’re a VIP (oh happy days long gone…), a DJ till 9pm, a long intro by the sponsors (Lonely Planet), and then about 6 support bands. Drinks extremely expensive and not a morsel of food in sight. Patience (and soles of non-sports shoes) therefore wearing a bit thin by the time Franti actually played, which was around 11pm.

Although advertised as an acoustic gig, everyone was plugged in big time into what was a seriously good sound system, but at times the volume was bordering on painful. It appears that ‘acoustic’ has now come to mean exactly the same as ‘unplugged’ i.e. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how amplified the sound is, but merely signifies fewer musicians who all have to be sitting down

Franti was nevertheless superb and as charismatic as ever. The set was much more relaxed than a full-on ‘Spearhead’ gig and totally focused on his provocative voice and provoking lyrics. The love-in audience sang along and gently volley-balled plastic blow-up globes across the room at each other. Sweet.
And next time I'll know........

Executive summary: Michael Franti gig
Live Music: Amy Kohn – Mo Pitkins NY

SEMPER UBI SUB UBI

If previous blogs serve me correctly, over a week ago now I was promised a bank account ‘within a week’. So far all I have received is a box of about 500 blue cheques, and no debit card. Which is about as useful as a megaphone in a silent order nunnery. So I stepped out of the apartment this morning to look for any signs of debit-card-shaped-post only to trip straight over a large bag which had been left right outside the door. This immediately set off Mrs. N’s ‘early warning system’ – a dog/pig which yaps incessantly at the slightest sound. And sure enough, out she comes. ‘Oh you found them! Good!’ In the bag is a selection of bath cleaners, tile cleaners etc. A gift from Mrs. N. (because clearly the state of my apartment is not ‘keeping up with the Ns’s’). I find myself muttering something about them being far from environmentally friendly, and there’s another hurricane coming and it’s surely the fault of tile cleaners, but I’m not being particularly coherent even to my own ears and she chooses not to hear. I am hardly in a position to argue – sprawled on the floor in just my (non-designer) underwear. Satisfied to witness me in this inferior state, on the floor where I belong, she disappears back inside again. OH GOD….

Going to see Michael Franti tonight at a club called ‘Spirit’. Having never been before I decided to check out the website, and am more than a little alarmed to see that everyone in the pictures seems to be wearing bikinis, (except for the male strippers called ‘hunk mania’, who are, of course, wearing nothing at all). I then find a video clip of the club and in this everyone is only wearing underwear. Really, just underwear. This is clearly not your average Jazz Café gig.
Ok so now I’m having a dress code crisis……
So I just called them. ‘No sneaks, no pimps (?!), no jeans, no athletic wear’.
Right, well in my wardrobe then, there’s pretty much only underwear left…..

Executive summary: Day spent in underwear
Live Music: Michael Franti – Spirit NY.

MEET THE NEIGHBOURS

Woke at 6.30am – result!
Woke at 6.30am with a mind-blowing headache, a cold and the vexed problem of our neighbours with whom we had dinner last night.

I’ll not relate the whole sorry story of our evening but suffice to say it started with Mrs. Neighbour greeting me with ’what are you wearing?  It looks like something you’d wear in Auschwitz’, and went downhill from there.

I almost lost it completely in the restaurant later when Mrs. N was not only contradicting every opinion I had on furniture, shopping, restaurants, music, every topic raised in fact, but also on London – no no no, that’s MY town (or at the very least OVP’s). I felt the uneasy shuffling of the TH and Mr. N (who is actually a sweetheart who can’t get a single word in edgeways), as my voice got louder and louder and my fin stood upright in a prelude to attack.

Of course the real problem is that she reminds me of my mother, so in an ‘unresolved mother-issue way’ I was taking everything she said personally rather than laughing it off as I would normally have done with a know-it-all American. Plus, she was making me feel insecure with my lack of ‘status’ in this city – as yet I have no job and no ‘lifestyle’ - none of the security blankets which provide a convincing springboard from which to answer back and in other people’s eyes give you the right to an opinion. All I have, in fact, is a cheque book full of blue cheques (and they are probably the wrong colour…)

On the walk home she insisted I should have all of the following in the next few days or else I’d clearly not survive in New York – a manicure, a pedicure, a new hairstyle, a new wardrobe, Fergie’s diet plan and a face lift – all of course accompanied by her, so that she’s able to check that I’m doing them properly. She thinks she’s helping and she wants to be my ‘friend’, all of which makes it worse.
I think what I actually need is a new apartment as far away as possible.

Unfortunately she is going to be difficult to avoid. Not only does ‘My Mother 2 The Sequel’ live next door (and has got used to ringing our doorbell frequently for a myriad of strange reasons – such as to inform me what type of bath cleaner to buy or to donate her old bed linen….), but she also practically runs the whole block, having lived here since the Upper Jurassic Period. She knows everyone here, in the streets, in the restaurants and probably the whole of NY.

I’m sure the neighbours mean well, and to be fair, they were very helpful and generous to the TH before my arrival in the US, and he finds them quite entertaining, but it terrifies me to think that I have become Mrs. N’s new ‘project’.
Staring hopefully at mysterious hole in kitchen wall – perhaps I can drill through and create an escape chute to avoid walking past their door……

So back to this morning. I clearly couldn’t go out due to the unacceptable state of my nails, hair, face, wardrobe etc. So I set about resolving the itunes issue. Three hours later and I am definitely a genius. Itunes5 and iscrobbler are now working perfectly. (Feel free to ask if you are also having problems and need the genius shark fix. It’s lengthy, but it works.)

Later I will creep out after dark to see EST at Joe’s Pub. Until then – let’s see just how LOUD I can play my music…………..

Executive summary: Dinner with the neighbours and fixed itunes5.
Live music: EST – Joe’s Pub NY.                              

BLOCK PARTY INNIT

Woke at 6am again. A mosquito has been holding a dinner party on my legs all night. Spent another four futile hours uninstalling and installing itunes and joined four forums of insomniacs who are having similar itunes5 problems. Have now reached the point where I can actually open itunes, but only if I’m not online and Norton is disabled. Great.

So yesterday the TH and I were invited by Gil, the lovely bad boy of rock, to a ‘block party’ in Brooklyn. Quite intrigued by the whole concept and my urban image of a block party ….
As it happens I was glad I hadn’t dressed like Missy Elliot because it was a low-key middle class affair consisting of a bouncy castle, a raffle for hurricane victims and a few families out on the street with barbecues. We arrived too late to witness what had clearly been a main attraction – a martial arts group who had been, wait for it, breaking blocks. (So is that what a block party’s all about…..?!) The afternoon stepped up a notch when the very authentic and entertaining Jug Addicts (with whom Gil plays washtub bass) performed an hours set out on the street. A pleasant enough afternoon sitting around on the pavement drinking beer and having our accents adored by the locals. Can’t really imagine anything like it happening back home in my London neighbourhood. It would take at the very least a coronation or a Portillo defeat.

Great to catch up with the bad boy again, especially as he’s flying to the UK today for the annual Kenny Young and the Eggplants UK tour. Quite sad to be missing this as I’m usually heavily involved in said tours, keeping the boys in check along with the super efficient gnomeheid, who is also now living in NY. Quite how they’re going to manage touring without either of us is a story yet to unfold……I could relate some very surreal previous tour-happenings such as the time they arrived to stay with me accompanied by an armed police escort, or the bubble gum dispenser incident….but another time.

The Eggplants are very quirky and sing oddball songs about important rock n roll concerns such as giant squirrels, seeing Elvis in a pizza, kebab shops and Rambo going shopping…...  They’re very funny and adorably lovely people. So if you get a chance, get down to their London gig at the Water Rats on Friday September 30th. Failing that, you can catch them live on BBC Radio 6 on Tom Robinson’s ‘The Evening Sequence’ on Wed 28th at 8pm or click here for full UK tour dates.

Today went up to the Upper East Side for tea with one of my closest friends and soul-mate, JB. We’ve known each other for something like 10 years but have only managed to see each other maybe twice a year at best. I think we’re both finding it a little strange to now be only half an hour away from each other and we’re going to have to ration ourselves into this new phase slowly. But having said that, I’m SO excited that I can now just easily call him up and pop up to see him. A really fun afternoon catching up and choosing possible furniture in Crate and Barrel. Of course, being us, we chose about four different types of bar…….

Executive summary (is Phil reading this or what?): Hanging with NY mates

                              

Yo, yo forget the club
Today we play in the block
 

THE GLAMOUR OF NEW YORK

So today began at a leisurely 10am with a $1,000 caviar omelet at Le Parker Meridien followed by a little Fifth Avenue shopping. Next up, champagne cocktails and a light lunch under a pagoda at the Spice Market, then a relaxing afternoon at the Trump Tower Spa. This evening - dinner with Andy Garcia at table 14 at the 21 Club.

Yeah right.

So today began at 6am (I was really hoping to have added another hour onto this by jetlag-day-7….), with a total f**k up download/upgrade to itunes5. By 8am I had definitely downloaded/downgraded to itunes0 and several other applications had decided to take today off as annual leave too.

A long walk (read - swim) in 91 percent humidity to the kitchen for an apple and a cup of mint tea. The phrase ‘a watched kettle never boils’ does not really work as a statement in the US. It is simply ‘a kettle never boils’. If I’d been on the case and not still slightly jetlagged I would have put the kettle on BEFORE downloading itunes, then it might have boiled by the time I’d failed to download it.
Hell no, I’d have put it on last night.
I used to think it very quaint that Americans boiled pans of water on the hob for their tea, (‘haven’t you heard of electric kettles in the US?’) but now I understand - it is MUCH QUICKER! This, I am assuming, is due to the low voltage in this country (which also, incidentally, transforms the power of a hairdryer into something resembling a sleeping baby’s breath). The irony is that the kettle comes with about 25 danger warning tags attached to it –  ‘don’t operate whilst under the influence of alcohol’, ‘don’t let a minor into the same state as this appliance’, ‘don’t, God forbid, plug this in!’
I got tea in the end, but in so doing probably caused a massive zip-code power surge.

But I digress.

I then embarked on cleaning and rationalizing the kitchen and unpacking boxes.
A light salad lunch, sitting on the floor, without the aid of wondrous salad dressing purchased yesterday, because said dressing had a child lock on it. And by that I mean one of those like you get in cars, where someone definitely has to be on the other side to let you in. I don’t have children so who am I to comment. I can only presume salad dressing is really really dangerous to them.

Then I emailed the tactile helpdesk a lengthy explanation of itunes problem. I should know better really, having spent almost the last year in an email relationship with him. Let’s put it this way. Unless the email is approaching the importance of a stock market crash, then he might manage to skim one line of it before either replying or deleting. A minor bit of itunes domestic stress therefore, is about as low on his priority list as Katrina was on Dubya’s. So to my 2 paragraphs of lengthy questions, I get the reply ‘yes’. Yes what? I have to admit that this is still an improvement on all the times he signed his emails ‘regards’ and the once when he actually DELEGATED my domestic trauma email to a very confused colleague, but nevertheless – end result - no music for me today.

Back in the kitchen this afternoon I discover the highlight of my exciting day. A hole in the wall.  It has a door and it’s metal. And I have no idea at all what it’s supposed to be for and may end up recycling it in the wrong way and get a fine….all suggestions more than welcome.

I still can’t quite believe that I’m going to be here for at least a year. 50 percent of me thinks I’m on holiday and wants to go out to play. The other 50 percent knows that unless I get this place into some kind of order it’s soon going to really bug me.
Kitchen is now as sorted as it can be.
The tactile helpdesk arrives home with ‘Time Out’.
Yay.
Later.

Executive summary: (still for Phil) – rationalised kitchen.

    

The hole in the wall 

CAT RESCUE

Just in, some very good news. The Marquis managed today to infiltrate New Orleans and rescue his cats. His cyborg name clearly isn’t ‘Mechanical Artificial Replicant Qualified for Ultimate Infiltration and Sabotage’ for nothing….

    

MAKING PROGRESS

Huge leaps forward today on the banking and food situations.

Appointment at bank went exceedingly well given that I have no job and no proof of address. In fact the hardest part of the whole interview was trying to remain upright in a chair, as I’ve spent the last few furniture-less weeks crouching over my laptop in a foetal position on a variety of floors and beds. Not to mention the doubtless-laptop-induced ever decreasing near-vision eyesight. No idea therefore whose name I actually signed on the forms.

Whilst waiting for my appointment, no less than seven members of staff approached me with a ‘Can I help you with anything?’ Anything? Really ANYTHING?
I could make a list …..
Otherwise just lend me your tannoy and I will explain to the whole bank in one go that I am ‘WAITING FOR AN APPOINTMENT’.
I recall from previous USA visits this total obsession with the ‘offering to help thing’. That is until you actually WANT some help, then it’s a whole different movie channel.
During the interview was a little thrown by some of the questions.
‘Are you social correct?’
Am I what? (Do I give up my seat on the metro to elderly people? Do I tip correctly?)
I obviously looked confused because she just laughed and said ‘Oh that’s ok then’.
What is? I still don’t know if I am, or what indeed I am IF I am.
‘Would you like blue or yellow cheques’?
I’ve never been one to make hasty decisions, especially not yet knowing the social ‘correctness’ of the colour of your cheques around here, so I paused for rather too long.
‘I’ll give you blue ones’.
And for all I know, that simple statement might have blown my whole social standing in this city.
As I left she handed me a huge folder with ‘Thank you’ written all over it.
‘This just says thank you for banking with us’.

So I staggered under weight of thank-you folder back out into the humidity with the promise of an account within a week and the cries of ‘ice-cold water one dollar, if it ain’t ice-cold you get your dollar back’ all around me. I won’t even START on that….

Then my eyes fell upon ‘Whole Foods Market’.
On entering this store, nay palace, nay kingdom, I felt like I’d died and gone to the Pat Metheny Band. Now, previously on ER, I’d considered Soho’s ‘Fresh and Wild’ to be a rather groovesome little place. But this mama is something else entirely. Just imagine a Sainsbury’s superstore-sized whole foods/organic shop, with aisles and aisles of ‘wheat free’ produce, aisles of vegetables I’ve never set eyes on before, aisles of every possible combination of faddy diets and around eight alternatives to Ecover. What an awesome find.

So obviously I bought everything. And then my credit card didn’t work. In fact none of my UK credit cards worked. And I was that person counting out their small change to pay a 70 dollar bill with 50 people queuing behind me. So, reckless now, with the promise of a bank account, I spent my very last dollar in the kingdom of whole food.
Back outside again. Have I mentioned the heat here yet? With not one dollar to my name I realize I have broken one of the essential rules of food shopping – ‘never eat more than you can carry’.

I do live within walking distance of the wonder that is Whole Foods Market , but not whilst carrying practically my own bodyweight in organic cultivation. I know that because I was forced to do it. I dumped the ‘thank you’ folder. Thank you anyway lovely bank.

Executive summary:  Scored bank account and food
Live music: Kaki King - Joe's Pub NY    

Waking now at 6am/11am. I am in neither time-zone and perhaps because of this I dream last night of London friends and in the darkness imagine I can smell their presence. An insistent background hum of a hundred air conditioners through the open window. Another still and humid day.
 

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

Have I mentioned yet how wonderful it is to be finally living with my husband (aka the tactile helpdesk) after all this too-ing and fro-ing for months on end. He’s settled in well. Perhaps too well. This morning he left at 5.30am to JOG to the GYM…...and I keep finding teeth-whitening solutions all over the bathroom. But of course, that’ll be me soon (ROTFL).

So here I sit with no idea as to which of my two watch-faces I am in synch with, trying to make a PLAN.

The size of this flat (apartment) is nothing short of remarkable. In this heat you damn near need to take a cab from the living room to the kitchen. Nobody in Manhattan has this much room. I know that because I've read lots of NYC novels. We are very lucky. The downside of this is that nearly all our money is taken up in paying the rent and unfortunately we have no furniture. This ultimately means I can’t unpack, as there’s nothing as yet to unpack into. I also have to carefully pick the time of day when I can have my first drink (cocktail) in order to avoid being labelled as the local juice-aholic, because, as we have no curtains yet, approximately 500 other apartments can witness me drinking it.

Need to locate an Ikea and a means of getting there, need to visit Crate and Barrel to spend the many generous vouchers we received from our lovely friends as wedding presents, need to get phones, need to get a bank account, need to get food (but right now it's 92 degrees out there so hunger seems preferable.)

It’s the small everyday things which take time to adjust to in a new country, even one without a language barrier (although that’s debatable – some American phrases are intelligible only after lengthy consideration).
Take recycling. This is a serious and compulsory business in New York, and mis-filed items can land you with a fine. This is clearly a good, if initially confusing thing. (Come on London – catch up!) So this morning saw me sitting on the kitchen floor with piles of glass, paper, metal, plastic, normal rubbish (trash) and ‘miscellaneous’ (sciences never having been my strong point). What, for instance is string? Cotton buds? Or the inside foil-bit of a cigarette packet? Have now found a fantastic recycling site which reveals (nearly) all. This is just as well because nobody has been particularly helpful.

‘Where do I put plastic takeaway (takeout) cartons?’
The tactile not-so-helpdesk - ‘On another floor so as the neighbours (neighbors) don’t find out that we live on takeaways’.

I instant-message recycling guru friend
‘What does the inside bit of a cigarette packet get filed as?’
‘It gets filed as ‘I thought you were giving up’.

Actually it’s not like you can smoke anywhere here. And talking of cigarettes - I was buying a pack in Walgreen’s yesterday (yes, you buy cigarettes in chemists (drugstores) here), and was asked for ID! WTF is that about? Couldn’t decide whether to be pissed off (pissed) because the assistant was surely deliberately winding me up, or feel complimented (chuffed) as I clearly don’t look a day older than 18 now that I no longer work for a living.
‘Why d’you need my ID?’ (‘Get out of my face!’) .
‘D’you want them or not?’ came the withering reply.

Executive summary: Recycling and planning
Live music: Nouvelle Vague - Joe's Pub NY

THESE ARE THE NEW JOKES FOLKS

There has been much speculation recently as to the future of Ronnie Scott’s jazz club since the ‘official’ takeover by Sally Greene on 29th June this year . Owner/manager/co-founder for the past 46 years, Pete King, will be phasing himself out from now on (one man a jazz club cannot book for ever and a day – it’s stressful – just believe me on this one). So rumours are afoot as to who might take over the programming. My money’s on the discriminating Peter Wallis, ex-manager of Dean Street’s Pizza Express Jazz Club and I hope I’m right. He turned Pizza Express around and about, he knows his stuff and he’s that rare combination of businessman and true music-lover. Plus let’s face it, he needs to be somewhere where he can still start the evening with ‘here in the heart of Soho….’
All things considered this takeover is probably a good thing. The big fear was that the club might have been bought out by a large pub or club chain and at least Sally Greene appears determined to honour the club’s history and culture. The club is also definitely in need of a revamp (have you SEEN those carpets in the daylight?)? But I sincerely hope that, whatever happens, it still manages to provide week-long residencies for British bands alongside big International names. This must be pretty much the only club in the UK where it’s possible to do a 6-night residency as a jazz band and it’s invaluable, not just in terms of good exposure for British jazz but also just simply as ‘work’ for British jazz musicians.

I’ve been very negligent in getting down to Ronnie’s lately (what with getting married, moving out of my office, moving out of my home and country and all), so I simply had to visit during my last week in London. Headed down there last Thursday to check out the wonderful Netoband and meet up with the lovely Steve, Jools and Mark for yet more goodbyes.

How suave and sardonic is doorman Moses. Good to see him again.
‘So what’s new then since takeover?’
Moses ‘we have new plates’.
Nothing to worry about there then.


Good to hear Trudy Kerr again, especially in such charming and relaxed form and performing really enjoyable repertoire. Then Jose Neto’s band in a set of life-affirming Brazilian loveliness and some mind-blowing Latin rhythms. (His latest CD ‘Lua’s Dance’ is well worth hearing, and the title track a heartwarming, heart wrenching gem - a tribute to his only daughter who was tragically killed in an automobile accident last year.)

In the break I go downstairs to the loo. Inside a woman greets me with a ‘hello, how are you today?’
I look around to see if someone else has come in too. No, she is talking to me.
Well, I’m completely stressed out actually – I’m moving abroad at the weekend, I’ve still got 2 tenants to find, I don’t have a job lined up, I’m leaving all my friends – 3 of them right now upstairs as it happens, a couple of my friends are from New Orleans and homeless, I think I might have an alcohol problem, I’m still not 100 percent sure I’ve forgiven my mother……….
‘I’m fine thanks’ I reply. This was obviously the answer she was expecting. I lock myself in a cubicle.
Ok, so Ronnies now has lavatory attendants. Great. Something it really needs – not a new carpet or even a CHEF for god’s sake. Lavatory attendants. In the sort of lavatories where frankly they should be paying YOU for having to pee there. If there’s one thing  I don’t need help with , (and hope I don’t until the day comes when all  I’m capable of is sitting around reading the complete works of Georges Simenon in a nursing home,) it’s going to the loo. I mean what’s so difficult about turning on a tap, flushing a lavatory and helping oneself to a paper towel? Who is it out there that finds these things too complicated to do for themselves? It’s the principle of the thing.

She stands by the sink with a paper towel when I come out of the cubicle.  A pound coin sits in a saucer next to the sink.
She turns on the hot tap. This is the final straw. Anyone who has been frequenting Ronnie’s for years knows damn well that the hot taps are TOO HOT.  There is a very delicate balance of cold and hot water required in order to wash ones hands.

The paper towel is not big or absorbent enough, but really that’s the least of my problems, because now attendant says ‘Nice music isn’t it? Nice music for nice people like you’.
There are several things wrong with this statement as I see it.
A/ how on earth does she know whether or not the music’s nice? Clearly she doesn’t because she’s been stuck in the toilet all night and hasn’t heard a note.
B/ how does she know I’m nice? Clearly she doesn’t because she’s never met me before and knows absolutely nothing about me.
C/ I don’t want to give her a pound. Because the other thing I don’t like in addition to paying to go to the lavatory when I’ve just paid 20 pounds to get in to the club in the first place,  is handling money when I’ve just washed my hands. Thereby proving I am right about at least point B. I am clearly not nice after all.

Later Jools also doesn’t leave any money either.
‘You’re not going to leave any money are you?’ attendant asks.
‘No I’m not’ Jools replies.
’You’re not coming back then are you?’

This seems a little on the threatening side of polite. We possibly would have stayed for the second set but were forced to leave in order to go for a pee in the safety of our own homes.

Please, new Ronnie’s bosses – maybe you did need new plates, but you sure as hell don’t need lavatory attendants, at least not until you get new lavatories. You do need new carpets and you need to stop charging approximately 27p per chip. But most importantly, you need to carry on being one of the best jazz clubs in the country and programming lots of good music… Don’t go changing.

Executive summary: Ronnie Scotts under new management.

    

Inside my window - now where did I pack my toothbrush? 

Outside my window

MOVING TO NEW YORK TOMORROW

But I won’t bore you with that.

The Catster moved in today – it’s a huge relief to me that there will be someone I know and trust looking after shark central whilst I’m away. But nevertheless, starting to feel a little dispossessed.
‘Don’t put your wine glass on the floor – I just got the carpets cleaned’
Catster ‘You’re going – it’s MY flat now’.

Executive summary: Packing
              

A TIP OF MY VIRTUAL FIN

To the Sylvans for prize-winning wedding present (a website) and pointing the way, Stevie for feedback, feedforward and sharing html skillz and the man with the technicolour haircoat who doth provide.

The thing about leaving the country is that your friends start doing remarkable things like answering your emails, turning up on time to meet you, taking afternoons off work to see you and even CROSSING THE RIVER (shome mishtake shoorly) to visit you in South East London. A very warm thank you to all my lovely mates for their many and varied send-offs, and do keep in touch. (But let’s face it, I need at least a year abroad away from you all to detox.)

So yesterday OVP and I decided we should take in all the London tourist attractions I’ve somehow managed to avoid over the past 20 years and most importantly check on the Thames Barrier, all tragic current affairs considered, and see how it’s holding up.(I’m skeptical frankly. But that’s another story.)

A magical day of sightseeing, lovely company and much laughter which went something like this: bus, tube, boat, dlr, train, cab, cab, train, bus and took in no small number of fine drinking establishments in-between transport links. To Bexley in the evening for a photographic private-view by ‘The Mirage Group of Photographers’ in a gorgeous venue – Hall Place. Some lovely work – particularly by ex-RFH HR boss Paul Foley  (who looks, like all my other redundant colleagues, positively over-exposed with health now that the weight of a large riverside arts venue has been removed from his shoulders).

We’re city people OVP and I, so were reeling between agoraphobia and claustrophobia when we found ourselves in zone 105 surrounded by fields at nightfall with that ominous ‘limited service’ message on our mobile phones and no laptops, let alone wi-fi. We attack the cab driver ‘"C’mon man. Just 5 minutes is all we need. Let us use your laptop for 5 minutes pleeeeezzzze."
Actually we didn’t say that, but it was a close thing.

Confessions: ‘I sleep with my mobile under the pillow incase I wake up in the middle of the night and need to look something up’ and ‘my laptop lies in my bed where my husband used to sleep and I fall asleep watching WWLTV online incase I miss anything’.
What losers.
WiMAX – bring it on – that’s when we’ll be free.

We make it back to zone 1 for final drinks and goodbyes at Bar and Kitchen.
OVP ‘You’re going – it’s MY town now’.
I’ll miss you guy.


Executive Summary (for Phil):
Sightseeing and drinking all day with OVP.

LIVE GIGS 2005 - 2010

2010

April 29th Avishai Cohen w/ Shai Maestro, Itamar Doari, Karen Malka, Amos Hoffman - Union Chapel, London.
April 18th Anita Wardell w/Tristan Mailliot, Rob Barron, Sam Lasserson - 606 club, London.
April 16th Ivo Neame Quartet - the Front Room, QEH, London.
Ian Shaw & Liane Carroll - Pizza Express, London
April 13th Django Bates, Petter Eldh & Peter Bruun - the Vortex, London.
April 11th Julia Biel - Pizza Express, London.
March 26th Partisans, Phronesis, Olivier Témime Quintet - La Dynamo, Paris.
March 25th Jason Yarde/Andrew McCormack, Zoe Rahman Quartet, Mina Agossi Quartet - La Dynamo, Paris
March 16th Dhafer Youssef w/ Tigran Hamasyan, Chris Jennings, Mark Guiliana - LSO St Luke's, London
March 15th Jeff Ballard, Mike Janisch, Jason Palmer and Julian Siegel - Pizza Express, London.
March 12th Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - ICA, London.
Dan Berglund's Tonbruket - Pizza Express, London.
March 11th Trio of Oz with Rachel Z & Omar Hakim & Emilia Martensson Sextet & Natalie Williams w/ Jeremy Brown, Phil Peskett, Chris Dagley - Ronnie Scotts, London.
March 9th Printmakers (Norma Winstone, Nikki Iles, Mike Walker, Steve Watts, James Maddren) & Jeanette Mason Trio, Michael Mwenzo jam - Ronnie Scotts, London.
March 4th Phronesis - The Forge, London.
March 3rd Phronesis - The Forge, London.
Mrch 1st Tessa Souter & Apple Tea - Graffiti club, Belarus.
February 28th Tessa Souter & Apple Tea - Graffiti club, Belarus.
February 27th Tessa Souter & Apple Tea - Dolce Vita Club, Belarus.
February 27th Tessa Souter & Apple Tea - Belarus State Drama Theater, Belarus.
February 6th Ensemble Tomscha - Bargemusic, NY.
February 5th Malika Zarra w/ Francis Jacob, Mamadou Ba, Harvey Wirht - 55 Bar, NY.
February 2nd Ansel Matthews - Zinc Bar, NY.
January 17th Inon Barnatan & Controllar - Le Poisson Rouge, NY
January 10th David Binney, Hot Club of Detroit - APAP, NY.
January 9th Antonio Ciacca Trio, Roni Ben-Hur Trio, Amy London, Rufus Reid Trio, Patrick Stanfield Jones, Jana Herzen & Charnett Moffett, Gregory Porter, Tessa Souter, Oran Etkin w. Group Kelenia, Babatunde Lea w/ Geri Allen, Marc Cary Trio - APAP, NY.
Vijay Iyer Trio - Le Poisson Rouge, NY.
William Parker Quintet, Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, Global Noize w/DJ Logic - Sullivan Hall, NY
January 8th Darcy James Argues' Secret Society, Jamie Leonhart, ELEW (Eric Lewis) - Le Poisson Rouge, NY
Bobby Previte's New Bump Quartet, Mark Guilianas Beat Music - Kenny's Castaways, NY.
January 2nd Tessa Souter w/ Jason Ennis, MaryAnn McSweeney, Conor Meehan, Vistor Prieto - Joe's Pub, NY.

2009

December 12th Sachal Vasandani's 'Shoot the Messenger' w/ Shayna Steele & Becca Stevens, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeb Patton, Thad DeBrock, Ben Williams, Justin Brown - Jazz Gallery, NY.
December 11th Tessa Souter w/ Gary Wang, Jason Ennis - 55 Bar, NY.
Sachal Vasandani's 'Shoot the Messenger' w/ Shayna Steele & Becca Stevens, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jeb Patton, Thad DeBrock, Ben Williams, Justin Brown - Jazz Gallery, NY.
December 5th Harlem Jazz Collective - Antonio Ciacca, Grant Stewart, Paris Wright, Lucio Ferrara, Cocoran Holt - Minton's, NY.
December 3rd Mariangela Bettanini w/ Billy Drummond, Pete Malinverni, Lee Hudson - Kitano, NY.
November 30th Gemini - Con Cellar Bar, London.
November 23rd Gemini/Dave Mannington's Riff Raff - Ronnie Scott's, London & Katja Von Kassel - Shadow Lounge, London.
November 21st Paula Rae Gibson w/Jim Hart, Ivo Neame - Vortex, London.
November 19th Cleveland Watkiss 50th b'day concert - QEH, London.
November 17th Carla Bley's Lost Chords w/Andy Sheppard, Billy Drummond, Steve Swallow/ Julian Siegel w/ Greg Cohen, Joey Baron - QEH, London.
November 16th Naturally 7/Ian Shaw - RFH, London.
November 15th Phronesis/Sam Crockatt Quartet/Blink - RFH Clore Ballroom, London.
November 13th Dennis Rollins' Velocity Trio w/ Dan Moore (James Morton) & Pedro Segundo/John Scofield w/Jon Cleary, George Porter Jr.& John Boutté. - QEH, London.
Trudy Kerr Trio - The Archduke, London.
Kurt Elling w/ Laurence Hobgood, Ernie Watts, Harish Raghavan, Otis Brown.
Paolo Angeli/Ted Daniel & Michael Marcus - Ronnie Scotts, London.
12th November Tessa Souter w/Nick Weldon, Winston Clifford, - Pizza on the Park, London.
November 9th Natalie Williams, Guy Barker, Dave Newton, Ralph Salmins, - Houses of Parliament, London.
November 4th Mike Smith Quartet - Andy's, Chicago.
? - Jazz Showcase, Chicago.
November 3rd Joel Spencer (drums) and the Players Club Big Band - The Jazz Showcase, Chicago.
November 1st Sachal Vasandani w/Jeb Patton, David Wong - Dizzy's, NY.
October 14th Kenny Young & the Eggplants - Living Room, NY.
October 6th Steve Lawson & Lobelia, Ben Walker, Lloyd Davis - Darbucka. London.
September 17th Amanda Palmer - Muenze, Berlin.
September 12th Amanda Palmer/Polly Scattergood - Union Chapel, London.
September 7th Amy Kohn & Roshi - Joe's Pub, NY.
September 2nd Mark Guiliana's Thing w/Nir Felder , Mike Severson, Tim Lefebvre, Jeff Taylor - Rose Live, Brooklyn.
August 30th Robert Glasper w/ Casey Benjamin, Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave - le Poisson Rouge, NY.
August 27th Larry Willis w/ Joe Ford, Steve Davis, Buster Williams, Billy Drummond - Jazz Standard, NY.
Roy Ayers w/Mark Adams, Ray Gaskins, Donald Nicks, Lee Pearson, John Pressley - Blue Note, NY.
August 25th Sachal Vasandani w/Doug Wamble, Jeb Patton, David Wong, Quincy Davis, Ambrose Akinmusire - Jazz Standard, NY.
August 23rd K J Denhert w/Mamadou Ba, Ray Levier, Kevin Jones, Etienne Stadwijk - Blue Note, NY.
August 21st Bad Plus -Highline Ballroom, NY.
August 14th Tessa Souter/Jason Ennis - 55 Bar, NY.
August 3rd Tessa Souter Quintet - Blue Note, NY.
July 22nd Kindred the Family Soul - BB King's, NY.
June 28th Billy Drummond's Freedom of Ideas w/ Tom Guarna & Mike McGuirk - 55 Bar, NY.
June 22nd Barry Harris, Ray Drummond, Leroy Williams, Lou Donaldson, Jon Hendricks, Clark Terry, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams, Louis Hayes, George Coleman, Slide Hampton, Joe Lovano, George Mraz, Al Foster, John Scofield, Donald Harrison, Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Jimmy Cobb, Claudio Roditi, Mark Morganelli - Rose Theatre, JALC NY
June 21st Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio/Tony Kofi Quartet - Sweet Rhythm, NY.
June 20th Tessa Souter Quartet/Norma Winston & Gareth Williams - Sweet Rhythm, NY.
June 18th Tony Kofi Quartet - Rochester Jazz Festival.
June 17th Tessa Souter Quartet - Rochester Jazz Festival.
June 16th Neil Cowley Trio - Joe's Pub, NY.
June 8th Liane Carroll Trio/Peter King Quartet - Dizzy's, NY.
June 6th Stacey Kent - Birdland, NY.
May 29th Tony Kofi Quartet - the Crypt, London.
April 1st Teedra Moses/Omar - SOB'S, NY.
March 25th Sachal Vasandani w/Ryan Scott - Zinc Bar, NY.
March 21st Barb Jungr/Simon Wallace - Carlyle Cafe, NY.
March 7th SF Jazz Collective (Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas, Robin Eubanks, Miguel Zenón, Matt Penman, Renee Rosnes, Eric Harland) - the Allen Room, NY.
March 6th Gretchen Parlato - 55 Bar, NY.
February 27th Michael Leonhart Band - Joe's Pub, NY
February 25th Tessa Souter w/ Jason Ennis, Dana Leong, Connor Meehan - Kitano, NY.
February 18th Sachal Vasandani with Ryan Scott & Alan Hampton - Zinc Bar, NY.
February 13th Sachal Vasandani w/ Ryan Scott - American Folk Art Museum, NY.
February 12th Cinematic Orchestra - WFC, NY.
January 25th Mos Def w/Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Derrick Hodge, Casey Benjamin - Blue Note, NY.
January 11th Tomoko Sugawara, Oran Etkin, Jana Herzen, Charnett Moffet, KJ Denhert, Richie Goods Nuclear Fusion w/ Mike Clark, Jeff Lockhart, Helen Sung/Rachel Z/Sharon Clark/Roni Ben-Hur & Amy London/Antonio Ciacca Trio/Tessa Souter/Cynthia Scott - APAP, NY.
January 10th Kate McGarry w/ Keith Ganz, Clarence Penn - 55 Bar, NY
Dana Leong - K-Lounge, NY.
January 9th Tessa Souter - 55 Bar, NY.
Sachal Vasandani/Gerald and John Clayton - Sweet Rhythm, NY.


2008

December 15th Jay Leonhart & Michael Leonhart - Smalls, NY.
December 13th Kenny Young and the Eggplants - the Living Room, NY.
December 8th Kindred the Family Soul - SOB's, NY.
November 13th Jamie Leonhart w/ Michael Leonhart, Gary Wang, Marc Dalio, Deidre Rodman - Rockwood, NY,
November 8th Michael Leonhart w\Mike Williams (bass trumpet), Cochemea Gastelum (tenor sax), Leon Michels (baritone)
Luke O'Malley (guitar), Tommy Brennick (bass), Homer Steinweiss (drums), Marc Dalio (percussion), Sunny Jain (percussion,) Jamie Leonhart, Deidre Rodman, Casey Shea (vocals) - Joe's Pub, NY.
November 7th Tessa Souter w/ Gary Wang, Victor Prieto - 55 Bar, NY.
October 18th Kate McGarry w/Keith Ganz, Sean Smith, Gary Versace, Alvester Garnett - Tribeca Performing Arts Centre, NY.
The Rodney Green group w/ Lage Lund, Tim Green, Danny Grissett - Smalls, NY.
October 8th La Clique - Hippodrome, London.
October 4th John Escreet w/David Binney, Tyshawn Sorey, Ambrose Akinmusire, Zack Lober - Charlie Wright's, London.
September 20th Jo Lawry w/ Keith Ganz, James Shipp, Matt Clohesy, Rogerio Boccato - 55 Bar, NY.
September 12th Tessa Souter w/ Jason Ennis, Michael O'Brien - 55 Bar, NY
September 4th Oli Rockberger Quartet, Janek Gwizdala Band - 55 Bar, NY.
August 31st Avishai Cohen - Blue Note, NY.
July 15th Brass Mafia - Bruno's, San Francisco.
July 12th Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra - Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco.
June 26th Norma Winstone w/Glauco Venier, Klaus Gesing - Joe's Pub, NY.
June 25th Kurt Elling w/ Laurence Hobgood, Kobie Watkins - Birdland, NY.
June 24th Empirical/Bad Plus w Kurt Rosenwinkel - Society for Ethical Culture, NY.
June 22nd Bob Dorough - McCann's, NY.
Joao Gilberto - Carnegie Hall, NY.
June 21st Kate McGarry - 55 Bar, NY.
Hank Jones w/Roy Hargrove, Russell Malone, Steve Davis, Frank Wess, Roberta Gambarini, George Mraz,
Willie Jones 111 - Society for Ethical Culture, NY.
June 20th Ian Shaw/Guy Barker - Christ Church, Rochester.
June 13th Kenny Young and the Eggplants - Living Room, NY
Tessa Souter w/ Jason Ennis, Michael O'Brien - 55 Bar, NY
Janek Gwizdala - 55 Bar, NY
Larry Willis, Billy Drummond, Gerald Cannon - Smoke, NY
June 4th M83 - Bowery Ballroom, NY.
May 24th Oli Rockberger - Rockwood, NY.
May 22nd Kate McGarry - Jazz Gallery, NY.
May 16th Kenny Young & the Eggplants - Living Room, NY.
May 9th Tessa Souter w/ Gary Wang, Jason Ennis - 55 Bar, NY.
May 5th Tina Dico - Joe's Pub. NY.
May 4th Peter Bernstein w/Billy Drummond, Ralph Lalama, Mike Richmond - Blue Note, NY.
April 28th Tessa Souter w/Jason Ennis, Gary Wang, Victor Prieto, Connor Mehan - Dizzy's, NY.
April 21st Michael Leonhart's Hotel Music - Joe's Pub, NY.
April 19th Dana Leong w/ Core Rhythm, Eliot Humberto Kavee, Adam Platt - Dizzy's. NY.
Billy Drummond's 'Freedom of Ideas' w/Tom Guarna, Francois Moutin - Cachaca, NY.
April 17th Rhiannon w/Tim Ray, Esperanza Spalding, Bob Guillotti - Joe's Pub, NY.
Janek Gwizdala w/ Gregoire Maret, Brad Mason, Elliot Mason, Oli Rockberger, Justin Vasquez, Tobias Ralph - 55 Bar, NY.
March 21st Kenny Young and the Eggplants - Living Room, NY.
Jamie Leonhart w/Michael Leonhart, Gary Wang, Marc Dalio, Gil Goldstein - Joe's Pub, NY.
March 20th Carolyn Leonhart w/Wayne Escoffery, Toru Dodo, Joe Martin, Emanuel Herald - 55 Bar, NY.
March 18th The Bad Plus - Blue Note, NY.
March 15th Tessa Souter w/Jason Ennis, Billy Drummond, Don Braden, Santi Debriano - Tribeca Performing Arts Centre, NY.
Vinicius Cantuaria w/Michael Leonhart, Adriano Santos, Dende, Nanny Assis - Jazz Standard, NY.
March 14th Tessa Souter w/Jason Ennis, Billy Drummond, Don Braden, Santi Debriano - Tribeca Performing Arts Centre, NY.
March 5th Nik Bartsch's Ronin - Joe's Pub. NY.
March 3rd Kate McGarry w/Sean Smith, Keith Ganz, Gary Versace, Clarence Penn - Dizzy's, NY.
February 28th Michel Legrand, Ron Carter, Lewis Nash - Birdland, NY.
February 22nd Enrico Rava w/Stefano Bollani, Paul Motian, Mark Turner & Larry Grenadier - Birdland, NY.
February 21st Clark Terry Big Band w/Trumpets - Greg Glassman, Frank Greene, Stjepko Gut, Tony Lujan, David Rogers;
Saxes - Brad Leali, Whitney Slaten, Lakecia Benjamin, Brian McCarthy, Roxy Coss, Frank Basile.
Trombones - Jack Jeffers, Conrad Herwig, Dion Tucker, Cameron MacMannus;
Helen Sung (piano), Marcus McLaurine (bass), Sylvia Cuenca (drums) - Blue Note, NY.
February 19th Eddie Izzard - Union Sq Theatre, NY.
February 16th Eliane w/Willard Dyson, Hagar Ben Ari, Abou Diarrasouba - Cachaca, NY
January 31st Jamie Leonhart - Joe's Pub, NY.
January 30th Susan Enan/Annekei - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
January 27th Tessa Souter w/ Victor Prieto, Jason Ennis, Gary Wang & Daniel Freedman - Joe's Pub, NY.
January 19th Kate McGarry Quartet - 55 Bar, NY.
Brad Mehldau - Washington Irving School, NY.
January 17th Frank Senior - St Nick's Pub, NY.
January 16th Mark Soskin w/ Steve Wilson (sax), Jay Anderson (bass), Clarence Penn (drums) - Jazz Standard, NY.
Antonio Ciacca Quartet - Smalls, NY.
January 12th Empirical - IAJE, Toronto.
January 11th Ian Shaw/Nikki Iles Trio/Alan Barnes & David Newton/Dave O'Higgins Quartet/Gary Crosby's Nu Troop - Rex Jazz Club, Toronto.
January 10th Denys Baptiste's Let Freedom Ring!/Empirical/Martin Taylor's Freternity/Tommy Smith YJO/Dennis Rollins' Badbone & Co - IAJE, Toronto.

2007


November 22nd Empirical & Joshua Redman Trio w/ Reuben Rogers, Gregory Hutchinson - QEH, London.
November 21st Tord Gustavsen Trio, Stefano Bollani & Enrico Rava - Barbican, London.
November 19th Jonathan Gee Trio -Octave, London.
November 18th Alcyona Mick Quintet, Free Spirits, Gareth Roberts Quintet - SBC Ballroom, London.
November 10th Kenny Young & the Eggplants - Living Room, NY.
November 9th Tessa Souter w/ Spiros Exaras & Aidan O'Donnell - 66 Bar, NY.
November 8th Janek Gwizdala Project w/Justin Vasquez, Elliot Mason, Brad Mason,Tim Miller, Oli Rockberger & Tobias Ralph - 55 Bar, NY.
November 3rd Tierney Sutton w/Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Ray Brinker - Birdland, NY.
October 29th Ed Reed w/Peck Allmond, Gary Fisher, Doug Weiss & Willard Dyson - Jazz Standard, NY.
October 27th Lea DeLaria, Ian Shaw w/Gil Goldstein (piano),
Mary Ann McSweeney (bass), Josh Guinta (drums) - Smoke, NY.
October 25th Andy Bey w/David Wong - Joe's Pub, NY.
October 22nd Tessa Souter w/Carlton Holmes (p), Marcello Pellitteri (dr), Santi Debriano (b) & Skye Steele (vln) - Jazz Standard, NY.
October 15th Ola - Blue Note, NY.
October 12th Tessa Souter w/ Dana Leong - 55 Bar, NY.
October 10th Jamie Leonhart CD launch - Joe's Pub, NY.
October 6th Daryl Shermann - Waldorf Astoria
October 4th Chico Hamilton w/ s Cary DeNigris (guitar), Paul Ramsey (bass), Evan Schwam (flute & saxes), Ian Young (flute & saxes), Jeremy Carlstedt (percussion) - Borders, NY.
Mark Murphy w/ Misha Piatagorsky (piano), David Rokeach (drums), Hans Glavisim (bass) & Gilad Dobrecky (percussion) - Iridium, NY.
October 3rd Deborah Davis w/Gerald Clayton, Essiet Essiet & Quincy Davis - Smalls, NY.
September 28th Rob Szabo - Living Room, NY.
September 27th EST - Jazz Standard, NY.
September 26th Cinematic Orchestra/Grey Reverend - Webster Hall, NY.
September 21st RSC's 'The Seagull' - BAM.
September 20th Claire Martin & Ian Shaw - Dizzy's, NY.
September 19th Diana Perez w/ Jed Levy, Tony Reedus, Francois Moutin, Helen Sung - Kitano, NY.
September 15th Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, Clarence Penn - 55 Bar, NY.
September 14th Tessa Souter & Saul Rubin - 55 Bar NY
August 27th Amy Kohn/Akiko Pavolka - Joe's Pub, NY.
August 26th Todd Williams w/Eric Lewis, Wayne Batchelor.
Chico Hamilton w/Jeremy Carlstedt, Evan Schwam, Ian Young, Paul Ramsey and Cary DeNigris.
Cassandra Wilson w/ Michael Bowie, Jonathan Batiste & Marcus Gilmore - Tompkins Square Park, NY.
August 16th Jamie Leonhart/Danielle Gasparro - Cafe Vivaldi, NY.
August 10th Kenny Young & the Eggplants/Adriano Schiavo - Living Room, NY.
August 6th Keith Ganz Quartet w/Kate McGarry - 55 Bar, NY.
July 25th Shannon Day - Plush Room, San Francisco CA.
July 14th Jane Monheit - Yoshi's, Oakland CA.
July 9th La Vie - the Spiegeltent, NY.
July 8th Diana Perez/Chris Washburne - Smoke, NY.
July 7th Kenny Young & the Eggplants - Sidewalk Cafe, NY.
July 6th Absinthe - the Spiegeltent, NY.
July 4th Claire Martin, Gareth Williams & Laurence Cottle - the Oak Room @ the Algonquin, NY.
July 1st Trudi Mann, Anita Wardell, Richard Rodney Bennett, Perez (& many others) - Butterfield 8, NY.
June 30th The Bad Plus - Highline Ballroom.
John Escreet, Orlando le Fleming, Adam Rogers, Ben van Gelder, Ari Hoenig, Peter Schlamb - Smalls, NY.
June 26th Janis Steprans Quintet & Kris Davis Quartet w/Tony Malaby, Elvind Opsvik & Jeff Davis - Lion d'Or, Montreal.
June 25th Alex Grogg, Phillippe Lauzier, Toma Gouband - O Patro Vys, Montreal.
June 23rd Paul Read Big Band - the Rex, Toronto.
Freddy Cole - the Courthouse, Toronto.
June 22nd The Spiegel Show - the Spiegeltent, Harbourfront Centre - Toronto.
June 21 Nikki Yanofsky & Steve Koven Trio w/ Anthony Michelli - the Courthouse, Toronto.
June 15th Tessa Souter w/Geoff Gascoyne, Stuart Hall, Luis D'Agostino & Winston Clifford - Pizza on the Park, London.
June 11th Royal Festival Hall Gala Re-opening Concert with LPO, Philharmonia, OAE, London Sinfonietta - Southbank Centre, London.
June 2nd Brand New Heavies - Highline, NY.
June 1st Kenny Young & the Eggplants - 169 Bar, NY.
May 26th Mos Def w/Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Charles Haynes, Casey Benjamin, Christian Scott - Highline, NY.
May 22nd Dbr & DJ Spooky - the Cutting Room, NY.
May 18th Joe Lovano, Hank Jones, Dennis Irwin, Lewis Nash, Ralph Lalama, Scott Robinson, Barry Reis, Larry Farrell, Billy Drewes - Dizzy's, NY.
May 13th Todd Williams, Marcus Roberts, Reginald Veal, Herlin Riley - Dizzy's, NY.
May 12th Kenny Young and the Eggplants - Sidewalk Cafe, NY.
Diana Perez - Minton's Playhouse, NY.
May 11th Tessa Souter w/Marvin Sewell - 55 Bar, NY.
May 10th Kate McGarry w/Keith Ganz, Gary Versace, Matt Penman, Clarence Penn and Donny McCaslin - Jazz Standard, NY.
May 8th MeShell Ndegeocello w/Oren Bloedow, Charles Haynes - Highline, NY.
May 6th Ernie Andrews & Juilliard Jazz Orchestra - Dizzy's, NY.
May 1st Jonatha Brooke - HighLine Ballroom, NY.
April 26th David Devoe/Jo Lawry - Cornelia St Cafe, NY.
April 25th marc von em/Jamie Leonhart/Michael Leonhart/Paul Brill - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
April 21st Kenny Young & the Eggplants/ Peter Cincotti - Living Room, NY.
April 20th Chris Mann - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
April 19th Avishai Cohen Trio/Hiromi's Sonicboom - Blue Note, NY.
April 4th Glenn Tilbrook - St Kilda Esplanade Hotel, Melbourne, Australia.
April 1st Tiger Rex Quartet w/ Thai Matus, Nashua Lee, Chris Bekker, Sam Bates - Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, Melbourne, Australia.
March 26th Tim Jago Quartet w/Carl Mackey, Paul Pooley, Chris Grant - Perth Jazz Society, Australia.
Feb 27th Jamie Leonhart/Michael Leonhart - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
Feb 15th Guillermo Klein - Merkin Hall, NY.
Feb 14th Kurt Elling w/Bob Mintzer - Blue Note, NY.
Feb 12th Me'shell Ndegeocello - Joe's Pub, NY.
Feb 9th Tessa Souter & Joris Teepe - 55 Bar, NY.
Feb 4th Danny Rietveld Band w/Annekei - Living Room, NY.
Feb 3rd Kenny Young and the Eggplants - Living Room, NY.
Feb 2nd Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, Anthony Jackson - 55 Bar, NY.
Jan 22nd Taylor Eigsti & Julian Lage, Hilary Kole w/ Mark McLean, Dominick Farinacci Quartet w/ Ari Hoenig, Joe Locke - Birdland, NY.
Jan 20th Lobelia w/ Tim van de Ven - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
Jan 13th Charlie Haden & the Liberation Music Orchestra
Avishai Cohen w/ Mark Guiliana, Shai Maestro - IAJE, NY.
Jan 12th Dizzy Gillespie All-star Big Band w/ Nancy Wilson
Clayton Brothers Quintet w/ Gerald Clayton - IAJE, NY.
Jan 10th Steve Lawson w/Lobelia - Mo Pitkins, NY.
Jan 7th Carolyn Leonhart w/ Wayne Escoffery, Donald Edwards - Blue Note, NY.
Jan 6th Avishai Cohen w/Meshell Ndegeocello, Omer Klein, Adam Deitch - Iridium, NY.

2006

Dec 29th Kendra Shank - 55 Bar, NY.
Dec 21st Jamie Leonhart & Michael Leonhart - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
Dec 16th Pina Bausch's 'Nefes' - BAM, NY.
Dec 11th Brandon Ross, DBR, DJ Scientific - Knitting Factory, NY.
Dec 9th Animation - Merkin Hall, NY.
Dec 8th Tessa Souter w/ Kahlil Kwame Bell & Spiros Exaras - 55 Bar NY.
Michael Leonhart & Jamie Leonhart - Mo Pitkins, NY.
Heernt & Jeff Taylor - Ace of Clubs, NY.
Dec 4th Uncle Moon & Michelle Shocked - Joe's Pub, NY.
Dec 1st Patrick Cornelius/Quentin Collins Quintet w/ Andrew MacCormack, Michael Janisch, Paul Wiltgen - QEH Foyer, London.
Nov 18th Kate McGarry - 55 Bar, NY
Nov 15th Diana Perez - Enzo's, NY.
Nov 4th Last Man Standing - Mo Pitkins, NY.
Nov 1st Mina Agossi w/Remy Chaudagne, Ichiro Onoe - Jazz Standard, NY.
Oct 23rd Oli Rockberger w/ Janek Gwizdala, Bob Reynolds - Groove, NY.
Oct 19th Jamie Leonhart Band/Michael Leonhart Band - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
Oct 15th Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, Tactus, Ransom Wilson (Steve Reich 70th b'day celebration) - Whitney Museum, NY.
Oct 12th Daniella Clynes - Danny's Skylight Room, NY.
Ben Allison, Helio Alvez, Rogerio Boccato - Sophias, NY.
Oct 3rd Massive Attack - Roseland, NY.
Sept 29th Jamie Cullum - Roseland, NY.
Sept 28th Jamie Leonhart Band/Michael Leonhart Band - Rockwood Music Hall, NY.
Kate McGarry w/ Keith Ganz, Sean Smith, Ferenc Nemeth & guest Jo Lawry - Kitano Room, NY.
Sept 26th Erin Mckeown with Allison Miller - Joe's Pub NY.
Sept 24th McCoy Tyner w/ Charnett Moffett, Eric Kamau Gravatt, Pharoah Sanders - Blue Note NY.
Sept 11th Angelique Kidjo, Alfredo "Catfish" Alias, Butch Morris, Coati Mundi, DJ Funmi Ononaiye, Greg Osby, Harriet Tubman, James Hurt, DJ Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, Craig Street, Kenny Barron, Liberty Ellman, Marc Anthony Thompson, Marc Cary, Meshell NDegeocello, Morley, Nora York, Oren Bloedow, Randy Weston's African Rhythms, Stephanie McKay, Vernon Reid - Canal Room, NY.
Sept 8th Tessa Souter w/Saul Rubin, Tony Jefferson, Alex Hiele, Don Braden - Joe's Pub NY.
Sept 6th Richard Bona w/ Samuel Torres (per), Ernesto Simpson (d), Etienne Stadwijk (kbd), John Caban (g), Taylor Haskins (tru), Sandro Tomasi (tro) - Joe's Pub, NY.
Richard Bona, w/ Jean Michel Pilc, Ari Hoenig - 55 Bar, NY.
Sept 1st Avishai Cohen w/ Sam Barsh, Mark Guiliana, Jimmy Greene, Diego Urcola - Blue Note, NY.
August 31st Will Vinson w/ Orlando le Fleming, Lage Lund - La Lanterna, NY.
August 27th Will Vinson w/ Orlando le Fleming, Ari Hoenig, Jonathan Kreisberg, Adam Rogers - 55 Bar, NY.
August 25th Lage Lund w/ Orlando le Fleming, Otis Brown - La Lanterna, NY.
August 19th Vinx - Sweet Rhythm, NY.
August 18th Po'Girl/Erin Bode w/ Chris Higginbottom, Adam Maness, Syd Rodway - Living Room, NY.
August 13th Brandon Ross & Blazing Beauty w/ Stomu Takeishi/Graham Haynes/JT Lewis - MOMA Sculpture Garden, NY.
August 12th Matou/Tama Waipara - AMNH, NY.
August 9th Brandon Ross/Stomu Takeishi - The Stone, NY
August 8th Menlo Park/the Hysterics - Spiegeltent NY
August 7th Rodrigo y Gabriela - Joe's Pub NY
August 5th Nouvelle Vague, Puppini Sisters - Fruitstock, London.
July 29th Estelle Kokot - Vortex, London.
July 26th Recycle Collective w/Steve Lawson, Julie McKee, Cleveland Watkiss - Darbucka, London.
July 25th Maryam Hashemi/John Gibbens/Evrah/Stuart Fisher/Steve Moyes - The Foundry, London.
July 23rd Hanne Hukkelberg - Luminaire, London.
July 19th Soft Machine w/Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, John Etheridge, Theo Travis - Quasimodo's, Berlin.
July 7th Jeff Taylor - Sin-e, NY.
July 3rd Tessa Souter w/John Hart, Alex Heile, Marcello Pellitteri, Dana Leong - Jazz Standard NY.
June 30th Ola Onabule w/ Fred Cash, Aaron Whitby - Blue Note NY.
June 28th Michael Leonhart w/ Jamie Leonhart, Avi Bortnick, Paul Socolow, Marc Dalio - the Bacchus Room, NY.
June 26th Bill McHenry Trio w/ Reid Anderson, RJ Miller - 55 Bar, NY.
June 25th Avishai Cohen (trumpet) w/ Omar Avital, Yosvany Terry, Jason Lindner, Daniel Freedman - Jazz Standard, NY.
June 23rd Mary J Blige - Bryant Park, NY.
Martha Redbone w/ Fred Cash, Daniel Sadownick - Joe's Pub, NY.
June 18th Brandon Ross and Blazing Beauty w/Stomu Takeishi, Ron Miles, JT Lewis - Tonic, NY.
June 17th Kurt Elling - Birdland, NY
Julie Dexter - Blue Note, NY
June 16th Roy Hargrove's RH Factor, Marcus Miller Band - Irving Plaza NY
June 14th Guillermo Klein Los Guachos - Village Vanguard NY
June 11th Harlem Gospel Choir - BB King Club NY
June 8th Peter Eldridge Quartet - 55 Bar, NY
June 4th So Percussion, Gamelan Galak Tika, Tactus, Bang on a Can All-stars, Gutbucket, Eileen Mack, Matmos, Dominic Frasca, Yat Kha, Lisa Moore, William Parker/Jerome Cooper, Sentieri Selvaggi, David Cossin/Glen Kotche, Weather Ensemble, Todd Reynolds, Michael Harrison, Don Byron, Maya Beiser, Alarm Will Sound - WFC NY.
June 3rd Jeff Taylor, Heernt - Ace of Clubs NY
June 2nd Gretchen Parlato - 55 Bar NY
June 1st Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet - 55 Bar NY.
May 29th Kate McGarry - Birdland NY.
May 17th Ben Perowsky w/ David Torn, Todd Sickafoose - 55 Bar NY.
May 9th Wycliffe Gordon Septet (with Mark Braud, Lawrence Ketchins, Roderick Paulin, Doreen Ketchins, Herlin Riley, Shannon Powell) - Dizzy's NY.
May 6th Andy Bey (with Paul Meyers, Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Jeremy Clemons) - Jazz Standard NY
May 5th Gretchen Parlato - 55 Bar NY
May 3rd Janek Gwizdala (with Randy Brecker, Elliot Mason, Tim Miller & Gary Husband) - Mo Pitkins NY.
April 26th Ari Hoenig - 55 Bar NY
Bill Frisell (with Kenny Wollesen, Tony Scherr, Ron Miles, Gregory Tardy )- Village Vanguard NY
Peter Bernstein Trio (with Bill Stewart)- Small's NY
Greg August Sextet (with Myron Walden, E.J. Strickland, Luis Perdomo)- Fat Cat NY
April 25th Cineson All Stars, Andy Garcia and Cachao - BB King's NY
April 20th Meshell Ndegeocello - Joe's Pub NY
April 14th Michael Leonhart and Jamie Leonhart - Mo Pitkins NY
April 8th Suphala - Whitney Museum NY
April 7th Amy Kohn - Joe's Pub NY
April 1st Igmar Thomas Jam Session - Wally's Jazz Club, Boston.
March 29th Jamie Cullum - Town Hall NY
March 25th Tessa Souter - Joe's Pub NY
March 24th Gutbucket & Ethel - Whitney Museum NY
March 19th Gabriela Anders - 55 Bar NY
March 17th Mark Morris Dance Group - BAM
March 13th Zoe Rahman - QEH Foyer London
March 6th Ursula Rucker/Timothy Motzer/Gintas Jannsonis - Quasimodos Berlin.
March 4th Steve Lawson/Theo Travis - NT Foyer London
March 3rd Andrea Vicari Quartet - QEH Foyer London
February 28th Tina Dico - Joe's Pub NY
February 22nd Sam Yahel Trio - Smalls NY
February 17th Jamie Leonhart - Rockwood Music Hall NY
February 16th Janek Gwizdala Group - Jazz Gallery NY
February 11th Kate McGarry - 55 Bar NY
February 10th Tessa Souter - 55 Bar NY
February 9th Aimee Mann - New York Town Hall NY
Clark Gayton's Explorations in Dub - Zinc Bar NY
February 4th Vinicius Cantuaria - Jazz Standard NY
January 27th Kendra Shank - 55 Bar NY
January 23rd Ethel - The Cutting Room NY
DBR - The Cutting Room NY
January 20th EST - Jazz Standard NY
January 14th Eddie Gomez Trio - IAJE NY
January 13th Andy Scott/Dave Hassell Duo - IAJE NY
North Texas State University One O'Clock Lab Band - IAJE NY Curtis Stigers IAJE NY
Kitty Margolis - IAJE NY
EST - IAJE NY
January 11th Christine Tobin - Joe's Pub NY
January 10th Kurt Elling - Birdland NY

2005

December 27th Heernt - The Knitting Factory NY
December 14th Joshua Redman Elastic Band - Blue Note NY
December 8th Ellen Starr Quartet – 55 Bar NY
December 1st Patti Smith – BAM NY
November 25th Antje Duvekot – The Living Room NY
November 24th Brad Mehldau – Village Vanguard NY
November 19th Heernt – Ace of Clubs NY
November 9th Floetry – SOB’s NY
November 4th Kate McGarry – 55 Bar NY
November 1st Heernt – 169 Bar NY
October 28th Imani Uzuri – Joe’s Pub NY
October 27th Kindred the family soul – BB King Club NY
October 20th Heernt – The C Note NY
October 10th The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra – Village Vanguard NY ,
Steve Coleman rehearsal workshop – Jazz Gallery NY
Jam Session – Smoke NY
October 8th Stacey Kent – Birdland NY
September 27th Tina Dico – The Living Room NY
September 23rd Amy Kohn – Mo Pitkins NY
September 22nd Michael Franti – Spirit NY
September 20th EST – Joe’s Pub NY
September 14th Kaki King - Joe's Pub NY
September 13th Nouvelle Vague - Joe's Pub NY
September 8th Trudy Kerr & Netoband – Ronnie Scott’s LONDON