Hi everybody,

Home again, praise Allah.  The Golden Globes were an absolute blast, much to my surprise. I was anticipating a Grammy-style sweat and boredom-fest, with a little taste of "Day of the Locusts", or is it "Lord of the Flies"...  But no, it was an absolute
hoot.

My favorite moment:

Standing around on the smoking balcony laughing as Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons and Ian Mckellan joked and generally took the piss out of everything.  At one point, a sort of large, sweating man in a bulging tuxedo came up to Caine, apologising profusely for some business misdeed.  Caine drew himself up to his full height and said witheringly, "Two words spring to mind.  The first is unprintable.  The second is 'you'".  Ahh, to be an English lion.  

My second favorite:

Running into Sting, whom I've known and disliked intensely since A&M days in the late Eighties, when the inescapable evidence of his pomposity, greed, and towering vanity was repeatedly laid bare in countless and ever-evolving forms.

"Hi Sting"  I said.  "You know you're a bastard"
"You know how it is", he said, smug as ever.
"Of course I do", I replied.  "But youre still a bastard"

I was repeatedly struck by the many differences between the British and American film royalty, and came away feeling that, as a rule, American showbiz legends are more inclined to believe their own press releases.  Sting being the exception that proves the rule.  

But all in all, a jollier weekend could not have been had, and I hope to return someday.

On the New Folk Underground front, eight of eleven songs have been mixed, although
on of those needs to be remixed.  Last night, we found our female bacground vocal section, a pair of sisters who call themselves "The Damnation Girls", and who are expert at the tight, horn-like Appalachian-style shape-singing that I've come to favor after listening endlessly to the Stanley Bros and Gillian Welch.

The band is at last, complete.
The lineup consists of myself on guitar, vocals, and whatever else happens to be lying around;  Will Sexton on bass, Hunt Sales on drums (I gotta LUST FOR LIFE)
Bukka Allen on organ and keys, Mike Thompson on keys, bone, banjo, mandolin and guitar (I Gotta PEACEFUL EASY FEELING), and Darwin Smith on guitar, steel, and etc...

We cut our first new tracks together last Saturday, with the sole exception to the lineup being the estimable Charlie Sexton on guitar.  

We recorded a new song called "Me and My Girls", and did a rewritten version of "Hellbound Train"  The songs we chose for the album are:
"Why"
"Compassion"
"Wondering"
"Nothings Gonna Bring Me Down"
"Love # 29"
"The Crash"
"Hellbound Train"
"Hard To Give A Damn"
"Bozo Wacko Wierdo Creep"
"If Ever I Thought"
"Me And My Girl"

We'll be doing some warm-up dates in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio in early March, and SXSW at the Continental Club March 15 here in Austin.  Any ideas for a setlist would be greatly appreciated.  

Well, there you have it, at least what I can think of right now, so the very best to you.

PS:

Fab and essential web-page alert:  www.bushwatch.com.  Check out the timeline on their entry page.

Love and peace to all,

David Baerwald