fredsgigs

recently

...have decided to revive this blog. Will keep it vague but try to fill in some blanks.
Just got home from 3+ weeks of back to back tours with Survival Unit III and Broetzmann Chicago 10tet.
Lots of good times and the usual amount of less than good times. Between the two bands, more than 20 gigs as far south as Barcelona and north as Oslo. Also got to play a duo gig with Johannes Bauer.
Showed my "Joe McPhee" tattoo to Joe, check out the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hmK5KO3Qk4
Its good to be home but the border guards are enough to make one wish that moving out of this country and never returning wasn't incredibly difficult.
The border agent at O'Hare asked me if they really let me "play the cello in all those different countries" or was I "just visiting them?".
I guess it seems amazing to those guys as they routinely turn away musicians at their border and assume their brothers in other countries relish the same pleasures. (Incidentally, the US policy on musicians visiting the US is terrible. The government seems bent on isolating the US from the rest of the world culturally. Its not just musicians who have a difficult time. They turn away novelists, dancers, scholars, etc all the time. Symphony orchestras have canceled tours here because of the prohibitive work permit prices and bureaucratic hurdles. Even tourists from Europe have to file forms and pay a visa fee just to visit here.)(but... I digress!).
Anyway, this Friday the Valentine Trio is playing a benefit for Gregory Koger. He found himself in jail (and may return there) because of other policies I don't think are good for America. Info here:
http://dropthecharges.net/
And.. the Vandermark 5 plays in Morelia, Mexico on Wednesday the 17th. Starting the 19 Paal Nilsson-Love and Dave Rempis and I (aka Ballister) do a short midwest run. Here's some info:

11/19/09 - Dubuque, IA
Monk’s Coffee House
373 Bluff St.

11/20 - Milwaukee, WI
Sugar Maple
441 E. Lincoln St.

11/21 - Detroit, MI
2739 Edwin

11/22/10 - Cleveland, OH
Now That’s Class
11213 Detroit Ave.

11/23- Lexington KY.
Collexion
111 ½ E. Loudon

11/24 Chicago, IL
Hideout

More soon!
See you on the road?
F

posted by Fred lonberg-Holm @ 19:49