News

September 21, 2012

I’ve been studying what Old People do with the idea that I could learn from their example, so that I could fit in better, but problems keep cropping up. I don’t get golf, for instance (what’s up with those little waterfalls and windmills, anyway?), and shuffleboard is just plain boring. Napping, on the other hand, seems to be something for which I have natural talent, as I’ve discussed in a previous missive, and telling the same story over and over again is something that I’ve never seen a problem with, so perhaps there’s hope. I will report back from time to time on my progress.

Speaking of the perspective of age, the upcoming show at Passim on Sunday (the third and final installment in the series on my 50 years on stage – each one has dealt with a certain time period) will be on Modern Times and will focus mainly on the last 10 years or so, road stories and material from the “Trolling for Owls” and “What I Know” CDs. I’ll also be introducing a new song, written by my buddy Josh Brackett. It’s called “The Poor Have Too Much Money,” and could easily change the course of the upcoming election. (The documentary crew that will be shooting the show will try to get a YouTube clip out of this one, so here’s your chance to go viral, if that’s something that appeals to you.)

 

 

I’ll also be introducing you to a youngster I think has a lot of talent, Ms. Hayley Reardon. Be there if you can. If you can’t, be there virtually via ConcertWindow.com. If you’re on my Twitter list I’ll be sending out a reminder-tweet about an hour before the show goes up at 7:00 PM.

Enjoy the Fall!

Tom Rush

Quote of the month: “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”- Mark Twain; and, “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” – Kurt Vonnegut

August 3, 2012

Gang,

It’s been a while. The last time I wrote to you, nearly 2 months ago, I was apprehensive about chaperoning a 7th and 8th grade “Semi-Formal” dance – and I’ve left you hanging in suspense. I hope it hasn’t ruined your summer!

It actually wasn’t as difficult, or as dangerous, as I’d feared. The worst part, really, was the “dancing,” so called, which consisted of them all jumping straight up and down more or less in unison, more or less in time with the music. When they were all “dancing” at once I did worry a bit about the structural integrity of the building, but it seems to have sustained only minimal damage.

I didn’t get to use the cattle prod – though I was eagerly looking for opportunities – or the air horn. The referee’s whistle was deployed on a couple of occasions, during the slow dances mainly, but I found the most effective device for keeping our daughter in line was to threaten to get my guitar and sing some songs for her friends.

Speaking of guitars: back in the late ’60s in Cambridge I bought an Epiphone Texan for $179, brand new, with case. I figured it was cheap enough to take to beach parties, and if someone stepped on it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world … but then I kind of fell in love with the thing.

I started fancying her up – mother of pearl trim and whatnot. I asked a young lady named Chris Hayward to inlay a reclining nude entwined with a snake (Hey … it’s a Biblical theme!) on the neck. Well! She caused quite a sensation from the very first day, and was tagged “the Naked Lady.” I can tell you that when the roadie yelled to the stagehand, “Tom needs the Naked Lady in the dressing room right away,” heads would turn! Sadly, she burned up in a house fire in 1990 and I have missed her terribly for the past 22 years.

But wipe away those tears, children – there’s a happy ending! John Marr of McKenzie & Marr guitars contacted me asking if they could produce a “signature” guitar with my name on it. He brought me some samples of their work and I was very impressed. The discussions wound along and at some point I worked up the nerve to inquire if the top-of-the-line model could have a naked lady with a snake on the fingerboard. Yes! I’ve been playing the prototype on stage now for some months, and she’s a honey. Feels great, sounds great and looks … well, stunning! The production models have just arrived and they’re every bit as good. (There were also a few made without the inlay, for those shy persons out there.) In my mind this is a $5,000 instrument, but M&M are selling them for less than half of that. Check her out!

Shows coming up:

Thursday, August 10th at Infinity in Norfolk, CT. A wonderful hall with some real history. (Mark Twain stood on that stage!)

Friday, the 11th at the Rubin Museum in New York City. This should be fun! No amplification at all – no plugging anything in, no sound system. And I’m supposed to do at least one song that ties in – in my mind at least – to one of the artworks they have on display. We’ll see how that pans out.

Saturday, the 12th at the Stephen Talkhouse way out on Long Island in Amagansett, a great little club. I haven’t been there for some years and I’m looking forward to this!

Sunday the 13th at 4:00 PM at the Turning Point in Piermont, NY, just over the Tappan Zee Bridge. A Matinee! And in what is probably the most intimate venue I ever get to play.

And on Friday and Saturday, the 24th and 25th, the glorious Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, MA. These are close to sold out, so don’t dawdle.

Come on by. If you can’t attend, send a friend!

All the best,

Tom Rush

Quote of the Month: Regarding the dilemma of having to ride herd on a 13 year-old girl, the best advice I got came from a Texan, via Steve McCarty: “When the boys start swarming around, just shoot the first one … the word gets around.”

PS. I’m still rounding up guests for the Symphony Hall show on 12/28. The tickets will go on sale soon after I’m done with that, hopefully in September. Those of you who were part of the Kickstarter campaign already have your seats secured – they’ll be mailed out as soon as the show goes public. TR

May 24, 2012

Gang,

I’ve been pounding you pretty hard lately, and I apologize. There’s been a lot going on, with a lot of deadlines. After this I’ll go tend my garden and give you a rest for a while!

Last call for the Kickstarter campaign for the Symphony Hall show on December 28th – 48 hours to go. It closes at 1:23PM EDT on Saturday, May 26th. There will then be a short hiatus before the remaining tickets go on sale at the Symphony Hall box office, where they will be charging an additional $6.25 a ticket. Ticket prices for some sections will also go up, and most of the incentives will no longer be available (though you’ll still be able to get tickets, posters, shirts and CDs on the open market.) But the special seats where you can join the band on stage for the finale (one left), the private concert (one left), and the bundles of seats + posters + tee shirts will be gone forever.http://tinyurl.com/7oar2qq

First call for my show at Passim on Tuesday, June 12th. You have a 48-hour head-start, starting now, and there are only 80 seats. Tickets will go on sale to the general public at noon on the 26th. This is the second in a series of three shows dealing with various stages of my 50 years in music. (The first one, back in March, on The Early Days sold out in a matter of hours.) This show will focus on My Middle Ages; Eric Lilljequist and Dean Adrien will be joining me to talk and sing about the Elektra and Columbia years, and all the madness of the ’70s – or as much of it as we can remember. http://tinyurl.com/7hnc8xj

That’s it! Thanks so much to you Kickstarter supporters – can’t wait to see you at Symphony Hall in December!

All the best,

Tom Rush

Quote of the Month: “Gardening is not a rational act.” – Margaret Atwood

April 23, 2012

Gang,

Spring Break for the 12 year-old, and yesterday we were in a huge mall somewhere and got split up. Recalling that the Kid said something about bras (it’s unsettling when your little Pumpkin Seed sprouts hairy legs and cleavage – it happens very abruptly), I wandered over to the lingerie section. When Renee called on the cell to ask where I was, I announced, loudly and brightly, “I’m in Women’s Underwear.” Caused quite a stir among the ladies within earshot, the highpoint of my day!

The Kickstarter campaign to fund the Symphony Hall Club 47® concert is off to a great start, thanks to the way you guys jumped in – check it out! I’m optimistic enough that I’ve started building the foundation for the show, recruiting artists who are also great sidemen – the ones who can brilliantly back up other artists when the occasion arises.

So far I have lined up David Bromberg, Buskin & Batteau, Eric Lilljequist and Dean Adrien. Trevor Veitch, my guitar honcho for all those wild years in the ’70s, will be winging in from the West Coast to dazzle us with his sensitivity. The next step will be to expand the list to include some other alumni/ae from previous Club 47® extravaganzas. There will be, of course, some brilliant new faces as well, because this is the heart and soul of the Club 47® experience. Go to the Club 47 web page for an idea of who’s been on board in the past and to get a feel for the history of our Club 47® shows.

The Kickstarter campaign is really the best way to get tickets to this show – better seats, lower price. The Symphony Hall box office will be adding a $6.25 surcharge per ticket once it goes on sale to the public. (If you can’t come to the show, there are still some other compelling goodies to tempt you on board.) If you’re so inclined, it would also be very helpful if you’d post the video on your Facebook wall.

Also in the news: some shows coming up this weekend. Marblehead, MA at the Me & Thee on Friday, 4/27 (they’ve had to reduce their seating capacity to make the Fire Marshal happy, so don’t dawdle on this one); Saturday, 4/28 at the Iron Horse in Northampton (close to sold out last time I talked with them); and Alumni Hall in Haverhill, NH on Sunday, 4/29 – back on my home turf!

Enjoy the spring!

Tom Rush

Quote of the month: “Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.” – Mary Pipher

Symphony Hall or Bust !
April 9, 2012

Gang,

Things are popping around here, but I’ve been too busy with a lost dog issue to tend to the popper. In this household dogs are esteemed members of the family, held in as high regard as any human. (Sometimes higher, depending on what the human has been up to lately. “In the doghouse” can actually be an upgrade.) Suffice it to say that the pup disappeared on Saturday afternoon and wasn’t found until 22 hours later, a mile away, by a friendly neighbor. So Saturday night was sleepless, and Easter was spent plastering the town with fliers, including putting them in mailboxes. I know this is illegal, but I was planning to blame it on our 12 year-old who “didn’t know any better.” Once the dog was found I had to go back around and retrieve them all. The idea of a 12 year-old doing hard time was more than I could bear.

Back to the popping. The REAL BIG NEWS is that we’re making a run at doing a bash at Symphony Hall, Boston, on Friday, December 28th as the Grand Finale for my 50th year on stage. I’m envisioning this as a resounding echo of the shows I used to do there in the early ’80s, lots of guests, lots of fun. Now this is a huge undertaking, but I figure if we can get the folks who are interested involved up front we might be able to pull it off. And here’s how we do it:

There’s a website called Kickstarter.com that is dedicated to raising money for artistic projects – books, works of art, fun software, what have you. And concerts! You set a goal ($100,000 – this is my best guess at a break-even number) and a deadline (47 days, for the old Club 47), and offer rewards for different levels of participation. In this case the obvious reward is tickets to the show, the best seats priced slightly BELOW what they will be once they’re offered to the public. There’s other stuff, too – guitars, CDs, posters, tee shirts and so forth – for folks who can’t get to Boston on 12/28/12. IF we reach our goal by the deadline, then and only then will your credit card be charged. If we fall short the whole thing just disappears. No charges, no rewards, and probably no concert. Check it out atKickstarter.] Get on board if you can!

Also in the news, I’ll be going back to Passim for two more shows, one June and one in September – I’ll give you advance notice as soon as the dates are firmed up. Also, a Canadian outfit, McKenzie & Marr has created a dazzling reincarnation of the Naked Lady guitar that I played throughout the 70’s and ’80s. I do a whole newsletter on her soon, but you can visit her right now at http://www.macmarr.com/store/tom-rush-naked-lady.

And lastly, but far from leastly, Todd Kwait and his merry band (he’s the guy masterminding the documentary on me that is in progress even now) will be premiering his film on the Club 47, “For the Love of the Music,” (Also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Club47Film – Twitter: @club47film) at theBoston International Film Festival, Tuesday April 17 at 6pm. It’s a very nice piece of work.

Enjoy the Spring!!

Tom Rush

Quote of the month: “I care not much for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.” Abraham Lincoln