GREAT NECK,TRATTORIA DELL'ARTE & TOILETS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE
Hey there friends of Isaakland ! I have received sooooooo much grief about my not doing the blog enough ( well deserved I might add) that here I am . Heck last night in Cohassett about 6 people yelled at me about the blog!
Let us look back in the old crystal ball. I see Great Neck New York . We had a couple of days off there before we played the Nokia theater in Manhattan. Apparently when the shaw of Iran fell a lot of Iranian jews moved to Great neck so there is a unique ethnic blend there . The first day off there I just slept and walked around the town . Oh yeah the hotel actually stank . No literally. Now, we generally stay in pretty swanky hotels and this one didn't look bad ,particularly but Oh my god it could of knocked a buzzard of a sh*t wagon! We complained but we could never put a finger on it . Oh the glamour that is showbizness, The next day I had a ball . I took the long island railroad into manhattan. "My baby takes the morning train"....Anywho I was just tripping around NYC . Man it was beautiful and the weather was perfect . It is usually hot and sticky in August . Actually it has been mild everywhere we have been this tour . Even in Milwaukee ! There I was in NYC. I walked so much my feet hurt. I went from the port authority , which has a statue of Ralph Cramden of the Honeymooners fame. to our favorite restaurant the mighty Trattoria Dell'Arte across from Carnegie Hall. We have been going to that place for years . I later heard that Roly went there that night and the next day before the Nokia show Chris , Sheryl and I went there . It is that awesome. One time years ago we went there and Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were there . And every time Nicole would throw her head back to laugh the whole place would come to a stop because everyone was mesmerized . After lunch I thought I would stroll over to the museum of modern Art. I had not been there in awhile and I thought that I would go over and take a look at Van Gough's Starry Night et al... well I get there and it is CLOSED it is closed on Tuesday ... oh well I just went back to Long Island . The next night at the Nokia Theater was a trip . We still had the James Hunter band with us . And oh by the way they are the funnest and funniest batch of blokes you will ever meet. They have us in stiches all the time . We didn't think we would ever meet anyone crazy as we are. The thing about the Nokia is the dressing rooms are all two stories underground so when the wall get to closing in you go up stairs and outside BUT........ you are in the middle of TIMES SQUARE and there is a teaming mass of the great unwashed swarming around you..... pretty daunting !
Oddly our next move was to bounce down south to Wolftrap in Virginia . Now this is one of my favorite venue anywhere . Not only is it beautiful ,but I will let you in on a little secret, some venues have like one or two toilets for everyone so you are trying to get dressed to go on stage and some stage hand is having a gastrointestinal event in the toilet while you have to wait . You would not believe some of the places . BUT at Wolftrap because the symphony and Broadway plays perform there , they have bathrooms and showers as far as the eye can see . It is awesome. Plus in the main dressing room is a baby grand piano and Scotty plays on it most of the day . He Plays everything from Scott Joplin to Tarkus by Emerson ,Lake and Palmer which is kind of campy at this point. And he does it mostly to make me smile . But he is about the only keyboard player who can actually play all that shit . Scott is a phenom.
We then trekked back up to New Hampsha. Man I love that New England accent . Actually I like all accents . A woman passed me on the beach promenade and screamed into her phone " Well your sistah is retahded" ... That ballroom in Hampton Beach NH is really cool . It has been there since the twenties and looks it . You really have to see this place . I love it.
My pal Jimmy Pugh from The Robert Cray band told me they have been playing the ballroom for years and that his dad saw Count Basie there and his older brother saw Sam and Dave there , incredible !
We drove back to Boston and had the day off so I rented a car and got my drum tech the amazing Omar Sanchez ,also a drummer, and we headed off to Zildjian cymbal makers. Now I have been honored to be endorsed by Zildjian for 23 years and they treat me great. Zildjian is about 40 miles south of Boston so I put the address in my chocolate phone GPS and off we went . Man O Man did Omar and I geek out .... They actually pour the metal out and cut and lathe the cymbals and these five guys actually test them to either pass of fail the cymbals going to market . Omar and I had to meet those guys and we figured we scared them because we had so many geeky questions but we had a wonderful time . Hey one more thing ....I have to give a shout out to Yelp.com check it out. I really love it for someone who travels . It has reviews of all kinds of stuff from real people ,like things to see ....restaurants , museums, points of interest ... very helpful.
last night we played Cohassett music circus one of the last spinning stages in the country We could only name four left . Cohassett, Cape Cod, Westbury NY and the celebrity in Phoenix if any of you can think of another one email me . The crowd was amazing in Cohassett they showed us much love . I cant wait to go back there . So three more shows in long island then down south we go . First stop Knoxville Tennessee.... home of the Everly Brothers . As well as Eddie's Auto!!!
KEEPING THAT SCRATCHY VOICE AT BAY ...
KENNEY DALE
Let us look back in the old crystal ball. I see Great Neck New York . We had a couple of days off there before we played the Nokia theater in Manhattan. Apparently when the shaw of Iran fell a lot of Iranian jews moved to Great neck so there is a unique ethnic blend there . The first day off there I just slept and walked around the town . Oh yeah the hotel actually stank . No literally. Now, we generally stay in pretty swanky hotels and this one didn't look bad ,particularly but Oh my god it could of knocked a buzzard of a sh*t wagon! We complained but we could never put a finger on it . Oh the glamour that is showbizness, The next day I had a ball . I took the long island railroad into manhattan. "My baby takes the morning train"....Anywho I was just tripping around NYC . Man it was beautiful and the weather was perfect . It is usually hot and sticky in August . Actually it has been mild everywhere we have been this tour . Even in Milwaukee ! There I was in NYC. I walked so much my feet hurt. I went from the port authority , which has a statue of Ralph Cramden of the Honeymooners fame. to our favorite restaurant the mighty Trattoria Dell'Arte across from Carnegie Hall. We have been going to that place for years . I later heard that Roly went there that night and the next day before the Nokia show Chris , Sheryl and I went there . It is that awesome. One time years ago we went there and Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were there . And every time Nicole would throw her head back to laugh the whole place would come to a stop because everyone was mesmerized . After lunch I thought I would stroll over to the museum of modern Art. I had not been there in awhile and I thought that I would go over and take a look at Van Gough's Starry Night et al... well I get there and it is CLOSED it is closed on Tuesday ... oh well I just went back to Long Island . The next night at the Nokia Theater was a trip . We still had the James Hunter band with us . And oh by the way they are the funnest and funniest batch of blokes you will ever meet. They have us in stiches all the time . We didn't think we would ever meet anyone crazy as we are. The thing about the Nokia is the dressing rooms are all two stories underground so when the wall get to closing in you go up stairs and outside BUT........ you are in the middle of TIMES SQUARE and there is a teaming mass of the great unwashed swarming around you..... pretty daunting !
Oddly our next move was to bounce down south to Wolftrap in Virginia . Now this is one of my favorite venue anywhere . Not only is it beautiful ,but I will let you in on a little secret, some venues have like one or two toilets for everyone so you are trying to get dressed to go on stage and some stage hand is having a gastrointestinal event in the toilet while you have to wait . You would not believe some of the places . BUT at Wolftrap because the symphony and Broadway plays perform there , they have bathrooms and showers as far as the eye can see . It is awesome. Plus in the main dressing room is a baby grand piano and Scotty plays on it most of the day . He Plays everything from Scott Joplin to Tarkus by Emerson ,Lake and Palmer which is kind of campy at this point. And he does it mostly to make me smile . But he is about the only keyboard player who can actually play all that shit . Scott is a phenom.
We then trekked back up to New Hampsha. Man I love that New England accent . Actually I like all accents . A woman passed me on the beach promenade and screamed into her phone " Well your sistah is retahded" ... That ballroom in Hampton Beach NH is really cool . It has been there since the twenties and looks it . You really have to see this place . I love it.
My pal Jimmy Pugh from The Robert Cray band told me they have been playing the ballroom for years and that his dad saw Count Basie there and his older brother saw Sam and Dave there , incredible !
We drove back to Boston and had the day off so I rented a car and got my drum tech the amazing Omar Sanchez ,also a drummer, and we headed off to Zildjian cymbal makers. Now I have been honored to be endorsed by Zildjian for 23 years and they treat me great. Zildjian is about 40 miles south of Boston so I put the address in my chocolate phone GPS and off we went . Man O Man did Omar and I geek out .... They actually pour the metal out and cut and lathe the cymbals and these five guys actually test them to either pass of fail the cymbals going to market . Omar and I had to meet those guys and we figured we scared them because we had so many geeky questions but we had a wonderful time . Hey one more thing ....I have to give a shout out to Yelp.com check it out. I really love it for someone who travels . It has reviews of all kinds of stuff from real people ,like things to see ....restaurants , museums, points of interest ... very helpful.
last night we played Cohassett music circus one of the last spinning stages in the country We could only name four left . Cohassett, Cape Cod, Westbury NY and the celebrity in Phoenix if any of you can think of another one email me . The crowd was amazing in Cohassett they showed us much love . I cant wait to go back there . So three more shows in long island then down south we go . First stop Knoxville Tennessee.... home of the Everly Brothers . As well as Eddie's Auto!!!
KEEPING THAT SCRATCHY VOICE AT BAY ...
KENNEY DALE
<< Home