Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and meaningful holiday. May the new year be filled with peace and illumination.

RP

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I had been warned by a couple of friends that we might encounter some arrogance and pride from the Argentines. It's the same kind of nonsense you get about the French; that they're a bit stuck up and can be unhelpful to Americans (North Americans that is) when visiting their country. My take on the French is that many of them have their radar up when first encountering a foreigner to see how pushy and intense we are as they obviously have their preconceptions about us too. But I've found that they are incredible warm people once you connect with them. Funny how that works.

I know these stereotypes are sort of ingrained in us and we seem to believe them without any real justification. So, looking for things to do here on our days off, Gregg Bisonette and I found a very cool jazz club called Thelonius, named after the legendary jazz pianist. It reminded me of a hip club you'd find in New York City back in the 60's. You have to climb a flight of stairs to get up to it. Dimly lit with a long bar and cozy stage, the vibe was very cool. The band, Juan Pablo Hernadez Quinteto (drums, piano, sax, upright bass and electric guitar) were all in their mid to late thirties and all exceptionally talented. Their music was pure jazz but with an obvious Latin flavor, especially rhythmically. Using odd time signatures and poly-rhythms, they reminded me of some of my favorite jazz artists like Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock and Weather Report. Gregg and I hung out with them on their break and found them to be incredibly warm and friendly. They mentioned that jazz music isn't the most popular style in Argentina so it's difficult to find a following. Too bad, because if these guys were living in New York or LA they'd definitely have a lot of fans. Don't know how many of you like jazz, but I do and these guys were very good.

Everywhere we went, I detected none of the arrogance I had been warned about. If anything, people from Argentina are some of the warmest kindest folks I've ever met.

Check out some of the clips I shot from the stage on the fan page.

Santiago Chile

So here I am again writing from Santiago Chile, our second stop on this short three week tour of South America.  Our first show was in Mexico City a few days ago where we played for 10,000 incredibly enthusiastic fans.  What a great way to start the tour.  The Beatles never played South America, so most of these people haven't had the chance to see Ringo (Paul McCartney has toured here several times).  It still is amazing to witness first hand the joy people feel seeing one of the members of probably the most influential band ever.  When you think about how popular they still are, you start to realize that they are on that same iconic level of people like JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Martin Luther King Jr.  Ringo is in rare form and obviously enjoying every minute of it.  We had a crowd of at least 100 people standing in front of our hotel chanting Ringo, Ringo and singing "Yellow Submarine" and "Help From My Friends" all day.  Seriously, all day.  Amazing.

Chile is a special place for me.  As some of you may know, a very interesting thing happen here when the Mister's played the Vina del Mar Festival back in 1988.  Pinochet, the dictator who ruled here for many years was still in power (although he was overthrown a few years later).  Before we left the states I was approached by Amnesty International asking if I would say something while in Chile in support of some of the missing and oppressed artists who were unable to speak openly against the regime.  At that time, Amnesty International was enjoying massive popularity, especially with artists like U2, Peter Gabriel and many other successful musicians.  Wanting to get involved, I somewhat naively agreed, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

When you've grown up in a country that respects free speech you can't imagine how terrified people can become when they don't have that privilege.  I began to realize how serious this was when Linda and I were visited in our hotel room in Chile by a local man wearing a hat and fake mustache and walking with a cane.  He was our contact from Amnesty International and was obviously afraid for his life by meeting with us in such a public place.  Who knows, maybe he was wanted by Pinochet and could have been taken away at any minute by the military which seemed to be everywhere.  He came into the room and we talked about what I would say during the show and he translated it into Spanish on the spot for me to memorize.  It was something like, "We stand in solidarity with the artists and musicians who have been oppressed or worse by the current regime."  I was starting to wonder how this might turn out and had some second thoughts about doing it, but figured, what the hell are they going to do with a popular rock band from the US, throw us in jail?  The international community would come to our rescue, right?  They could never get away with it, right?  Still I had some doubts.

The concert was attended by thousands of people, some of whom were well connected government types (they all had the expensive seats), yet the vast majority were just common folks who probably had had enough with Pinochet.  After about the third or forth song, I stepped up to the mic to make my statement.  Just as I had finished the sentence the lights went out.  I mean, out.  Total darkness.  I could see some of the people connected with the regime in the front rows booing us and giving us the thumbs down, but I could hear the deafening roar of approval from the regular folks up in the cheap seats.  That was my first hint that what I said meant a lot to them.  Steve Farris told me later that a TV crew guy made a "slit throat" gesture at him, meaning you're in big trouble now.  I was escorted off the stage and down a corridor past a gauntlet of army guys with automatic weapons into a room where there stood a very portly, beet-red faced producer of the festival who screamed at me, "I invite you to my house for dinner and you shit on my table."  Trying to calm him (and myself) down I said something like, "Hey, what's the big deal, we say whatever we want in our country."  To which he replied, "This isn't your f.....ing country."  I tried to turn it around on him by saying, "Why didn't you question us about our politics before you invited us?"  He didn't respond and stomped out of the room.  For all I know, that producer, at the least, probably lost his job or perhaps.......well, who knows.  I have always felt bad that he was probably held responsible.

Later that night as we huddled in our hotel room, we began thinking about what the consequences of what that damning statement would be.  Terrified, someone said, Oh my God, what if they plant cocaine or heroin on us, arrest us and throw us in jail?  None of us slept that night considering what they might do.  Linda was especially upset because our two very young daughters, with their older brother were back in California staying with a nanny.

Next day I was taken by car to the office of the mayor.  She was a very intelligent, articulate woman who spoke perfect English.  She began to tell me that she understood my wanting to speak out, but thought I did it the wrong way.  A press conference would've been less controversial and wouldn't have created such a problem for everyone.  She also told me that the government had already "spun" the story in the papers that morning, cleverly saying that I had been given the note to read and didn't know what I was saying, thereby making me look like a pawn of "the subversives" getting me off the hook and, most importantly, allowing us to play our entire set that night.  We were the headlining act, and because it was being broadcast all over South America, we had to go on.  She asked me to apologize publicly, but I refused, thinking I would look really stupid if I retracted what I'd said.  I promised her I wouldn't say anymore and would only sing.  I know what I said had made an impact when we went out into the streets that day and people came up to me and thanked me for speaking out.  It really meant a lot to them.  We played that night and the crowd loved it.  We won "el torche' (the torch), the prize for the festivals best artist.  We all breathed a huge sigh of relief once the plane left the runway towards home.

During our show last night I reminded the crowd of that night.  I also said how happy I was that their country had recovered from that dark time so well.  I was greeted with a very warm response.  Obviously, many remembered.  I'm so glad I got to come back and see this beautiful country and be with these wonderful, politically liberated people.

Little Dume

So I'm seeing some inquiries regarding the origin of Little Dume Recordings, my record label. Here's what I know, or think I know about what it's inspired by. Point Dume is a promontory on the western end of Malibu, California. It also marks the uppermost end of Santa Monica Bay. It was used as a navigational point for mariners dating back to the 1700's. Point Dume was named by George Vancouver in 1793 in honor of Padre Francisco Dumetz of Mission San Buenaventura. The name was misspelled as "Dume" on Vancouver's map and was never corrected.

The "Little Dume" part probably was coined by local surfers and beach goers in the late sixties-early seventies to describe the beautiful and somewhat inaccessible beach that lies below the cliffs. They called the far western point Big Dume, which was easier to get to and was excepted as the more public area of the beach, and the more private "locals only" part, Little Dume. Besides the beauty and privacy of the place, it boasts some of the best south and southwest facing waves maybe anywhere, certainly in California. There was a time when even speaking to "outsiders" about Little Dume beach would be considered an act of treason by the fiercely territorial local surfers who felt they owned the place. My family and I arrived in Malibu in the mid-eighties when it was still a pretty unknown beach but I have heard stories about how "enforcers" would keep non-locals away by literally dragging them out of the water if they wouldn't leave when told. These days, the secret is definitely out due to word of mouth, the phenomenal flood of new surfers and Internet sites that broadcast every detail about the place (I got some of the facts here from Wikipedia).

Fortunately, I'm old enough to have experienced the days when the secret hadn't gotten out yet. I can remember times when I wished someone would come out and join me in the water. When there were riderless waves coming one after another. Then, maybe one or two or three guys would paddle out and we'd all talk about whatever in between sets and take turns riding incredibly perfect waves until we got tired or hungry. These days, if a good swell comes, it's like a madhouse out there and many times too aggressive for me at my advanced age. Also, with the introduction of "stand-up paddling" (where people stand on a large buoyant longboard and propel themselves with a paddle) there are so many people in the water, many of whom know nothing about the basic skills and etiquette of surfing, there's just a lot of mayhem.
Years ago, when I was thinking about what to name my publishing company, I liked the sound of Little Dume Music and because it has been such a huge part of our lives (it literally was my kids backyard for their entire childhood) I thought it fit perfectly. Later, when Rob, George and I started the label, we decided there was no need to call it anything else.

I hope this is helpful to those who wanted the background, and hope everyone is having a relaxing summer.

photo: Seth Page

Berlin

We are in our last week of this tour and it feels like we're winding down now. Don't know how some artists do these 12 and 18 month tours. You must start to feel like a vagabond without any roots. When we were in Milan, Roger Waters and band were staying at the same hotel. I know some of the guys in his band. Roger was kind enough to invite us to an after show get together in the hotel. Those guys had been out since March (I think they're done now and home) so they were really feeling dingy. Kipp, Pat and Mark Lennon (the band Venice) and Jon Joyce, who I've known for years, were singing with Roger, so it was nice to hang with them a bit. As much as they loved doing The Wall with Roger, I sensed they were ready to go home. They're back out in January for another run. It does take quite a bit of stamina to do this, especially since almost all of us are slightly past our prime. One thing I've noticed (and Gary Wright mentioned this a lot at the start of the tour) is if you don't get a lot of rest (sleep) things can get really bad. Especially with the voice, and when the voice goes, it's a nightmare. Edgar came down with a horrible cold and laryngitis a week ago. Luckily, it just came on after a show and the following two days we had off, so he had time to recover. Just barely though. He told me he slept almost the whole time. There is no more helpless feeling than having no voice. You just can't do anything with it and there is nothing you can do but wait. Edgar's plan was to have Rick Derringer sing his part on Free Ride but as it turned out, that wasn't necessary.

Gregg and I went over to check out Checkpoint Charlie, the now infamous place where East Berlin was separated from the west. As with so many of these places, some enterprising person had the idea to capitalize on this historic place. For a few Euros, you can get your picture taken with an actor dressed in an American army uniform holding a US flag. We got tea at a shop right across the street and one of the actors was taking a break there. I asked him if it was a good job, and he replied in a thick German accent, "ya, very gude". There is also a depressing museum there about how difficult and sometimes deadly it was to live behind the wall and how clever and successful some of the escape attempts were. Many people died trying as I'm sure you remember. Don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog, but it is strangely interesting that most of the popular tourist stops in Europe have something to do with human atrocities. Public squares where beheadings took place, death camps, lions eating Christians, children being sacrificed, etc. Yet these things are still going on right now (don't know about children being sacrificed.......but who knows?). Have we learned anything from our past? Apparently not. Look at Syria, and the Middle East, and Africa. Just makes me realize that suffering is endless and all we can really do about it is tame our own minds and hearts individually so that we never engage in harming others........or ourselves.

On a more upbeat note, crowds have been consistently great everywhere we've been. It will be a bit of a let down to end this, but everything must end and we shouldn't get too attached to endings or beginnings. I should warn any of you that might have become attached somehow to my regular blogs, that once I'm home, they won't be so regular, as I slink back into my private life. I do plan on staying in touch though. Thanks for reading my ramblings........ More to come.