Mark Elliott Music

UK Tour Day 11 - Flying Home

2011-04-19T13:55:00.001-05:00

Woke up really early today, had to have the car turned in by 8am. Although, I was only minutes from Heathrow - I knew myself well enough to know that rush hour traffic plus my (somewhat improved) UK driving meant I better leave early.

The Garth family (who I thank my Lucky London stars for) was still sacked out from the late night before. So,I left a note of much thanks and some music on the bed and slipped out into the early, chilly English morning.

I had two tasks (well three really)find a gas station open early so I could top the car off, find The Hertz place at Heathrow (which is a city in and of itself) and manage not to dent the car or curb the wheels before the final check in. Mission accomplished!

Heathrow airport is a chaotic mess of people from every country in the world filing through this security line and that security line. So it's always best to give yourself more time than you think you'll need.

I did my rat in a maze obligations, changed my pounds to dollars (which was a hell of a lot more fun than changing my dollars to pounds on the front end of the trip), got one more big English breakfast and waited to board the plane west.

I managed to get several movies in on the 9 hour flight to Atlanta, but by far the best movie was the real one going on outside the window a few hours into the flight. I heard someone say "your missing the coast of Greenland" and I opened my window shade

and that big icy wonder was just right there outside the window - very, very cool to see!

I had just enough time to do the customs dance in Atlanta and reboard a short 45min flight to Nashville. So great to be home, but missing my new and old UK friends already!!

THE FINAL COUNT:
8,500 Air Miles
1,100 Left Lane UK Miles
1 - Case of Bronchitis
5 - Times I tried to get in on the wrong side of the car
2 - Times I screamed out loud to myself, "Mark, wrong lane, wrong lane!"
8 - Wonderful venues with great crowds
2 - BBC Radio Shows that were an absolute blast
20 - Pints of English (meaning room temp with taste) beer
2 - Bottles of Red Breast Whiskey
1 - Moment of horror when I mistook Chocolate Nuttell for Marmite Spread
8 - Times I heard the crowd sing "Stars in Their Eyes" back to me
1 - Pub Quizz - that "Team Twang" failed misserably at
12 - New bands, musicians and artists I was lucky to meet and hang with
3 - Nights feeling 20 again
3 - Mornings feeling 80
Infinite - new friends and joyful memories.

Thanks for following along on the blogs, signing up on the mailing list, coming to the shows,putting me up in your houses and venues, getting me drunk on your whiskey, wine and beer, making me smile when the miles were long and reminding me what's so great about sharing this life of music. 'Till next time. Peace, Mark!

UK Tour Day 10 - The Grey Horse - London - Last Gig

2011-04-19T11:15:00.010-05:00

Woke up about 9am from dream of being a Mariachi singer (or was it a dream).

One problem with parking in front of cars whose owners partied with me the night before, is that they don't have to wake up early and may be too hung over/drunk still to move their cars anyway (no names here)!!!

So......did finally get away closer to 11am for John Garth's place in London. After driving in country for 2 weeks, finally getting the hang of it all - made it around the M25 to Kingston in fairly short order and hung out with John and his family before heading to The Grey Horse in Kingston.

The gig went great - audiences were responsive, bought CD's made me feel good on my last night. As is becoming tradition, I stayed late for Ian Hunt's Jam session at the club and had a blast like last year! Got up and sang a bit, listened to locals get up and do their thing and ate some great Curry Chicken (which the bar orders from a place across the street and has it brought in).

Got to see a young blues singer (like 13 years old young) who I think is the real deal. When you're 13 and play and sing like that I guess you can't help but be a novelty, but Aaron Keylock is no novelty - I'll be looking for great things from him.

We headed back to the house about midnight. John Garth and his family have been so supportive, putting me up several times on this tour, feeding me and doing much needed map consultations. Thank you - thank you thank you!

I have to get up early tomorrow to return the rental car (and find my way around the massive Heathrow airport) - morning will come too soon!

UK Tour Day 10 - Day off in Ipswich....party time

2011-04-17T09:26:00.009-05:00

Woke up about 2pm today, went to bed at 6am last night.....

Veronica and a handful of her friends including Alex (historian and tour guide extraordinaire) took us on a walking tour of Ipswich. The tour included "The White Horse Hotel" where Charles Dickens wrote his Pickwick Papers, "Silent Street", aptly named after everyone on the street died of Plague, the spot where it is said the last people were burned at the stake for heresy and the well that a Black Friar Monk was thrown down for trafficking (trafficking what I don't know). If those historical happenings don't say to you, "Ipswich is one swinging town" - then well, you just don't know how to party!

Speaking of parties....a "Fancy Dress Party" (costume party) was scheduled for the evening (Nori's Birthday) - so we headed back to prep the Green Room for that and a quick nap (which I spent sprawled in the third floor window watching the passers by). We grabbed a great early dinner at Mizos and it was time to dawn my costume for the evening.

Luckily Veronica went through her costume wardrobe vault (i.e. back of her van) and found a Sombrero, poncho and a flask....perfect for me! I bought several shots of tequila at the pub, filled the flask and the costume was complete.

Had a blast at the party.... which included such notables as Pocahontas,
the "118's", Rocky Balboa and many more (luckily there was also a Dr. in the house for any potential part fouls)!

After about midnight, the party continued down the street to the local dance club called Mojo's (I think) where the prerequisite characters abound; the boys sitting around trying to look cool together while being too scared to ask any girl to dance, the gorgeous girls dancing alone because the boys were assuming they were with someone and think they don't have a chance in hell with them and the dirty/drunk old men(evidently, including myself)dancing horribly around said girls..... because we don't give a damn and know life is too short anyway.

My goal of going to bed reasonably early and sober turned out to be a pipe dream, so I turned in about 4am with a 9am wake up to London!

Lesson learned: ya' wanna' stay young at heart, hang out with young people ....maturity is completely overrated!

UK Tour Day 9 - BBC Radio & PJ Mcginty's

2011-04-15T10:59:00.017-05:00

Hated to leave the confines of my swanky hotel in Lewes this morning, but I had miles to go to make my 2pm BBC Radio show in Ipswich. I amazed myself at my navigating prowess this morning (but then again I'm easy to impress) That said, I did find myself admiring he A12/M25 interchange from both directions, twice. Not only was it a beautiful little interchange but challenging for me to pay attention to in something other than the rear view mirror.

I did eventually head toward Ipswich and my nice sit down with Stephen Foster (FOZ) at BBC Suffolk. We recorded a drive time show for today as well as an extended music segment highlighting Runaway Home for next week.

Back at the Pub I shared a pint with Dave and sat in on a "School of Rock" graduation performance going on in the music room. It's a very cool program designed to immerse kids in music and performance. They learn instruments, form a band, write a song, make friends and do and end of school performance - very cool organization dedicated to kids and music.

The gig went great - room was packed out. I shared the night with Phil Jackson and Ady Johnson .

After the bar closed down about 10 of us sat around drinking Red Breast Irish whiskey, singing songs and swapping stories 'till 6am - yes 6am! Needless to say - I slept in today!

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UK Tour Day 8 - Stonehenge and The Pelham Arms

2011-04-14T18:39:00.031-05:00

Again with the early waking up thing. I wanted to head out and see stonehenge on my way to Lewes today. Some guys in the bar turned me on to a town called Asbury and what turned out to be absolutely huge rock henges

far larger than its famous neighbor further south. I spent about an hour walking around with the sheep (no jokes please) around these huge stones. There were we least 3 separate, giant rock henges spread around this little village, quite impressive. I continued south on what we would consider in the stares to be a blue highway, past a cool hill, mound really but big and in the middle if this field.

I had to check that out for sure. An hour, a hamburger and a dozen near misses (were talking not enough room on the road here) later I drove up on Stonehenge.

Wow, I know its not as big as the other but its ironic shape and image is really something to see in person. Even the overt commercialism of the park could not deminish the mystery and magnificence of the place. I'm so glad I went.

Speaking of mystery, the route I took toward Lewes was definitely the road less taken - beautiful scenery interspersed with occasional bewilderment at just where the hell I was at any given moment. Everyone has been extremely impressed at my map prowess and I have taken their complements with gusto, but between you and I, I'm bringing a GPS next time. I did get into Lewes early, about 5pm. I got checked into the very swanky White Hart Hotel that Andrew at the Pelham Arms was so generous to offer. The guy showed up with the sound system (a 2 channel amp) about 6:30. At first I was a bit nervous as how it would work , but at sound check the thing sounded great so I was off and running. Philly showed up with her pal Rich (who brought his open faced banjo along)

and my friend Peter and his wife who I met two years ago came as well. Rich joined me for a few tunes on the second set and did a great job. Had another good night with cds and the voice seemed to be in better shape than last night, but still more Leon Redbone than it should be.

Right now I'm sitting in the hotel bar single finger typing on this phone for all I'm worth. So forgive the typos and check back in a few days when I can add pics and links.

I'm off early again tomorrow for a BBC Radio Show at 2pm and then a show in the evening at my fav PJ McGintys. Veronica - get out the Red Breast - well that doesn't sound right

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UK Tour Day 7 - The Beehive

2011-04-14T18:12:00.010-05:00

Headed out from London to Swindon with brand new misplaced confidence in my left side driving. I was introduced to a new Roundabout concept called a "Magic Roundabout", a euphemism if ever I heard one. Think a half dozen roundabouts tucked inside one giant roundabout.

That aside I found the pub on a steep and narrow hill (of course),

but with friendly faces inside. The Beehive is located more in a residential neighborhood - the UK version of "Cheers." Andy met me with a beer and a sound system and we quickly got a nice sound out of that great long room with the old wood floor. My friend Philly Stock and her mom showed up along with some regulars who have been following my tour blog.

My voice was still pretty hashed but the cool room and enthusiastic people got me through my 2 - 45 min sets. I sold a handful of cds and retired to my room above the pub. Andy was gracious in letting me stay there. He had a room with a mattress surrounded by old DJ equipment. It was the folk version of the Saturday Night Fever set, but a very easy sleep.

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UK Tour Day 6 - The Troubadour - London

2011-04-12T18:28:00.009-05:00

Well, had to wake up a little early today, 9am. The three of us (Dave, Cole and myself) headed out for one more trip through Lemoncello's for cappuccino and croissants and then Cole packed up to gig in Nottingham and me for London. Man, it sure was nice touring with him for a few days. We made some cool music, had a bunch of laughs and it just broke up the solo travel vibe (the long hours of quiet between all the great stages).

I went from my Cambridge oasis at Dave's place, back to my London oasis at John Garths. In the process I got lost as hell. I don't know how I got lost or wound up at his house - it's all a blur. In the end though, he was waiting with a smile, some food and a good hand drawn map to the Troubadour Club.

I rested up and then headed out about 6:15pm. The Troubadour as I found out tonight, has quite the famous past. It dates back to about 1954and has had Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, Dylan, Joni Mitchell and countless others on it's little basement stage. Oh yeah, and now some folk singer dude from Nashville. It was a good night, packed house - sold a few CD's.

Downtown London driving was an experience tonight, but John's map made it all not the nightmare it could have been. I got back to John's in fairly short order around midnight (although the damn Sudbury Roundabout never looks the same to me coming back)and I tend to spin off it in the wrong direction every time - tonight included. Luckily I am very familiar with where I keep getting lost, so I am righting myself quicker (that doesn't even make sense).

No place to park tonight on the narrow little Myrtle Street, so I parked the rental out on High street - hopefully reading the parking signs right - we'll find out in the morning! Tomorrow I head to Swindon and the Beehive Club either 1.5hr. drive as the directions state or longer if the Sudbury screws me up again!!! Thanks for following along all!

Peace, Mark

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UK Tour Day 5 - BBC Cambridgeshire

2011-04-12T10:23:00.007-05:00

Woke up in time for the 9:30 breakfast and was served up a great one by Alan and Karen. Had a good conversation about the history of the pub and the festival and the many great artists that have come through there. Alan and Karen definitely join the list of the few and far between musician oasis's. Great hosts and now great new friends - I look forward to coming back to the Brasenose.

Cole and I wandered around the village a bit, walked down through the Oxford Canal and checked out all the long-narrow boats. They ranged from a basic mini-barge to very cool houseboats that make their way down a canal that in some places is barely wider than the boats themselves. We headed back to Cambridge via some quaint village roads - looked right out of the movies to me. I kept looking for Sir Lancelot or maybe at least, Monty Python.

Dave had given us a key to his place in Cambridge so we could relax, get caught up on blogs and I could nurse my throat with some of his tea and whiskey! Man that works well.

Cole was first up at the BBC with a 7:20pm slot. This show goes out to basically all of Eastern England, so by far the biggest station I have done in the UK. We were told by other musicians that Sue loves to shake the interview up with left fielded questions, usually "if your music was a fruit which one would it be". Both of us were well prepared for that one, but she fooled us and went with "if your music were a set of clothes...." Cole handled it great, did a good interview and played several songs live. My segment wasn't until 9:15pm. Sue is one of the great interviewers, in that she understands artists and music and asks the kind of questions that make the hour go by like a minute! You can wait for the radio posting (which will come in the next couple of weeks) for my answer to the "clothes and music" question as well as the "magic time machine VW Bus" question. I played "Bye Bye Baby Jane" live and we did "Not Even New Orleans" from "American Road." We also got a good chance to talk up my new group Runaway Home and played "Tell You Goodbye" from the EP.

Cole and I hit a Greek joint for take-out on the way back to Dave's. By the time we got back (around 11pm) Dave had assembled a handful of musicians, professors and students from the area colleges (and saying area colleges in Cambridge is saying something)! They were scientists, geneticists and music lovers from New Zealand, Austria and South Africa. We drank wine and played music until about 3am - a great night.

UK Tour Day 4 - Brasenose arms

2011-04-11T11:09:00.007-05:00

Woke up this morning about 11:30 and had a quick breakfast with Dave and Cole. I learned in the process of buttering my toast that there is indeed a difference in taste (though not in look) between Chocolate Nuttella spread and Yeasty Spread. Wow!!! Cole later told me that the marketing slogan for Yeasty Spread is “you’ll either love it or hate it”….enough said…..yeah!

After that we sauntered off into a beautiful Cambridge afternoon to Dave’s favorite coffee shop called Limoncellos. After some cappuccino and croissants we headed back to the house. Cole had the day off with nothing to do and offered to drive me to the Brasenose Arms gig and play percussion for me (which he does quite well). It was nice to sit in the passenger seat and be able to look outside the window without the panic of which lane I’m in and what part of the roundabout I’m about to spin out of.

This part of the country is very rural and quite upscale! The Brasenose Arms is situated in a nest of hamlets and is the home place and home pub of the Fairport Convention Band. Evidently, the Brasenose is featured on an early album cover of Fairport’s.
Alan and Karen are very gracious hosts and got us a good room at the Inn and we sound checked for the 6:30 show. This was to be two sets ending by 9pm – for the Pub Quiz night. I’m still nursing the Bronchitis and hoarse throat, so a pub room was a challenge – but I made it through and all went well.

We decided to stay after the show for Quiz Night and of course the meat raffle, which Cole was thankful to lose because he’s a vegetarian. We teamed up with two folks on a 6 month holiday, taking their narrow boat down the Oxford Canal toward the Thames. Our Quiz team was dubbed the “Twangs” by the Quiz Master (no doubt my influence). What we thought might be a short 1/2 hour bit of fun, turned into be a fairly rigorous and serious 40-question game. We clearly were not taking the quiz seriously enough for the team, “Jones’s” and quite literally did not keep up with the Jones’s (or anyone else for that matter) coming in dead last, but laughed our asses off in the process!! After watching packages of meat distributed to the raffle winners, we headed for the room. I watched a movie on the old Itouch and hit the sack!

UK Tour Day 3 - Acoustic Routes

2011-04-11T10:41:00.004-05:00

Got up early this evening after a restful sleep in the studio barn, but awakened by the un-restful debates between the neighbors working in their gardens this morning. Had a quick breakfast and hung out with James and his wife and his two cool twin boys Tev and Joe. Later we hooked up with Stephanie Lambring and Becky for lunch at a neat restaurant out in the English countryside. Both Stephanie and I (as well as Cole Stacy from last night's gig) were due to play the Acoustic Routes club in Cambridge together. So, after determining that the new and bizarre warning light meant that I was driving with my emergency break on, I was able to just follow Stephanie (who was smart enough to bring a GPS) to Cambridge - good thing too - the rural route was a crazy one! We got to the gig early, did sound check and had a great Italian dinner at the CB2 restaurant. I went on last for this show. It was sold out and as always, the crowd helped me to transcend my bronchitis and hoarse voice (they all love tom waits so it was cool) and deliver a good show. They all sang "Stars in Their Eyes" at the end - very fun!

Stephanie headed back to Ipswich and Cole and I were put up by a local singer-songwriter and musician oasis - Dave Streatfield! Sleep comes easy after the stress of the left hand days and the excitement of a sold out night.

UK Tour Day 2 - Institute at Kelvedon

2011-04-09T01:22:00.006-05:00

Slept in today, hard to shake that flight. My host John was busy working the phones for me searching for a last minute gig for my one open date next weekend. Man he is a troubadour's oasis! I headed out on the M25 around the "clockwise loop" around London. Wow the traffic !!!! Took me about 3 hours to get to Kelvedon. By now I was realizing my cough was getting worse and I was indeed plagued with my UK usual. I stepped into a health clinic where they diagnosed me with bronchitis and got me started on some antibiotics , so at least I think I'm on it early this time. I joined up with my fellow troubadours Stephanie Lambring and Cole Stacey for sound check and a bunch of good laughs that only new friends of an old struggle seem to share. We are also sharing the bill in Cambridge too so that will be a welcome interrupt to the path. I walked outside before the doors opened and saw a big line waiting to get in and I inquired if anyone good was playing for which I got the reply, "god I hope so". I told them one out of the three of us sucked but couldn't remember which one. Luckily the English and I share similar humor. My voice held out OK through my 45 min show but began to die during the last song but by then the audience had the chorus on "Stars....." and they carried it for me. I headed back to the promoters house where I had some great beer and antibiotics and listened to a bunch if new music back in his music hut in the backyard. A great way to end the night. I think we're all grabbing lunch in town before heading to Cambridge. Here's hoping for more great people to sing to and a voice to do it with. Thanks for coming along. Peace Mark

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UK Tour Day 0-1 - One Boot Shy of a Load

2011-04-06T15:55:00.005-05:00

I showed up at Nashville airport 2 pounds overweight on my bag (NO JOKES PLEASE). So after a bit of haggling an configuring,found that removing 1 cowboy boot did the trick (so I carried that one on the plane with me).

After a short flight to Detroit and a long flight to England I found myself in line with literally about 500 others at the customs line in Heathrow. Per the usual, my check was delayed due to me being, well...a singer and having done the paperwork correctly righteousness doesn't always pay.

I picked up my Hertz rental and I have to say choosing a manual (though I've driven them for years) with the left hand gear + driving on the left - the whole bit was slightly overwhelming on a jet lagged brain. The rental guy tried to chastise me into renting a GPS saying I would never make it on my own with just a map. Well that pissed me off just enough to forgo the GPS and head out toward my first round about! I traded the smell of jet fuel for that of my clutch(good thing its a rental) and found my host about 45 min later.

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John Garth and his family have been great hosts, allowing me to crash for several hours before dinner and then out to the Antelope Bar to catch Ian Hunt on guitar. I will share a night with Ian on my last stop on the tour - The Greyhorse.

Today I am off about 3 hours to the Institute at Kelvedon, playing about 8:30. Hoping that my mandatory UK respiratory ills abate before then - it's better today after rest, tea and a beer! Cheers Mark.

Mark's UK Tour Blog Coming April 7-18

2011-04-02T02:31:00.007-05:00

Hi All,

This time last year the great Icelandic Volcano cut my UK tour by more than half, but I had a great time anyway! I am excited to be returning to some of my favorite venues and adding a few new ones to the tour. Old friends and the promise of new ones - that's what makes this music circus all worth it. Check back on this blog starting later next week and follow along with the journey. I'll be blogging as internet connection allows. Thanks for the support! - Peace, Mark

Fri. April 8 - The Institute at Kelvendon - Essex - 8:30pm.
Sat. April 9 - Acoustic Routes - Cambridge - 8:30pm.
Sun April 10 - The Brasenose Arms - Oxfordshire - 6:30pm.
Mon April 11 - BBC Radio with Sue Marchant-Cambridge- 9:30pm.
Tue April 12 - The Troubadour - London - 8:30pm.
Wed April 13 - The Beehive - Swindon - 8pm.
Thur April 14 - The Pelham Arms - Lewes - 8pm.
Fri April 15 - BBC Radio Suffolk w/ Stephen Foster- Ipswich- 2pm
Fri April 15 - PJ McGinty's Pub - Ipswich - 8pm.
Sat April 16 - check back on Mark's website for last minute update
Sun April 17 - The Grey Horse - Kingston on the Thames - 5:30pm.

CULLEY & ELLIOTT/ WORLD MUSIC NASHVILLE In partnership to help our young musician flood victims

2010-05-21T00:39:00.004-05:00

CULLEY & ELLIOTT/ WORLD MUSIC NASHVILLE
In partnership to help our young musician flood victims

Kerrville Folk Festival Winners Culley & Elliott used last weekend’s concerts at the Filling Station in Kingston Springs to kick off a very special flood relief benefit. Culley & Elliott raised more than $750 and collected donated instruments during the concerts.

In partnership with World Music Nashville, Culley & Elliott are raising funds to replace the many instruments lost in the flood by our community’s children, as well as creating a longer term fund to provide music lessons that may no longer be affordable for flood victim’s families.

You can donate money and instruments in person at World Music Nashville for this on going effort. There will also be a prize raffle held over the next several weeks to include a very special donation by the Country Music Hall of Fame; 2 free day passes and 2 free family passes for a year. In addition, we have secured donations by Nash Guitars (a highly sought after Relic Strat), Taylor & Martin Guitars, as well as Mesa Boogie and D’Addarrio and much more. These will be great prizes and all raffle funds will go to keep the instruments and the lessons in the hands of our community’s young musicians.

If you have any questions or would like to make a monetary or instrument donation please come by World Music Nashville store in Bellevue or contact Lisa Singletary at 615-425-0256

scroll down to start at DAY 1 blog post - UK TOUR 2010 - DAY 4-5

2010-04-27T12:43:00.018-05:00

Sunday – Monday April 25th. – 26th. 2010

Woke up around 9am, got a good shower in and then had breakfast and great conversation about culture and politics with my hosts Dave and Suzanne.
Being open enough to share both your pride and your shame of the country that you love allows for a much deeper, richer connection without pretense – we were all able to do that and it was very refreshing.

After breakfast we took a walk through their Cambridge neighborhood, down to one of their favorite coffee shops called Café Brazil. One of my favorite things about touring is all the good and genuine people I’ve met and how open they’ve been with their friendship and homes.

I left Cambridge kinda’ early (around 12:30) and headed for London. I did pretty well on this leg with directions, but the traffic (which was massive) and lane closures made the trip to the Kingston section of London a major chore. It took me several hours to get in the vicinity of the venue. When I got over near the venue, the city tended to remind me a little more of Cambridge. It was quainter than London proper and in a Garden district, a famous one in fact called The Kew Gardens. I would have loved to have had time to walk through the Kew and thought I would, but traffic conspired.

The Grey Horse venue proved hard to find. It’s situated just off a complex town square-one-way street maze. So it took awhile for me to find the joint and a place to park, but I arrived about 4:30 for the 5:30 show – so no panic there. I talked with Richard the owner for a bit and then set up in the corner of the pub room. On Sundays at least there is constant music rotating among their 3 venue rooms – starting around 1pm and going through midnight. My set was scheduled from 5:30-7:30.

As I was waiting for the cool blues band to finish up in the next room I talked with a lot of the local gathered in the pub, some of them having seen my CNN Coverage of the Volcano cancellation and interested to check the show out – so that was cool!

By the time I was half way through the first set, the pub room was full and people were into it; so much so I decided to blow past break and just play the whole two hours – it was after all the last show of an already truncated tour! Again, this crowd was a quick study for singing along and I finished with them singing the chorus of “Stars in their Eyes” back to me – sold some CD’s and had a great time.

Since I had already committed to staying up all night and touring around the city, I decided to stay at the pub, get something to eat, some more bitter beer and see the next show. The pub itself didn’t make food, but they would order from a Tai place across the street for you and serve it all up at the table on their own plates. The food was cheap priced and fantastic!!

The next show was an open jam with a small combo leading it. I am so glad I stayed – it was a lot of fun. It was run by Ian Hunt, a great guitar player in the tradition of Chet Atkins. In talking with Ian, I learned that he had recorded and toured with my first mentor Tom Paxton, back in the ‘70’s. So, the universal language and small world continues!

The pub began to fill up with folks with guitars, trombones and songs to sing. Ian’s band kicked the night off and then folks would drift on stage and play cover songs mainly, but with their own touch. The band (Ian plus a bass player and drummer on a small trap kit) would back everyone up, both on songs they knew and songs the didn’t (the bravest of all assignments). The guys were great and I really enjoyed them, so much so that I jumped up a few times to play – it was blast and over too soon!

I packed up my gear, got some general directions to the center of London and struck out with all my late night, left lane intentions! I spent the next couple of hours just driving the streets of London, trying to get my own feel for the city and how it was laid out (considering I had made this whole trip without maps). When I found the parliament square area, down by Hyde park, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben – I decided to park and strike out by foot (this was about 3am or so). My car had all my gear in it, so I was naturally nervous, borderline paranoid about getting everything stolen. However, I found a spot near where a bunch of city buses were idling, under the light of street lamps and the glare of CCTV monitors – so I figured, what the hell and headed out on the streets of London.

I had a blast, seeing all these sights at night. I walked over several bridges, including London Bridge, but the most beautiful bridge at night was the Waterloo Bridge (just as Dave and Suzanne had suggested). The view of Parliament Square, Big Ben and the big blue Ferris wheel was really great!

About 6am I decided to head for the airport and the rental car return. I found a place to fill the car up and headed into the huge Heathrow airport complex, just as the sun was coming up. The flights would prove to be uneventful and unfettered by mother nature’s pimples. Although the first half of the tour was not to be I am so thankful to have had the very short time I did in the UK – it was an inspired long weekend!

So ….the final count:
½ - walking up to the wrong side of the car (I thought it about one time)
5,768 – air miles since Wednesday night
952 – car miles since Thursday morning
29 – hours awake until I slept on the plane
∞ – new friends
0 – regrets

As always, thanks to all my friends and supporters on both sides of the pond! Traveling solo always reminds me of how important you are to me

Peace,
Mark

UK TOUR 2010 - DAY 3

2010-04-27T11:57:00.019-05:00

Saturday April 24th.2010

Woke up about 10:30am,soaked up a English Tea and wandered the old narrow corridors of the pub.
Not long after it was time to head toward the Orwell River and the Hallow Tree Scout Campgrounds where the Bluegrass Fest was being held. Veronica drove me out there for a noon sound check while Dave made preparations to go out of town to check out a new band.

We got to the festival sight and saw the familiar signs of a Bluegrass Festival, with tents and campers and groups of musicians’ sitting around a circle of instrument cases jamming away. After we got checked in and walked through the indoor clogging and step dancing hall – we began to hear the ring of banjos, fiddles and mandolins all the way to the main stage tent. I got my sound check in, met the sound guys and promoters (all really nice and dedicated music folks) and drive back to the Pub to shower (I got a hot tip on how to work the damn thing) change and rehearse a little.

An hour later, we were back in the car and headed back to the festival grounds for the show. I was the only American and the only solo act on the bill. Had a great show, about 100 people in the tent. They were incredibly responsive and it was a blast to play for them. I sold a bunch of CD’s afterward and met with fans for about 45 minutes. They were truly fun to be around – so exuberant about the music – I became instantly addicted to them!

We drove back to the pub at about 4:00pm. I packed up, got some directions (that I would later screw up) and headed out by 5pm for Cambridge. The ride to Cambridge was a little longer than expected, although with my recent history with roundabouts and the like, maybe should have been expected.

I got in town around 7pm, driving past those old, classy as hell – collegiate buildings flower laden central parks and the punting boats along the river. I made my way up to the Venue just in time to get a quick sound check before dinner. Bernard Hoskins and all of his volunteers were so welcoming and excited for the show – man does that ever make a difference to the soul of a solo Troubadour.

I shared the night with a couple of talented Liverpool guys, Henry Priestman and Pete Riley. Henry had been in the punk scene with some major label success in the early ‘80’s, now doing the singer-songwriter circuit. Pete is great singer songwriter in his own right, but also tours as a guitarist with Henry and Edwin McCain.

It was a sold out out show in a bricked basement of a restaurant – very cool, old style hootenanny venue. I took the stage first and had a fun set. There are times you get in front of an audience that is there because they just love music, they want you to be great, they want you to move them and there’s no way to fail. This was that type of audience.
Last year, this was the last stop on our tour and I had full blown Pneumonia at the time, so they don’t remember me as a singer as much as they remember me as a drugged out looking Zombie…. Again – making it a little easier to impress this year!!

I was introduced by my new friend popular BBC Radio HOst, Sue Merchant. She's a cool bean with a great sprit about her!

The audience was a quick study with “Searching” and “Stars in Their Eyes” and sang along mightily – it was over way too soon for me. The guys delivered their sets with great songs and a lot of witty English humor – really enjoyed them.
We capped the evening off upstairs in the restaurant and then I headed home with Dave and his wife Suzanne to crash. Right now as I am finishing up this blog while sitting on their futon (which I think I may have just broken). I’m looking at his collection of guitars; including an early 50’s Hoffner Hollow Bodied 6 string that Jim Moran would salivate over .

I also tried to fit in my suitcase – but no go!

We are going to get up fairly early tomorrow, walk through the neighborhood and have a little breakfast. I am going to try to leave for London early (about noon) since its a couple hours always and I get lost and (oh yes) the London Marathon will be going on tomorrow. So, you can imagine the scene of me trying to find the next venue. I have an early show, 5:30-7:30 at the Grey Horse at Kingston on the Thames. My plan is to then skip money on a hotel, drive around London all night and then head to the airport to return the car - in the wee hours of Monday morning. My flight to flight to Philly and Nashville is at noon (where I’m sure I will be asleep halfway through taxiing to the runway).

So…..the count for the day:

1 – walking up to the wrong side of the car (I’m getting better)
759 – car miles since Thursday morning
32 – extra miles (given the fact I blew right past Cambridge)
3 – nights in a row going to bed after 3am
0 – internet access to post these blogs yet (hopefully tomorrow)
4 – gigs down
1 – to go

UK TOUR 2010 - DAY 2

2010-04-26T04:14:00.017-05:00

Friday April 23rd. 2010

Slept in, wait a minute no I didn’t. I woke up at 7am and hit the road toward Ipswich by 8am. All the cars seemed to be moving way past the speed limit of 60mph, but I hesitated to match them because there are signs everywhere depicting cameras that evidently take a picture of your tag and mail you a ticket…like I’m not a big enough Cop magnet as it is!

That said I ambled up the M4 toward London and the M25 (sounds like I know what I’m talking about now doesn’t it). After about 4 hours and a couple of stops for food and petrol – I made it to Ipswich around 12:30pm. Speaking of food, I bought good little cookies with a horrible name – “Digestives”. Probably an American hang-up, but I totally don’t get naming cookies something that is in the Bowel family. I’m just saying!

I checked in with Dave and Veronica at PJ McGinty’s Pub, had a “Tea” and a “Pint” and headed to BBC Suffolk for an interview with Stephen “FOZ” Foster. We had a good interview, did some live playing and then recorded some tracks with his engineer afterward for the BBC to feature on their “Sessions” show over the coming weeks.

I headed back down to the pub and got checked into my room above the bar, learned I wasn’t smart enough to turn on the shower system in the upper bathroom, decided I didn’t smell all that bad anyway and headed out for a walk about town. The bar’s wifi wasn’t working so I walked the street until I found a corner where someone forgot to secure their internet and stood on the corner to get my emails.

Sound check was fast approaching, but hunger was approaching faster, as the “Digestives” where being fully digested.

Dave & Veronica took me for a walk through the city center, past some guys that were being arrested for being shit-faced drunk in the square. The police officer just held his hand while she waited for back-up. It took more to hold him up than it did to keep him from running away.

We found our way to a favored dinner spot called Miso's (I think) which was a “Noodle Bar”. Yep, I said “Noodle Bar” – any kind of noodles you want! It was great food and nice and relaxing until we realized we were minutes from sound check and had to get out of there. Still, we had to make a pit stop to buy replacement candles for the venue room tables. We had received a phone call that the current citronella scented candles had run off all the indoor mosquitoes but might possibly run off the audience as well!

On the way back to the pub Veronica took me by a famous hotel called the “White Horse Hotel” where Charles Dickens had written one of his more famous books – that was pretty darned cool!

Got sound checked and went on first at 8:30. The Blue Room at McGintys is a very cool, dark, vibey room – we had a decent crowd and the show went well. The band, “Songs from the Blue House” up from the Kelveton Institute finished the night. They were a 6 piece folk band – good music and good folks!

After the main downstairs pub emptied out(about 1am)several of us gathered as we did last year, around a corner pub table, played guitars, drank “Red Breast” Irish Whiskey, laughed and lied and loved each others company into the wee hours of Saturday morning. I think I finally went to bed about 5am. after a quick ham’n Cheese with Veronica and the 2 cats upstairs!

A great night as usual with my friends in Ipswich! They are truly a beacon in the night for the troubadour class! Tomorrow afternoon, the Orwell Bluegrass Festival and onto Cambridge tomorrow night for the Acoustic Routes show

So….the count for the day:

1 – time getting in on the wrong side of the car
3 – times walking up to the wrong side of the car
550 – car miles in the past 24 hours
6 – glasses of “Red Breast” Whiskey
1 – too many
0 – ghosts seen (it’s a Haunted Pub – dating back to the 1500’s)
3 – shows down (including the BBC)
3 – more to go

UK TOUR 2010 - DAY 1

2010-04-26T03:48:00.013-05:00

Thursday April 22nd, 2010

Landed in London at 6:30 am., after a 7-1/2 hour flight from Toronto. Made it through customs without a problem (ironically not a small feat at Heathrow) and picked up the rental car.

I of course got in the left side of the car, sat for a second and wondered where the hell the steering wheel was. After taking a quick glance around to make sure that no one was looking - I slinked out of the car and climbed in on the right, and “correct” side. I have always considered myself a worldly and well traveled guy and had no concerns about driving on the left side of the road, until I realized that all the previous tours I had someone else driving and so never really drove on that side of the road. Hmmm!

That said I headed out of the airport and toward my first roundabout. We have a roundabout (one that is) in Nashville at the top of music row and although it took us awhile to learn to manage it while checking out the naked statue of “Musica” that it circles ‘round – it served as a source of much confidence for me.

I don’t know if it was a jet lagged brain or just total stupidity, but as I went into the first roundabout I failed to figure out that you have to splinter off of it or you just keep going around and around. That was illustrated by me making the comment (to myself – out loud) “those sheep look a lot like the ones over ………there”

After heading down the M25, realizing I didn’t want to head down the M25, but the M4 – I was on my way in the direction of Wales and made Bristol around 11am.

Bristol is a cool town, hilly, old, with a great city center and harbor area. It was my first city driving challenge, made harder by the fact that the Prime Ministerial debates were being held there and traffic, security and road closures were conspiring.

After the buzz in my head gave way to semi-conscious rambling I found a hotel, snagged a room and slept for a few hours. As luck would have it (and believe me it was only luck) I was only a mile or two from the venue. I got to the venue about 8, met Dave the sound man and headed across the street for some Tai food. A quick sound check around 9 pm and then people started filling the little performance room, some new faces and some folks who saw me last year and wanted to come again. I was tired and the throat was raspy (I was a little worried) but when show time came my voice was there and it felt great to be back at the Prom. There’s nothing like performing for folks who are there to hear you and excited for it – really gave me the energy I needed and made for a great first night. I played two sets and left about midnight.

Feeling completely confident in my driving skills I set up for a direct shot back to the hotel…..then I hit a roundabout and got lost! I finally made a desperate turn down a side street where cars were parked on either side and the passage was about 6 inches on either side – freaked me out – but a couple more turns later, out popped my hotel like an Oasis in a very dizzying desert.

I’m heading out early tomorrow to Ipswich for a set at the BBC at 2pm. to promote tomorrow nights show at PJ McGintys.

So, the count for today:

3 - Countries
4- times trying to get in on the wrong side of the car
2 – beers that were pretty damn good
110 - sheep (if you count them over and over again as you ‘roundabout)
1 – show down
5 – shows to go

UK TOUR DAY 0

2010-04-20T22:26:00.003-05:00

OK,

Well in the past 12 hours I've resigned myself to not being able to fly to the UK, followed by unpacking, followed by UK Airspace opening back up this evening, followed by repacking!

The plan is to fly to Toronto via Philly tomorrow on US Air and then hop (hopefully) an Air Canada flight into Heathrow tomorrow night.

Here's the catch - Air Canada said it won't decide if it cancels it's leg or not until later in the afternoon - so there's an even chance I show up in Toronto and that's the end of the line.

Gigs in Toronto anyone?????????????????

Hopefully you'll hear from me after Thursday Night's gig at the Prom in Bristol, UK!

Folk Music vs. Volcano - down but not out!

UK TOUR - DAY 1 - NOT!!

2010-04-15T16:35:00.014-05:00

UK FOLK TOUR VS. THE VOLCANO
(the Volcano is winning)!

Publishers, record labels, vapid commercialism, illegal downloads,

and now VOLCANOS!
My flight to the UK was canceled today due to the ash cloud from the Icelandic Volcano enveloping Europe! Over 6,000 flights canceled today so far.

I was on the phone for about 2 hours with a woman from US Air, trying to do her best to route me in for the first half of the tour. At one moment or another we were trying to get me in from Germany, Ireland with a Ferry ride to UK, Paris and then a drive thru the Chunnel and then Madrid + a boat ride. As the minutes passed though, and the airspace was quickly closing around the continent, so too were my alternatives for getting to the UK on time.

So, the first half of the tour is lost. I will be flying over next Thursday and finishing the back
half of the tour.....unless my alternative mode of transport makes it out of the driveway earlier!

2010-04-10T03:03:00.001-05:00

2010-04-08T01:49:00.000-05:00

UK TOUR COMING UP APRIL 16-26TH. IT'S JUST ME AND MY GUITAR RAMBLING AROUND ENGLAND - COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE BY FOLLOWING MY DAILY BLOGS FROM THE TOUR. AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT.

2009-12-23T22:17:00.001-06:00

WDKN Radio - Dickson, TN Sat. Sept. 12th.

2009-09-15T05:58:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of spending the hour with Diane Davis of WDKN Radio, on her Studio 1260 show last Saturday (9/12). It's a great station, newly re-opened, with a cool new music friendly owner(Michelle Reddon- Forte!)

Dickson,TN is a short 45 minutes down the road from Cub Creek Central. Saturday was a nice day to make my way out Hwy 70, through rural White Bluff, past Montgomery Bell Park and on into the historic downtown College street in Dickson, TN.
You can't miss the station. It has a big colorful hometown mural painted on nearly the entire side of the building.

I got in just in time to set-up and catch the last part of Diane's show called "Swap & Shop" and pretty cool, open line sell and trade forum for folks in the community. There were horses, old Jeeps, Nintendo’s, washing machines and a few things that were a mystery to me; being called in from all over the community - pretty fun to listen to.

Diane and I sat down for an entire hour, talked music, played a bunch of music from "Good Life" and earlier CD's as well as talking about our shared old haunts in the DC area! Diane and I didn’t know each other back in Washington, but as it turns out, we were in the footsteps of one another through adjacent high schools, piano bars, jazz rooms and the great Birchmere Music Club. It was fun to talk about the old days - for me it has been twenty years gone now!

The hour was a creative reminder of the power of radio for independent artists; especially radio so well rooted in their community.

A big thank you to Diane, Michelle and everyone at WDKN for having me on and continuing to play my music. If you'd like to hear the interview, go to the station's On-Demand listening page and follow the link to Studio 1260 for September 12th!

I plan to have the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain on the show coming up later in the fall – should be a scene with the 5 of us in there!!

Culley & Elliott at the Red Tree - 8/21

2009-08-22T00:51:00.000-05:00

The duo played our favorite local coffeehouse called Red Tree Coffee. It's in old historic downtown Kingston Springs and is at the center of a live music resurgence in KS. We played the 8:30 slot, after Anchorage singer-songwriter Elenore Fye.

We had a great turn-out tonight (especially all the "Mud Chicks" from the local Mud Puddle Pottery Studio)
We did a 12 song set tonght, including my new one called "Searchin'" - got the crowd singing along, so it was good first outing for the song. We did our version of Bye Bye Baby Jane. My friend Cole was there tonight. His band Calico Trail cut the song for their upcoming project. They have some exciting things in the works, so I'm proud of that cut. You can check it out on their my space site.

Our buddy Chip Chipoletti joined us on percussion tonight - always appreciate his playing - helps round us two folkies out!

FolklahomaAppalachiGroovetrain Plays the Tomato Arts-Fest

2009-08-22T00:21:00.000-05:00

The Groovetrain played this year's Tomato Arts-Fest held in the Five Corners district of East Nashville. Last year the festival attracted some 12,000 attendees over the weekend and this year appeared poised to do the same. The vibe was a great New Orleans style street fest, with a brass band parade, funk bands, jambalaya stands, pottery and anything tomato!

We played an early set at 10:30am. (for us, early is anything before 2pm.) It turned out to be a great slot, a lot of folks were out, trying to beat the heat that was due to hit later in the day. We've been doing a lot of club dates, so an outdoor fest was a fun change of pace for us. The crowd was great! They were up dancing, very receptive - which amazed me for 10:30 in the am! The Groovetrain got a little Kayaking in later in the day - all in all a good days work - living in a folk band!

FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain Recording Session 1

2009-07-11T04:43:00.000-05:00

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain has been in the studio most of June and July. Here is a rough cut video-slideshow of the tune - Dulcimer Jelly!
http://www.myspace.com/folklahomaappalachigroovetrain

Culley and Elliott - Amelia Island, Florida Sun. 7/5/09

2009-07-07T23:26:00.000-05:00

I just got back in from a great trip down to Florida with the duo show. We played a great venue run by our good friends Donna Paz and Mark Kauffman called " A Night of Story and Song". The whole Culley family made the trip. We all loaded up in Gary's Tundra truck, Gary and Alison, with the boys (Tommy and Billy) and headed out toward Savannah, GA and then down to the Amelia Island, just above Jacksonville! I don't know when in my life 11 hours became a quick trip, but somewhere in the log of miles it lays easy. It seemed we got there in no time. We grabbed our hotel rooms, met up with Gary's parents there and then met Donna and Mark a couple of blocks away at a great beach bar named Sliders. The beach, the sunset, the margaritas and the bar tender (not necessarily in that order) were all beautiful.

The next day we hit the waves at an old history filled stretch of sand called American Beach. It was founded by Abraham Lincoln Lewis (the first black millionaire). He started an insurance company and bought up enough of the beach properties to allow for a black community on the beach at a time when blacks had little to no access to public beaches. This beach has a famous Sand Dune, revered - called the great "Nana"! We began the day by getting the 2- wheel drive Tundra stuck in the sand. After getting pulled out we hit the waves on boogie boards and I commenced to frying my white Scottish ass in the sun! So much for sunscreen that is supposed to be water proof! There were a couple of guys on the beach with backpack props tethered to kite glider wings. I tried my best to weasel into a chance at flying one (didn't happen). Spent much of the day watching them, watch each other try and get airborne - which they finally did.
Pretty cool contraptions. We made a short appearance at a neighborhood picnic of the concert promoters. It was complete a kids bike parade, a dog parade, firetrucks and beer - Americana all the way! We sang a few songs and tried to drum up a few last minute ticket sales for the show. Later that night we cruised the downtown port district of Fernandina Beach with the whole Culley Clan and Donna and Mark. We watched the fireworks from the docks - pretty sweet. Sunday morning consisted of more boogie boarding and white Scottish ass frying (on my part. This time we were further up the beach at Sadler Beach - next to my favorite beach bar with my favorite beach bar tender! Gary and I had a blast throwing the kids into the waves and swimming out to where the Dolphins were diving in and out of the blue. Later, Alison took over beach duty while Gary and I headed to the venue for an early sound check at 1:30 pm. We were thrilled to have around 125 enthusiastic people at our show Sunday night. We played two -one hour sets, made new friends and sold a lot of music - a good night for indie troubadours! We can't thank Mark and Donna enough for all their support and great efforts to make this concert series such a success - they are a real Oasis in an ever expanding desert! Here's a few more pics from the trip!

June 2009 FolklahomaAppalachiGroovetrain in the studio

2009-06-20T14:04:00.000-05:00

The Groovetrain has been in my studio, Cub Creek Sound for most of June working on initial recordings for a new press kit and the beginnings of a CD project. Our first tracking day had the whole band in starting about noon, getting Will McJ's drum parts down and basic rhythm instruments down to 4 songs, including two Dulcimer instrumentals, Kim's song North Carolina and Mark's new song "Tell You Goodbye" (done accapela with an upright bass)! We also worked on our version of "Bye Bye Baby Jane" and a co-write of mine and Kim's song, "Foothills."

. We had a blast together in the studio and we celebrated by getting a fire going in the pit in the backyard.

We cooked fajitas in a giant iron pot and finished up with smores on into the late night hours.

We're recording our projects old school, where vibe is everything and feel is more important than perfection. It feels like real music when we run the playbacks - that's a good sign! More to come!

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain
Mark Elliott -Vocals & Guitars

Kim McLean - Vocals, Guitars & Dulcimer

Devon O'Day - Vocals & Percussion

Will McJ - Drums & Percussion

Chris Herin - Electric & Upright Bass

Peace,

Mark

Thursday June 18th. - Norm's River Roadhouse -Nashville

2009-06-18T23:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight we had a duo of duos down at Norm's River Roadhouse in Nashville. My old duo partner Gary Culley came in for the night as well as Tim and Myles Thompson. We billed the night as Kerrville meets Winfield! Gary and I won the New Folk Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival some years back and Tim Thompson was crowned finger-picking champ last year at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Tim brought out his 15 year old son Myles tonight. They have been touring as a duo in the last year or two. Myles not only has prodigious talent on the fiddle, but is a mature player in terms of his jamming abilities to boot!

We had a great crowd tonight. Nashville (especially on week nights) can be oh so challenging to get crowds out. We had about 30-35 out tonight. Family, friend (old and new) as well as some new fans and a some nice strangers, hung out and enthusiastically supported the music. That makes such a difference in how we perform!

It was fun mix between their virtuosic instrumentals and our old harmony sound and songs of the road. It was a lot of fun to jump in on each other music and make it feel like a big ole kitchen table jam!

Monday June 1st. - 12th. & Porter

2009-06-02T22:19:00.001-05:00

Cirque du Chanson, a circus of song.
Only in Nashville......
Kim McLean and Devon O'Day dreamed this night of 12 performers, whom most met for the first time the day of the gig, learning nearly 40 songs for a writer's night jacked up!The plan was to turn this writer's night into an all out jam-style performance, with everyone lending their talents on songs where they felt it. To make things more fun, names were drawn out of a jar to randomize the order of performers and everyone stayed on stage at the same time were beautifully "winging it".

We all met Kim McLean's classroom at Trevecca around 11am. on Monday morning and traded of songs with one another and a backing band, for early 3 hours. It took that long to rehearse almost 40 songs. Load in to 12th. & Porter was a 6pm. You have to give the sound guys credit for not freaking out too bad, as a dozen different songwriters an players can be a bit of a trick. Sound check last almost an hour, but ultimately things sounded good!

We had about 40 people in the venue (not bad for a Monday night in Nashville)! The show went off without a hitch and everyone was really great, diverse and passionate about their art - another edge over most writer's nights. Aside from myself, Kim McLean and Devon O'Day, we had Robin English, Leilah, Mark Sloan, Beth Fox and Marysue Englund. Marysue's husband Dave covered lead electric duties in the band, along with Chris Herin on Bass and Rick Malkin on drums and percussion.

I loved the challenge of playing that much music without much rehearsal. I grew up learning how to play around a kitchen table with other musicians. For me, this just was just a big ole kitchen table.

Saturday Night May 30th. - The Fiddle & Pick - Pegram, TN

2009-05-31T03:19:00.000-05:00

What a fun night playing with the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain at a very hip venue called the Fiddle & Pick. The Fiddle & Pick is a school, a performance hall and musical heritage institute - all rolled up into one. With it's spacious main room, with wood floors - it's great place to play and listen to music. Think of it as a big living room concert. To make it even more fun - it was my birthday tonight. It's been awhile since I've had a gig on my actual Birthday - pretty cool!
We met at the farm for a pre-show rehearsal around 4pm. We had several new songs and new arrangements worked up, so it was nice to solidify these just before the show. We arrived at the venue around 6pm. for load-in and sound-check. The show was produced by our friends Marilee and Chip Chipoletti of Chipstar Music. Chip ran sound tonight and made it easy for us.

We had a nice crowd, a great combination of my family, old friends and folks who had never seen us before. Everyone was enthusiastic and gave us the extra energy we needed to really crank up the show.

Half way through the show everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My folks brought in a bunch of cupcakes and Will McJ (our drummer)gave me my birthday present, "an electronic whoopee cushion" - that will come in quite handy on the road with this band!

We did a 90 minute show that seemed like it only lasted about 5 minutes. We ended with the big sing-along, "Stars in Their Eyes" and had the crowd sing it acapella back to us for the finale chorus - a perfect ending to the show.

We all met back at Kim & Devon's farm after the show for a few hours. Some of us made it back to the farm before others of us did - as others of us got pulled over by the Kingston Springs cops in their favorite little speed trap! No, as hard as it is to believe - it wasn't me this time!

All in all a great birthday, a great time with friends and family and always a ball playing music with the groovetrain.

Read Wendy V's Blg about the night

Saturday 5/23 - Hickman County Humane Soc. Benefit Concert

2009-05-26T02:29:00.000-05:00

The FoklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain headed back down to Centerville, TN last Saturday to headline a benefit concert for the Hickman County Humane Society. The gig was held at a great local venue on the square called The Farmhouse Cellar Dinner Theater. Will and Mark headed down a little early to set up the drums and the stage. Our new friend Damon Wherry(a Centerville Musician) was slated to run sound and helped us pull things together.

The band sound checked about 6pm. and then headed upstairs to the restaurant for a nice pre-show dinner. The dining room was long and narrow, with high, wood ceilings, old wood floors and a great, old country store vibe to it.

The show kicked off just after 7pm. downstairs in the Cellar Dinner Theater. We had a strong turn-out. Everyone was enthusiastic about the music and the cause. The event was spearheaded by a wonderfully passionate supporter named Charlotte Staggs,but had a lot of volunteers were there to make it all happen. It was inspiring to be around folks who not only love and value animals, but put their money and their labor where their mouths are. Animal care and animal rights have been a principal charity for the band as well as all of us individually. It was quite meaningful for us to support a community's growing efforts at protect and care for the animals in their county. We were thrilled to raise nearly $3,000 that night!

Thanks to Charlotte Staggs, Damon Wherry and the Farmhouse Cellar Dinner Theater for making it all possible.

Thur. 5/20/09 - KIX-96 Radio - Centerville, TN

2009-05-26T02:10:00.000-05:00

The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain headed down to Centerville, TN to KIX-96 Radio to promote their upcoming Saturday night show benefitting the Humane Society of Hickman County.

Kix-96 is located just a few blocks off the city square, in a small 4 room building. They are known for their focus on traditional country music, as well as local sports and news. They are a great, independently run station with their own playlists and programming control. Those kinds of stations are very important to us indie artists, and so far have been very welcoming.

Mickey & Sheila Bunn were great hosts. Mickey interviewed us for about 20 minutes and played Kim’s new single. We finished off the show by playing “Bye Bye Baby Jane” and “Cracks in the Concrete” live.

One other important aspect of this station is the Saturday morning, live concert series they produce called the Grinder's Switch Hour. It is an Opry-type music show held in the Grinder’s Switch Center (hometown of Minnie Pearl), just down the road. The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain is slated to be the featured guests on that show on October 10th.

Thanks again to Mickey & Sheila for all their support!

Wed. 5/20 - Norm's River Roadhouse with Cary Stone & Aaron Till

2009-05-21T00:46:00.000-05:00

Had a great little gig tonight, just a mile from the house at the famed Norm’s River Roadhouse. Norm’s has become quite the beacon for songwriters, bluegrass bands and roots music in Nashville. With it’s basement, stone walls and old time hootenanny feel – it’s a great room for performer and listener alike.

Tonight I put together a trio show with my friends Cary Stone and Aaron Till. They are both fabulous instrumentalists and songwriters and singers to boot. Cary and I met years ago writing for Alabama’s publishing company called Maypop Music Group. We’ve canoed Canadian waters, wrote songs and now doing some shows together. He plays guitar for Mark Chesnutt, but really shines on his own as a player, artist and writer. My friend Aaron Till is a virtuoso player on the fiddle and mandolin, having played for everyone under the sun. Tonight he also stepped out front and did some of his own songs, really adding to the night.

Most of my life as an artist has been a solo, road warrior – troubadour type. As much as I’ve enjoyed that life, the nights I get to play music in a band (whether it’s in my old duo Culley & Elliott, The FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain or in this trio with Cary and Aaron) really brings me an energy and joy for the music that’s hard to feel after so many years travelling solo.

Many thanks to the crowd tonight. I always worry about drawing a crowd mid-week in Nashville (the hardest city to draw crowds) but it was a nice full night! We had the perfect combination of old friends, other musicians and new fans. Their energy helped us put on a real fun show (we were having a blast anyway) and I look forward to working with those guys again.

Check out Wendy V's blog about the night.

WRFN -Never Too Old with Wendy V: 5/17/09 In-studio guest Mark Elliott

2009-05-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

I’m not usually up this early (6:30am) especially on Sundays, but I’m up and headed to do a radio show at WRFN, just outside Nashville. My friend Wendy V runs her “Never Too Old” show from 8-9am. on Sunday mornings and invited me on to talk about music and play a little bit.

Radio Free Nashville is a LP (low power) FM station located up in the hills of Pasquo, just west of Nashville. It’s a beautiful drive up McCrory Lane to get there – even passed a few dear on my way. The station runs several music programs plus a whole bunch good independent talk and issue programs (the lefty political fare that I love anyway)!

Wendy was already there when I arrived at 7:30am. She is more the professional morning person than I, but I was proud to have both eyes open and speaking intelligibly by the time I got there.

We spent most of the hour talking about the role music has played in my life and those that have influenced me along the way. It’s nice to be interviewed by someone who not only has done their homework about your music but someone so enthusiastic about music and musicians in general. Sometimes a radio show can be so dry and uncomfortable that it never seems to end and then other times like today, it seems to go by all too quickly.

I have had several radio show appearances in the last few months, both big and small, in country and out of country. My appearance at UVA-Radio in VA helped to fill the room I played in Charlottesville and the same was true of all the UK-BBC Radio I did. We had many people come up to us saying, “I heard you on the radio and now I’m here”. What a great reminder of how powerful radio can be and that it is not just for the major artists and focus grouped – playlists.

Here’s hoping all of you heard the show and will turn out to some gigs, especially my birthday gig with the FolklahomaAppalachi-Groovetrain May 30th. At the Fiddle and Pick in Pegram TN – 7:30pm.

Thanks so much to Wendy V for having me on the radio today. Here is an MP3 of the show if you didn’t hear it live. To read more about this show and many others produced by Wendy V, check out her blog site at the link below.

WFRN RADIO SHOW MP3 (128) - 5/17/09

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO READ WENDY V'S BLOG ABOUT THIS SHOW: Never Too Old with Wendy V: 5/17/09 Blog/Playlist: In-studio guest Mark Elliott

P and H Cafe - Memphis, TN

2009-04-26T12:54:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

I'm still wrestling with the lung issue and the cough, but it is much better now. I'm Finally able to sing a whole show again.

Last night I was in Memphis,TN at a funky place on the East side, called the "P&H Cafe". It was a short 3 hour trip over to Memphis. I had made that trip hundreds of times when I was playing with the old "Culley & Elliott"duo (we were constantly headed to Texas to play), but it has been awhile since I have been in Memphis. I forgot how pretty the drive was, especially the first half with dozens of state parks and reserves. Being a big outdoor guy I'm always wide eyed for any wilderness area.

The P&H starts music real late - 10pm. Their regulars come in about 7 or 8 and leave and then return around 10pm - kinda' weird, but so goes different joints. It's a funky little place, half artsy coffeehouse and half old burger and beer joint. The front of the room has a lot of posters, pictures and art on the walls. The ceiling was made up of big 4x8 painted portraits - caricatures of people - one unique ceiling! The back of the place started with a long bar and darts and pool tables - the dividing line between coffeehouse and beer joint.

On a side note, across the street there was a large tour bus (made my Matrix "tour bus" seem ever smaller) pulled up to a big performance hall. I later found out that it was the Indigo Girls. I had hoped they would end before me and that I might pick up some of their audience, but it wasn't to be!

I was suppossed to share the night with a local singer named Jo Jo Jeffries, but somehow wires got crossed and she never showed. I waited around until about 10:45pm. and then decided to go ahead with my set.

I began the set by promptly launching a big glass of water off the stool as I stepped up to the mic with my guitar (a trick I would repeat one more time toward the end of the set with a whole new glass of water). Sometimes things happen early on at a gig, that you are sure are harbingers of things to come. Luckily, these were just random events of a cluts and nothing more.

The set went great. I met some folks there who were really into the music and sold enough CD's to calm both the financial and the fragile ego needs of a singer-songwriter. It was enjoyable as ever to make new friends and fans with my music and then hit the road late (midnight) for a 3 hour trip back to Nashville. All and all - a nice trip!

Thanks so much for following along with the UK blog and now my efforts back home - much appreciated!

Peace,

Mark Elliott

Sunday - in Newark, NJ!

2009-04-05T18:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm officially back in the states (Newark, NJ - is in the states right?)! I left Basingstoke early this am for Heathrow. The check-in and security was actually pretty fast, so it was a hurry up and wait situation. Oddly enough at Heathrow, you have to take off your belt for screening but not your shoes. Now wasn't Heathrow the origin of the "shoe-bomber"? I'm just saying - weird!

The flight over was non-eventful. Continiental has these personal flight entertainment systems where you can pick from dozens of movies, tv shows, music and games right in your own seat monitor. That made the time "fly by" (no pun intended). It's also much easier on the body coming westbound - I feel pretty good. I practiced controlling my cough the whole way over so as to avoid any, "you're too sick to enter the contry" spiel!

I did however, get held up in customs once in NJ. It was partially over having commercial CD's on me (my own) and a nice big bottle of scotch. It all worked out in the end though and now i'm sitting waiting on an 8:30pm flight to Nashville.

I know it will take me a few days to digest the trip, but I will post my final thoughts about the UK adventure in a few days. I may also try to ammend some of the posts with some relevant pictures.

All in all, I met and played for incrdibley gracious and musically passionate people, got to see some beautiful countryside (wish I had more time in Scotland) and enjoyed travelling with Robert and Briana.

More later.

Thanks,

Peace,

Mark

Saturday Night - Last Gig - The Acoustic Routes - Cambridge

2009-04-05T01:59:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our last night of the tour at a venue called the Acoustic Routes in Cambridge. Cambridge lies about 2.5 hrs down the road from our home base in Basingtoke – in the border between East and West Anglia.

We left early so we could go by Windsor Castle. Robert dropped me at the base of the castle and he and Briana met me there and hour later. I walked all around the Castle – it’s pretty damn huge! He told me that the “Royals” split their time between Buckingham Palace and the Windsor Castle.

I began my walk on a pedestrian only street that funneled over a stone bridge, across the River Thames. It then wound its way up hill and around small cobblestone streets to the base of the castle. It as an interesting confluence of modern western society outside of the walls and what looked to be still quite medieval in appearance (except the guards with ear pieces and machine guns) inside the walls. The streets were filled with tourists, quaint shops and McDonalds – a far cry from what it must have looked outside that castle “back in the day”. We also got to see the very exclusive boarding school called the “Eton School”. Evidently the princes attended along with other VIPS – looked like “Dead Poet’s Society” vibe to me.

We arrived at the venue and were able to sound check early. The Acoustic Routes was located in the basement of a Bistro – really reminded me of all the church basement folk clubs I’ve played with its big walls and assorted chairs and pews for seating.

After sound check Briana and Rob settled in for tea upstairs and I headed out to see the town center of Cambridge and to see if I could find the little river I went “punting on” (pole and boat - not football) some 25 years ago. I walked along some quaint side streets and across some beautiful gardens and playing fields to the town center. I never found the damn river but was told later that I was close, just at the point where I turned back for the venue.

The manager of the venue (The Acoustic Routes) name is Bernard Hoskins and was a really nice guy. These types of long running venues always require at least 1 (and most often more than 1) passionate music person to keep them going – and Bernard fits that bill. He is a good singer-songwriter in his own right and opened the night with 3 of his original songs. We also had another opening act named Rebecca (I’ll remember her last name) and she was also very good.

The night was sold out and included some standing room only. This was every passionate, listening folk audience I’ve eve played for and was a perfect way to end the tour. Although I’m feeling a little better, the cough and the throat kept me from singing as much as I wanted to. I was able to sing a few more tonight and beg for their help in singing along. It was a thrill to hear English accents singing back the chorus of “Stars In Their Eyes” to me. As my voiced waned on the song – they took over and it was pretty cool.

Briana remained in great voice for the whole tour and continued that tonight. We got an encore and a great reception afterward – had the best CD’s sales of the tour - again, a nice way to go out.

We got back to our Basingstoke base late tonight, about 3am and have an 8am call for Heathrow in the morning. I will write again from Newark, NJ.

Thanks again for following along.

Peace,

Mark

Friday Night - The Pelham Arms - Lewes

2009-04-04T05:32:00.000-05:00

We played in Lewes tonight. It’s just inland of the coastal town of Brighton. We left early enough to tour around Brighton some. The day was overcast and somewhat cold. You could feel the ocean air chilling things down a bit. I got to see an old castle from the mid- 18th century. I don’t remember which king lived there for awhile, but one did.

What makes this castle unique is that it doesn’t really look like a castle. It’s called the Royal Pavilion and it is an odd configuration of eastern and middle- eastern architecture. It looked a bit out of place, like it belonged more in old Siam or something. Evidently this particular king loved the eastern and middle- eastern cultures and had this built to those specs. That’s what I was told in the bar tonight anyway, so take it as you will.

After touring around a little we headed just out of town to a sleepier berg named Lewes and the hotel-pub, the Pelham Arms. We had a full house tonight – a little loud like a bar crowd, but into it. We sold a handful of CD’s. I am still struggling greatly to sing without coughing up a lung, but the crowd appreciated me doing a few songs for them and then backing Briana’s album set. I have had several discussions (as you can imagine) about lung infections in the UK and evidently this is a virulent one going around that antibiotics don’t help much. Most people I’ve talked with that have had the similar run as me; have had to wait it out a month or more to kick it …. that’s lovely!

I did have a few folks come up to me that were familiar with my MySpace page and some of the songs – that was a nice little extra. We also had friend (Terry) come out to see us again. He was at the 2nd gig back in Maidstone.

We have found in general that venues here do a much better job of getting the word out than do venues in the states. Also, crowds seem to educate themselves on the artist, at least by visiting websites ahead of time. We did 2-45min sets with a break in the middle and then headed back two hours or so to our Basingstoke hub.

We head out to Cambridge tomorrow afternoon for the last stop on the tour – a venue called Acoustic Routes. We have been looking forward to this one as it is a high profile folk room. I don’t know what I’ll have in terms of a voice tomorrow (well I kind of do), but the plan will be to “leave it all on the field” as they say!

Thanks or your continued interest in my travels and music.

Peace,

Mark

Thursday Night-The Prom- Bristol

2009-04-03T05:49:00.000-05:00

We played in the cool university town of Bristol tonight. We arrived in the late afternoon to do the drive time BBC network show. We did a 10min interview or so and then played the song, “People like Me” live. We were laughing afterward about being asked if any of our songs had offensive language in them or not (I guess the show was live and not bleeper friendly). We of course said “no” and then totally forgot about the prominent “hell” in every chorus of our song. To me cuss words had to have at least two syllables in them don’t they? - Unless of course, they have a “u” in them. Well, we didn’t fall through any trap doors and no one said anything about it so I guess it was ok!

We headed down to the venue for some early dinner and waited on sound check. The venue has been around, hosting music since 1980 and has a great reputation. It’s more of a bar/restaurant than a pub (more fitting of the downtown, urban environment it was in). It was two stories, with TV monitors all over the place that broadcast the performance – pretty cool. We sound checked around 7:30 or so with Martin Moss. He turned out to be a very good mixer. In fact, most of the sound people on this tour have been excellent. That has been one of the nice surprises of the trip. Martin is a musician himself (loves Bluegrass in particular) which made him better with the sound I think. Martin gave me a copy of his CD, “Hometown” – I look forward to hearing it once I’m back in my
hometown.

In typical fashion, the crowd didn’t really materialize until about show time. We had a good crowd however, 45 or so. They were enthusiastic but very much a listening audience (about what you want in an audience). We had a good show – did 2- 45 min sets. My voice seemed in the same shape as the previous few days, but I was able to eek out a few tunes of my own – enough to sell a handful of CD’s. We got several encores, (which was nice) but had they asked for 1 more it surely would have looked like a scene from the TB Sanitarium night club show. The later the night got tonight, the harder it was to control my cough.

We had a two hour drive back to Basingstoke tonight – getting in about 1:30am our time.
Tomorrow we head to Lewes (I think) to play a venue called “The Pelham Arms”.
I believe it is an old hotel.

Thanks for staying interested in the saga.

Peace,

Mark

Wednesday Night - The Cellars in Portsmouth

2009-04-02T07:53:00.000-05:00

Tonight we were in the Southsea town of Portsmouth – on the South Coast of England. It is on the English Channel and directly across the channel would be Brittany, France. We got there a few hours early so I had some time to walk around a bit. The water reminds me of the Atlantic, but the beaches are mainly shell and stone.

Portsmouth is a big port town and was a significant player during WWII, due to it being a major naval base. Robert told us that it was almost constantly being bombed. You could see the remaining breastwork defense mounds just up from the beach as well as the many naval buildings now converted to condos (flats). The streets are narrow and the buildings old – very reminiscent of Annapolis, MD and the Naval Academy there.

We played a great pub called the Cellars. I am finding pub gigs to be my absolute favorite type venue so far (more on that later). The owner (Steve) was originally worried about turnout; given this was World Cup Soccer qualifying day (Robert was excited that England won). However, we ended up with a great crowd and they were very enthusiastic. It’s funny, the crowds here tend to show up just at show time and not much before, so they always leave you wondering.

We were headlining tonight and the opening acts (called support over here) were quite good and enthusiastic themselves. Got a few CD’s to listen to down the road. They were a mix of folk, acoustic and blues – which worked well in front of us.

We took the stage at around 10:15pm – a little later than normal around here. My voice is still non-existent and my cough still teetering on Bubonic Plague. However, the night felt great – all the guitar moves were working well and Briana was singing well. The audience gave so much back to us that I decided at the end of the night to go for it and sung, “Not All Who Wander Are Lost”. It was a little on the rough and growly side, but went over well – sold a handful of CD’s off the one song.

I needed a good night, even if only being able to sing one song, the audience lifted my spirits and sent us down the road with a good $ take (or should I say £ take)! We had a short hour or so drive back to Basingstoke. It’s now 2am over here (8pm for all back home – central time anyway).

We head to Bristol tomorrow (I think) playing a place called the Prom. The time I was at the Prom I had fun. Of course I was 18 and it was 198…….yeah!

Here’s one last note about the pub culture here as well as in Scotland. What great rooms they are! Each very unique but all with the same familiar laid back, comfortable, living room atmosphere. Most of the pubs have the main bar area and then around a corner or off to one side the room lengthens with nook and cranny seating on small 2 foot stools. Usually at the end of this room lies the stage – mostly well adorn, lit and with good sound systems.

There are plenty of pubs up and down random streets and easy to stagger between. Although for me, settling into a favorite warm, rich corner and staying there all night is the way o do it. Most pubs are rich in both community congregation and of course music. The crowds are generally fairly quite if you’re have a half-way decent performer (unlike the bar scene back home). I can’t help thinking that a pub culture would go over so well in America (and does probably in parts of Boston and the like) but they are very differently paced than bars. The only thing missing I think for an American audience is availability of food. In most pubs it’s hard to get any food to speak of. There may be a rack of crisps (our chips) or possibly and handful of meat pies – but that seems about it in most pubs. People are there to drink, congregate, drink, listen to music and well, drink! I do love the rooms though – most of them are really grand old rooms!

Although I was temporarily emboldened by managing to finally get a song out, I am struggling greatly with the cough and will undoubtedly continue to for the rest of the tour. I believe we’re hitting the roads earlier tomorrow playing a BBC radio show in Bristol. If I can get the web address for the show I’ll pass it along.

Thanks again for following along.

Peace,

Mark

Tuesday Night - The Halo - London

2009-04-01T04:51:00.001-05:00

We played the Acoustic Showcase at the Halo Bar in London tonight. I think I might be feeling a hair better today but the cough is still the same and gets triggered by nothing at all – so still no singing (pisses me off)!

Ironically I ran into an old Nashville friend named Mark Aaron James. He left Nashville for NYC some ten yeas or so ago and a year ago landed in London to try his luck on the English scene. He actually hosts this multi-artist showcase night at the Halo.

Tonight was mostly singer-songwriters, with one acoustic instrumentalist in the mix. Because he got there as early as we did, I ended up talking with (and coughing at) him for good while. He’s from the area we are headed to tomorrow called Portsmith. He has an interesting story. I guess a little over a decade ago he was hurt severely in an accident when a big metal cage fell of the back of a truck and struck him in the head. He said he basically had to relearn everything and music took him a good ten years to return to. It has been yet another perspective giver out here in the real world of travelling and making music.

The night was odd, but fun. We all rotated in 2 song mini-sets all night long. If you’re asking why they do it that way instead of in rounds, don’t bother. I’ve asked that question tonight more than once to no avail. Although, the bar tender did state, “I really hate musicians” – yeah, I know!

Well, the part that was fun was a good response. Even though I am not able to sing at all we are still getting great reviews as a “duet” over here. Maybe they are used to the second part being dramatically mute – I don’t know.

After the show we headed into the Parliament District for a quick night tour (since my original London Day had to be scrapped for hospital day). I got to see the Parliament buildings, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and The Royal Albert Music Hall (which I requested Robert book us in next time). It was a fairly quick hour and a half back to Basingstoke, where now I plan to cough my fool head off and sleep in.

Thanks for the support.

Peace,

Mark

Monday - Mark's UK Tour of Hospital ER's continues!

2009-03-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

Well,

The antibiotics have been doing nothing and feeling much worse today - so off again to the ER. They did a EKG and a chest x-ray, ruled out pneumonia. That said the lung infection is pretty stout - so they changed up the antibiotics to something (2 in fact) much stronger. The amazing thing again was, I paid about $21 for the Rx and nothing, nada for the chest x-ray and cardiac workup. I,m going to have lots of discussion points with my friends who down universal health care soon!

I am hoping that the new course of treatment may give me a shot at the last 2 days of the tour, but who knows. I had really hoped to take the train into London today, but I'm lucky to make it down the hall at the moment.

Thanks again for following along.
Peace,
Mark

Sunday Night - The Maars Bar, Worcester, England

2009-03-30T08:04:00.000-05:00

We opened for a wonderful artist last night named Amy Wadge. She's from Wales.

We did a 30" opening set. I played but still could not sing. I had a fever before showtime, so I took some aspirin. Between the stage lights and the fever breaking I was my own waterfall onstage. I thought for sure I would short out my guitar or electrocute myself! I'm sure the audience was thinking that I had the bird flu or something - not a pretty site.

Briana did well carrying the singing for the night and the crowd seemed responsive. We had a two hour ride back to Basingstoke and crashed quickly. We're off on Monday and then resume on Tuesday.

Thanks for follwoing along.

Mark

Saturday Night - The Cotton Tree - Bolton...Almost

2009-03-29T08:44:00.000-05:00

Well, we had our first snag (non-health related anyway) of the tour. We arrived at the Cotton Tree Pub in Bolton (between Manchester and Liverpool) for a 7pm sound check. The first thing out of the club owner’s mouth was, “I thought you guys had cancelled” (…right)! The second thing out of his mouth was, “I have the music room already booked out”. He went on to say, “I don’t have a contract on this gig – I don’t know whether I’m paying you or you’re paying me”. The loud side of my inner voice replied, “well it aint option two there buddy”! He went on to suggest that he had never received any promo stuff, so no radio or print promo had been down for the gig. After some “involved” conversation he suggested we could play in the smaller bar area, rather than the main music venue room. We met privately regarding this idea and after say……2 milliseconds, decided we would just move along. So we made the long journey back tonight to our home base in Basingtoke.

However, the day was not a total cluster$#@%! Earlier in the day we had a chance to spend several hours in Liverpool. Liverpool is a major port town on the Irish Sea. The wind coming off the water blew through like it was blowing through a tunnel, straight down the narrow streets of the downtown district. If I was cold, you now it was cold.

Liverpool has some aspects of Broadway in NYC- with urban hype and shopping, but also has that Old English, cobble stone streets, troubadours and ancient churches. To me it’s actually, very Youngstown, Ohio looking. I found it very interesting and beautiful in its own way. Robert says that “Liverpoolians (my word) have an almost secessionist mindset to them and even talk in a very different dialect. I didn’t pick that up myself, but it seems obvious to him. There is also quite the rivalry between Robert’s Manchester United Soccer team (to my new found UK friends, I can’t call it football yet – but I’m trying) and the Liverpool team. In fact, the sports rivalries here carry an incredible weight of emotion, passion and meaning to them, far more so than in the states. In a discussion in one pub, it was suggested to me that they can break along hard cultural and even religious grounds. Doesn’t everything these days!

Most notable about our Liverpool jaunt was a visit to the famous “Matthew Street District” and the “Cavern” where the Beatles first started performing. The original “Cavern” was torn down in 1972 to make way for subway venting shafts. Before you yell and curse about the sacrilege of it all (I did) know that it was rebuilt on the same site years later, using almost all the original brick. So, they say it looks pretty close to the way it did in Fab 4 days. There are several flights of stairs to walk down and it has a real Brickskellar feel to it - very cave or “Cavern” like. And like most legendary places (except for maybe the Grand Canyon) – much smaller than I would have guessed. I took pictures, mainly thinking of Jim Moran on this one. In fact, I have been taking pictures all along and had intended on posting them along with the text blog….but I forgot the usb cord. So, that may be a “post-edit”!

We are headed to Worcester tomorrow night – so far still all cough and no voice. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe the night off tonight and a full day on antibiotics will help.

Friday - The Blue Cat - (in..I honestly can't remember)

2009-03-27T19:09:00.000-05:00

Well the saga conitunes. The scottish Dr. said ride it out, but this am was bad....fever, sweats, bruised ribs (I have a new found undertsanding of what you go throuugh). I had Robert take me to a hospital in Kendall, a mid-size English town. That dr. said "I can't belive the other Dr. missed it, because you have a full blown lung infection in the left lung, hence the insidious coughs and fevers. He started me on an anti-biotic and suggested it would do the trick. The amazing part of the story is that I paid 0 money to the hospital or the Dr., just 7 pounds (12 bucks or so) at the hospital pharmacy.

I have been able to wing the previous two gigs by cutting my songs down in number and my BGV's down too. We continued to get great response and good cd sales. However, different story today. If I open my mouth to sing, talk, whisper, spit or (oh yeah) breath - I cough uncontrollably. I have gone from barrell chested to "over Niagra Falls in a barrell chested"... overnight!

I feel like I am at least giving myself a shot at the end of the tour, but hard to be optomistic now. So I am playing back-up guitar. Bri is forced to play more guitar than she bargained for, so it is a learning curve. That said tonight went really well. The crowd was an odd mix of really loud bar crowd, but after the show wonderfully supportive (a mix I'm beginning to understand).

We are in a hotel tonight - heading down the road only about 10-15 miles to Bolton for tomorrow nights gig at the Cotten Tree Club

Wed. Night - Isle of Bute, Scotland - Hotel Victoria

2009-03-25T19:28:00.000-05:00

Well it's official! I' sick as hell! Still coughing constantly and the voice is gone. That said, we had a really good gig tonight. People said they loved the vocals. Seriously, they either had to be deaf or huge fans of Leon Redbone. We had good CD sales tonight and more importantly, nice rooms to lay our weary heads. I am planning on seeing a Dr. in the am - hopefully for some antibiotics or rotorooter.

One stand out tonight. There was a guy at the bar who either had some form of CP or a stroke - with difficulty talking and huge problems walking. After hearing that I had throat trouble, he made is way out to his car (no small task whatsoever) and gave me his cough drops nd throat lozenges. It's connections like that that keep me going on this wild troubadour life.

We are headed back over the Ferry tomorrow an hour or so down the road to the the West Beer Brewery in Glasgow. As of now I can't sing - hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Thanks for following along.

Peace,

Mark

Tuesday Night - The Blue Room - Ipswich

2009-03-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

We started out the day (Tuesday) driving to the East Anglian town of Ipswich to do a BBC radio show with Steven Foster. We played a couple of songs live, talked for a bit and then he played some cuts from the CD’s. We had several people come to the show that night who had heard the radio show – so it was definitely worth doing. Evidently you can hear the interview on the web for the next week or so.
The website is www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk We also did an interview with John Row and that interview will be aired on April 2nd. I think you’ll be able to hear that show on the web at some point at www.johnrow.com

We played last night in Ipswich at a great old pub call McGinty’s Blue Room. The pub was originally named the Halbert Inn and dates back to the mid 15th century. It was originally the entrance to the village of Ipswich. It is also considered to be the most haunted house in the town and is on a regular ghost watching tour.

We had a great night, enthusiastic crowd and decent CD sales. The best part of the night however was hanging out afer the show with the owners Veronica and Dave and several of their friends. We drank “Red Breast” whiskey and sang songs into the wee hours of the morning. We repeated songs from our show that they wanted to hear and covered a ton of old 70’s era songs – a fun night.

We slept in the rooms above the bar. Robert slept in the room said to be the most haunted, where ghosts are known to pull the sheets off the bed on a regular basis. He reported no such activity however. I slept in a room known for having a ghost stand in the corner and watch you – no such luck for me either. The only “occurrence” I had was early the next morning walking past the door leading up to the venue room. The door was locked, but I distinctly heard footsteps going up the stairs on the other side of the door– eerie in a cool way.

We’re off early this morning for a long 8 hour drive to the Isle of Bute in Scotland. We will catch a ferry over to the Hotel Victoria for our gig tonight.

Monday Night - The Zebra Bar, Maidstone

2009-03-24T04:20:00.001-05:00

We’re back tonight late (about 1:30 Am.) from Maidstone. We played the Zebra club on their Maverick Magazine Showcase night. We had about 150 people there. We opened for a young folk-rock band called Wheeler Street. The audience was made up of a combination of mainly young fans of Wheeler Street (the band is mainly teens and young 20’s) and the older crowd that are regular followers of the showcase night. It reminded me of the Dick Cerri-World Folk Music Assoc. nights around DC in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

We did a 45” set, well received – got calls for encore, but we were already running late so thought we’d leave them wanting more. That’s where CD sales were supposed to come in, but they were surprisingly light tonight given the reaction. I’m learning however, that when you’re in the opening act slot here, the audience is coming with the main act’s merch in mind. We’re looking forward to some of the gigs that are our own.

We did meet some great folks, including Alan Cackett the editor of the magazine and some audience members that remembered Briana from her tour last fall – so that made it a mini homecoming.

Robert is doing a great job driving us around – I think I ‘m getting the hang of the left side of the road and the millions of “roundabouts” – seems pretty easy to get around. Some of the traffic around London and the outskirts is incredibly heavy and that’s the only time I think me driving might get a little hairy – anxious to try it though.

First Gig - The Robin 2 in Bilston

2009-03-23T08:31:00.000-05:00

We just returned from playing the Robin 2 Club in Bilston. It’s about 1:30am on Monday morning. It was a pretty drive down today from Basingstoke, got to see the small but pretty mountains of Wales, in the distance beyond Bilston.

I have been up since 7:30am. on Saturday (with a couple of hours sleep on the plane) feeling pretty crispy now! We were the first opener (there was another opening duo as well) for the old UK cult group Chumbawumba. There were about 60 or so at the club. The set went well. Most importantly my fix on the guitar nut seemed to hold and it played well. Still need to get someone to look at it in the next day or two. The crowd was definitely there to see Chumbawumba, but was responsive to us. We’re definitely more country than they usually get.

The club has a pretty rich history. We spent quite a but of time today with Sean the sound man, talking to him about the many ghostly experiences in the club, including shadows walking through walls, employees being pushed and a cat that seems to appear and disappear in a certain stairwell. We didn’t witness anything first had, but were aware of the possibilities to say the least.

We did manage to set the alarms off in the whole building just before the main act took the stage, by exiting a back alley stage door that was evidently not intended for normal use. There is quite a Labyrinth of small corridors and stairwells behind the stage, so no wonder we ended up randomly opening doors.

We are sleeping in tomorrow morning (hopefully into the afternoon) and then heading to Maidstone around 4pm for a show at the Maverick-Zebra Showcase night. We are hearing that the night is sold out – so looking forward to that.

Peace,

Mark

Landing At Heathrow

2009-03-22T07:12:00.000-05:00

I landed at Heathrow around 7am. No real trouble at customs, although their system was down and I had to wait for them to verify my work permit – took an extra 20 minutes. Oddly enough, once I cleared passport control, no one even glanced at my bags. Compared to my trouble at an East Germany checkpoint in 1989- my experience here has not bad at all. I’ve had much worse treatment out of the Canadians – nothing like a Kayak on your roof to make you look suspicious.

Got some of my money exchanged, ouch! It’s about 70% of the dollar exchanged to pounds. Hopefully the money made in the UK and exchanged as I go home will make up for it. I determined that Starbucks is as over priced here as it is in the states, but the jones for an 8am cookie was too strong – I’m now UK invested!

I am waiting around for Robert (the tour promoter) to drop off an artist leaving the country and to pick me up. Briana is due in around 12 or 1, so we’ll be back to pick her up then.

I met a Hungarian blues player in the airport, named Little G. He is just back from a tour in the states, mainly AL, TN and GA – seemed to have enjoyed his time, but was anxious to return home. He first got turned onto the blues by listening to John Lee Hooker records. He said he didn’t know what the hell the words were about but he could feel the blues and the music spoke to him. I don’t know if it’s the camaraderie of the troubadour or the camaraderie of the impoverished artist that allows an instant connection – but it always seems to be an immediate bond. We exchanged cards and hopefully will stay in touch (although he was not optimistic about country-folk touring in Hungary). I’ve been touring with country and folk music for twenty years now and I’ve never been optimistic about it either – so I’m undaunted in my quest to play in Hungary!

Well, here’s a new wrinkle. I just checked out the guitar and the nut is cracked. It started acting up on me in NC – buzzing horribly. It looked like the first string had been digging deep into the fret. I rigged it with a piece of paper between the string and the nut and made Friday night’s gig work, but it looks like now that dug out part has completely cracked through the nut. For the moment I have pushed the nut back together and it seems to be holding and playing well, but who knows for how long. First order of business today is to find someone to fix it (come to think of it - probably not going to happen on a Sunday). We are playing tonight at the Robin in Bilston – opening up for Chumbawumba. It’s one of our bigger gigs on this tour – so something’s going to have to work. The good thing about jet lag is that it leaves you without the energy to panic. Stay tuned for the “cracked nut” saga (can’t pass that up can ya’)!

A Travelling Day

2009-03-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

Had a great time in Charlottesville, VA last weekend, doing the Barking Cherry House Concert Series. My friend Len Jaffe (from my old DC - days) and his wife Ginny run a great night with an enthusiastic crowd. Had a chance to visit with WJUT Radio (I think that was it) Brian who runs the folk show up there - had fun playing songs live on the air and talking about my creative life of poverty!

Played in Charlotte, NC last night with the Folklahoma-appalachi-Groovetrain at the Evening Muse. For a solo troubadour - travelling with my friends,Kim Mclean, Devon O'Day, Will McLean and Chris Herin is a blast on and off stage! Lets see; locking the car keys in the Jeep (again), nerf football, hot-tub, Pizza & Beer and a fun 2 hour show in front of new and old friends - (I'll leave out getting my butt kicked in wii football by Will).

In the Houston airport now waiting to catch a later flight out to Heathrow to hook up with Briana Hardyman for a 2 week tour in the UK - starting tomorrow night in Bilston, opening for Chumbawamba - should be an interesting mix of music that night! Looking most forward to the Scotland leg of the tour - gonna' track my lowland horse thief roots!

Peace,
Mark

New Music & Tour BLog

2009-03-10T16:44:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends,

Well, I suppose I've been blogging all my life (writing songs), but I am new to the official term and activity.

I am looking forward to my tour to the UK with Briana Hardyman - starting 4/22. I will be reporting back on my travels and gigs.

I am looking forward to playing my buddy Len Jaffe's Barking Cherry House Concert this Saturday. Definitely excited to make music and new connections with folks. However, I'm equally excited about travelling that beautiful mountain corridor through the Shenandoah Vally as Spring takes it's first peek!

As always - thanks for the support!

Peace,

Mark
www.markelliottmusic.com