i haven't been blogging much- just like i haven't been facebooking too often- since i have been in manic music mode- recording various cds from solo piano, to electronica, to psychedelic space jazz. i've also edited our 2 mahogany hall sets, made youtube videos of 2 of them, which took days also, and have been posting them, and the info on my newly released album TRADITIONAL.
in between all this 'in house' musical work, we [the doug duffey international soul band] have been doing concerts- so my idea that i would rest, relax & recuuperate while here [switzerland] between shows has not happened. i feel too driven to create, which is my holy communion, my salvation. my way of coping with a lot of thingsi've made probably a million photos- because every time we go out to do any shows, or anything, i come home and download the photos to my laptop and there are easily hundreds to 1k each time; absolute insanity- but i plan to use a lot of the black and white fotos as cd covers, and even as stills in slideshows/videos over music... especially the non vocal stuff.
some photos of moi & the band are in the two videos i just made for youtube "spoonful" and "i just want to make love to you"- as with my solo music, we are moving more into simpler/sparser blues/jazz/folk/gospel w/more improvisations/jams which can verge on psychedelic [like late 60s/early 70s jazz]- I'm digging this new direction. good thing youtube now lets you upload videos OVER 10 minutes.
AS ever, being in Europe i have different inspirations and different artistic ideas, and more time to DO them- and the tools to do them[see next paragraph]. i plan to do a lot of editing and 'mixing and fixing' when i get back to louisiana. its important that i do the raw work here and now.
i absolutely love playing my vintage upright piano- improvising and recording as i go into 'automatic writing' 'stream of unconsciousness' modes- and even the Mac G4/ audacity & old kawaii synth have yielded some unexpected treasures. plan to get some of my old vintage synths & such out of storage when i get home and add to some of the stuff i already have, or start new projects. creating the psychedelic space jazz stuff [very trippy] has been a revelation/epiphany. have even been considering doing some ballets from some of this plethora of material.
We went to our friend Annette's chalet in the woods in the Jura -short drive from here- yesterday afternoon to celebrate her & friend Hedy's birthdays- had wine & dinner outside. it's an amazing place- no electricity [solar panel], the water is from a cistern- more like a 'holiday house'- absolutely fabulous. "i could live there" to quote my nephew. i went upstairs to one of the bedrooms, at one point -after prosecco & before dinner- opened the shutters, windows, laid down, staring at the sky and fell asleep on the bed. such peace. no noise. only nature and sky. absolute heaven
Jackie & I are going to Dresden, Germany [which was completely destroyed in WW2 and REBUILT] for 3 days to chill, have a change of scene, and get away from computers and phones, machines and keyboards etc. I'll probably make photos and maybe even some videos, write some texts, do some sketches, etc. i cant be still. i suggested we just stay in the hotel for 3 days and order room service [sounds like the time ron strasner, chris, lorna & i went to palm springs in the 70s- R&I staying in the room the whole time, me reading 'interview with the vampire'] but nooooooooo... we'll do a city tour then decide what we want to spend time seeing. i'm excited to see Dresden and even walk across the bridge at Gorlitz into Poland.
although we did the american bar b que @ the park hotel [watch video] in Weggis- we arrived at night after our show @ the Film Festival in Rheinfelden so i saw nothing- but my room- [my Andara Suite was incredible] but when i woke, when room service rolled my breakfast tray in, and i opened the curtains and windows and walked out on the balcony, the view blew me away- mountains, lake, sky, plus the hotel grounds- too beautiful to describe- "i could live there"- [well.... NOT, unless i wont the lotto]...but 1 day there was not enough... Guess i should add a lot of scenic fotos in my "travelology" blog...
we had thought of going to the condo in italy [which has just as almost beautiful a view] before i return to Louisiana BUT it's a little warm down south- and i have had enough summer [from Louisiana] to last me forever.
but today... i am going to go play/record my piano... and drift away
[C]2011 DOUG DUFFEY
