The Mockingbirds Are Back
Monday, April 12th
The mockingbirds are back. There’s one atop the telephone pole across
the street from my house and he’s piping away. I wonder if it’s the same
one from last summer when I’d sit on the front porch swing and sing
something then watch him stop to consider my sounds. As soon as I’d stop,
he’d start up again. I don’t suppose I’m very imitatable; not like a car
siren or another bird – but he’s listening.
April is a good time to be home. When Sue and I arrived from our New England mud season tour I was delighted to find the streets of Asheville lined with white blossoms. We live in the neighborhood of Montford, which lies across 240, north of downtown. We are told from friends that ten years ago Montford was run down and poor, and even if you held a steady job with a solid income the banks would still not give you a loan to buy a house if you were looking in Montford. With fourteen thousand dollars (cash, I figure) friends of ours bought a near-condemned house and restored it. These acts of restoration echoed through this section of town to where now Montford is a flourish of Arts and Crafts, Victorian houses, and turn of the century bungalows. Now, Montford is one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Asheville, and we couldn’t afford to buy a place here if we wanted to.
All along Montford Avenue flowers are in bloom. Redbud, Forsythia, and Dogwood paint the street with the Lilac and Azalea close on their heels. The Dogwood especially has caught my eye. Every elegant, terraced branch, rife with white or pink blossoms and the minimum of leaves cuts a striking figure. Upon the ground, bordering lawns and walkways, every colorful thing is vying for attention. I don’t know the names of half these flowers, but it’s enough just to walk through it all. This rush of color precedes the green returning to the trees. For now this food for the bees is enough.
Sue and I went in Chris Rosser’s studio here in town for our second session of the CD. For this one we brought in Mike Alexander playing acoustic bass, and Pat Madsen on drums. It’s a pleasure to come home with the rough mixes and imagine how the parts will sound when they’re all down and mixed. I’ve also been talking with Lui Collins about helping her record a new CD; her first since 2000’s Leaving Fort Knox.
Meanwhile, with the warm weather comes the dog shedding like crazy. No amount of brushing can keep up with all the hair falling off. Where does it come from? Invisible downy hairs multiply into dust bunnies and glaze the carpet. It’s double duty with the vacuum cleaner this spring. My strategy is to wait for one supremely warm day, give him a full soapy bath, and voila, the winter coat disengages within the next three days! It’s akin to shearing the sheep.
Monday, April 26th
Finishing these “Notes” up at a friend’s house in Chicago. Ten hours north of Asheville but lower in altitude it looks as if the trees are in the same stage of flowering. Today is a cool breeze, blue sky, sunny and crisp beginning of baseball season day. We are getting ready to fly out of O’Hare tomorrow to land at London’s Heathrow airport for a tour in England. As of Wednesday we will hear no more American-made news for five weeks. Listening to the BBC will be a refreshing (yet sedate) change from the typical American hype, and a more global-minded view about what is going on. Mostly we’re looking forward to the eighteen gigs in five weeks, and bopping from one town to another.
I’ll let you know how it goes in next month's Notes. Thanks for reading. Keep in touch. Check out the schedule. Buy a CD. See you soon.
Dana