| 02 February 2010
To Americans this may be old hat, but I'm not sure how well known he is outside. Check this out...!!
(Or on Youtube)
Been fiddling (actually exploring deep undersea tunnels) with loopers for my solo show and came across Andrew Bird. What a beautiful freak! And he sings like Jeff Buckley. I have to see him live. Hopefully that would have the same impact on my year that gaping at Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland in the smoky little Mercury Live bar did last year. Speaking of Mercury - we played a wonderful show with Dear Reader in the main hall on Saturday. Lovely shit.
| 18 January 2010
I sat in Depasco at the bottom of Kloof from 8-9am on Friday, drinking coffee, and counted four cars going to work. Four! It's the middle of January! That's Cape Town for you... all play and no work! Which is just as well, really, because we've been giving you something else to do. Friday was an awesome little night out at perennial favourites Zula Bar, with the lovely Louise Day and her band in support.
And coming up at the end of the month, Andy Lund and I are joining Dear Reader for a rare Cape Town performance on 30 Jan at Mercury Live. And before I get a hundred emails from THE BIG CITY complaining, here's something else: first weekend in March. Joburg. Pretoria. Happy?
| 09 December 2009
We've talked about it for ages, the enigma that is Mystery White Boy (No prizes for guessing where that came from! If blogs aren't useful for throwing one-sided insults, what are they good for?) and I. Insulting my music with his outrageous stage show. Well, it's upon us. Grand Daddy, "Yo" (I mean, c'mon?), next weekend, 18th & 19th of December in Cape Town.
Check it out on Facebook here: or on my website here, and buy tickets here (they're cheaper than pitching at the door, you lazy Capetonians). And come! Yeah, I mean it.
| 01 December 2009
Yesterday I was really looking forward to come home. Today I'm miserable to be leaving Buenos Aires. Bipolar! I'm not even surprised any more. The cheerup remedy and farewell gig go down Thursday night in Palermo Soho. The party's being thrown by Nicky from Proyecto 34S and it WILL be cool... so out of the woodwork all you new Argie fans - let's make it a night to remember! And Nicky's coooking. Saffersnacks.!!! Yup. We'll sing the sun away. South Africa, you'll be sleeping. See you soon... love, Ian.
| 30 November 2009
Thanks to Russ Nerwich, the first person I hooked up with in Buenos Aires was soul-brother, tarrot mystic, guitar player-extraordinaire... and proprietor of the Mantengase Hostel, Mariano Mojoli. On Thursday evening I was invited to play a little acoustic gig there with Javier Mareco. Well, that's what the flyer said... but things work a little differently in BA! Javier's a fantastic bass player, but it was his first solo gig, and he was more than a little nervous for the singer part of singer-songwriter, and thought it would be a much better idea for me to play after him. So I duly got handed the 2.30am slot! Um. Yes. Any idea what your singing voice feels like at 3am? Buenos Aires serves up another first.
| 16 November 2009
Took a bit of time out from the hectic madness that is Buenos Aires and headed down to the winter (spring... summer?) wasteland that is Ushuaia. Buenos Aires and Cape Town are on the same latitude but there's another 3000km of land south of BA. Madness! And the mountains are covered in snow and the water is ice-cold and definitely not kitesurfable and it's a whole lot of über awesomeness! We don't have anything like THIS in Africa...
Staying in "Tango B&B" and the host is a retired musician who keeps up his chops playing concerts for his guests on Sunday night with all the tango standards. Of course since he knew I was a musician I got roped in too...
| 08 November 2009
They call themselves El Kuelgue and a mix of latin, acoustic and hip-hop, but the truth is that musical comedy is a bit hit in Argentina, and El Kuelgue's brand of sarcastic, cheeky musical mix-&-match really works. My friend Mariano's brother, Juan, is the bass player, and Mariano plays some occasional wah-wah guitar.
It's a throw-down of all kinds of influences, backed by some talented musicians, and a fantastic video show by a VJ, with custom-made videos for each of the songs. We don't make anything like this in South Africa! And these are just the kinds of influences I came here to check out! Mariano and Laura have a 6-month old baby, so they were bucking the Buenos Aires trend by yawning and making 'we've got to get to bed' sounds by 3am...
| 14 October 2009
I don’t speak Spanish, and I don’t know a single person in Argentina, but as of today I’ll be a ciudadano of Buenos Aires (see, I’ve already started massacring the language)! OK, it’s only a 2-month transplant, but it should be an awesome round-off to a spectacularus year of adventure. So here goes. I’m writing this eating breakfast with a plastic knife and fork in the airport lounge. I mean really, plastic knives and forks?? Tonight I’ll be getting started on the world’s best steaks, and tomorrow… who knows? Spanish lessons, a couple of flamenco guitar lessons, some gigs, a lot of sidewalk coffees, new routines, and plenty of time to write new songs for the record I’ll record in Sweden or Norway early next year. Some people get their kicks from the familiar. I need change, and loads of it. So goodbye Cape Town, for a little while... Buena suerte! Adios…
