My niece, who is spending her semester studying in Europe, came to Friday night's show and posted this short clip to her Instagram feed.  Its' 11 seconds capture a lot of the feel of Marian's.  What joy.

I’m sitting on a train, riding home.  My guitar and I travelled safely.  I’m happy, my soul is full of joy from the music created on this trip.  I’m also tired.

The Fade Out by Duke Levine is playing in my headphones.  The tenderness and beauty throughout this album is powerful, it’s visceral and emotional and perfect.  It’s some of my favorite music of all time; I hear my whole life in these songs and I’m happy for them  to carry me home tonight.

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on YouTube

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on Spotify

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on Apple Music

Some fav tracks:

11 shows.  5 days.  Great fun was had.  Now, time to travel, rest, recover.  I’m flying into a blizzard and will be ready to shovel.

There’s no shortage of photos and stories to tell and I’ll make sure to do so right here, so stay tuned…

Time keeps on tickin’ into the future and I don’t know if it’s on my side or not, but it’s a changing and carrying on, that’s for sure.

It’s time for me to start to say goodbye to this wonderful in Bern.  We play 3 shows today, our evening shows and a matinee, and then head to the airport, and home.

What a great joy this has been.

I’ve been finding great joy, hope, and inspiration in Fela Kuti’s music.  “Music is the weapon of the future,” he said, and when it feels as though the world is burning all around us, Fela’s music has felt instructive as to how to process the madness and turn that energy into something positive and productive.

The one time I saw Gil Scott-Heron he told the audience that you not only have to work for peace, but you must fight for peace also.  Music and art are the weapons we have to fight for peace.

Fela was, to my understanding, a complex and flawed person (as we all are), but the music he made in the direct face of brutal violence, personally and societally, is still ebullient, joyful, and powerful.  

I’ve been listening to this song every day of this trip; it’s what I hear as I get dressed and do my pre-show rituals.  It’s helping me find the joy, hold it tight, raise it high, and hope.

Bärner Fasnacht - The Bern Carnival and third largest carnival in Switzerland begins today.  It feels kind of like Mardi Gras.  Since I don’t know how to say it in the native tongue, Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I decided to take a pretty non-traditional guitar with me on this trip, always an intense choice as flying to a gig means I can only have 1 guitar with me, so it better be the right one.  For this trip I brought a Parker Fly guitar, and it’s certainly been catching people’s eyes.

Parker Fly guitars were designed by Master Luthier Ken Parker, and made from 1993-2002 in Wilmington, Massachusetts, an hour from my home.  In 2002 Ken sold the company, production shifted and they never quite could got it right (in my opinion).  Parker Fly guitars officially went out of production in 2016.  

Parker Flys are incredible that push the boundaries of guitar design.  They are ultra thin, averaging under an 1” thick, ultra lightweight (this white guitar weighs a hair over 5 lbs), incredibly responsive and resonant, balanced both weight-wise and tonally, and also stable.  this guitar stays in tune incredibly well.  These are ergonomic guitars designed and engineered for performance.  I see super cars - Mclarens and Maseratis, when I look at the contours of a Parker Fly.

For most electric guitarists - and especially guitar companies - guitar design ended in 1963; if it’s not a Fender or a Gibson and doesn’t sound like the classic tones in all our heads then we have no use for it.  Ken thought outside of that box and Parker Fly guitars are one of the few truly unique guitar designs of the last 60 years.  The Parker Fly is now regarded as one of the iconic guitar designs, and you’ll see them in the permanent instrument collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and they are included in any collection of guitar designs.

Notable people who play Parker Flys include Pops Staples, Joni Mitchell, Pat Martino, and Bill Frisell.  Many, many more too, but these folks stand tall in my mind.  

My particular guitar is early production with some very unique features.  It was made in early ‘94, with a body made of Cedar.  During his time owning the company, Ken Parker made approximately 10,000 Fly guitars, but only 10 have Cedar bodies. This guitar also has a surprisingly fat neck, which is right up my alley.  

After selling the Parker Guitar company, Ken Parker went back to building archtop guitars, his first passion.  The archtop guitars Ken built in the last 20 years are some of the greatest guitars ever made, I believe they are Stradivarius level instruments and will be regarded as such for the rest of human kind.  Notably, Ken is also famous globally for building the first double neck violin for L. Shankar’s use with John McLaughlin and Shakti.

I’m choosing to play a Parker Fly right now because it feels inspiring to me.  I have all the great guitars at home - teles, strats, an absolutely magical ES-335, and I love them all.  You’ll absolutely see me with those guitars in the future.  But you’ll also find me with Parker Flys, perhaps quite a bit.  

I’m finding my own voice and relationship with the Parker.  My other guitars all have pre-defined identities.  When I play a Stratocaster I’m channeling Ronnie Earl, my musical father.  When I pick up a Tele, my main guitar for 20 years, I think of Muddy Waters and Roy Buchanan and Albert Collins, and the guitar is beautiful and inspiring but I hear all those other voices on it.  The Parker Fly feels like an open canvas, and I’m finding all my own colors to paint on it. 

These photos adorn the walls of the George Wein room, where I’m staying, at Hotel Innere Enge, The Unique Jazz Hotel.

Staying here, surrounded by artifacts and history makes me wish I knew more.  I understand some of what I’m seeing but know there’s a lot of good stuff going over my head.  I’m just trying to soak it all in.

Words to live by found on a nightclub door.  
Of course, the first thing I did was get out my phone to snap a photo… hmm… …

It’s been cloudy and grey in Switzerland, today has been full of snowflakes and raindrops.

However, finally, the Swiss Alps appeared.  Here they are peaking out of, and blending into, the clouds.

Good morning from Switzerland.  It’s Wednesday, day #2 of our shows.  

I’m not a good photographer, but here are pictures that caught my eye during this morning’s snowy stroll.

Welcome to Hotel Innere Enge, home to Marian’s Jazz Room

The Unique Jazz Hotel that homes Marian’s Jazz Room is a treasure trove of amazing memorabilia.  

It was Milt Hinton’s favorite place to vacation.  I’m staying in the George Wein room, and Lionel Hampton’s vibes are (literally) outside my room door.

Show #1 tonight.  We’ve been soundchecking and rehearsing and are ready to roll!

Day 1, traveling to Bern.  It’s a long day, but smooth and easy.