Ahhh Mexico! I’ve been here a few times but to be honest, it’s never been one of the places that I couldn’t wait to get back to… I don’t know, maybe it’s the not wanting to eat and drink anything but boiled meat and beer from a bottle so as not to get that thing that people seem to get when they go down there and eat and drink whatever… it’s usually not so bad at the nicer resorts but ya never can tell and it’s better to be safe. Tommy (Glenn’s) “guy” told me a story about when he and Glenn were down in Mexico shooting a movie and they had a shot of tequila at every meal and were the only ones who DIDN’T get sick. How great is that?… As I said earlier, I’ve been to Mexico a few times and this was one of the more pleasant trips. Didn’t get sick, didn’t have to pay anyone off, like the FIRST time I was there, it was a breeze getting in and out of Customs… not bad!
The first night were there we all ended up at pretty much the only place to eat and drink at the resort and there was a fire pit, complete with a guy playing guitar and everything… I met a very nice lady named Inga, Hi Inga!, who said she wanted to sing and the guy said it was cool. I, having several shots in me, was ALL over it! We were going to do a duet but the teleprompter wasn’t working so it was down to just me… I, of course had to sing James Taylor’s “Mexico” along with one of my own and it was a blast! The moon was full the fire was raging and the drinks were flowing!… unless I’m mistaken, I think I wandered off to gaze at the moon and ended up diving into the ocean at about 1:00AM… I know what you’re thinking… No, I didn’t have my bathing suit with me but, no one was around and I just couldn’t resist!… it restored my faith in that truly beautiful part of the world… now, let’s just fix the water supply and we can all be happy! The show was really fun, including everyone doing a shot of tequila (on Stage) which was a first as well… A good time was had by all!
Thanks Mexico for keeping it real!

Till next time,

Peace,love,happiness!

jonathan

I just got back from NY playing a little private gig with Glenn Frey. I always like to go to NY especially when I’m not the one paying for the grossly overpriced EVERYTHING. I kinda wish we had more time there but a little bit of NY is better than none at all. I did get a chance to play at Lincoln Center, which I’d never done before and the day we were there was probably the nicest day I’ve ever seen in NY. It had been freezing for the days leading up to our arrival and started getting cold and rainy the day we left but it was gorgeous for a minute. I do love the fashion there when the weather starts to turn. For me, it’s only great thing about NY during winter; that and the slight hint of urine and trash aren’t quite as heavy in the air…

OK, I have a challenge for anyone who’s interested… I tried something for the first time; Bubble and Squeak! Anybody ever heard of it?… I guess if you’re from there you’ve heard of it but I’d love to know the origin of Bubble and Squeak… simple enough ingredients but why the name?

Well, thanks for checking in everybody! Take care of yourselves and take care of each other…

Peace,love,happiness!

jc

Well, it’s no secret that Dwight has a lot of fans up near Fresno… I really like playing Fairs. They’re set up for the sole purpose of folks having a great time! I love walking around and checking out all the games… I’ve won many stuffed creatures by shooting hoops!… The crowd was really loud and alive which makes it really fun. The only thing I would have changed would be not to have Bunggi, bungi, bunjie… however the hell you spell that… not more than 50 yards from where we were playing. Dwight didn’t know what it was… the sound of heavy machinery and people screaming. He looked over and seemed surprised and then mentioned something about an ear of corn… I need more info to comment on that…From what I saw, I know that at least 40 kids probably had bad pants that night or at least the next day based on all the crap I saw them shoveling in. but I guess that’s all part of the experience…
So here’s to bad pants and good times at the Big Fresno Fair. Everyone was very nice and helpful and the food was really good. I look forward to going back there anytime!

Peace,love,happiness…

jc

Free song download available at www.JonathanClarkMusic.com.

Enjoy!

Steelville, MO- a VERY small town about 8 miles from Cuba, MO… another VERY small town. We flew into St Louis in a rain storm and had to rent a van and try to cram all our gear in the back, in the pouring rain. We finally figured it all out and the 3 of us were on our way- GPS lady yelling at us, she obviously knew we weren’t from there… we seem to be on the right track and then get a phone call… Hello, Ross (the tour manager) says… oh shit!… I’m driving, shit, Jonathan is going to call you right back…

K, so there’s 5 in the band! The two guys from NY just landed and were wondering where to meet… well, guess who got to be the messenger?… that’s right, ME! Needless to say, they weren’t too happy about it, and understandably so but I’ve got a computer lady with a half baked Australian accent yelling “RECALCULATING, RECALULATING!, a very upset horn player and a class clown piano player that I have to, #1 calm down and convince them that it wasn’t malicious, and B they have to get on a shuttle, go over to Avis, rent a car and drive an hour and a half away to a very small town in the middle of nowhere… in the pouring rain. RECALCULATING!

The gig was an old Lodge built in 1922. we were wondering why we weren’t staying there since it was right there and rather than drive 15 minutes away… seems logical, right? But then we understood. This bathroom is for rooms 100-107, THIS bathroom is for 108-115… you get the idea. It didn’t seem logical anymore. We were set up basically in the lobby of the lodge. It’s the first time I’ve ever done a sound-check while folks were checking in not more than 100 feet away. As you can see by the picture, it was a very intimate venue. The good thing about it, however, was that every one who came to see the show was there ‘cause they were big fans. The crowd was great and the people couldn’t have been nicer. Thanks to Bob Bell and all the wonderful folks at the Wildwood Lodge for your gracious hospitality!

Back to the Pacific Northwest! I always love going back to play in this area of the country… I guess it’s because I toured all over Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Canada…, during some of the earliest and most educational years of my musical journey. I was 17 and me and my entire Family along with a keyboard player, all drove up to Moscow, Idaho for what to be the beginning of about 4 years of travel… with the entire Family. We lived in hotels and did anywhere from 1 week to month long engagements at hotels and clubs just about everywhere in the Pacific NW. We had an 18 ft truck that had not only all of our band gear but all of our personal belongings. The idea was, we were going to move up to somewhere in the Washington area, we were living in Sun Valley, CA at the time, but we never left the peculiar comfort of our little traveling gypsy show. If you really want to laugh, go to my Fathers page- George Clark (FB) I think he’s got some embarrassing photos of me up there… anyway, it truly was an amazing experience for, basically, a kid. When I go back there it all seems to come back… The smell, the vibe, the scenery… wow! so many memories. I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for that area.
Till next time Washington! I love ya!

Peace,love,happiness!

jc

Well- I gotta tell you -there’s nothing better (during a heat wave and in the middle of massive California wildfires) than driving to Hemet to do a gig outside!

Meredith and some friends of hers decided to make the 3+ hour journey to see what all the fuss was about and finally get the opportunity to see me in my shiny jacket . We all arrived at the designated spot so they could follow Dwight’s bus out there… I was to ride on the bus. After waiting about an hour, I told the tour manager that I was going to ride out with the girls and meet them there. “no problem” he says, and off we went. I don’t know who’s familiar with L.A. traffic but, this was a Friday and as great as L.A. is, EVERYONE seems to want to get the hell out of it on Friday! We finally hit an open stretch of road and were able to travel at regular speeds… OK maybe a little bit faster, but not much. I made a mix CD for them to hear what was to be forthcoming. I swear it was right about the time Dwight was singing about shooting his lover and another man dead, there was a huge explosion! We thought for a minute it was a blowout but quickly knew that that was not the case. “Oh, it was my birthday balloon from last week” Meredith proclaims! But then the smell started… OMG that smell! It was like Diesel fuel and bad fake new car smell. We had the windows down we had the air on and nothing was helping. “it’s not coming from outside” I said,so off to the shoulder we pull… we open up the trunk (cautiously) and then we all understand.

That’s all for now. Till next time!

Peace,love,happiness!
Jc

Just kidding, I wouldn’t do that to you… I’m going to go ahead and blame it on the 106 degrees outside- a can of fix-a-flat blew up in her trunk and pretty much tagged everything in it, including my bag with my clothes for the evening. Damn! Really?…

I got to the gig, finally, and set my bag in the dressing room. About ten minutes later, crew members are running around very concerned that there’s some sort of a gas leak in the building and the smell was awful! I of course couldn’t really tell anymore ‘cause I’m high from the last 45 minutes of inhaling it. We, they, I… finally figured out what the problem is and I remove the bag from the dressing room. I was pretty loopy that night as I was wearing clothes that still pretty much smelled like fix-a-flat but at least it was really hot and there was smoke in the air from all the fires near by. Ahhh showbiz!
It was a very fun show though. Great crowd and a very interesting venue. Check out the video…

The first person to tell me the name of the song Dwight sings where he shoots two people, I’ll send you a signed CD!

Peace,love,happiness! jc

Hello All!

I just got back from doing a little run with Christopher Cross. This is the second symphony date I’ve done with him and wow is it fun!… initially I was a bit intimidated being surrounded by all these amazingly dedicated and talented musicians. These people can read anything that’s put in front of them. I don’t know how they do that; even if they’ve never heard the song before to just be able to blow through a chart without a mistake… well, the good news is, they’re not aliens! They’re regular people just like you and me. Anyone who does anything for that many hours a day for that many years is going to have some alien like qualities- you just can’t help it, but really they are quite normal… what am I saying?… they’re totally strange! Anyone who spends THAT much of their lives in a room reading notes on a paper while all the other kids are out playing is going to be a little nuts! Trust me, I know! I’M a little nuts myself!…
Dallas was the second of two symphony shows I’ve done with him. The first was Columbus. Most of the musicians are pretty quiet and to themselves but I did talk to a couple of them. This one lady was practicing really hard to get a gig with the NY symphony; they actually have agents for some of these players… she was pretty much a gypsy who traveled around staying with people she’d met along the way--nice places too--- people who are honored to have a classical musician at that level staying with them. I guess such a guest can be quite a feather in your cap, in those circles. Another guy I spoke with (who was in the percussion section) sounded like he’d been waiting his whole life just to be able to play this one part on one of CC’s songs… basically hitting two coconuts together in the verse. It stuck out like a sore thumb because of the acoustic nature of the instrument and volume of the song in that section. We all spun our heads around as if to say, “what the hell was that?” The percussion was way in the back so, the delay we heard made it sound like it was really out of time and trust me, coconuts are loud! The arranger ended up writing that part out of the chart. Poor guy spent his whole childhood banging coconuts together for 8 hours a day and he finally gets his big moment and he’s shut down for sticking out like a sore coconut!
OK, on to Dallas… really good symphony and a great venue; The Meyerson Symphony Center. Beautiful! We were opening up for Air Supply. After sound-check (Air Supply) you could tell that they weren’t very happy. We found out later that it was because they were too loud and they couldn’t hear themselves… drummers! It’s a big deal, the whole volume thing, these are delicate beautiful instruments and they don’t want to ruin their hearing… I don’t blame them. I heard that in Philly, the string section is suing the horn section for being too loud… that’s what I heard! Anyway, they seemed to settle down after we got up there. Christopher’s music really lends itself to symphony dates. Chris Walden is the arranger and conductor and has done some really great arrangements.
In the end- all was right in the symphony world and everyone had a good time… except the coconut player… sorry!

Till next time… jc

July 20th, 2009

I just got back from Spain! The travel was hard especially going there for only one show but, it was Spain none the less…

I always love traveling to other countries and seeing how people live. It gives me an appreciation for things I have as well as things I don’t have. A few years ago I was I Barcelona for a month working (playing) at a club and it was very eye opening. Taking time in the middle of the day for personal things whether it be rest or errands or whatever… 2 hour + meals, the need for vacations…down time is important. Being a driver or a waiter or most of the things that we, especially here in So Cal see as a necessary evil until we get our big break, seem to be OK. A bartender and I had a conversation about this very thing and he was happy to make enough money to spend time with Family and friends and go on vacation. I’m sure there are exceptions but it seems to be a common way of looking at life.

OK, back to the Peniscola Jazz festival it’s about 2 1/2 hours outside of Barcelona and is a beautiful seaside village with a Castle! Everyone there is beautiful in their own way, some more so than others in bathing attire but no one seems to care about what you think. I won’t be getting a speedo anytime soon but I love the attitude. I’m not sure if the food was REALLY better than here but just being there made it taste good.

After the show several people came up to us as we were standing outside waiting to leave and just about everyone came up and said, “congratulations” as if we had won something. It was a great crowd. They were very appreciative and responsive. The attitude about music is the same as food and vacations… a vital part of life. I can’t wait until I’m performing MY music live in front of these wonderful people!

Until next time…

Peace,love,happiness!
jc