Stay Cool.

Man that was a hot weekend.

It`s still is and i am hoping for a cooler relief soon.

I didn`t leave the house all weekend with the exception of a visit to
my local Westerly Natural Foods
to Amys for bread,to the wine store
for a big bottle of already chilled
Woodbridge Chardonnay
and to the video store where i rent two very good movies.

History Of Violence is a a very good thriller
that kept us cool late Saturday night.

Red Eye is another chilling
thriller that cooled our Sunday night in a different way.

Saturday afternoon i had two students coming over to my studio
and i spent two hours teaching them new ways to get their soloing
inspired by new positions and hot licks.

It`s always so much fun teaching young students old tricks and get them
all wired up and watch the excitement on their faces as they learn new
things to develop their skills.

After they`ve gone i tuned to WKCR 89.9 FM
just in time to hear my song "I`ve Made Up My Mind "playing on the radio which was so COOL.

I spent the next two hours playing and recording with my Gibson 335
and using my classic Dyna Comp compression pedal which is so cool and always puts a smile on my face.

For dinner i cooked this amazing Risotto with Corn Tomatoes and Basil
recipe that i discovered in The Best Of Fine Cooking FRESH
and that in combination with a great chilled sallad and wine put a big smile
on Kathleen`s face for the rest of the evening!

And that was Cool!

Heat Wave.

I can name 1001 reasons for choosing N.Y.C. as my home ,
but living in the city under these hot summer days ain`t one.

I am sitting here trying to save energy,with my air-condition
in the fan setting and two actual fans working non stop day and night.

It reminds me of my days of my youth in Athens
when i first discovered the guitar
and i isolated myself in my parents apartment for one summer
playing as much as up to eight hours per day with no air-conditioning
and nothing but a tiny office fan to cool me off the heat wave
of the August month.

But it was cool to be there all by myself, with my guitar
and many records to listen to that got me
inspired me to play some more.

In the evening i was walking downtown to Plaka , where i could
sit outside, mingle with tourists,eating Souvlaki ,
drinking Retsina
and dreaming of an island beach .

But you see in Athens we don`t have Humidity.

The air is dry and crispy with smells of Jasmine that arouses
your imagination and sexuality.

Here in Manhattan it`s getting really sticky and the city smells
like a sewer.

It`s the humidity that makes your breathing difficult
and the streets unbearable.

But people are telling me that it is much worst in the South.

No wonder that Americans are cranking on their AC for to get by
the hot summer days, not thinking that by doing so
they only contribute to a much faster Global Warming
with Devastating results for the whole Planet.

And it makes me wonder how did they survive before the
discovery of the AC?

I met my sister while in Athens in June.

She was returning from a conference in Munich,
when the Mundial
was going on and thousands of tourists were there, in the midst of another
heat wave , but she told me to my astonishment that
Germans
don`s use ACs even at their Hotels.


We Greeks use them in moderation and only when
we really have to.

We are not really big fans of the ACs.

But my sister who is a very prominent guide in Crete
was telling me that the only people who want the AC
cranked all the time even before getting into the buses,
are the Americans.

They demand it!

No wonder why they refuse to sit on the table
with other nations to discuss Global Warming when
they are responsible for 36% of the global polution themselves.

I have only one advise to give.

Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!

Communication Breakdown.

If you are familiar with Led Zeppelin,
their first breakthrough album,side two,track 3 song it`s titled
"Communication Breakdown".

I`ve never experience one like i did the last ten days and now that
i survived it i am here to tell you how awful it can be.

Out of reach and out of touch for ten days.

I had no means of communication except my Verizon
wireless cellphone that i hate to use but i had to in order to fix all my other
problems.

I spent about seven hours talking to people in Manila
and when things got out of hand i was finally transfered to
Eartlink`s
headquarters somewhere in the U.S.A.

I spent several hours talking to Time Warner`s
technical stuff,but i could never find the answer to my problems.

Once i had my digital telephone service back i stopped having internet
service,or when i had internet service i didn`t have a phone service.

That nightmare continued for ten days,till i finally realized that something
was wrong with my Apple Power Book G4
and i took it to Tekserve,
where they told me that my Ethernet port was fried from one of the
of the previous weeks big thunderstorms.

My only option was to go Wireless.

Now my ability to communicate is restored and i am Alive after such a long
and bad ordeal.

But after being able to read what`s happening around the world I am a Happy
Man with No complaints whatsoever.

Crazy World.

Back to N.Y.C after a six hours bus drive from
Cooperstown.

Trailways makes it fun to travel.

You just sit back on your comfortable seat, stretch your legs
(much more room than on an airoplane) and relax,
staring out the window at all this green lush and beautiful scenery,
that i believe hasn`t change much since Indians were living there,
before the "Civilized"white folks forced them out of their natural inhabitant.

But as strange as it may seem, given the fact that
Americans,
have done more damage to the planet in their two hundred fifty years
of existence than any other nation with thousand years of history,
the beautiful forests, rivers animals are still there to remind us
of the true nature`s power and beauty.

We arrived home late Sunday night in the midst of a heat wave
that turned Manhattan
to a smelly sweaty crowded island,
streets filled with garbage and a rottten smell everywhere.

We were out of Phone and Internet service.

Panic striked us.

There was nothing we could do but to go to bed and start
racing for to get our services back on Monday.

After my two cups of Coffee i walked over to
Verizon located
at the corner of 42nd st.and 6th ave.to reactivate my cell phone
account and get a new number.

While in Europe i keep the same cellphone number for the last ten years
in highly coorparate America the number lasts only three months
and if you don`t use it you loose it.

This policy serves the company well because you have to pay
reactivating fees again and again and again or paying
a monthly steady fee for to keep your number working.

In this Country Money talks, not the People.

Meanwhile i was running over to
Time Warner to change the modem
which i thought was responsible and came back home with new one
my wife was on the cellphone for two hours talking to some employees
in Manila (Another Continent)
about reastablishing our phone service with Earthlink .


Today is Thursday and we are still waiting to receive the new aparatus
someone over in Manilla thought was the reason
of our problem.

Digital phone sucks.

Earhlink Sucks Big Time.

Upstate N.Y.

I am getting ready for My Upstate New York Gigs.

Tomorrow night my band SOUKIS is performing at
Music on Mainstreet
in Canagoharie .

I have been there before visiting our dear friends Alice,Chris and Ella
and i sure had a wonderful time.

The landscape is wild and you can still feel the Indian Spirits all around.

The name Canagoharie is an Indian name meaning the whirling water
of the Village`s River that`s running cold and fresh down from the mountains.

The village has been hard hit by the recent floods and tomorrow
night it will be my chance to try and make people happy with my
music and have them all dance and feel good.

Although my fellow musicians are returning to the Big Apple
on Wednesday me and my wife kathleen will stay with our friends
and reunite with Nature,taking long walks in the woods, holding hands,
filling our lungs with fresh air and listening to the endless flow of the river.

On Friday night I have a gig at Cherry Valley.

I have been driving through this beautiful village in the past
and now i will finally get the chance to spent some time there,
get to know people and introduce them to my music and songs
from my "Transblues" CD.

I am playing there with two very good local musicians with whom
i have played some gigs in the past.

Rob Graham on Bass
Mike Cairo on Drums.

It`s going to be a Fun Gig and one that will get us ready for
the next evening`s show on the Blues Train .

Saturday night i am playing on the Blues Express train that runs
from Milford
to Cooperstown and back.

It`s a crazy, memorable experience that i have been privileged
on doing for the last three years.

It was hard the first time to keep my balance with the train
moving through an amazing landscape,while playing my guitar
and singing in front of a crowd that was gettting wilder as the
evening was going on but i guess after doing it for three years
i have developed my balance skills.

And it`s always great fun to be playing for all these blues
lovers while the train is moving on down the tracks.

Nice Price.

Saturday afternoon,beautiful day,nice weather,sunshine and blue skies.

I `ve got an urge to leave the loft and take a walk towards
Central Park.

I walked up Broadway making my way through
the thousands of tourists,around
Columbus Center
and continued walking, passed the Lincoln Center
heading towards my final destination which was
Tower Records.

I took the escalator downstairs, where the Jazz and Blues section is
and i started walking through the aisles of CDs.

I checked out the new releases,magazines and books, while listening
to a drum solo from a jazz recording that was coming through the speakers
and after a while i got into it, carefully listening to all the nuances,
colors, rhythms and different sounds this amazing drummer was
producing in my fully sincere admiration.

While i was checking out the vast amount of Blues CDs the music changed
and the amazing voice of Howlin` Wolf stopped me right there on my tracks.

Right there in my blues haze i saw this Michael Bloomfield
CD under "Nice Price" titled "If You Love These Blues,Play`em As You Please".

Since i never owned a Mike Bloomfield recording except the "East-West"
album by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band i was so happy to finally
have one and i hurried back home eager to listen to my new acquisition.

Portable Stereo.

I was looking for a Portable Stereo.

My ancient Aiwa was slowly but steadily
loosing it`s capacity to satisfy my needs,and
i had to search for a new one that will serve all purposes right.


I needed a CD Radio,Cassette-Corder that could play CD-Rs/CD-RWs recorded
in the CD-DA Format,one that would sound better than all it`s peers and
look Good!

So on the morning of
4th of July
while the city was much quieter
and relaxed than normal, with most of New Yorkers
out of town and everyone getting ready to attend the
evening fireworks,
and after having spent some time
in front of my computer researching JR`s
site for the best deal,i took the express 3 train to
Park Row.

I spent ten minutes at the store and left with the best of what the
portable stereo world had to offer.

My new
Sony CFD-F10
looks great,goes everywhere,plays all of my CD`s (Original and Copies)
All of my cassettes (Normal and High Bias) and Sounds Great!

Lucilles.

Sunday July 2nd was Soukis debut at
Lucilles.

Both Rooms there are my two favourite ones in the City
to listen to live music and i was very happy and excited
to be playing there.

I have seen many of my favourite players in the big room
and the sound has always been very good, no matter if the guitars
are plugged in a combo Fender Deluxe
or two Marshall 100 watt Heads
driving two or four Marshall 4/12 cabintes.

The difference between the big room and Lucilles is that in the second
you can`t play loud especially between 8:00-10:00 pm when people
are dining.

That`s a blessing in disguise for the singer,who doesn`t have to shout
to be heard as it`s often the case,when everybody is gradually turning
the volume up as the night goes on.

I was aware of the situation and for that reason my first set,
from 8:00 til 9:00 pm, was an acoustic one.

It had been a long time since i last brought my Guild
acoustic-electric to a gig and i was beautifully surprised by the sound
that was coming through the P.A and monitors,together with
my rich sounding voice , Steve Antonakos`s Epiphone
acoustic-electric and Jeff Stewart`s Harp.

I am always happy to play an acoustic set especially because of the way
i can hear all the nuances of my voice coming through without stressing.

After a break we switched to electric guitars and Margie Peters joined in
on bass with Tom Papadatos on drums for a set of blues with some new
originals throwing in.

Steve and I used the house`s amps.

He plugged in an old Twin Reverb
and I in a Line6 Flextone III
which was kind of complicated to set in the right sound but we did alright.

We did two more sets of Rockin`Blues with lots of originals
and people were dancing,everybody had a good time,
sold some cds and we were told that they would love
to have SOUKIS back there again soon.

Destiny?

On Thursday night June 29th i had two invitations for
Robin Trower
who was playing at my neighbourhood`s favorite club at BBKings .

Needles to say i was very excited to see the Man who has been such a great influence
to my playing ,tone and writing, (although not instantly recognised in my songs, it is there),
and to whom i had the privilege of talking and meeting in person on my first visit to N.Y.C.
nine years ago at a club that`s not longer existing ,called "Tramps".

See picture posted on my site Soukis.


The concert was sold out and they had already put up a new date
in October which i will hopefully also attend.

Because of my teaching schedule i missed the opening act
and i arrived there just in time when they were testing Robin`s Amps,
Pedals,Mikes and everything else on the stage,
minutes before the show.

At around 9:00 pm. a man came out announcing that the concert
was broadcasting On the air all over the East Coast
which made it even more fun for me
to be there witnessing it all.


Right after that Robin and the band took the stage
and the first chords of the song "Twice Removed From Yesterday"
from his first album with the same title, stormed our ears.

His Guitar Sound is one of the best i have ever heard and although loud
i had to take my earplugs out for to hear and feel every nuance
that was pouring out of the two Marhsallheads
through the two Marshall 4/12 cabinets.

He used one head for the clean sounds and the second one for the dirtier ones.

His pedal board was simple and i beleive he was using a
Treble Booster ,
aUnivibe and a
Vox wah-wah pedal.

The current line up is:
Dave Bronze - Bass
Davey Pattison- Vocals
Pete Thompson - Drums
Robin Trower - Guitar

He played songs from different eras with the ecxeption of
three albums from the 80`s that he considers too commercial
for his bluesy taste.

The highlights of course were the classics "Bridge of sighs",
"Too Rolling Stoned" "Day of the Eagle" and "Daydream"
that he played on the encore.

I left the place nightdreaming and wishing that my
Sunday July 2nd appearance at Lucilles
will have the same effect on some
people like Robin Had on Me.