San Francisco.

I was in San Francisco for one week
visiting my friends Jeff and Sandy.

It was my first trip to California
and i was very excited about it.

Me and my wife Kathleen flew with Jet Blue
from J.F.K
to Oakland on a five and half hour long flight.

Jeff, Sandy their newly adapted, one and a half year dog Abigail,
welcomed us at three o`clock in the morning
and after two glasses of red wine they led us to our
spacious room overlooking at an amazingly beautiful garden.

We slept with the windows open breathing the fresh ocean air
and woke up Saturday morning
to a breakfast table full of fresh goodies right from the Farmers Market.

West Portal is a very nice
neighborhood as we soon discovered walking around
on this sunny-warm Autumn day,before heading to the
Ocean Beach.

Abbie was running around playing with all the dogs on the beach
while i was experiencing first hand the coldness of the
Pacific Ocean on my bare feet.

Jeff is not only a very good harmonica player and a dear friend,
he is an amazing cook as well, so after a long day on the beach
and walking around the nearby park we came home where
he started cooking the most delicious pork stew i have ever taste
accompanied with fresh delicious sallads,cheeses, wine and fruits.

Oh what a feast every day at their place it was!

Next days we discovered the Mission, the Castro and
the Twin Peaks districts
saw the California sea lions at the Beach Street ,
visited the redwod forest at Muir Woods
played with Abbie at Muir beach
crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to
Sausalito with it`s Mediterranean Feel
was the setting mentioned by Otis Redding and
Steve Cropper in their 1967 tune "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay."
San Francisco based band Santana had an instrumental song
called "Samba de Sausalito" on their 1973 album Welcome.

I am looking forward to have Jeff playing with us at BBKing`s
on Christmas Eve bringing back to
New York his wonderful energy and talent.

San Francisco.

I was in San Francisco for one week
visiting my friends Jeff and Sandy.

It was my first trip to California
and i was very excited about it.

Me and my wife Kathleen flew with Jet Blue
from J.F.K
to Oakland on a five and half hour long flight.

Jeff, Sandy their newly adapted, one and a half year dog Abigail,
welcomed us at three o`clock in the morning
and after two glasses of red wine they led us to our
spacious room overlooking at an amazingly beautiful garden.

We slept with the windows open breathing the fresh ocean air
and woke up Saturday morning
to a breakfast table full of fresh goodies right from the Farmers Market.

West Portal is a very nice
neighborhood as we soon discovered walking around
on this sunny-warm Autumn day,before heading to the
Ocean Beach.

Abbie was running around playing with all the dogs on the beach
while i was experiencing first hand the coldness of the
Pacific Ocean on my bare feet.

Jeff is not only a very good harmonica player and a dear friend,
he is an amazing cook as well, so after a long day on the beach
and walking around the nearby park we came home where
he started cooking the most delicious pork stew i have ever taste
accompanied with fresh delicious sallads,cheeses, wine and fruits.

Oh what a feast every day at their place it was!

Next days we discovered the Mission, the Castro and
the Twin Peaks districts
saw the California sea lions at the Beach Street ,
visited the redwod forest at Muir Woods
played with Abbie at Muir beach
crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to
Sausalito with it`s Mediterranean Feel
was the setting mentioned by Otis Redding and
Steve Cropper in their 1967 tune "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay."
San Francisco based band Santana had an instrumental song
called "Samba de Sausalito" on their 1973 album Welcome.

I am looking forward to have Jeff playing with us at BBKing`s
on Christmas Eve bringing back to
New York his wonderful energy and talent.

Monday Jam at the Yard.

It was a beautiful night when i left home walking down
Broadway to 34th str.
to get the Path train
to Hoboken.

I was there early for the Monday jam at the Yard
hosted by Big Ed
starting at 9:30 pm.

I haven`t been there for quite a while and i was anticipating to meet all my friends.

The first one i met was Christine Santelli,
and after a hearty greeting i left to get a bite to eat and come back in time
to sign my name for the jam.

At 9:30 Big Ed with Arthur Neilson
on the bass and Matt Moussau on the drums started playing
while one after the other musicians were coming in the place
signing their names on the blackboard.
They played one set and affter a small break they changed instruments .
Arthur Neilson picked up the guitar while Big Ed took the bass
and then V.D.King from band Better Off Dead
started singing and playing the guitar and after one hour set
Big Ed started calling people on stage.

Since i was early i was the first one to be invited.
Margey had just walked in and there she was ready to jam with me.
V.D.King played the drums and we did three songs.

After we finished Popa Chubby
took the stage and he did some new songs of his which was fun.

I spent the rest of the evening at the bar talking to Jason Green
and after one more Bass from the tap
i left the place while the music was still smoking.

Nasty Ned.

It was pouring when i left my loft at Midtown Manhattan
heading towards Times Square
subway station to catch the Number 1 local train to Franklin St.

There i met with Margey and after spenting half an hour at her loft
siping on a Guinness, we went over to the parking place to take her
silver Chrysler and while The Sky was still Crying
we found ourselves waiting in line for the Holland Tunnel
and after ten minutes drive under
the Hudson River
we came out of it at New Jersey .

We were heading towards Garwood to attend
a jam session at Crossroads hosted by my new friend
Nasty Ned.

After 25 miles that took us one hour to drive because of the extremely
heavy rain we parked the car infront of the club.

Nasty Ned was outside and although we had never met before he immediately
recognized me from the pictures on Soukis
and gave us a very warm welcome.

The place was packed with a mixed crowd of an audience and musicians
with lots of instruments carefully laying around waiting their
turn of appearance on the stage.

The first act i saw it was a punk group of youngsters
playing their own songs with a conviction that
got them the applause they were looking for.

The second act was a solo
of one guy singing out his guts performing his songs
on an acoustic guitar and soloing on a harmonica, Dylan style.

The third act was a Rockabilly group of four guys
that had reach a small success with a single about
the railway that crosses Garwood on it`s way to NYC

After that i took the stage with Margey playing the bass
and a guy from the first punk group on the drums.

The result was a punky interpretation of three blues standards
that got us quite an applaud, concetration given to my lengthy solos.

After some pictures of me and Ned was taken we said goodbye
and made a promise of meeting again soon and do an acoustic
set on the T.V together.

NYCity Center.

For the second time this week i visited the NYCity Center
attending this year`s Fall for Dance festival.

The New York City Center with its unique neo-Moorish facade was built in 1923
and it is such a beautiful building.

No matter where you sit the acoustics are great and the stage is ideal for dance.

Last night`s program started with Streb Extreme Action titled Streb vs. Gravity was amazing!

The next dance was titled Mais We and performed by Aszure & Artists was one of my favourites too.

Wednesday night was great too,and both nights were sold out
with the special offer of $10 per ticket.

Here at home I am trying to get my space page going,
after having neglected it for a while.

I `ve got me some very interesting new friends up there
at: SOUKIS.
and it`s becoming lots of fun.

Back to the Big Apple.

Since my return to the Big Apple the weather has been great.
The city is welcoming me back.
Yesterday was another glorious day and i found myself walking
over to Bryant Park.

I sat there for a while reading the news and magazines
the Main Public Library puts in display and then i walked over to
the Mid- Manhattan Library
where i borrowed three cds.

Robert Fripp`s"Love Cannot Bear"
is a beautiful album which belongs in the New Age category
and it`s a part of Fripp`s Soundscapes.

Omar and the Howlers boogie hard
on their 1988 release "Wall of Pride" and last but not least
and for the first time ever spinning on my cd player
the country music`s female sensation ,11 times award winner
Gretchen Wilson.

Well this time i think i`ve gone too far....

Earlier this morning i visited my friend producer and Grammy Award Winner
Tom Spahn at his new location at Legacy Studios.

We are planning on doing some project together.

Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden. 9/30/06

It`s always hard to leave my parents behind now when they are old.

It`s always hard to say goodbye to the ones you love,
not knowing when you are going to see them again.

That is my main reason for travelling back to Greece
twice this summer.
This time i flew direct on Olympic Airlines
and i must say the i enjoy flying with them more than any other ailrine.
Plus it is a direct flight from JFK
to Eleftherios Venizelos
which makes things easier.

It`s a nine hour flight going there and a ten and a half hour flight back.

On my way back on Friday i was thinking about the concert
on Saturday that my guitar student and friend Carlos had gotten
tickets to as a present for my birthday which was at the begining
of the month.

He came by my house to pick me up at 7:30 pm with a taxi
and on our way there he asked me if i have ever seen a concert
at Madison Square Garden
and he could not beleive me when i said NO.

The place is amazing!

I was totaly blown away by the structure-size- and acoustics.

I entered another world and stayed there for three hours.

Robert Cray opened the show at exactly 8:00 pm
and he played some older songs and some from his latest release "Twenty".

At 9:00 pm Eric Clapton took the stage and the audience went crazy.

He started with the song "Pretending" and for two hours the band was smoking.
He seemed a little tired after three sold out shows and he was taking care of his voice
avoiding the high notes.

Derek Trucks was really awsome on slide
and they played songs from "Layla",him playing the parts the Duane Allman
did thirty years ago.

Thank you Carlo for the invite!

I really apreciate it.

Home again.

It depends to where i refer as home.

Back to Manhattan after spenting twenty days
in Athens and Crete.
I mostly stayed at my summer house in Agia Marina,
located 33 km northeast of Athens towards
Nea Makri.

I had booked two live appearances and this time i traveled with my trusty
Brian Moore
since all of my guitars with the exception of my classical
Yamaha
are now in my Manhattan loft.

The shows were fun witth the exception of too much second hand smoking.

The Greeks don`t really get it
and they smoke like there`s no tomorrow.

Although in every packet of cigarettes are warnings about
how distructive smoking is,
they smoke like it`s the healthiest thing you can do to yourself.

It`s bewildering to me.

I took the fast boat to Chania
from the port of Piraeus
and in four hours i was there.
Super modern,super fast but the bothering factor is the smoking
and non smoking areas.

Although i sat in a non smoking area everybody around me
were smoking like crazy and after four hours in there i had to spent
two solid days laying on the beach swimming and breathing fresh air
in order to get out of my lungs all this toxic smoke.

I am happy that smoking is strictly prohibited in every public space in New York.

What a difference!

After so many years playing clubs in Athens and inhaling so much
second hand smoke,i made my getaway to a smoking free enviroment!