A Sunday afternoon in Spoonful 

Spoonful

I hear a violin tonight.

It's competing with the rain, but I hear it. The neighbour's dog
is asleep in his house on the porch, and I hear a violin.

I can tell by listening that the musician's eyes are closed, and
she is trusting it, letting the old wood talk.

Sometimes when I can't sleep I imagine a town that doesn't exist
just yet. In my mind I create the streets, the houses, walkways
that take us down to the square, the harbor.

I'm walking there with Disa. Should we put a park here?, I ask.
She's interested in a water fountain for the thirsty, building nooks
where those whose feet are tired can curl up and read a book.

If the insomnia is extra intense, I begin making lists of the people
we'll invite to live in this imaginary town. Oh, sure, it'll be a town at
first, maybe a small city in time. On Sundays, no one will work.
It will be a day of music and feasting, stories told by elders.

I'll invite Gandhi, Goethe, Gibran and Rumi to live there. If Jesus
feels like company, he could live there, next door to Buddha.

We'll have poetry nights with William Blake, Rilke, Pablo Neruda,
Dylan Thomas if he promises not to knock things over. Raymond
Carver, e.e. cummings, Marquez, Elizabeth Cotton, Fred Neil,
Flannery, Joni, Thelonious, Laxness, Kundera, Akhmatova...

I want Boo Radley to live in our town, with his own housekeeping
room at the Mazappa House. Did you know he's got a big crush
on Sylvia Plath?

I'd invite Mickey Newbury to live there. Leonard Cohen could
stay in town when he's not at the monastery. Buffy Saint-Marie
could live beside us; that way I'd get to see her smile every day.
John Fahey, Steve Young. I'd have Cowboy Johnson and Jonmark
Stone there, Marie Rhines, Gillian and David, and that gypsy girl
named Lou who knew the entire Hank Williams songbook and sang
in a way that made the whole night sky seem to cry behind her.

I'd like Emmylou to come and sing with me sometime. I'd like
Frank Harte to teach us all a thousand songs. Karine Polwart,
Magne Hellesjo, Martin Simpson, Phil Ochs, Egbert Meyers,
Sandy Denny, Townes, June Tabor, Texas Granny, Taj...

The list grows long, the town becoming a small city. In another
dream, I ponder what to name this place. A name ought to be
a kind of medicine, an elixir, something that fills you back up
when you're running low.

Imagine. A town full of people you love, people who inspire you,
people who give you the courage to stand up to your gift.

I swear I hear an old violin coming up from the harbor. Do you
hear it, too? It's windy and the eaves make noise, but I hear it.

It's not the violin that drips with honey, not the self-conscious one
they sneak in back of movie scenes to make you cry. No, it's an
elder one, deeper, more brittle. The oil has left the wood, and
there is a longing that stretches the notes between us.

I like to think in our lives there is a kind of lemon that our souls
bring their own honey to.

Let's call our town Spoonful.

DL

Martha Wainwright Arrives 

Back 40 : Spring 2005 Update

The Back 40 is a way of letting you know what I've been
playing on the show. Listings are in no particular order.

Fair & Square : John Prine
http://www.ohboy.com

Who Is This America? : Antibalas
http://www.antibalas.com

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning : Bright Eyes
http://www.saddle-creek.com/

The Milk-Eyed Mender : Joanna Newsom
http://www.sfburning.com/jnewsom.html

Sit Down & Sing : Roy Bailey
http://www.folktrax.com/folktrax2/H_BAI001.php

Suit Yourself : Shelby Lynne
http://www.shelbylynne.com

Mercy Now : Mary Gauthier
http://www.marygauthier.com

Mowing Machair : Fine Friday
http://www.finefriday.com

Woman King : Iron & Wine
http://www.ironandwine.com

Hotwalker : Tom Russell
http://www.tomrussell.com

Dear Heather : Leonard Cohen
http://www.leonardcohen.com

Faultlines : Karine Polwart
http://www.karinepolwart.com

Knuckle Down : Ani Difranco
http://www.righteousbabe.com

Martha Wainwright : Martha Wainright
http://www.bradthegame.com/martha-wainwright/

Hopetown : Jenny Whiteley
http://www.jennywhiteley.com

I Never Heard You Knockin' : Malcolm Holcombe
http://www.malcolmholcombe.com

The Waltz Of The Leaves : Eamon Friel
http://www.eamonfriel.com

The Duhks : The Duhks
http://www.duhks.com/index.php

Live At The Talbot : Various Artists
http://www.redkiterecords.co.uk

A Brief History : The Waifs
http://www.thewaifs.com/

About Baghdad : Amer Tawfiq
http://www.aboutbaghdad.com

Funeral : The Arcade Fire
http://www.arcadefire.com/

The Waking Hour : David Francey
http://www.davidfrancey.com

Why The Long Face : Suzzy & Maggie Roche
http://www.roches.com

Live In Aught-Three : James McMurtry
http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com

A Different Life : Emily Smith
http://www.emilysmith.org

Must I Paint You A Picture? : Billy Bragg
http://www.billybragg.co.uk

Redbird : Redbird
http://www.younghunter.com/redbird.html

A : Knut Hamre & Steve Tibbetts
http://www.hollowear.com/feature/hamre-tibbetts.html

Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand : Waterson-Carthy
http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/acatalog/index2.html

People's Spring : Warsaw Village Band
http://www.worldvillagemusic.com

Oval Room : Blaze Foley
http://www.lostartrecords.com

A Grain Of Sand : Cowboy Johnson
http://www.cowboyjohnson.com

Bittertown : Lori McKenna
http://www.lorimckenna.com

Clouds Without Rain : Bobby Taylor
http://www.songnovel.com

Breakfast In Balquhidder : Orchestra Macaroon
http://www.theshipbuilders.com

I Watched The Devil Die : Chris Cotton
http://www.cottonchris.com

Lucky Burden : Kim Barlow
http://www.caribourecords.com

Banjoman: Tribute To Derroll Adams : Various
http://www.theessink.com/en/

Vatten Under Broarna : Lars Winnerback**
http://www.winnerback.net/

DL

**I've heard only a taste of this, and include it based on that, plus the highest
recommendations of a friend in Norway. I'm in the midst of trying to contact
Lars and see if a promo copy is available for radio play.