photos by Ryan Barkan

"On Saturday, the singer/songwriter/artist Daniel Johnston turned 50 and he celebrated with a couple of personal appearances in Austin. After a short visit to Waterloo Records, Johnston turned up at his famous "Hi, How Are You" mural (at the corner of 21st and Guadalupe, across from the University of Texas campus).

Well-wishers sang him "Happy Birthday" then Johnston pulled out an acoustic guitar to sing a few of his own songs. Then he posed for a few photos with fans and that was it. Happy Birthday, Daniel." [30 Days Out]

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston celebrated his 50th birthday @ the 'Hi, How Are You' wall in Austin (pics)"

The brilliant, controversial, legendary and much-covered 'outsider' folk musician (and visual artist) Daniel Johnston is turning 50 years old on January 22nd, and those closest to him are helping him celebrate with the launch of new projects including a call-in number where anyone can leave Daniel a 'Happy Birthday' message.

Call (936) 463-4688 now to hear a message from Daniel and to record your greeting. People are encouraged to "tell a story, sing Daniel a song, cover one of his songs, or anything else that lets Daniel, and his fans, know how much he means to you and to the world of music. Throw on a party hat if you got one, and leave any message you want. Any length you want. Anything goes."

Daniel will get all the messages, and most of them will air along with special musician guest messages, on a 50th birthday show happening on the new Daniel Johnston Radio (Radio.hihowareyou.com) on January 22nd at 8pm CT. The live birthday show will also include Daniel's music and stories from the man himself.

In addition to the birthday hotline and radio station, Daniel is also about to release his first-ever comic book. "Through Kickstarter.com, Daniel will raise money to publish a limited run of the comic book he's always wanted to make, titled Daniel Johnston's Infinite Comic Book of Musical Greatness. The comic will also exist online complete with music and interactive elements which will take Daniel's vision to a whole new dimension." Stay tuned for the direct Kickstarter link UPDATE: It is live.

Besides a 2pm on 1/22 birthday appearance at the famous "Hi, How Are You?" wall in Austin (which you'll hear about if you call the number), Daniel has no upcoming live shows announced, but he did just play a 50th birthday celebration at Fitzgerald's in Houston, Texas on 1/14. Videos from that show ("Happy Birthday" included) are below...

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston turning 50 - call & wish him happy birthday, listen to his radio show, get ready for his comic book"

Islands were the special musical guest at the Big Teriffic show at Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday night, and as part of their short 'funeral set', Nick Diamonds and gang performed a medly of two Daniel Johnston songs: "True Love Will Find You In the End" and "Honey I Sure Miss You". They sounded great. Check out the proof in the video below...

Continue reading "Islands played MHOW, covered Daniel Johnston songs (video) "

Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse has committed suicide, according to a report from Rolling Stone. His family has released a statement reading, "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you." [Pitchfork]

R.I.P.

Continue reading "Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse), RIP "

photos by Chris La Putt

The Swell Season's new album, Strict Joy, is out October 27th on Anti-. On Monday night, September 14th, the Irish & Czech duo (who are no longer a couple) performed at 92YTribeca in Manhattan. 92YTribeca is an intimate, and kind of swanky, downtown NYC venue that is much smaller than the places the Academy Award-winning band played last time they were here (Radio City and Summerstage). It's also probably much smaller than the ones they'll play next (nothing announced yet) (Beacon Theatre?). Bands often visit NYC for press purposes before an album, and I think that's related to why this show happened. Limited tickets were sold for $35 a pop. It was a packed house with tables taking up most of the room. People stood on the sides and in the back.

The setup on stage was spare. Glen Hansard had an old acoustic guitar which sometimes had "a mind of its own". Markéta Irglová sat at the piano when she wasn't standing up singing, either with Glen or by herself. They alternated playing solo and together. They flew in the night before, and hadn't performed in a while. Glen related that last fact to his forgetting to pack a few things, like his guitar tuner. To remedy the situation, he told us he downloaded iTune, an iPhone app that helps you tune your instrument. He even gave a demonstration of it after showing us how the Brian Eno iPhone app works (not sure if it was the old one or the brand new one). The iPhone segment was one of Glenn's many trademark (and entertaining) stories of the evening. His funny anecdotes offset the feelings of woe that dominate Swell Season songs.

Glen was as modest and down to earth as ever. He became frustrated when his guitar didn't do what he wanted. He thanked everyone for coming (especially Paddy, or is it Patty, in the front row who he thinks has been at every NYC show he's ever played), and for paying money to do so. He acknowledged that he expected the great success of last year to not always be there in the future. I imagine he is fine with the possibility that it won't always be Radio City and the Academy Awards, but I have no doubt The Swell Season can do it again (even if their demographic becomes less my friends, and more my mom's). Everything else aside, Glen (who is also in the band The Frames), can sing and play. And so can Marketa. It was especially noticeable since I'd just returned at 5am that morning from ATP NY, a festival in upstate NY where I saw a variety of bands, of varying musical abilities, perform.

The Swell Season setlist ranged from new songs to old songs to covers to something Glen wrote the night before. I don't know exactly what Glen's relationship is to Nico Muhly (Nico may have worked on the new album), but I know that Nico and Glen have a friend and collaborator Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) in common. I didn't see Thomas there, but Nico (who performed with Thomas at the Miller Theatre just a few days earlier) was, and he played a solo piano song in the middle of Swell Season's set. It was kind of weird - maybe out of place. Glen introduced his friend Nico before leaving the stage (Marketa was already off). Nico then came up and played his song, and then Nico left and then the Swell Season came back. Regardless, special guests are always fun and I like Nico.

"Falling Slowly" (the big hit) was played early in the set, and my initial excitement turned into "I guess I'm sick of this song", but the Once songs they played at the end, "When Your Mind's Made Up" and "Lies", felt much better. Other highlights included an upbeat cover of Tim Buckley's :"Buzzin' Fly" mixed with a bit of Jeff Buckley's "Grace", anything Marketa did solo, and the closing number which was a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town". During that, Glen had the NYC crowd singing along to the chorus which he repeated a few times, partially A Capella and sometimes with accompanying funny faces, accents, and vampire gestures. He sang part of it with a German accent, and he ended with a pose he called a "Kanye moment". The crowd followed with a laugh and a standing ovation.

More pictures and tour dates (which were recently announced, but no NYC yet), and the NY show's setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Swell Season (and Nico Muhly & Brian Eno's iPhone app) played 92YTribeca - pics, review, setlist & 2009 Tour Dates "

DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Freedom (new MP3)

Daniel Johnston & Jason Falkner

"With the October 6, 2009 release of his latest - and possibly greatest - work, Is And Always Was, Daniel Johnston adds another chapter to his artistic legend.

Is And Always Was is a decided step away from the lo-fi homemade recordings for which Johnston is famous. "Everyone needs to take their demos and go back to the studio," says Daniel.

On this album, Daniel allied with the musician and producer Jason Falkner, who is known for his own stellar solo career as well as his work with Beck, Air, and Paul McCartney. With Jason manning the boards, "Is And Always Was" was a project that aimed to take the rock and roll symphonies in Daniel's prolific musical brain and deliver fully-realized and professionally-produced recorded songs. "He possesses that rare individuality that makes the listener wonder where this music comes from," Falkner says of Daniel Johnston. "It was challenging to make our minds work together but I really found myself immersed in his musical world. It's a unique place to live, that's for sure!""

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston Is And Always Was (new MP3, tracklist, art)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Daniel Johnston @ BV-SXSW 2009 (more by Leia Jospe)

These days, it's almost taboo to say anything critical about [Daniel] Johnston. This is incredibly patronising. For one thing, it makes any honest evaluation of his work impossible. He might wring out much beauty from his cartoon-like songs, but he is also capable of lewdness (bizarre, crude references to masturbation and orgasms are frequent) and incredible self-pity.

Johnston's former manager once issued a press release, begging journalists not to use the word "genius" to describe him, least it detonate the singer's own troubled ego. "I wonder if people go see him hoping to witness a nervous breakdown," Johnston's friend Gretchen Phillips told music historian Irwin Chusid. "Do they perceive him as their equal, or as someone they need to coax along and feel safe? As much as the audience may genuinely love his songs, I sense a lot of condescension. That's always bugged me." ["The myth of Daniel Johnston's genius," Guardian UK]

But to what length are we willing to go to patronize genius? Johnston's guitar-playing is sloppy and halting. He cannot sing, often slipping off-key or warbling weakly. Mostly he hammers away at the lyrics tunelessly, as if just trying to get through it.

It's in the lyrics where his talent glimmers, but they don't always redeem his music as a whole. His words are raw and juvenile, high school poetry that shines with sweaty truth but gets dragged down with naive sentimentality ("No one knows the sorrow of a broken heart").

Johnston has shows scheduled through the fall. He'll be at this year's Austin City Limits Festival on October 2nd (the same city Daniel has spent much time in and that hosted his SXSW set earlier this year). After that, he'll be coming up north for a trip that includes a show at NYC's Highline Ballroom on Wednesday, October 14th. Also on the bill are The Capitol Years, who've played with Johnston as his backing band before, as in the video below. Tickets are on sale now.

Info on a new album is coming soon. In the meantime, IFC caught up with Daniel Johnston at SXSW in a segment titled "Daniel Johnston Goes Shopping." That video, other clips and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston (genius?) - Tour Dates (Highline) & videos "

!!! is playing ACL 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

"The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival will showcase a diverse blend of acts both fresh and familiar at the eighth edition of the event in Zilker Park October 2-4. Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, and Beastie Boys are performing for the first time at the Festival, with Kings of Leon, Ben Harper and Relentless7, and Thievery Corporation returning to Zilker Park once again. John Legend, The Dead Weather, and The Levon Helm Band will also make their ACL Festival debut, while Austin's own Ghostland Observatory will no doubt deliver another memorable set for festival goers.

With over 130 artists on this year's bill, the list of acts awes at each note with the likes of Sonic Youth, Mos Def, Toadies, Flogging Molly, The B-52s, Lily Allen, Citizen Cope, Arctic Monkeys, The Decemberists, Coheed and Cambria, Andrew Bird, Girl Talk, and many more.

In the tradition of the TV show from which it was born, the Festival has always aimed to offer musical discovery for the fans. The 2009 lineup is rich with pop, country, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, indie rock, hip-hop, and gospel, to name a few, spanning cultures and countries from New Orleans to Venezuela to France."

Continue reading "ACL (Austin City Limits) - 2009 festival lineup announcement"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

"What could have been a Texan spectacular for the last night of South By Southwest was a near-debacle instead. It was a double bill at the Auditorium Shores riverside amphitheater with Erykah Badu and the Cannabinoids, her digitally oriented producers from Dallas, and Explosions in the Sky, Austin's majestic instrumental rock band.

Thousands of people showed up for the free concert. The Cannabinoids started without Ms. Badu, dispensing drumbeats, chords, samples and brief phrases from small digital keyboards. They announced that all the beats were live -- good -- and that what they were playing was unrehearsed. Not so good. And they went on and on, for about a half hour, cycling through variations on two downtempo chords and asking if the crowd was ready for Ms. Badu. The answer was increasingly obvious by the time the Cannabinoids tapered off and someone announced that Ms. Badu had had "travel incidents."

The Cannabinoids left the stage while the audience wondered what was going on, then returned, soon to be joined by Ms. Badu, in a gray T-shirt and a white top hat. Their vamp turned into "The Healer/Hip-Hop," and Ms. Badu sang it with her tangy, playful coo, followed by an older song, "Danger." Afterward she teased, "Let's go into hyperspace and blow up the sky," which did sound promising. But it meant she was ending her set to make way for Explosions in the Sky." [NY Times]

Erykah Badu and the Cannabinoids also performed once or twice with Kanye West while in Austin. The rest of Jacob's Saturday pics, below...

Continue reading "SXSW 2009 - Day 4 in photos by Jacob"

photos by Leia Jospe

These Arms Are Snakes / Thao / Daniel Johnston & Hymns

Thirteen bands were scheduled to play the BrooklynVegan / Agency Group day party in Austin on Thursday, March 19, 2009. Twelve ended up playing - one of them twice. I think the story is that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who had a zillion other shows also scheduled during the SXSW week, got confused about what their set time was. For that reason (and traffic), they showed up too late to go on in their slot. Instead, The Wheel, who was our last-minute addition as opener on the inside stage, immediately went outside and played a second set on the larger outdoor stage in the late band's place. We got at least one "boo" when the "scheduling mixup" was announced, but what could we do? (sorry!) It was awesome of the Wheel to fill on a moment's notice. Hopefully the people outside enjoyed him after they got over the awkwardness. I didn't watch his second set, but he sounded amazing inside.

Due to overlap on the two stages, it was hard to see everyone that played the party. The most painful two decisions were Cursive or the Wrens, and These Arms or Snakes or Daniel Johnston. I think we originally had it worked out a little better in terms of that, but the main stage started to run late. I went back and forth and caught pieces of as much as I could (and all of Daniel).

Thanks to everyone who came!

Leia managed to catch 8 of the 12 bands (she missed The Wheel, Avett Brothers, New Villager and Au Revoir Simone). Her pictures are below...

Continue reading "BV day party @ Radio Room in Austin - pics by Leia "

DOWNLOAD: The Donkeys - Walk Through A Cloud (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Donkeys - Nice Train (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Wallpaper remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Honey I Sure Miss You (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Your Grievances
DOWNLOAD: These Arms Are Snakes - Red Line Season (MP3)

This free BrooklynVegan show takes place on two stages at Radio Room in Austin, Texas this Thursday afternoon, March 19, 2009 from noon-6pm. Set times, more info, and answers to (hopefully) all FAQ's below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Vegan & Agency Group Austin day party lineup"

Okkervil River releases The Stand Ins this week, yet another lyrical masterpiece from Will Sheff and crew.

I pre-ordered copies of Kimya Dawson's long-awaited children's album, Alphabutt for all my young nieces, nephews and children of friends and encourage you to do the same. It's a work of genius for the kids from one of my favorite singer-songwriters who definitely understands what children want.

Metallica releases its latest album, Death Magnetic, in a variety of formats this week, including 2-disc and 5-disc vinyl sets.

Two notable releases this week are the Lovely Sparrows' Bury the Cynics and Horse Feathers' House With No Home, incredible albums that will very possibly end up on my year-end list of favorites.

Beyond these discs there is a multitude of good music available tomorrow. From what I have already heard, I can recommend Angela Desveaux's The Mighty Ship, Calexico's Carried to Dust, Damien Jurado's Caught in the Trees, Don Chambers' Zebulon, Fujiya and Miyagi's Lightbulbs, Jesu's Why Are We Not Perfect EP, Mogwai's Batcat EP, Parenthetical Girls' Entanglements, and Portastatic's Some Small History (a b-side and rarities compilation).

Three Daniel Johnston discs are reissued this week: 1990, Artistic Vice, and Rejected Unknown.

What new music releases can you recommend this week?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

Crossing the Line, an innovative exhibition featuring original prints and provocative recordings by prominent artists and art world figures, including Eric Fischl, Daniel Johnston and Andy Warhol, will open at the June Kelly Gallery on Saturday, June 21. The works will remain on view through August 1.

Organized by Jeff Gordon, who has been producing original sound recordings of leading visual artists since the early 1980s, the exhibition also highlights Connie Beckley, Ivan Karp, Carter Ratcliff and Path Soong. Beckley, Fischl, Johnston and Soong contribute prints to the exhibition.

Gordon says that in all but one of the recordings "the human voice becomes the instrument of insight, information, humor, poetry and memory."....

DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Honey I Sure Miss You (MP3)

Once upon a time, way back 1993, Daniel Johnston painted a large mural of a frog known as Jeremiah the Innocent (which is a Three Dog Night song) on the side of the Sound Exchange in Austin Texas. The image became an icon and has spun into a t-shirts, tanks and onesie franchise. And now the image has gone 3D! Produced by At Arms, they retail for about $99 and are in limited runs : Green (250 pieces) White (350 pieces) Yellow (250 pieces). You can contact the store Cardboard spaceship to reserve one once they are released. [ToyCyte]

As previously posted, Daniel Johnston is playing Warsaw in Brooklyn (again) on June 20th. Tickets are on sale. In July he'll be touring Europe with "the following play as backing players and support acts: Sparklehorse, Scout Niblett, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Jad Fair (Half Japanese) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo)." His last NYC show was at Highline Ballroom. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston - 2008 Tour Dates, Jeremiah figurines "

...and tickets go on presale today (@1pm) (password=band).

A good reason to visit Philadelphia in June. Tickets are on sale. Info below...

Continue reading "Popped Music Festival (in Philly) announcess 2008 lineup"

photos by Ryan Muir

NYC band Spanish Prisoners opened the show at Highline Ballroom, AND played some songs as Daniel's backing band. I was curious to know how that all came about, so I asked Spanish Prisoner frontman Leo Maymind about it before the show. He said....

I've always been a big fan of Daniel's music- it has a very innocent quality to it that attracted me to it. I saw that he was coming to New York and I got in touch with the venue, and we arranged the show so that my band, Spanish Prisoners, could open and back Daniel up for his set as well. This is something he's done in the past with previous tours, so it just worked out really well.

...we're only backing Daniel at this one show (as of now). We're going to be doing 5 or 6 songs with him, and he may be doing some solo, and some with his own guitarist.

I actually chose the songs we're doing with him from a list of possible songs. We rehearsed them on our own and are going over them with Daniel quickly at soundcheck. It's definitely an off-the-cuff sort of thing, so it'll be interesting and loose.

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston & Spanish Prisoners @ Highline Ballroom"

DOWNLOAD: All songs .zip (ZIP FILE)
DOWNLOAD: Razor Love (Neil Young) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Baby We'll Be Fine (The National) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: True Love Will Find You In The End (Daniel Johnston) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mobius Band in a Green Cotton Sweater (Casiotone FT Painfully A)
DOWNLOAD: I'll Keep It With Mine (Bob Dylan) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Digital Love (Daft Punk) (MP3)

Brooklyn/Massachusetts-based trio Mobius Band is not unfamiliar with the EP format. They produced four separate EP's before their first LP, "The Loving Sounds of Static," was released in 2005. Now, on the heels of the bands sophomore LP "Heaven" comes a new twist on an old theme - a free covers EP of love songs recorded in Massachusetts, and just in time for you and your sweetie (or perhaps your ex) to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Continue reading "Mobius Band - free Valentine's Day cover EP, Tour Dates"

Daniel Johnston is playing Highline Ballroom and a bunch of other places in February....

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston - 2008 Tour Dates"

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo releases Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo tomorrow, but the release I am picking up is another side-project, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's score for the film, There Will Be Blood.

The Daniel Johnston tribute disc, The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered has been remastered, and is a must-have for any fan of the singer-songwriter. The double disc release includes one disc of covers as well as a disc of the original songs. The covers:

"My Life is Starting Over Again", Teenage Fanclub with Jad Fair
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances", Clem Snide
"Impossible Love", Gordon Gano
"Living Life", Eels
"Walking the Cow", TV on the Radio
"Good Morning You", The Rabbit
"Sorry Entertainer", Calvin Johnson
"Devil Town", Bright Eyes
"Dream Scream", Death Cab for Cutie
"True Love Will Find You in the End", Beck
"Go", Sparklehorse with The Flaming Lips
"Blue Clouds", Mercury Rev
"Love Not Dead", Thistle LLC
"Like a Monkey in the Zoo", Vic Chesnutt
"Dead Lovers Twisted Heart", Starlight Mints
"Story of an Artist", M. Ward
"The Sun Shines Down on Me", Guster
"King Kong", Tom Waits

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

Tickets go on sale Friday for a February 21st Daniel Johnston show at Highline Ballroom in NYC. Daniel is still doing just fine....

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston doing just fine (playing Highline Ballroom)"

Daniel Johnston @ Spiegeltent, NYC - Sept 4, 2007

Daniel Johnston was in good spirits, smiling and interacting with his friends for the night. At one point during the set, DJ had the crowd sit down while he played a couple songs on the Baldwin stage left. His good friend, Brett Hartenbach, joined him for a good portion of the set on acoustic guitar.[Fresh Bread]

What else?

DJ @ Spillers Records, Cardiff, July 16, 2007 (CRED)

Daniel Johnston has gone from total recluse to touring machine. He was just here in NYC in May, and he'll be back on September 4th to play the Spiegeltent. Tickets are on sale. New video, and more tour dates below....

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston - more 2007 Tour Dates & new video"

There was no way I was going to pass up a big vegan dinner cooked by Isa Chisandra that included an open bar and a Man Man show (true - I'm not the biggest man man fan, but still). That was until I found out I could instead catch a short set by Daniel Johnston - and still have time to see Man Man on top of it. The Daniel Johnston show was in this loft-office-production-company space in SOHO that fit about 125 people. Luckily there was free food there too, but sadly it mainly consisted of cocktail weiners and macaroni & cheese - aka nothing I could eat. On the way there I passed Fred Schneider of the B-52's going into the Antony-Nico Muhly-Final Fantasy $600 Kitchen performance that Lou Reed was also at to honor his wife/girlfriend Laurie Anderson. Kitchen co-sponsor and Daniel Johnston fan David Bowie was at neither performance.

Daniel played for about 30 minutes - an acoustic set with Brett Hartenbach (who also played with him acoustic at Warsaw). The whole thing was being taped - part of some new series for something (not totally sure what). I was also supposed to interview Daniel after the show - hopefully to clear up the air, but that ended up not working out. Maybe there's nothing to clear up (Interview still might happen though). Happy, and moved, yet conflicted and disappointed, I left and walked over to Man Man. It was just a few blocks away in Chinatown.

It was around 9:15, and Man Man was going on at 9:30....WRONG - a big sign on the door said that Man Man doors weren't opening until 10:00. After killing some time in the area while simultaneously getting tireder and tireder, I came back a little after 10:00 to find that doors were still not open, and there was a huge line going in two different directions. I gave up and went home.

Continue reading "Daniel Johnston's private show & the Man Man vegan dinner"

DOWNLOAD: Daniel Johnston - Impossible Love (MP3)

Sorry for the last minute notice on this one. Daniel Johnston is playing a private acoustic performance tonight in SOHO in NYC (May 23). The event, which will also have some of Daniel's artwork on display, runs from 7-9 pm. It's invite-only, but I have two pairs of tickets to give away to two people who email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM right now (subject: Daniel) and tell me what famous rocker wore a Daniel Johnston t-shirt during his performance at the 1992 Video Music Awards? Include your first and last name for the guestlist. Two winners will be picked at random at 4:15 pm (today - May 23) and emailed the location.

If you can't make the show, I also have one copy of "the Devil and Daniel Johnston" DVD to give out. Just mention in the email that you want the DVD instead of the tickets.

This will also actually be Daniel's second private NYC performance on this tour. I heard he played a conference room on the afternoon before the Warsaw show.

Oh, and in case you were wondering - Daniel has not been in NYC since last week. In fact, he just arrived back to NYC from Europe today. While there he played 3 shows in the UK (including ATP), and one in Belgium. For a guy who just recently couldn't travel at all, he's really turned around.