Crazy Diner Delights

A section our newest song "The London Beat" has to do with food. In my travels, I've eaten some interesting stuff. Fast  food notwithstanding, many places are still known for the interesting dining that can be had. My nephew lives in London, we were chatting and he let it slip that he works in a Pie and Mash shop. I'd never heard of this. Well, in particular in the East End, eels were a very popular meal. Cheaper than beef, they caught on and shops opened specializing in stewed eels, baked into a pastry crust with a side of mashed potatoes, and covered with "liquor" that is a mixture of butter, parsley, and the liquid from the pot used to stew the eels. So, Pie and Mash have been around since the 1800s, and Mick's in Enfield is carrying on that tradition. They are called a Pie and "Tash" shop. To honor their father Mick, who was a butcher in the area known for his moustache (his "'tache") his sons gave their shop the name. Way to go, you guys.
When in London I haven't eaten this, but will next time. I have had blood pudding in England and Ireland, calf brains and rabbit in France, little itty bitty whole fried fish in Japan, squid and octopus in Korean restaurants. I ate surströmming in Sweden, too - that's spoiled herring packed in a can. According to Wikipedia, a Japanese study determined that a freshly opened can of surströmming is the most putrid food smell in the world. It should be eaten outside. We did eat it outside, on crispbread with cucumbers, pickles, mustard, and tomatos. I also understand it's illegal to board an airplane with it, as well. For real. And, I'm still around so it wasn't poisonous, right?
These foods are all part of the scenery in any place, doesn't make sense to avoid them! Forget the fastfood drabness. Live a little!!!!!!

Sorry to have been away, school's been in session

I apologize for having been absent for these past months. I've been working on new projects - writing new stories, doing research for some new songs. I've also been in the recording studio with maybe the most talented member of the Travelers. We're doing the recording for the London song, will have it up and available before too long. I wish that I could clone Scott! What a breadth of knowledge and talent. He is to music and sound engineering what Scotty on the Enterprise was to that ship's engines.
It's also really interesting to see how the technology works these days. It is possible to do things very frugally and quickly that would have cost a mint, and months, with a producer and engineer hovering over the 2" recording tape with razor blades. No longer.
Yet, what is also obvious is that, to do the music I want to do, a certain type of musicianship and knowledge has to be there. I love so many different styles of music and I've played a lot of it. I've been nuts  about bluegrass, jazz, Macedonian bagpipes, Turkish music, and Motown. That's just me I guess. It's great though, because when I write a song about London, I don't just want the lyrics to talk about that great city, I want for the music to talk about it too. It's such a great puzzle! What makes a song sound like London? That will be different for me than for someone who has listened to different musicians from there at a different time. I hear the Beatles, Herman's Hermits and perhaps the English Beat. Some others would hear the Sex Pistols or Adam Ant. It's all relative. The question is, if I hear it that way, will others as well? It remains to be seen.