Australian singer-songwriter Marcus Blacke is currently on his first tour of the United States. He’s checking in with us from the road to share some of his adventures on the American road. Read on for the latest update, plus a featured song from his new self-titled album.
Jared rejoins the tour this afternoon, I also unfortunately need to say goodbye to Ithaca which I have absolutely enjoyed: the natural beauty, the lone time and the ability to slow down and feel at home. It takes me a good long while to get out of my own way today. The bed I have been sleeping on in Ithaca wasn’t anything to write home about, in fact it was quite terrible because of some sort of plastic sheet on it; sleeping in my own sweaty pond is nothing to write home about. By the last evening I’m well and truly ready to bid farewell to the bed. However, I have eaten really amazing co-op food all week, I think I’ll be able to perform harmonies with the sauerkraut flatulence I have acquired.
On my way to Long Island City to play LIC bar, I see a black bear that has been annihilated by the side of the road; making me think about the scarcity of it all, how important it is to simply enjoy ones journey without expectations. The mere fact that an apex predator lies on the side of the road helpless, in the thick of trauma, having dissolved into the next life says it all. Four songs come on in succession on my iPod; this may seem like no great feat but my iPod has been playing the exact same songs every time it has been plugged in the entirety of the tour, so it’s almost metaphysical.
As Night Comes On – Leonard Cohen.
Everything is Broken- Bob Dylan.
Rambling (Wo)man – Performed by Cat Power but a Hank Williams song.
Ballad of Jim Jones – Brian Jonestown Massacre.
I popped into a joint called Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn that day which was great I only got to play one track Only Orchid; they loved it though. I was then greeted warmly at the record label’s NYC apartment. Jared was passed out and very much in charge of the futon we were supposedly sharing for the evening, but he looked like he needed the sleep.
LIC Bar is a great pub the show goes well, people listen to the songs and connect. This is a nice way to end the east coast element of the tour. We are crashing in a glorified hostel this evening definitely a rip off but definitely sleep worthy, Brooklyn is a damn cool place, the soup of graffiti is some kind of urban ingredient that rubs off on you as you walk around the streets, making you tastier as a human being.
The next morning I awake hurting a bit it’s hard to sleep. There’s a young guy with an elderly boyfriend staying in the room next to ours, the adjoining wall was shaking well into the evening, as I walk past him in the morning rush to the bathroom he has a look on his face that doesn’t appreciate my presence for no apparent reason. I enter the bathroom to an unbelievably nasty stench. Maybe that’s what the look was about, a defensive leer, my nose is immediately on damage control; the urban ingredient I simmered in has been poisoned, thanks kid, I exit as quickly as possible, I need a coffee. While we grab our coffee before heading out to Detroit some bastard hits our hire car, breaks the mirror and does the runner.
Today we do the coolest thing on the tour thus far, actually one of the coolest things I have ever done: Niagara Falls. The feeling of being on a boat in the middle of a horseshoe of mighty waterfalls is one of immediate and constant elation. No amount of stench or shaking moaning walls can ruin today.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.