Reykjavik Excursion

I woke up in Reykjavik this morning. First time for everything right? At the moment we're on a bus back to the airport to head to London but it was a fun 36 hours. Let's start from the beginning.

It started with a Van Galder bus from Madison to Chicago in the rain. Then Iceland Air flight 1805 (I think that's the right number) to Iceland. I was so excited when the gate agent informed me that we'd been seated in the exit row as that means you have twice the leg room. What he forgot to mention, though, is that Icelandic safety regulations won't let you keep your hand bag below the seat in front of you and your own seat would not be reclining for the entire 6 hour overnight flight. Even though it's only about 4 inches, it's a meaningful 4 inches. He also didn't tell me that the exit doors on this particular 757 were insulated about as well as my grandpa's tool shed that he built in 1946. He used old newspaper to clue you in on that one. A cruising altitude of 35,000 feet equals about -55 degrees Celsius or -67 degrees fahrenheit...right outside the door. These things led to a fair amount of angry TV watching and a zombie walk to the hotel upon landing. Oh, and there were no free peanuts or boxed wine.

Time for a current update or PSA. This country is f$%*@#$ gorgeous!!

 

At times it reminds me of a cross between Western Ireland/Vancouver BC/Teddy Roosevelt National Park/the Alps/the Moon.

Downtown Reykjavik has some great little bars and restauraunts. Some English stye places and even a Lebowski bar. There's a Chuck Norris Bar too. To quote their front window. "Chuck Norris once took a polygraph test. The machine confessed."


Check these things out....


It's expensive though. Really expensive. I guess that's what you get when an island imports nearly everything except renewable energy and beauty.

Oh, the geo thermal pools are amazing. Hands down the best swim/soak I've ever had.

Alright, time to enjoy the rest of the ride through the countryside on the way back to the airport.

Wait, not done yet.


take care
Josh

A shoebox and a pen.

Prolificacy. Yes, according to Webster prolificacy is correct usage. I checked. Anyhow, Prolificacy is something for which, I will strive.
I will start attending PA meetings. Procrastinators Anonymous. Morning, noon and night I will write.
I will finish this record. This month.
This is my mantra.

We've moved into a tiny little apartment, which I like to refer to as a Brooklyn style place, on Jenifer St. I say Brooklyn style due to it's lack of size. One room which serves as kitchen, dining and living space and a second that serves as a bedroom. It's quaint to say the least. Something I'm reminded of, having moved back into the hood, is an amazing lack in ability to properly park a car that seems to permeate this neighborhood. Now I know a Prius is a precious metal but it doesn't require two parking spots between these two driveways...especially on street cleaning day when the entire block is only allowed to park on one side of the street. It's also a neighborhood where people will wear on their sleeve their disdain for the governor and how they stand undaunted for workers rights(as do I), they will shop organically at the Willy St Co-op, they will proudly listen to Woody Guthrie and from the top of their lungs sing "This Land is Your Land"...but if you happen to park two feet over the curb therefore minimally blocking their driveway as to make them maneuver the Prius onto the street with a 13 degree turn of the wheel you had best be ready for a red faced, sweaty brow, all up in your space confrontation to make sure you never wrong them in such horrendous fashion again. Ever. On the brights side it's nice to have a grocery nearby and several places for a night cap within a very short walk. Hell, if you want you can get a lunch cap right around the corner. East a few blocks and it's third shift and time for a gin tonic to watch the sun rise. What I'm saying is that Hemingway would have loved it here. A writers paradise.

So now the routine is to begin writing everything. A task recently brought to me by Blake Thomas to journal like a madman. All day, every time a thought comes up find a way to make it onto a pad, in ink. Even go so far as to put these random things into a Western swing tune in 5/4." Write something fu*&&%$ crazy and sort it out later". So here we go. Wish me luck.

10-4/over & out
Josh

Now We Pho...And Pho-ing is Half the Battle.

Here we are in Frederick, MD at a Travelodge just off I-270. It's alright but the coffee is lousy. Managed to avoid the traffic on the Beltway coming out of DC yesterday which was nice after not avoiding it the day before. I'm always amazed at the level of horrible the DC traffic can plummet to. The good day continued when I found an old Yamaha guitar with a Baggs pickup in a pawn shop, which I'll likely go buy today just for the pickup...the guitar will end up in another pawn shop. In just a few days I'll be picking up a 1972 D-28 from Linus in NYC and it will be nice to get it stage ready straight away. Some may follow Facebook posts but for anyone who doesn't I'm going to give my old Gibson some time off. After a stage diving stunt it tried to attempt in the UK there seems to be a rattle and some tuning issues.

Being in Frederick meant Pho at the Lucky Corner last night before the show thanks to a fabulous recommendation from Katie Powderly last year. One day I just might open a Pho joint. Our slogan will be "Now we Pho, and Pho-ing is half the battle".  If you ever watched GI Joe, you know what I'm talking about. There was as impressive storm that rolled in and out during the Pho but it didn't stay too long and therefore our return to the Previa was a dry one. Mostly.

The Brewers Alley showcase is always a fun night. Many thanks to Rod Deacey, Ron Goad, and Todd Walker for keeping a Monday night gig running. The storm that rolled in during dinner last night was long gone by the time showtime arrived but an hour into the evening, the lights went out. Reminded me of a time in Ireland when lighting struck a large metal pole just outside the venue and out came the candles. The show must go on though.

Today we'll head north for a couple days off. We'd planned to do some camping but it looks like the weather is going to get in the way once again. Air B&B it'll be.

Over and out.
JH

Westward Ho!

Back on the road tomorrow. . . check out the tour page for details! 

Yikes

6 months. My bad. In the time since my last update here, Jess and I finished up our latest tour in Europe and the UK, flew back to the States, moved to Florida for a spell, performed some home renovations, nearly froze our a%$'s off in North Dakota, had BBQ in Kansas City, and are now getting ready to head out on a 3 week tour up the East coast of the US.

I will also mention that while in the Netherlands we turned our Fiat Panda back in to Hertz to avoid parking in Amsterdam(which is nearly impossible) and when we went to get it back they had rented it to someone else. So they gave us a BMW 325i instead. Then when we arrived back in the UK for the last run of shows, Hertz turned our Vauxhall Corsa into an Audi A4. These two events, as you may understand, have had a profound effect on my affection for our 1991 Toyota Previa since arriving back in the States.

 This next run of shows should be great for a few reasons.

1) There are some great venues lined up including the Fiddle & Bow Society with my friend Peyton Tochterman, the Rockwood Music Hall with the fabulous Kelley McRae and Matt Castelein, Burlap & Bean with the Alfred James Band and Boston's Club Passim.
2) I have a handful of new songs to work out that will be appearing on the record which will be recorded in August/September....more details to come soon!
3) For the first time in my life, I have a tan. You heard it right folks, thanks to sunny Florida this nearly opaque North Dakota boy finally found some skin tone. So, if for no other reason, you should try to make one of these shows while the stage lights don't reflect off  my chin causing the audience minor eye damage.

And last, but certainly not least, I'm wildly excited to be spending time back in Wisconsin this summer. There will surely be some time spent on the boat as well as some time on the stage. June 25th will find me at the Sh**ty Barn in Spring Green with the stupendous Peter Mulvey. August 23rd will be a Josh Harty Band show at the Orton Park Festival in Madison's Orton Park. Other Wisconsin shows can be found right here at www.joshharty.com

Alright, back to work. See ya'll soon!

If not keeping up this blog were a sport, I'd win. I'd be like Tiger Woods. Clearly. In my defense I will say that we've been busy. Well, not exactly at the moment but very recently. In the last 2 months we've been to Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and currently France. To be more exact we're holed up in a rented apartment in Hagunau which is a small-ish town just north of Strasbourg. It's the most settled down we've been in a long time. It's nice. We can plan multiple meals and go to the market with that in mind. We can not watch a movie because we know we can watch in tomorrow if we like. If one chose to, one could walk around the place in ones boxers....if that happened to be ones thing.

 Good lord, there is so much to talk about but the post can only be so long. Let's talk about the recording in Brno. After some difficulty with a sound check one night a random stranger came up to help with the mix. In broken English he said he was a professional. His name was George, and he for sure knew what he was talking about. He said he could only stay a short bit but ended up staying for the whole show. Oh, did I mention the gig was at a place called 7 Cockroaches? Or, that's what it translated to. George stayed all night and asked me to come by his place in the morning to record some songs. I agreed even though I had no idea what I was getting into. What I was getting into was an amazing studio and a session with who I can only assume is one of the best sound engineers in Europe. Even though I had a terrible cold at the time the session turned out beautifully and I'll direct you towards that soon. Hell, maybe now.(For a few days only there are 3 songs on Reverb Nation from the Brno Session) 

Brno, CZ

recording at George's studio

Oh, the shows in Austria with Chuck Lemonds were brilliant. Chuck also has a new record out called "The Rivers Call" and it would behoove you to check it out. With any luck I'll be able to report back before to long to talk about more shows with Chuck and a couple mystery guests. Stay tuned.

performing with Chuck Lemonds

the view from Am Berner (a fantastic venue surrounded by vineyards)

 England once again was amazing. The Square & Compass, Maverick Festival and Israel Nash Gripka, Colin and the crew at Grateful Fred's, and of course Scotland!...just too many tales to tell. We'll cover them in the coming posts but for now I hope these photos will do. There was an all too short trip to Ireland for a return to Ballymore Acoutic at Mick Murphy's. Damn I love that place. A humongous thanks to Roy Thompson!

another great night at the Square & Compass, Dorset

ahh Scotland. . . so much spectacular scenery!

 Let's skip ahead to Chagny, France. I will try to thank Fabrice enough but it just won't be possible. A million thanks to him. He took a huge risk, having really no idea who I was and having virtually no history in France, to promote the show at the Theatre de Copiaus and well, I think it turned out fabulously. He convinced me to not use the PA that night. He said "people have been singing in this theatre for 150 years without a microphone. Why start now?" He was totally right. An amazing night. A sold out show, 4 encores! Pretty much a huge success. He also had another traveler staying with him at the time. Janosh....great fellow. He's in Italy now working on a farm. Hope to see him soon. Thanks again Fabrice!

during the last encore in Chagny

 I'm going to cap it at that for now. I promise, I'll cover the bases and give you a total recall of all pertinent events. Likely more than you're really interested in but I'm going to do it. Oh good God, did I mention how much cheese, procuitto, butter, salami, bacon, and more cheese I've had in the last week. Oh France, how I love thee....but I can only take so much. Alright, be good and God speed. Over and out.

 Joshua J. Harty

BTW- Check out ALL the photos from the past couple months on Flickr!

New Podcast Episode!

Well, apologies for not writing on the blog more. It's been a very busy month of driving up and down the entire length of the UK (twice, actually)! I promise to share some stories a bit later, but for now please enjoy this episode we recorded in Liverpool with our good friends Peter & Gabi of The Good Intentions. And check out more at www.TheGoodIntentions.co.uk! *PS- sorry for the less-than-stellar sound quality. . .recording in a living room is not the same as recording in a van