just saw David Amram last night

at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. Magnificent act. The man played so many instruments I lost my watches. He plays the cow bell and pennywhistle nonchalantly onstage before a 1/4 of an audience (the man deserves thousands of screaming fans blind with joy) and goes home at night and writes all the music for 300+ piece orchestral symphonies. A genius to say the least. Great to hang out with The Sitting Duck and KAOS radio as well. What a joy to talk with Amram and his fans afterwards too. As if the universe held its breath for us and let the words of yesterdays alleyways trickle up our throats. If you are not familiar with Amram's work please check out the following sites:

David Amram's homepage
Jack Kerouac and David Amram
and here's what Wiki has to say, as if that's worth anything

Most of the folks there were elderly (compared to me, I suppose) but it's fun to stand out sometimes as some of the only diplomats of your generation present at such an event. Five local Olympia characters got up and read snippets of Kerouac's On the Road while Amram played piano. At one point he had us singing a chorus in Mandarin for Meanderin' Mandarin, incorporated an Egyptian flute tune into his normal rhetoric of jazzy blues rambles and walking talking rhythms. He ended the evening with the most beautiful version of Amazing Grace I have ever heard, interspersed with mary had a little lamb. cheers. This last pic shows the cast of Pull My Daisy, the 1959 film written and narrated by Kerouac which Amram composed and played the music for. Guy gets around man. His son Adam is cool as shit too.