I have almost nothing to report from my first night in Milan, Italy, except that things are looking as dismal here this year as they did last year in the way of live music. Last night I went to a famous rock club called Rolling Stone, which had existed for decades – since the 1960s – only to find that it no longer exists, as the building was bought by a developer and it will be turned into something like apartments, if I understood my interlocutor at a nearby bar.
This is a bad period for live music in Milan, as the summer extends through September. The first open mic I know of starts on 25 Sept., and most people want nothing to do with music unless it be opera….
But last year I managed to find a FABULOUS place to play, and I still hold out hope. I will perhaps go into more details later, but last year’s venue was a jam session at the headquarters of the longest running anarchist’s association in Italy. Yeah, I should give more details tomorrow. Gotta rush from the race trace in Monza now to see if I have more luck tonight.
In the meantime, I want to put up a video of my friend Ollie Fury, who is a musician in Paris who also runs the open mic at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance bar near the Pantheon. I recorded this video at the Galway on the same night I did the video of Les DeShane, and he recorded me. But I am now putting up Ollie because I found that it was really inventive and daring of him to sing the song he does, which is Oh My Darlin’ Clementine! And he does it really well. But that is Ollie for you. I learned the following night at his open mic that he will be playing in Singapore the same time that I am there for the Formula One race in two weeks, so we will see each other there and I will write about that – no doubt.
Now is that a case of a small world or what?!?!?!