Anyone remotely familiar with my acoustic guitar work (cough cough) knows I’m a huge Leo Kottke fan. A friend and I attended his annual Thanksgiving weekend show at the Ordway Theater in St. Paul last night.. Just like the other half dozen or so times I’ve seen him, I walked away absolutely astonished and wanting to go home right away to try some new tricks on my guitar.
Not only is he an amazing guitar player, but he’s a hilarious storyteller as well. He speaks not only in between songs, but during them. Often times he’ll be a minute or two into a song and just when you think everything is out of the starting gate and on its way, he stops and says something like “you know, my father can sleep standing up…” and continue to ramble on for a few minutes. While he talks, he always keeps his fingers busy playing little 5-6 second passages that swirl around his monotone, smoove, cigar-weathered voice.
Before the intermission, he said “Now be sure to pay attention to how different it sounds when you come back and I start playing. It’s not because of me or anything the engineer is doing – it’s because all of your densities have shifted.” YES! That’s what I’m talking about. No sappy “this next one’s about a girl” or “how’s everybody feel tonight” baloney. With Leo, it’s all dry, abstract deadpan observations that take a few seconds to register and make you chuckle. The end of the show came all too soon and after a few minutes of applause, he came out to start his encore and said “I was just saying back there ‘that’s a long time to pretend I’m not coming back…’” Classic.
He played one of my all time favorites – “Wonderland by Night” off of Peculiaroso. Every time I see him play it I get goosebumps. It’s one of the most simple things he plays and I want to learn it someday, but usually avoid doing so because once you learn the recipe, sometimes that takes the magic out of listening to it. I hope this works - I’ve posted an mp3 of it HERE (right click - "Save As") for you to check out. Get it while it’s hot, or until Geocities yells at me to take it down (I’m so naughty)! If you like it, I highly advise that you support Leo and add the Peculiaroso CD to your collection – it’s by far one of the best things he’s done in recent years. That is if 10 years can be considered recent.
Leo has a bad case of happy feet - they go all over the place while he plays his bouncy music. Last night he was standing up (he usually sits) and the feet were still moving. Put both of your hands on a table and lift your all of your fingers up and down, keeping your palms on the table - you are now doing an impression of Leo Kottke's feet while he's standing and playing.
Okay – I’ll get off my Kottke Pedestal of Worship now and let you get on with your day.
Leo on the web: http://www.leokottke.com Be sure to check out the NOTES page which contains a few hearty servings of his oddball storytelling.
