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November 30, 2006 - Home.

Flying back to the never-ending sunshine and all my friends. Except for all of you, of coure...But in a way i'll be much more around and online once i'm back in LA, so I'll see you there, and we'll see about a few more shows in January. So the other night I was on a big television show here. how big you ask? Well, on Sunday I was walking through the Cemetary Montmartre, looking at graves with a friend. One rather amazing thing is that, unlike in old American graveyards, where disturbing a grave is tantamount to destruction of an historical monument, in Paris some of the oldest tombs have litttle signs on them announcing that the families (descendants) are no longer paying for the graves upkeep, and so the spot is available....!!!! SO horrible. The result is that amid all these beautiful old above-ground graves (think New Orleans, or a Dracula movie) are some new, shiny ones with the computer etchings of faces. I mean, I'm sorry they're dead as well, and I'm glad they have a resting place their family can visit...but something just felt so f'ed up about that. As if at the Old North Church in Boston we just started tearing up the graves of early patriots whose families had run out. ...You know what, now I'm going to get emails telling me how naive I'm being, that cemetaries are a business, and that this happens all the time - easy people, I'm trying to paint a romantic picture here.

Allright. So anyway, amidst this tumult of very quiet upheaval (can you tell I've been away from the keyboard for a while?) we saw a few older women arranging flowers on a grave. It was awkward to walk around them from where we were, so I walked past them, kind of bowing my head in deference to their mourning...until one of them grabbed my friend by the jacket and whisper-yelled: 'Chanteur?', while indicating me with a nod. I basically jumped a little. Once we realized what she was asking we aknowledged that yes, I was a singer. Then a huge smile came across her face, and she pointed at me while telling us all that she had seen me on tv the other night. She made some motherly gestures around her face and in my direction which I took to mean that she KNEW she knew my face, and then she kept pointing. I was concerned we were going to be asked to join them in a silent prayer, which I would have done, but as she looked back to her companions, only one of them was interested in this 'sighting'. The other, god bless her, was much more interested in what seemed to be the final restng place of her husband. She was having none of it, and I know it's never time to upstage someone at their curtain call...So, without any common language but the nod of heads and understanding, we all sort of said a kind goodbye and went on with our Sunday afternoons.

But as we walked away, I couldn't help smiling and feeling that wow, if SHE recognized me, then maybe this tv spot will really help things over here. so we'll see... I hope you're all doing great and had marvelous Thanksgivings.

 

November 25, 2006 - All is Well

Back in Paris for a couple days of rest and then interviews before flying back to my home, sweet home. What a grand tour this was! Special thanks to our tour manager, Gangsta. Yes, that is literally his name. I have never prieviously spelled the word without the proper 'er' at the end, and in fact I think never pronounced it correctly, either, but be that as it may, he was wonderful. Last night after the show we slogged back to the hotel (Holiday Inn) outside of Nantes, where the desk clerk announced that he had just seen me on television. The Taratata was still on, so we went to our rooms and watched a bit. I stayed up long enough to see myself on there for a second, looking good while singing but strange during the interview. I suppose it's like most people when you hear your voice on a recording. For me that's never a problem, because I'm so used to mine, but to see myself talking on camera....that was wierd. Kind of monstrous, really. Anyway, I turned off tv and read myself to sleep, lest I drift off into further narcissism.

and that was that. 7 very succesful shows. Each one I talked a big game before about playing only an hour and twenty minutes or something, and then each one ended up being my typical 2 hour+ marathon, what with requests and stories and encores. Because I'm a giver. on-stage. And so are Craig and David, who never failed to deliver inspired performances - thanks guys. David was smashing as always in his many colored shirts. Craig was playing with all his heart to get to today, when he flies to the land of love, Sweden.....eat your hearts out, ladies. ............want a link? Here's a Catalonian artist by the name of Martin Frias. He cuts a large, Hemingwayesque figure in Barcelona. After founding the leading rock magazine of Spain many years ago, he became renowned as a painter and photographer, only shooting a few artists now and then for the magazine. His studio space was like something in a movie about an artist, and with his tall frame and his accent, we just kept waiting for him to go into a "Women...." speach. But he didn't have to, as they were all around us in his oil paintings. His collaborations with Dali' (!) are on display in Moscow, i believe. They "shared models..." Anyway, here's the website: www.martinfrias.com

 

November 24, 2006 - Backstage

in Nantes. It seems that the many nights of drinking heavily onstage have caught up with me, and now I'm truly sick - perfect! - for our last show. Craig and David are playing beautifully every night, so hopefully the crowd will sing a little and help. I'm going to take one of those Clariten-D's and see if that doesn't open things up... The fever's a'coming, is all I know right now.

France has been so kind to me again, but then so were all you West-Coasters and crazy Texans. When I return I'll be splitting my time between Redemption and my side project, The LowStars. That is what you would call a LOOOOOOOONG story, and it's one I've been promising to tell you for a while, so I think I'll wait until I'm not feverish to tell it, or else I might say too much. Or get it all wrong. In the next room the support act is playing Neil Young from Harvest with all the soul you can imagine...that's what the LowStars was supposed to be. We'll see, as I like to say. Right now my thumb is throbbing, my nails are all half broken, and my throat's a mess. I'm rocked but still rolling.... now he's singing a Smith's cover.. his name is Pierre Guimard, and he just had half his record produced by Ben Kweller. Sounds a little like him, frankly. Allright, David and Craig have just returned from another AMAZING meal where their particular (CRAZY :-) vegetarian needs were catered to by a portly French couple who seemed to have a never-ending supply of dessert and cheese courses to keep us there. I really have to get back into a work-out schedule, is all I can tell you. That and forgoing the scotch for a few days might be good. You know what it is? I used to bring a warm-up guitar around with me, but now I only sing a bit in the dressing room, and I've come to think of the liquor as a lubricant. Wow, this reads almost like I'm headed for a meeting or something, huh? Nope, just getting further in touch wth my Irish roots and enjoying this tour a little too much.

 

November 24, 2006 - Blessings from the Hearty North...

People here are so nice to me it borders on the ridiculous.... "To Jude and his band - The TOURCOING crowd was indeed very polite yesterday....but entirely respectful towards your outstanding performance on stage. We were a bunch of 5 long-time friends attending your show, and ouh la la, super, génial, magnifique !! French Northeners are hearty people who show much consideration for talented artists..and no doubt about that: you have been blessed by the angels! We've very much enjoyed your captivating voice, humor on stage and complicity with your musicians (our warmest regards to them as well...great guys) You said you might be back next spring. Well, let's hope for it and we are very much looking forward to seeing you again in ...TOURCOING !! Cheers Laëtitia"

 

November 23, 2006 - Tourcing

Just back from another show with a lovely crowd. My hand is really tired, throat,too. Might be the two-hour plus show every night... Hope you're all having wonderful evenings with your families. I'm thankful for mine, my true friends, and I'm thankful for all of you. And for other stuff, like having been born in America and stuff like that. Stay warm and be lazy for a few days, ok?

 

November 23, 2006 - Happy Thanksgiving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZByndN_ffyw

 

November 22, 2006 - Paris was wonderful

Thanks for asking, and thanks to all of you who waited so long on the rainy nights to hear us play. Both shows ended up being really amazing, with the crowds singing every word to so many songs that I was able to rest my voice on the first night- thanks! It was really touching to finish In Between and to look up and see, to my surprise, that my brother was there. One of the nicest moments of my life, really. Not to get you too inside my family madness, but I caught my father signing autographs and basically flirting with girls...what can I say? My mother was fine, as the venue was so full that you couldn't see the floor or even make it to the restrooms... My Aunt Rena tells me that Dance Floor is going to be a number 1 hit - like we needed to hear that! Thanks also to Fred for coming up and adding to the musical mix last night

Family aside, you darn Parisians, you make it hard to stay away! But after only a coule more shows I must return to my home in balmy Los Angeles and see what work lies before me. For now, we're watching as all of you drive "Redemption" up the CDBaby chart. It's funny, because this happened on Sarah as well, but the timing for CHRISTMAS gifts is pretty perfect, don't you think? I swear i don't plan for that. .... Oh, some of you did al this work online and then we didn't get you in the top 8 over on myspace - sorry 'bout that, we've had kind of a communication breakdown among the Jude team right now. VERY soon we/I'll be reaching out to you...

 

November 20, 2006 - Long Time No Post

eh? Three wonderful experiences in three French towns... great crowds, great fun. Of course, the powerful tonic of whiskey and my not being able to hear my voice in the monitors left me unable to sing yesterday... I'm still waiting for it all to come back in time for tonight's show in Paris. We'll see... I actually have some fun stories for you, so next week I'll catch up, but this email sums the shows up, i think :"hey jude, i just wanted to thank you so much for the great concert you gave on saturday night in Clermont-Ferrand. I had tried to see you in Paris where I work but all the shows are sold out! I hadn't listened to you live for a few years now and it was really great. Thanks! Thanks too to your band, the three of you are really gifted, handsome and you seem to get on so well, this is really nice for the audience." ..........I especially like the handsome part, as it's so true :)

Tonight, not only is my voice shot, but our new promoter here is coming to the show in what is basically punk club. As in, no seats on the toilets, piano behind a concrete column...have I mentioned that nearly my ENTIRE family decided that it would be really great to come and see me in Paris? Oh, its gonna be something special... Love to all of you, and thanks for buying up so many of the REDEMPTION cd already!

 

November 14, 2006 - Ray Cokes

Is an awfully nice guy. He hosted the Les Inrocks concert thingy which I was singing on. He also seems to have read a bit of this blog, so HEY RAY! Anyway, first I woke up - wait, first i stayed up all night playing Civilization4 like a loser, then I woke up - then I had soup, then was talked out of wearing my glasses by the make-up guy, then i had strange conversations in broken English with a few French artists (one of whom kept saying "you" and pointing to her throat...it was rather alarming.. I finally gathered that she was complimenting my voice when I understood the word "special". aww.), then I played Love Love, then I played All I Want To Do, as one of the producers told me it was his favorite song. That's really all I need, is for someone to say they love a song, and I forget whatever I was going to do. Never mind if I've never played it before on the guitar in hand, just give me a little love and I run into the arms of the sun... Just before I played Ray asked if I was going to play "Fly" - I chuckled, thinking maybe he meant that terrible Lenny Kravitz jingle, but also thinking, 'hmmm, maybe he means Fly Again, my song?' Anyway, I forged ahead with All I Want.. and although I'll never see the clip, I think it was a little too rockin' for the moment. Fly Again would have been perfect...especially after i sat down for the interview and he told me that he really was a fan, that Fly Again was his favorite song, and that he was hoping I'd play it.... arghhh. It was all good fun, though. He asked me - on camera - what I thought of being called the 'true son of John Lennon' (a quote which I've grown quite fond of, thank you very much), and instead of saying something clever, like: "I'm still waiting for my money from Yoko", I mumbled something about how John Lennon's ACTUAL son was playing on the next stage..... tomorrow will make two shows in a row on which Sean and I share a bill. I'll let you know if we meet. .......David and Craig arrive soon and we galavant around France for a week or so. .....My trusty video camera sits alone and unused on the desk in front of me, cruel reminder that video-blogging is so close and yet so far for a techno-phobe like me. OH, REDEMPTION any day now online in AMERICA. Home of the brave and all that.

 

November 12, 2006 - Between Jarvis Cocker and Sean Lennon

There's some festival tonight in Paris, and between these two I'm playing a couple of songs for the cameras on a stage inside an airstream trailer... should be fun - I'm told it's for the broadcast. All I need to do now is sleep for an hour and I'll be set. In-store shows are set for Lyon, Marseille, and Paris, so come by and say hi if you have the time.

 

November 11, 2006 - I'm so all over online

Been online reading emails way too long this evening. All i can tell you is that Lex Luther and i do a certain dance on youtube. and that entire shows are up there as well, as has been brought to my attention. And remember last year when, plugged into the zeitgeist, we watched the Harry Potter video for King of Yesterday? Well, I've only seen the BBC version, but - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiZxfkeWvH8

 

November 11, 2006 - Milan!

In Milan we spent a day falling asleep in cabs between performing on radio shows. Our guide was Tio, or Theo, I have no idea how to spell it, actually...but he was a great guy. So far Hugo in Barcelona and now Tio on Milan - it's like Naive only hires really cool and smart guys. Wait, this sounds like a you-know-what kissing. Really though, when i'm traveling like this with so much luggage and very little sleep (like the 2 hours i got the night before last), the people helping to bring you around end up doing much more than they should have to. They help carry my massive luggage train, they thoughtfully grab me waters and sandwiches... SPEAKING of which, in a hurry we grabbed a little ham and cheese sandwich next to the hotel in Milan, and it was easily the best ham and cheese I've ever eaten. Which is why I quickly had another one. My super (French) manager was telling me, as so many French friends have, that French food is simply the best in the world. Well... I'll go with French cusine, but for basic stuff, let's call it the food of the people, Italy is second-to-none. If you ever go and rent a car there, if you survive the driving experience, pull into one of the rest areas on the highway - I'm serious - and you will be staggered by what are some of the greatest paninis in the world. And you will be stared at if you are a woman. But is that really so bad? ......... Back to Tio, I was asked to compete in a foosball game against an Italian rockstar. I very likely mis-spelled the game itself in the previous sentence, and that's represents my knowledge of the game. Then my opponent's partner stepped up and was like the young tiger Woods of fussbal, or whatever it's called. I was about to be annhialated... wait, it's fuzball, right? Anyway, then Tio stepped up as my partner, and suffice it to say, no shame fell on judemusic.com yesterday. He was awesome. .............

 

November 9, 2006 - BARCELONA!

Twenty hours of travel delivered me in front of a camera for another soon to be classic interview with Spanish television. I literally can only remember trying to speak in complete sentences. And I vaguely recall not being able to make one sentence make any sense with the one before it. Hey, these aren't so grea either... Played a show right after that, and then walked around this beautiful city looking for my friends but finding only a great pizza. Score. Lot of really friendly interviews today, a photo session with a great artist (more on him one day), and tonight a show at the Bikini, here in Barcelona. 400 people, so it should be fun. Plus, the radio here is starting to play "Money", and they told me today that people are reacting well to it - how cool is that, that another song is getting out there? Anyway, I'm happy. More later. Or tomorrow, as we Leave the hotel at 6 in the morning for Italy.

 

November 4, 2006 - This TV stuff works

After another difficult week I really cannot describe, it was nice to read this today...

"Hello, 23:19- Paris I was peacefully relaxed on my sofa after an hard day of work, and i was zapping on all the channels on TV, when i heared you on the french show TARATATA. such an amazing discovery! I runned to my computer to check on the website all i could learn about you, and your music. and, I confess, i download all your songs to have it quickly. i promess, tomorrow i will buy them. i only hope i will can find them, all. So tonight, this email, to tell you "thank you", first of all; and then to tell you how it was a pleasure to discover and hear you. i didn't listen all your songs yet, i am just playing it now (so beautiful); so i don't know yet which one is my favourite... I red somewhere you will be in Paris for several days, i hope i will be there to hear you in live, to see you.. Idon't know if you will read those words but even if there is a little little little chance you will read it, i was right. For you, to know, that somewhere in Paris, there is a woman you make happy. thanks for everything. I only hope you are as happy, as you make people happy playing your music."

Well, to answer your hope: not quite as happy, I don't think. Except when I'm playing songs for people in person and we all sort of stare at each other and realize while we're singing together that these songs are a shared part of our lives. Then I get all mushy happy and feel like there's a God. And I feel like he gave me a gift. And I feel hung over...no wait, that's just right now because last night I drank from a dozen bottles of EXQUISITE wine with a group of gentlemen who shall remain nameless, but are threatening to converge on a Parisian restaurant sometime around April 24th. For all of you who missed tickets to our shows this month in Paris, we've scheduled another, in case you haven't noticed. On the front page. Oh, and we'll put up the second part of the documentary next week.

 

November 3, 2006 - (Over) Half a Million hits

That was the total here at little 'ol judemusic.com last month. Wow, I think. I guess some of you are checking the site a hundred times a day or something... Last night SAVE ME was heard by millions while a bikini-clad girl tried to distract the nation from one of my favorite bridges, all on the OC. Thanks to them for including the song, and thanks to you for continuing to spread the word about who the hell 'Jude' is our new visitors.

My mother, who sat through the show last night, God Bless her, tells me that I need to keep writing more on here. It's been hard to be funny or even sincere for the last couple of weeks, as stuff in L.A. has really been difficult. I know I owe you a huge post about all kinds of things... let's just say that I'm working day and night to tie up loose ends before leaving again. This time I'm off to Spain and Italy before taking the Gentlemen back to France. OH! Check this out: tonight (or is it tomorrow...the links are on the home page), in France, I'll be on TWO television shows at the same time!!!!! How wild is that? Wild, man, wild. I mean how great is that... and it's pretty great. OK, the best thing is that you can buy REDEMPTION right now through the link on the front page. This is about the same time I released the SARAH cd two years ago, and after that everything got interesting again. This time, already partnered with Naive in Europe, we're looking forwad to seeing who finds us online around the world. And since the decorations were up in some (lazy/greedy) stores before Halloween, a'hem... remember that the gift of Jude is a gift that keeps on giving, so please try to introduce someone new to our little group this Christmas and holiday season.

That was a little cheesy. Oh well. Love you but got to go work. Later...

 

November 2, 2006 - Myspace Madness

here's a friendly thing... http://quietpaws.com/?cat=3

Some people are doing so much work spreading the word that we're putting them up on my myspace page - at least that's what we're trying to do. Tonight is the season premiere of the OC featuring SAVE ME, and I thank all of you who are helping us use the exposure to introduce new people to my songs. It means the world to me. If the myspace thing is too complicated, we'll find a way to make it up to you, like a special poster or something extra spectacular!

Oh, and you can now pre-order "Redemption", which of course includes the song Save Me. And many more. 13 more. !

 

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