Eric Goulden

A weird experience for me - my second ever sporting event (third if you count the stock car racing at Arlington in darkest depths of rural Sussex when I was a kid) - Giants versus Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Stranger by far than the football match we went to in freezing weather earlier this year (Norwich versus Stoke City) - the weirdos, the blowhards, the ketchup… Charge!

Somewhere in amongst this conglomeration of metal, glass and concrete Amy Rigby is about to read, perform and talk at a book event at the Permanent Records Road House. Support was provided by me and our friend , the keyboard player Danny McGough having an impromptu conversation on the stage after the soundcheck, but you’ve already missed that. You haven’t missed tonight’s guest DJ, Hazel Rigby, who is coincidentally Amy’s daughter. Hazel is in the middle of playing some great records right now! Amy will be on just after seven-ish and I’ll be lowering the tone on the guitar here and there. Hurry on down!

San Francisco - City Lights book store. I’ve been to a lot of cities over the past fifty years or so but I never usually get much of a chance to look around. Café Trieste was fascinating though the coffee definitely wasn’t my cup of tea, me being one of those poncy nouveau bohemians with a taste for high end light roast espresso. I wish I didn’t feel so tired… More coffee! Looking forward to my Los Angeles show tomorrow at Wild Honey! Apart from that, fuck Nigel Farage and fuck Reform UK, and over and out.

Really looking forward to @indielabelmkt in London this Saturday! ⛱️ Our colleagues Sean & Matthias are bringing a few exclusive signed vinyls, including ones by @landehekt , @thewrecklesseric , @peteastor AND the new @the_loft_uk record (out tomorrow). There will be a selection of limited edition albums and some English-language books by our extended circle of friends. Kraut-, wave and electronic avant-garde heads should also come by for a browse… See you there! 🖖

Amy in this palace of tack, this cavern of kitsch that is the Madonna Inn. We’re heading for San Francisco where I’m doing a show tomorrow night (Thursday) at the Makeout Room. Starts at 7pm with Tom Heyman opening. I hope Amy’s going to play a few tunes with me, give the night a touch of class (not that Tom doesn’t have that in spades). I hope the Madonna Inn has somehow rubbed off on us.

Mmm yes, I’m feeling quite severely tired myself… The town of Santa Barbara is disturbingly wealthy and white, but in amongst the aged lunkheaded jocks and crinkled antique Barbies there are some fine people. We had a great time in and around the Santa Barbara Literary Festival. I hope we can come back again. Thanks to David Novak and to Amy French and her delightful family.

It’s a brave new world… actually I think it’s a very crappy world . Here we are in a driverless van in the downtown Los Angeles night. Im playing at the Make Out Room in San Francisco on Thursday 7th May, and again at Wild Honey Backyard Shows in Los Angeles on Sunday(10th May). Could be my last times playing on the West Coast, who knows? Hope some Californians come along and help me find out.

I’m really enjoying being in Germany, the land of cigarette smoke and facial furniture - just wish the routing was a bit more sensible and the drives weren’t so long. Cologne, Frankfurt, Zurich is a bit crazy but it couldn’t be helped. I’m looking forward to finishing up on Saturday night at El Lokal in Zurich.

I’m shocked and saddened to learn that Andy Kershaw is no longer with us. I first met Andy sometime in the late seventies when he was a student at Leeds University. I don’t remember our exact first meeting but once met he was suddenly cropping up everywhere - at least whenever I was in Leeds he was. I have a vision of him seared into my memory, his open, fresh face, boyish good looks that verged (at the very least) on actual beauty, and that accent - a rich Lancashire burr that seemed completely at odds with, and so much a part of this amazingly charismatic young man. He was obviously destined for great things and it was no surprise when that wonderful accent suddenly came out of the radio - hey - that’s that kid from Leeds with the Lancashire accent! He had it all, looks, wit, charm, charisma - and it seems he also had his demons - I worried about him from afar in the early 2000s and was glad to meet him again, sober and together, when he invited me onto a bill with a group of Senegalese rappers and a Brazilian folk singer. He was a bright spot in my otherwise failing music career during the eighties, and I can always hear his voice in my head: “and now here’s the Len Bright Combo [pronounced Combaw of course]…” He would always crop up somewhere unexpected and I was always very pleased to see him. I’m sad to realise that that won’t be happening anymore. The world has lost a true original, a hugely talented broadcaster and musicologist, and a fine, fine human being. Love you Andy x

The latest episode from my ongoing existential crisis - go on tour, catch a ferry, plus a blow by blow account of renting a car at Norwich "International" Airport (link at top of profile page)

It’s important to document these things (apparently), and I haven’t posted anything in a while, so here’s a candid shot of backstage at the Kling Klang in Wilhelmshaven. I last played here in 1991 and I think that orange wall is new. Actually I’m looking forward to this one. It’s a great small venue in a somewhat run down town and I’m glad it’s survived so far. Support your local venue! Fuck the festivals, this is where it’s at! Here we go…

Here we are on day four of the interminable celebration of nailing a man to a piece of wood. Here’s the lovely Amy on the beach at Mundesley from day two of this ridiculous weekend- the day the shops were open on the day before the nailed-up man came back from the dead with holes in both feet from the nails that rendered him unable to walk on water - a shame because we could all use a miracle right now. But as long as we’re sticking with the good old Christian values. I wonder how the wars are going. Life could be so beautiful if rich, bigoted men didn’t turn it into shit. May I be the last to wish you all a happy Easter.