News From Buck 65

Lovers of all shapes!

Things continue to bloom. The sun keeps getting further away…

Since we last spoke, I had a nice twirl through England. It all
started at the legendary 100 Club where I just missed Mick
Jones and Topper Headon from the Clash. They were there for a
special function that afternoon and had just left. Frig! But the
show was a memorable one.

Next up was the Dedbeat festival which was held at some kind of
cut-rate Wally World and was completely psychadelic. I saw lots
of old friends and made plenty of new ones. I got to see El-P and
Aesop who put on a great show. Edan absolutely killed it.
Hooked up with my old friends Egon (APSO) and Peanut Butter
Wolf, which is always nice. Hey, I got to see and MEET Brand
Nubian. Cripes. They did all the hits starting with ‘All For One’.
Holy. I also was excited to meet Squarepusher, but he was
mean to me. Oh well…

Then I embarked on a tour with Blackalicious, which may to you
sound like the oddest thing in the world and maybe it was. But it
was a real nice time. Gab couldn’t make it due to complications
with a laser eye surgery (shudder!), but Lateef stepped in like
only Lateef could. Killer. The Lifesavas were also rollin’. All those
guys are real nice and class acts I can tell you. It was a pleasure
for me and I’ll miss them. The shows were all great, except I
wasn’t entirely happy with my Birmingham show. I’ll have to go
back and set that one straight.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Before all that, I shot a video in Toronto
and it turned out amazing. It’s for one of the pieces of Square
One. ‘From storm clouds come angels…’ Keep an eye out for it. It
will be up for viewing soon. It’s based on the film Peeping Tom
and the Dean Stockwell character from Blue Velvet.

I just got back from the South By South West festival in Austin,
Texas. What a time! I felt like a fan. Here were the highlights for
me…

– The Flaming Sideburns from Helsinki.
– Sahara Hotnights and meeting Pelle from the Hives at the
show (later, he came to mine in turn).
– spotting Wavy Gravy.
– meeting Ben Harper in the street, having a chat.
– seeing Lucinda Williams and hearing her rap.
– Willie Nelson. ‘Nuff said. He was joined on stage by Ben
Harper.
– seeing Vic Chestnutt, one of my very favorites…
– seeing Neco Case in a surprise appearance with Calexico. I
approached her after the show and she remembered me from a
meeting years ago. Swoon…
– apparently, Beonce Knowles dad was at my show. Go figure.

All around, a great weekend. Lots of great food and art. I love
Austin. It was weird though: at the Lost Highway showcase,
where I saw Lucinda and Willie a dj was playing punk and
anti-war anthems between the sets. Bold. Texas. You know?

Next, I’m off to work my way up the east coast of the US. I’m
psyched. I’ll be hitting a lot of towns I’ve never been to before and
will be hooking up with some interesting people along the way,
including De La Soul, Sole, Odd Jobs, Dalek, Sage Francis,
Kunga 219, Scratch Bastid and Josh Martinez, and Awol.

I hope to see you out there. Come give the old man a kiss.

Love,
Buck
xo