Update from Johnny Rook

photo by coldengrey

I’m writing from cool, foggy San Francisco, where we’re in the midst of our west coast dates with the lovely and gracious men and women of team Coldplay. In LA at the Forum they housed us in the Lakers’ old locker room – suffice it to say that the natural reverb in the showers is incredible, as is the roar of the crowd when the lights go down and we take the stage (probably because they think, for an instant, that we’re the main attraction). We also had a great time at Fingerprints records in Long Beach, where we took our stadium show to their tiny stage and played our whole set.

Everyone’s looking forward to tonight’s show in San Jose and the coming Vegas odyssey/debacle, after which we’re headed for some shows in the beautiful northwest and Canada’s Pemberton Festival. But right now I’m really excited because of the Calliope Hummingbird that I just saw… my first, ever, hovering impatiently by an empty feeder and peering in at me through the window.

Speaking of unusual birds, Matador has just posted some nice Quicktime versions of the “Looking for Johnny Rook” spots we filmed in the Falklands last year…if you’d like a chuckle along with an inside look at some very rarely-seen places and wildlife, head here: (www.matadorrecords.com/shearwater/quicktime.html). The songs that eventually became Rook first started to take shape in my head during this trip. – JM