Scattered thoughts

Dear anyone. I’m slowly catching up with myself. I was running ahead for a while, and leaving myself behind.

Then I realised.

There’s no rush.

After frantically setting everything in place to shoot our movie in April, we decided to take our foot off the gas for a second, and hold off for a couple of months.

This decision was not taken lightly.

We were ready to make the movie; we were set out to shoot in April.

But the movie as it stands today has gotten much bigger..,

More actors are becoming involved, and, with every name attached, comes a new price tag and set of logistics.

The film has snowballed into a monster with a life of its own.

If we went ahead and shot it in April, we’d not have been feeding the monster properly.

We’d have been cutting corners, and making compromises…

So, to honour the movie properly, we are giving ourselves a couple of months to prepare and retain the quality.

It’ll be a better movie for it.

We didn’t make the decision until we talked to all the actors and crew, and, like true legends they are all still in 100 per-cent, which is a big comfort.

So, we still have the same team; the only thing that has changed is the dates.

Oh, and more actors, which will be revealed in due time.

So, now I can semi-relax for a few moments before the circus begins.

Maybe I’ll do a weekly or fortnightly update on things to keep you all in the loop.

But for now, I have more space to fill, so I’ll tell you a bit about the guy that Chris drew in the accompanying picture.

Or, I’ll tell you about the time we went to see him, in Cookstown.

His name was Eric Taylor, a songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia.

He was once married to Nanci Griffith, and had his songs covered by the likes of Lyle Lovett.

It was an autumn night, when myself, Coffin Chris, Lomax, and Hinge Thunder took a drive to a barn where Taylor was playing to a small gathering of folk.

There was a turf fire on the go as his stories and songs had the room transfixed.

There was a bottle of poitín floating around, which elevated us with a warm buzz.

After the show, Taylor came into the house, and we all nibbled on the fine spread set out on the kitchen table.

I forget how it came up, but Taylor was talking with me about the singer, Jolie Holland, and hailing her as one of his favourite artists.

Then, along floated a guitar that was being passed around and ended up on my lap.

I didn’t know what to play, so, as we were talking about Jolie Holland, I decided to tackle one of hers: ‘Old Fashioned Morphine’.

I had never played it before.

Then, Taylor started singing it word-for-word.

He had never sung it before.

Then it was time to go.

We drove, with the hanging moon guiding our way home.

As it happens, I’ll be playing a handful of shows with Jolie Holland and Ben Boye when they visit Ireland in a few weeks.

More on that to follow.

But right now, I must bounce.

As always, thanks for reading these scattered thoughts.

Adios amigos,

– McKowski