I was told recently that social media have rendered blogs obsolete.  Maybe so.  None-the-less I am happy to report that I’m alive and well in….St Joseph, Missouri.  As it happens.

I’m delighted to be on tour with the Ensemble Espanyol once again.  We performed 3 concerts at the Touhill Theater in St Louis last weekend.  We just finished a show tonight at the Missouri Theater in St Joe.  All 4 shows were exceptionally well received and all the houses have been sold-out or nearly sold-out.  Cristian Lozano and Paloma Gomez, from the Ballet Nacional, are with us and they are great artists as well as lovely people.  Manuel Palacin (Jerez) is the principal singer—nothing like the resounding cante jondo of one such as Manuel.  Paco Fonta and I are the guitarists.  Have I said Paco is a remarkable artist?  He is.

Later this morning (it is 2 am) we head to Kansas City—Overland Park, I guess it is, for a school show and final concert blow-out on Friday.  I’m not sure of the venue:  go to Ensemble Espanol’s website for details.  We have another show next week in Washington, DC.  I love working with this company.  My first opportunity with them was in 1989 and, OMG, that’s more than 20 years ago!  Wonderful people, excellent quality, very well organized and managed.

So, I guess my calendar entries are a little skewed.  I’ll fix it when I get back to Minneapolis.  Looking at a month or so in Spain—soon.  March, I hope.

Enrique Melchor passed a few weeks ago.  He was a great guitarist and son of Melchor de Marchena.  Too young to die, as was Moraito.  I heard his toque often in Madrid in the late 80s and 90s.  Descanse en paz, los dos gran artistas.