WEDS 18TH FEB. FLORIDA THEATRE JACKSONVILLE FL. TRAVEL: BAND: CREW: LOCAL ONLY AFTER SHOW DRIVE TO CLEARWATER 195MLS. --------------------------------------------------- VENUE: FLORIDA THEATRE 128 E. FORSYTHE ST. JACKSONVILLE FL. 32202 --------------------------------------------------- I accidentally left my CD player, and CD’s at the baggage claim of Jacksonville airport. This doesn’t bode well. I hare loosing things. I call Delta a couple of times, and they sound very helpful, though I have the feeling that nothing will be recovered of this. I’ve had this CD player 2 years, so I feel bad, and angry with myself. African Dawn was good company too. I wish I could recall the order of the set we actually performed tonight. The ‘set’ is never in fact the same as the set list E.C. writes out and Milo (that’s our stage manager) tapes to my piano. This is one of the exciting aspects of performing with E.C., you are never going to follow a list. He has so many great compositions up his sleeve, and he takes the risk to follow his heart and go where the mood takes him. (At times, I’m sure, the reaction of the audience tempts him to make certain choices). Tonight E.C. took many detours from the list, and every surprise was a good one. If anyone has a set list of tonights show, I’d love them to post it here. Would be interesting to compare it with the ‘abandoned’ list: ACCIDENTS/45 ROCKING HORSE ROAD/BRILLIANT MISTAKE LONG HONEYMOON SHOT WITH HIS OWN GUN THIS HOUSE IS EMPTY NOW YOU LEFT ME IN THE DARK SOMEONE TOOK THE WORDS AWAY TOLEDO/NO WONDERHOME TRUTH YOU TURNED TO ME FALLEN GOD’S COMIC/THIS IS HELL EITHER SIDE OF THE SAME TOWN INDOOR FIRWORKS/SWEET DREAMS MAN OUT OF TIME/DEEP DARK TRUTHFUL MIRROR PEACE LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING SHIPBUILDING/SLEEP OF THE JUST WHEN IT SINGS STILL GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH INCH BY INCH/ALMOST BLUE LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HER/I’M THE MOOD AGAIN I STILL HAVE THAT OTHER GIRL COULDN’T CALL IT UNEXPECTED THRS 19TH FEB. RUTH ECKARD HALL CLEARWATER FL. TRAVEL: BAND: CREW: DRIVE TO CLEARWATER DRIVE TO TAMPA 195MLS 41 MLS. --------------------------------------------------- VENUE: RUTH ECARD HALL 1111 McMULLEN BOOTH RD. CLEARWATER FL. 34619 --------------------------------------------------- My two children were born in St Petersburg Florida. My son Jackson is here, so I spent most of the day with him re-visiting old haunts. Nostalgia is a strange mixture. Lunch down-town at the Coney Island Hot Dog. Photo of this legendary Americana will be added to the personal photograph album asap. I’m actually feeling pain typing this, which may indicate the force that attacked the Steinway tonight. The piano just didn’t respond enough, and had to be beaten into submission. My fingers are sore as hell. Notice, there are four shows in a row, a situation that we try to avoid, mainly to protect E.C’s voice. On stage the same list was successfully abandoned again tonight. Girl’s talk was extremely enjoyable to play, followed by Mystery Dance. After the Jacksonville show, instead of following the road book and staying in town, we hit the road, and drove in the night. Road works along the freeway slowed our journey, (seems American laborers are OK to work in the night under arc lamps, could be a Florida thing, with the hot sun in the day?? I’ve seen it often in Japan). We watched the Buddy Holly story, and I feel something of that spirit came tumbling out during this unexpected moment. There were other moments I thoroughly enjoyed, but I cannot go through them all. A strange thing happened during When it Sings. When we perform as a duo, there is a communication that I cannot explain, that mysteriously informs me when I should slow down, or play softer, or play more intense, or whatever. I had the sure feeling that E.C. was making a pause, and so I held back, but it was not the case. E.C. was suspended in mid sentence, he was actually waiting for me. It was a protracted freeze frame that only a grimace from E.C. snapped me out of. Sometimes you need to mark your score “Keep going regardless, do not think about ‘accompanying’. Lead on.” Other weird moments. My synthesizer was set to ‘Farfisa’, when I was expecting ‘subtle analog strings’. The LCD is so small it only displays a three digit number, another thing to watch your step about. Oh yes, copies of Windows arrived today. So post office tomorrow. That’ll keep me out of the sun. ---------------------------------------------------

this journal isn't working properly, so excuse me. Too tired to reprogram it, but will try later.

Thanks, Mr. N., for this diary. Incredibly generous of you, and quite interesting for us EC/SN/Imposters no-lifers

Hope your CD player surfaces. I hate losing stuff too.

Sincerely,
Alex

The setlists for the three shows so far are `up ` on www.costellonews.com. I posted them - I`m hilariously called Postmaster General - after pasting them from the Costello Fan Forum and costello-l listserv . I`ve also posted a link to this - hope you don`t mind!

John Foyle