Howe’s Tour Journal

I left new york, I caught the train up to providence.
Family stuff and then off to Woodstock new york to visit Kevin salem and kate hyman, both of whom made the “chore of enchantment” record what it turned out to be. While there, we were visited by malcom burn, who along with kate, made the “glum” record what it turned out to be. I hadn’t been back to kate and Kevin’s since luka was still in momma’s belly. 7 years ago.
And I hadn’t seen Malcolm in about that time as well. Woodstock has that vibe that you expect it does somewhere in the autumn chill. This was two Tuesdays before thanksgiving.

Malcolm asked all of a sudden, “has any heard from chris whitley?” well no one heard anything concrete, but there seemed to be some tone of concern. I heard he lost his apartment in new york a while back was all, and I am not sure how or when I even heard that, but just the thought of it bummed me out.

It was enough to make me remember the times chris and I hung out. And how I ever heard of him. It was rainer. Rainer loved that record he did with Malcolm and he played it for me way back when it came out. That was years before I would record with Malcolm, who I was introduced to by kate. And then there was that first blurry memory of rainer and chris here in Tucson jamming ….was it cushing street ……?…..after we all left the local Mexican restaurant (el minuto).

Then there was the few times I would run into him on the road. In a studio in new york working on one of his records. In Austin at one of his shows. And one time simply by chance while I was at a phone booth in manhatten. We hung out all night after that happenstance. Him, me and jd. And then there was that time our kids played together while him and I settled back on the park bench. They were both the same age then… about 11, I think.
7 years ago.

And I remember his apartment. It was like he lived there forever. Like he was never going to let it go cause he had such cheap rent because of the rent control law there, and his neighbors were paying 10 times the amount.

One night several years ago I got a mysterious wake up call in the middle of the night. It was chris. Like he was just high enough to disallow the confines of any time zone, thankfully, and woke me up so it would all seem dream like. We talked a bit and come morning I tried to separate the dream from the conversation.

Then on another tired solo touring night in Dresden a couple years ago, I was taken to a bar after my show for only about 15 minutes. I was too tired and had to go crash instead. But before I left the bar, a woman approached me. She said she was chris’s girlfriend and how he wanted to be here to catch my show but had to be away on tour. Strange little moment I thought. Lucky to just about catch it.

On Tuesday before thanksgiving I read on the comments page here that chris had passed away. Severe surprise.

On Wednesday, I phoned kate. She just heard it on the radio. Lung cancer was the final verdict and he died there in texas. It was a sad chris talk. I got off the phone. Celia blackwood came over. We talked about chris and she said she thought jim or patti had some stuff with him and rainer playing together. All these years that has never been heard if it does exist. But there is that missing track from rainer’s ‘inner flame’ tribute cd, with chris whitely and warren zevon in a hotel room jamming to “powder keg”. You could hear the mini bar depletion in that track, but it was a stunning vibe as you can imagine. At the last minute david pirner put the kabash on the use of it since he had partaken in that on the fly recording as well and figured that maybe it might have been a take too hammered. There was no time to get him to check it out, the record was literally being mastered at that moment. We had to leave it off.

So.

The phone rang again as me and celia sat there. Melissa Sheehan phoned. I hadn’t talked to her in as many years as Malcolm it seemed. She said chris’s ashes were on their way to Tucson. The woman I met in Dresden was arriving on thanksgiving day. She would need some help.

It is out there way south of town where rainer’s ashes are spread too. a place where he liked to go. A place where a river still flows defiantly and beautifully carves the desert some.

Friday Susanne called me. She said chris asked to have his ashes spread around some, and some had to come here to the sonoran desert. I pointed the way to a powerful peaceful piece of desert west of town.

The same night I was doing a cancer benefit show here in Tucson. It was set up by one of my step sisters, inspired by surviving 2 other sisters, and having the 3rd still recovering from it. judy will go on to climb mount kilamanjaro in December to continue this fight.

Susanne showed up there after her time in the desert. she was there with robyn, a fan and now a friend from California that flew her out here. I introduced them to patti. The night was full.

It ended with us all being joined by greg brown and iris dement and their daughter, whom they had recently adopted from an orphanage in siberia.

A full day on the planet. A continuence. A thanksgiving and a thanks getting to know. A taking in and a letting go.

One more thing… earlier that same day I went to the record store to buy something of chris’s for the show that night. The only one they had in stock was the one he gave me there in his apartment so long ago: “din of ectasy” , with his daughter trixie’s drawings all over it.

I wanted to also buy the new thelonious monk cd with john Coltrane at Carnegie hall. Sofie had gotten me it for my birthday, but I lost it somewhere in our house of clatter clutter before I could ever listen to it. something told me again, not to buy it yet.

When I got home, there was a letter from germany. It was from munster. Manfred had sent me the monk cd from his record shop there. I unwrapped it and drunk it in. this was Friday, the day chris’s ashes would be laid to rest in the desert here, the day I was to play the cancer benefit, the day after thanksgiving.
I noticed there and then this monk cd was recorded on thanksgiving in 1957.

I took it to the show that night. I fixed my wires on the stage and then started the cd player. I saw Susanne come in then and find a seat. I got patti and went and sat down with her and robyn. Monk came on through the house system and it turned out to be the same music she had played for chris at his request there at the end.