John Allen of Virtual records who released “Time Past and Time Passing” in the US and Regina Green, Jack’s US agent, scrambled together at very short notice,  a few other shows, the first in Baltimore immediately being scuppered by a massive snow storm that dumped 4feet on the city in as many hours. We holed up in  Brooklyn with our great friend  Tara Young, she’s been shooting a documentary on Michael over the last couple of years which includes a very touching tribute from Jack to Michael which would be shown at the Philly show (much to Michael’s excruciating embarrassment). Another plus of being in NY an extra day was meeting up with one of Michael’s jazz heroes, bass player Gordon Edwards who ran the legendary jazz funk outfit Stuff and had played with so many other jazz greats. He still occupies the same apartment on Riverside Drive he’s had for decades except he shares it now with his recently married bride and our old friend, Bridget St. John. Gordon gave Michael a mint copy of Grant Green and Cornell Dupree, vinyl of course, which I think completes his Grant Green collection now. God knows how many bottles we went through, Gordon just sits at his bar and dispenses anecdotes and wine and we’re happy  to partake of both.

We just managed to slither out of NY mid week to head up to Boston, courtesy of another snow storm that clobbered NY this time ( thanks John for that drive) and that evening was the first meeting with Glenn Jones, who’s music I already knew  and loved, and one of the people Michael had talked about in glowing terms. Rightly so too, because not only is Glenn the most beautiful of guitar players and writer of wonderful melodies, he and his wife Norah are absolutely what we would call over here “the salt of the earth”. It’s been a privilege to get to know them. It’s funny though what things stick in your mind too. The sight the next evening of Michael playing a sort of charade type game called Gestures ( he had no choice) with Frank and Leslie’s beautiful brave seven year old daughter Tinka, trying to mime the word “tonsils” was one, totally unrelated to music and yet very much a result of it. Hospitality from people we’d never met but whose love of Jack bound us all together.

Next day we drove up to Amherst West Mass. with the Jones’s  to play the Unitarian Church that MC had first played nine years ago, the sound of both Glenn and Michael (who even played unbugged that night)  in that lovely  arched room was a joy. We stayed with Matt the first of two giants I would meet that weekend, and drank an ’85 bottle of Pomerol that his Dad had given him , surrounded by thousands of albums-vinyl of course.
The Philadelphia Memorial, in the Latvian Society was a roller coaster of emotions for everyone, most of all I imagine, for Laurie, Jack’s wife. The musical line up was just about as eclectic as it’s possible to get in one evening but managed  to include most of the “family” of friends and musicians that made up Jack’s world and Michael felt privileged to be included as one of them. Their musical genres spanned the joyous sounds of the Black Twigs through to ultimate “drone” and the jazz avant garde of Thurston Moore’s quartet, including MC along the way (Thurston being the second giant I met). Michael unfortunately had sound problems which was a disappointment for him but even that couldn’t detract from what will always be, a memorable event.