Billy Goodman: News

Got a rainy summer day here. I'm hanging at church (Calvary Chapel Heidelberg). It's nice and quiet here today and I brought my old guitar along. Just feeling blessed and grateful.

Just came back from visiting the Hooters up in Aschaffenburg. They had a day off and then a show last night. I was able to have some great talks with the boys. These guys are cool and they play every concert like it's their last. It had to be well over a hundred degrees farenheit on that stage and they went full bore for two hours.

Pretty calm in Heidelberg today. I thought there would be more weeping and wailing going on. I feel bad for the German team but my nerves are not as shot.

High anxiety in Germany today. We'll know at 10 tonight if they're still eligible to win the world cup.

I had a great gig in the Pfalz last week with Timo Gross. Norbert and I took the 64' Benz out for the first time in years. It ran like a dream once it got a taste of that new diesel fuel.
We took the autbahn for a while, then cruised through the mountains and forest to come upon this pristine valley. Then it semed the entire village of Pleisweiler turned out and we played into the wee hours.

The festival in Plauen was really well put together. All the music was top shelf and he Malzhaus keller was the oldest structure in the city. Figure 900 years. I had never been to Plauen so for me it was a little time travel into former East Germany. I ended up playing both nights because I was having so much fun.

Back in Heidelberg. I love this town.
I got to go and play near the Czech Republic border this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing all the good old Deadheads in East Germany.

I just walked past Gordon Lightfoot's former home in the Rosedale section of Toronto. It' a great old mansion built a hundred years ago. Knowing that he wrote and honed the majority of his mighty catalogue within those four walls made an old folkie stop and gawk.

The filming is complete and the cast and crew party was a big success largely in part to the kitgut stringband who picked on banjos and fiddles throughout the night. Toronto has really taken us all by surprise at how cool it is. It has got to be the most laid back major city I've ever visited.

Just like i said, he i am in Toronto, Canada. Beautiful town, beautiful weather, a little jet-lagged but suited up and ready to go. It's great to see my two brothers. They left for the shoot early this morning but I'll join them tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll catch up on some work and play the old Gibson acoustic in some of these beautiful fully wooden rooms in this old mansion.

I'm going to do a gig tomorrow night with a talented singer from North Dakota. Her name is Nikki Jay and we're playing at the Prinz Friedrich in the old town of Heidelberg. The new owner there has a great room in the back of the pub for unplugged music
and i mean unplugged. So, we'll see how it goes. It would be great to have a venue in Heidelberg
that would support home-grown music. My hopes are up. I like the new owner.

My brother Jon, also known as Mr. Boy, is at it again. This time he's one of the executive producers of an English re-make of the French film classic "The Man On The Train" . Donald Sutherland plays one of the two main
characters and the drummer of U2, Larry Mullin plays the other. They're filming right now in Toronto, Canada and Mr. Boy wants me to go out there and entertain the troops a little bit. This should be interesting. More to come.

I hit the ground running, did a gig in the Black Forest and with a little luck managed to get my new song on the radio here last week.
I met a DJ through a friend who works at a small Mannheim station, Radio Bermuda 104.5
He asked to hear the new song I wrote in German. After hearing it, he immediately asked his colleagues to put it on the air.
You can hear it at:
www.myspace.com/billygoodman
Enjoy !

It's been a wild couple of weeks. It went from blizzards to spring practically overnight. I recorded again in New York last week and got a version of my new song in German that I think is pretty cool. Not everybody's gonna like it but I think it's a good experiment for me. Got a new computer, recording software so I'm good to go. Heading back to Germany on Sunday.

I'm watching from the window yet another snowstorm pummel the state of New Jersey. Luckily I scored a new computer, recording software and enough food and water to keep me alive for a few days. It looks beautiful but I sure hope that power stays on.

I'm in the middle of a blizzard near Philadelphia. A meter of snow has fallen and it's not over yet. I'll be fine as long as the power doesn't go out. I did manage to dig myself out of the driveway a few days ago and took the train in to New York City.
There I was met by old friend Mike Rains in his basement studio at 66 Rivington. He recorded me for a several hours. We got 10 songs down nice and I beat it back to Philly to get ahead of the next blizzard. The one I'm sitting in. The one I'm stranded in until someone plows the driveway.

I traded in the European winter for the American winter for the next few weeks. I'm presently visiting Steve Kimock up in my old Pennsylvania stomping grounds.
I always love visiting Steve. We known each other a long time so we're kinda like brothers. His wife Jen cooks so good that it's hard to get rid of me. We played and recorded a lot of music last night. We're gonna get back at it now.

I started out the year by asking my associate Neptun to help me write a song with German lyrics. We set ourselves to work and to the best of our abilities had a song written in the next few hours. I should say the text because I had written the music previously. Then Neptun proceeded to coach me vigorously on the correct German pronunciation while I sang my poor heart out. By midnight we had a good live demo recorded. The amazing thing is, it sounds pretty good. I like it.

I managed to get out of Amsterdam in one piece. Not every American can say that. It was a great stay but I'm glad to be back in Germany. I have what I think is the raw material for a good new album. Now I start banging it into shape.

That was one colorful cast of characters backstage at the Melkweg last night. Here I was listening to stories by Paul Kantner, Gary Duncan and David Freiberg, all in a good mood. They sounded great and invited me up for the encore. I got to sing "Volunteers of America". That was a big song from my teenage years so I was pretty blown away.