My good buddy Dale Bentley, whom I've written about in past posts, has passed over the Great Divide at age 41. Wherever his soul resides, I'm willing to bet he's raising Cain.

Photo by Elizabeth Lawrence (a still from the Roll Out, Cowboy doc.).

Dale was an awesome individual. I'll write more about him in the coming week.

Allison V. Smith did a sweet photo shoot of Nima and me just before our final Dallas show, at Murray Street Coffee House.

Allison, by the way, is the shining gal with yellow hair below, sandwiched between two up-and-comers in 1984. I'd like to believe that Quincy Jones took the picture.

We still miss you, MJ. Dang.

Pics from our first three Dallas shows.

Bill's Record Store:


Outdoor benefit show at La Reunion:

Nima rockin' it next to the La Reunion turtle pond.

Giant, floating jellyfish made from trash collected in the La Reunion creek.

Sarah Jane and Paul's house concert:

Trinity River Folk singin' Oak Cliff murder ballads!

Nima singin' about fast cars and slow food.

Watcher in the woods.

Our final Dallas show is tonight at Murray Street Coffee House!

Pictures coming soon . . .

Made it to Dallas shortly after midnight. The wind was howling from Shreveport west.

Two shows today!

Back from Toronto. Shawn dropped me off at Mall of America in Minneapolis. Now I'm in the Apple Computer store, waiting for the 5 p.m. flight to New Orleans.

In less than three days I will have driven or flown to seven major cities: New Orleans, Memphis, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and Atlanta. Tomorrow or Friday we ramble to Dallas, passing through either Houston or Shreveport.

Another fun NOLA show last night at Xela's house! My old friend, Ivan Okay, joined the bill. He calls his act The Auroratones! Ivan is a fresh prince. He brought Nima and me a large bottle of home-brewed mango-pomegranate Kombucha.

In a couple hours I fly north to meet up with Shawn Goodall in Minneapolis. He needs me for a short truckin' run to Toronto and back. Wednesday I'll fly back to New Orleans to resume touring with my brother, Nima Samimi.

See you in four days!

When I Love You

When I love you
A new language springs up,
New cities, new countries discovered.
The hours breathe like puppies,
Wheat grows between the pages of books,
Birds fly from your eyes with tiding of honey,
Caravans ride from your breasts carrying Indian herbs,
The mangoes fall all around, the forests catch fire
And Nubian drums beat.

When I love you your breasts shake off their shame,
Turn into lightning and thunder, a sword, a sandy storm.
When I love you the Arab cities leap up and demonstrate
Against the ages of repression
And the ages
Of revenge against the laws of the tribe.
And I, when I love you,
March against ugliness,
Against the kings of salt,
Against the institutionalization of the desert.
And I shall continue to love you until the world flood arrives;
I shall continue to love you until the world flood arrives.

-Nizar Qabbani
(Damascus-born poet, born on this date in 1923)

Really great show last night at The Uptown Holistic Center. New Orleans is like Shangri-La for Nima and me. The warmth, the flowers, the food, etc. Just this morning a kind masseuse named Andrea gave us both free massages.

A different Andrea, a musician, joined our bill last night. Although Nima's and my sets were strong, Andrea Davidson stole the show. She outsold us four to one, 'cause she rocks.

Happy Persian New Year today, by the way! It's been great traveling with Nima, who's Iranian-American and learning about his culture.

Happy Spring, too. : )

Howdy from the fine city of Birmingham, AL. The air smells like a candy stand, blossoms everywhere.

We left Tennessee yesterday morning after honky tonkin' 'til 4 a.m. Goodbye, Music City. Now south to New Orleans--another American magical musical mecca. Please make us welcome, Big Easy! We're just a couple poor boys tryin' to be good in a bad way.

It's good to be back to my old stompin' grounds here in Nashville, TN, and hangin' out with my former bandmate and sweet pal, Camo Davi! Camo and his lady, Courtney, hosted a house show for Nima and me last night, and Camo joined me on several songs. I had a great time. He's going to join me for another set tomorrow night at Blue Bar/Rack Room.

I'm very happy to be in the South, finally, after a few weeks of vehicle limbo. Our drive here from Boston took a couple days. The first night we stayed in D.C. with Nima's friend Claire. The second night we bedded down in Asheville, NC, at Brian & Bridget Freeborn's place. The Freeborn's daughter, Wild, is a recent Girl Scout celebrity. Here's a funny video of her on The Today Show.

Nima and I are eating our hosts' food this week (thanks Andy & Lawry!), but every other day we eat out. We had Korean last Thursday. Yesterday, Chinese.

Our cookie fortunes both encouraged patience.

His: "Your relationships could be under stress, sit back and wait."
Mine: "Don't be hasty; prosperity will knock on your door soon."

Weather's been great. Tomorrow or the next day we drive south.

I miss Hana very much.

She is in Damascus, learning Arabic, sipping green nectar.

Check out this advertisement I made in New York City two days ago with help from my friends!

Produced & Edited by Hanon Rosenthal at Billboard Studios
Directed by Nima Samimi
Music by Chris Sand and Shawn Parke