That’s it, folks-
I did the last two dates of my ‘Maronation Tour’ this past weekend in Colorado. I had a great time doing the shows. I want to thank you all for coming out if you did. It was my first ‘theater’ tour and we did good. I had no idea whether or not I could get people out in the numbers I did and it was exciting. After spending more than half my career toiling in relative anonymity it’s pretty amazing to perform for big crowds of people that want to see me.
The hour and half I was touring with will be trimmed up to air in a special I did for Epix in Chicago. It’s called ‘More Later’ and will begin airing in December.
I will be doing dates in London and Ireland in September. Vicar Street in Dublin on Sept. 2 and Southbank Center in London Sept. 4-5.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board.
It’s always daunting to face having to build a new bunch of bits and chunks of comedy. I never think it will come but it does. I just start thinking out loud and talking it through on stage and it creates itself over time. I believe I will take a break though. It’s been a crammed few months and I feel like I need to give my brain a rest. I can’t even find the mental energy to tweet my thoughts. I know, tragedy, right?
Denver is a pretty great city with great food. Dean Delray and I had fun. Great record stores. There’s actually a couple of shops where you can find rare shit that may not be worth anything but they’re just records you don’t see much. We went to a place called Black and Read. It was a classic cluttered-stacks-of-stuff-of-all-kinds store. Thousands of records, books, toys, t-shirts, DVDs. It was nuts. I usually run out of steam (and hope) when I go to place that overwhelming. We were there for a couple hours I think. I picked records I had never seen before but thought I should have and some I’ve seen before but don’t have and some I have but bought again just because… who the fuck knows? I got: A few old Humble Pie, the first Richard Hell and Voidoids, Lou Reed’s Blue Mask (another copy - that’s three now - I don’t know why), Renegade by Thin Lizzy, a Nicky Hopkins solo record (what?), some band called Black Pearl, a Bongwater album and Dr. John’s Night Tripper. Crazy.
Then we went to Wax Trax and I picked up a Rank and File record. It was at Wax Trax I had the realization that I am not alone. I’ve had it before but for some reason it just stuck this time. We were going through the bins and I found an Earl Slick record and I couldn’t remember where I knew his name from. Dean said, ‘Bowie’s later band.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ Then some bearded guy that looked roughly like me said. ‘Yeah, it was.’ Then I looked around and there were no less then four dudes that looked like me digging through bins trying to remember and feel like they did when we had no other choices. There was even a guy standing there trying to explain to what must’ve been his six-year-old daughter the difference between the two ‘Some Girls’ covers. ‘Lucille Ball didn’t agree to have her picture used…’
There might be something sad about the whole vinyl endeavor and what it implies about my generation of men drifting into their fifties and wondering where it all went but I’m having a good time. I love holding, looking at and listening to the records. When we were walking out I saw that dad at the listening station with his daughter. She had headphones on and she was holding ‘Sgt. Peppers.' He said, ‘Getting her started on the good stuff.’ I said, 'Don’t let her fall down the rabbit hole we’re in.' He laughed.
I talked to Jason Segel for today’s show. I’ve always really liked him as an actor. I felt like we would have a lot in common for some reason and I was excited to talk to him. He’s playing David Foster Wallace in a new film called ‘The End of the Tour.' It’s a new kind of role for him. We had a good talk about DFW, work, drink and Judd. On Thursday, Sinbad and I talk about his amazing journey in comedy, music, Cosby and a few rough gigs. Great shows this week.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron
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