I met friends in Austin to see Sam Baker play. He kicked off with a song entitled ‘Palestine I & II’. Completely haunting. It was weird to try and figure out, cold, if he was talking about Palestine, TX or the Middle East. Still not sure — it has overtones in each direction. I’d never heard of him — so had no expectations. It was heart felt singing and songwriting. He was on a train for Machupichu when the train was bombed by local terrorists. He survived – not unscathed; but survived where others didn’t. My first thought was that he looks exactly like the 60’s version of Bill DeKooning. Which ain’t bad. Especially if you’ve been looking at anything that gets passed off as ‘contemporary’ art.
Yes. No one does ‘bursts better than Collings. Magic.