Corona and The Horse Tour

Well gee wiz, this isn't good. First I hope all of you are finding safety, comfort, solace and optimism in whatever ways you can. Hopefully amidst the uncertainty and loss this global event will help to bring out pieces of our best nature. I imagine as we find ways to acclimate in this new universe, we'll be turning to each other, with whatever reserves we have, to help those around us who are in more need during this time. I wanted to take a moment and share where my thoughts are moving forward with Gus and Troubadour. 

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The boys with a fire sky. Neither of them know the world went banananananas.

Many folks have asked about what I'm going to do. With a heavy heart and much deliberation I am hitting the pause button on The Horse Tour. I'm calling this part of The Horse Tour "intermission" and hoping it will be a shortish intermission. I know that is optimistic. Best case scenario we can be back on the trail in a month or two or three bringing songs and foolery to the people by horse. This has come at a shitty time for me, but from what I see that's the case for ...... everyone! Turns out the best time for a pandemic is never. A thick soup of extraordinary privileges puts me in an infinitely better position than most during this time and I'm deep in thought about how I can leverage some of that privilege to help others. At this very moment I'm driving across the country to upstate NY where my parents are living. I'll quarantine for two weeks before any contact with them. After much deliberation I wanted to be with my folks during this time, at least till we know more. I'm afraid for all the people I love who are older and who have compromised health. I'm scared for my parents. I'm worried about my friends who are loosing their jobs, my friends who are doctors and nurses, my friends who were already depressed before this all began and everyone else.

The fragility of our systems scares me as much as the virus. My hope is this brings out love and generosity at every turn. My fear is the panic grows and folds in on itself. Last week I experienced tremendous kindness even as the crisis was unfolding. An old Mexican Cowboy named Palon brought the horses water and his finely woven hand made horse tack. He gifted us a handmade rope and demonstrated his roping skills on a greasewood bush in front of the headlights of his truck after it got dark. 

A fireman name Ron at a lonely outpost watered the horses and made me steak and eggs for breakfast, eggs from his chicken and steak from his cow. He also prayed for me. A school teacher named Evangeline was cleaning the closed school while making food for the kids and families. They drop the meals off at the bus stops and the parents pick them up. She and her colleague had extra and brought me a fried chicken dinner with vegetables, Mac and cheese, red velvet cake and two capri sun juice packs! It was divine. I gave the horses some apples and carrots so they could have a treat while I was having a treat. I told these generous souls tales of our journey and they took pictures with the horses, though petting was currently a no no. 

Sarah, above the cardboard, gloriously hosted a show in Vail AZ with her resplendent mom Susan and dad Dick. Their bountiful unsparing plenteous kindness to me meant a lot. Sarah is an artist and she painted these wonderful cardboards of the horses and gifted them. Sarah taught herself how to draw on the subway a few years ago and now she's doing it pro style! You can check out her website here and her instagram here.

Sometimes I'll be doing the actual show down a bit from where the horses are hanging for the night. They might be at a neighbors barn or a few fields away and the audience doesn't always get a chance to meet them. Sarah's paintings now accompany me for the show so folks can put some faces to the names and tales. I showed em to Gus and Troub thinking they might be honored, but alas they tried to eat the art.

I was in a strange place last week, emotionally of course, but also physically. We were in Maricopa county AZ, home of the legendary sheriff and racist blooming wally wazzack dodgey dozy prat cheeky manky muppet grotty bampot plumpy platypus Joe Arpaio. He was the proud bigot sheriff who was convicted of racially profiling and arresting people he suspected to be "illegal". Trump later pardoned him. As I was reloading The NY Times homepage, like an insane person, I was encountering people that do not believe this virus is anything to worry about. I don't know how many folks still share this belief (its been a few days). I hope it's not a lot and that I just happened to have met them all. I did my best to lovingly educate them at a safe distance of six feet. I found myself saying things like "But Trump! Even Trump says it's a big deal! You love Trump right? Listen to Trump!" but somehow he is "playing along with the global media elite"? It is bewildering. I'd provide absurd arguments like "Every doctor on the planet agrees this is a really big problem that we need to address together." but apparently I've drunk the Kool-Aid. I think more and more folks are understanding that everyone needs to isolate as much as possible, because any amount of contact outside of your immediate home puts those whose health is compromised — as well as the health of our healthcare workers — at risk. Some beliefs I've heard in the last week include "The virus was created in a lab in china and released by accident... or as an experiment.", "It's the exact same as the flu this is just people freaking out and panicking. There is no greater risk than anything we've had before." and "It's a bunch of baloney just a way for the doctors to make more money." Any place where people are not augmenting their behavior in the face of this pandemic makes it a more dangerous place and delays our recovery. I did my best, but those conversations are hard when you can't grab the person by the face and shake the nonsense out of their ear holes. 

This is what Gus has to say bout all that.

Wonderful generous hosts Steve (a retired Navy admiral) and Jane (a public healthcare educator for veterans) are looking after Troubadour and Augustus in Aravaipa Canyon AZ where the boys will have plenty of food and a real field to prance about in. Steve drove out to the edge of a gas line road in Mobile AZ to pick us up and bring the boys back. A couple weeks ago Steve and I had a long yarn over a couple glasses of Bourbon. Don't think I'd ever gotten that drunk before. Fascinating hearing a bit about his life. He was the captain for a massive aircraft carrier ship thing (ya know the big big ones), he was lead investigator on the Columbia shuttle crash, he was a fighter pilot and was charged with running gitmo for a moment. Needless to say I had a lot of questions and he was most generous and thoughtful with his answers. I was trying to keep it together in front of the admiral, but I went back to their guest house that night, filled a bath, fixed me a bag of freeze dried lasagna, tried eating it in the tub, startled when my laptop (trying to watch a movie) fell into the sink (dry thankfully), spilled the lasagna in the tub, laughed very hard then fell asleep in the lasagna. Not my classiest moment, but I can speak to the healing powers of sitting in warm tomato sauce for hours, to which I say there are none. Jane invited me to a University of Arizona basketball game. It was right when people were beginning to bump elbows and we were cautious but having a lovely time with the thousands of cheering fans. That was the school's second to last game before sports got canceled. I am so deeply grateful to them for the generous help and to my high council of friends, horse and otherwise who helped me talk through this hard decision. 

As I've mentioned before, traveling on horseback is a practice of letting go. Letting go of the plans you thought you had and adjusting with curiosity and optimism again and again and again. I bring those lessons into this moment. 

Filling a rental car in Casa Grande with horse tack to rendezvous with brother in Albuquerque to retrieve my car I left with him and drive to NY. Can't find wipes, sanitizer or gloves so I'm using napkins for the gas pumps. Very strange feeling passing through a chunk of land in 15 minutes at 85 mph that would take the boys and I a solid 8 hours to get through.

This kid was a legend! At a show outside Oracle for a good 45 cowboys this little man was a fireball of perfect energy. He probably clocked about 12 miles running around the room throughout the show but charmed our socks off while burning his calories. I'd love to outfit toddlers with fit bits at my home shows and read the stats at the end as a finale. Once I let folks know that he wasn't being a problem he became my collaborator. We did the show together. His timing was impeccable and we watched him learn how the audience was reacting to his foolery. It was beautiful. We could see him realize the joy and laughter he was creating in the room with me. He didn't quite understand how it worked but you could tell he found it thrilling. I'll never forget one of the best co-stars I've ever had even though I can't remember his name.

Horses being famous getting their picture taken by adoring fans.

I've known a couple famous people. They're like other people, but ya know, famous. Funny thing is when they're getting their attention for fame just by hanging nearby you can feel a bit famous, a bit more special cause you're connected to this special person getting attention for being special. You know its not real, you know it's all absurd, but you feel it anyway. With Gus and Troub I've felt like I'm sitting on a famous person and leading another one by the face. Everyone we pass brightens up. Their eyebrows arch, their smile spreads, their phone emerges "Can we get a picture?". We get a lot of thumbs up, a lot of "Awesome!" and "Wow!" a bit of joy and wonder shooting into each person we pass. That's felt good. I wish I could say it came from me, but its really all about the pack horse. People see the pack horse and it creates a sense of awe and wonder. Lots of folks never seen a pack horse. For some it brings up the biggest adventure they had in their life. For others it brings up an idea of something they've always wanted to do and might still. Soon as the Corona announcements really hit I started noticing a different look on people, a look of concern rather than joy. In a matter of days the script flipped and people started assuming I was heading for the hills running from the virus rather than on a grand adventure. If I really was just on a trail all the time with good forage and endless water I might continue through this moment, but this trip is interactive to get water, food, shows and local advice for safe routes. Those interactions and the help of strangers along the way has been an essential fuel in getting us this far and a wonderful part of the experience. On advice of every doctor I'm trying to be less interactive for a bit and isolate. 

I'll be sending a separate note to my Kickstarter and Patreon supporters letting them know if they are in dire straights and need their donations back I'm happy to do that. Otherwise I'll be holding on to as much of the remaining tour budget as possible for when we continue. I very much look forward to being a part of the first wave of folks gathering again for joy, song, life. In the mean time I'm gonna try to make some things and share them with my people. Gonna use this isolation creatively as a mast as much as I can, though at times it may feel like an anchor. Does that sound stupid and pretentious? I don't care. Keeping it.

If you are in the fortunate situation of having any dollars you can spare in these trying times consider donating to one of these great organizations or all of them!

1) Community Foundations are often the first philanthropic responders when a crisis hits. They are the places NGOs and social service organizations know to turn to for support, often with the least amount of red tape. And if the CFs are doing their jobs they know where the need is greatest in their communities and respond accordingly. If you are looking for a place to give in a specific community, this map will let you locate a community foundation there.

2) https://www.robinhood.org/ - In New York City, the Robin Hood Foundation helps provide stability to the communities that they have been dedicated to serving for more than 30 years — historically disadvantaged communities who will, we know, be hit hardest in this crisis.

3) feedingamerica.org - Helping food banks respond to Covid 19.

4) CERF+ - Safety net for working visual artists.

5) American Red Cross blood drive - Due to cancellation of blood drives Red Cross is asking healthy individuals to donate.

6) CDP - Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

7) Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) for Performing Arts + Media — raising funds to support a national community, resource hub, and solutions generator for individuals with caregiver responsibilities and institutions that strive to support them.

Resources for artists:
Emergency Funding Resources for Artists across disciplines, compiled by Springboard for the Arts.

Ok. More soon. Reach out to each other. Hell, reach out to me! Write things on paper. Send letters. Build miniature Venetian houses out of clementine peals. Put pants on sometimes. Call your elders. Call your youngers. Get outside. Don't masturbate too much (if that's a thing?) Send me advice. Ask me for advice. Advise yourself. Try laugh yoga. Ask someone you're intimidated by for a recipe. Reinvent the twirl. Have conversations using only questions. Ask questions using only answers. Question conversations using proclamations. Experiment.

Here's a song for free from my yet to be released upcoming album. It features me mum Kathryn and my bud Raky Sastri on drums. It's yet to be mastered and such, but good enough for a pandemic. Hope you enjoy.

Wash your hands.

Boomtooty,

Gideon