Tom Carns is an old and very dear friend, going back to when he was a teenager in a band called the Hitchhikers with (Casual) Aaron Spade on the lower cape. He moved out to Oakland, CA., about ten or fifteen years ago, and he’s been there ever since, so we see him when we visit out there and vice versa – it has becopme one of the really cool things about going to California. Along the way Tommy turned into an excellent musician and an exceptional songwriter, as a listen to this informal version of his song, “Iceman”, will bear out (as does his first album, “get up and fall down” (Info Records; Tommy’s website seems to be down at the moment, but there’s a page here, and you can email him at tommycarns@yahoo.com.
This version of “Iceman” was recorded in Tommy and his lovely fiance Julie’s living room on the last night of our west coast tour last winter (not to mention Julie’s first night back home from Mexico) and features Chandler, Dinty, and Fred the Valet “helping out.” It was a magic night, the last of a long and delightful string in a tour/vacation that included more concentrated playing than any of us had ever done before, and we were finding it very difficult to stop (in fact, we did end up staying a couple extra days on impulse.) We recorded a whole bunch of great stuff that night; hopefully someday we’ll put some out. Tommy and Julie!.