I have a flask onstage. I sip from it between songs. It’s not a hip flask or a cool leather-bound whisky sipper. It’s the sort of flask your grandmother used to take to the beach.
“What’s in there?” Shouted someone from the audience last week in France. So I told them but they didn’t believe me. But it really is ginger tea. The most rock n’ roll of drinks, the voice restorer, the miracle potion handed down over generations and passed on via secret rituals at parties attended by posses of opera singers. Actually, I made that last bit up. I found the recipe online somewhere.
Here it is:
Grate at least 1 thumbs length of ginger. Grate, not cut – very important. If you cut it you’ll only get half the benefit. Put it in a teapot then pour one soup spoon of cider vinegar over the ginger. Add 3 drops of Grapefruit essential oil or one drop of Cyprus essential oil to the pot. You can mix in a very small amount of tea for taste if you like and a generous spoonful of honey.
There you have it. The secret’s out…
So now I’m all the way down in the south of Manhattan in a bijoux of a diner, straight out of a Hollywood film; stools at the bar, wood panelled booths and bottles of ketchup as far as the eye can see. There’s no better place to write tonight’s setlist and get ready for a busy evening. When I leave here it’ll be to jump into a New York cab and head over to a pre-show performance for the online video platform Daily Motion. A couple of songs, shake some hands, sign some stuff and then off to the real show which is looking like it might be quite full… hopefully there’ll be enough heat in the room to dry off my shoes which have been given a good NYC baptism in today’s multiple downpours. My feet are soaked.
My grandmother would be disappointed that I don’t have spare a pair of socks with me for such a situation but I have a flask of tea and that surely counts for something.
Barton H
French version published daily on the ROCK MADE IN FRANCE website
