Celebrity Travel: Go away with John Brodeur aka Bird Streets
Of his latest album, “Lagoon,” Bird Streets described it as a travelogue of sorts. “I wrote a lot (of the songs) during my long daily walks around Brooklyn,” said the songwriter/musician, whose real name is John Brodeur. “Sometimes they take months or years to finish, so they are inevitably worked on in more than one physical place. While the road isn’t always the best place to start writing songs, I’ve found it to be a good place to finish them.” Brodeur, 46, said he will spend the upcoming holidays in Los Angeles where “there’s a good chance I’ll be celebrating the new record with a performance while I’m there.”
Q: Besides Brooklyn, where are some other places you worked on this album?
A: I think the unique vibes of Memphis, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles all come through on this record, not to mention the United Kingdom, thanks to a stellar contribution from Ed Harcourt. That’s part of what gives this album such an expansive feel – not just the amount and quality of the players involved, but the actual geographical locations where the music was produced.
Q: Do you remember one of the first places that you played a show?
A: The first properly billed show was at a place called Half Moon Cafe in downtown Albany. I believe we got paid in sandwiches. The band didn’t last long. Our demo went nowhere.
Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
A: My partner and I just returned from a few weeks in London and we had a wonderful time. One thing London has that nowhere else does — at least for now — is the ABBA Voyage concert … which is essentially a hologram show. I don’t want to say too much about it, just that no matter what you expect, it’s better.
Q: What was the first trip you took as a child?
A: I grew up middle class in Upstate New York. My parents both worked full time, so we didn’t take a lot of big vacations. The trips I remember from childhood were the annual or biannual drives to visit my grandparents in Niagara Falls. Endless hours in the backseat, looking for anything to break up the bleary, gray monotony of Interstate 90. Or the yearly shuffle off to one beach-adjacent New England town or another, for just enough time to get a quality summer burn before shuffling back into the family van three days later. I appreciate the beach a lot more these days. I really couldn’t be bothered with it back then. My feelings on Interstate 90 have not changed one bit.
Q: What's the most important thing you've learned from your travels?
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