It was at SXSW, five years ago, that Duke Special and I reconnected after having met many years prior while I was studying in England. Since then, we’ve worked on several music videos and documentaries together, and he is easily one of the most talented, and equally nice, people I’ve ever met. So it was an fantastic surprise to find out that he’d been flown in at the last minute to play a set as part of the Northern Ireland party. Having released six albums since his first trip to Austin, Duke’s catalog of music has grown in so many beautifully diverse ways, and it was really great to get a little taste of them all at this show.
It was a quick trip for Duke though as he had to fly back to NYC at the crack of dawn the next morning to rehearse for his upcoming show tomorrow night. He’s been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create a series of original songs inspired by the current photography exhibition Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand. If you live in New York and are able, you owe it to yourself to go see this incredibly unique, one-night only performance. I definitely wish I could be there.
