Another year another journey

So, I forgot about this blog last year and did not keep up with the blog but at the request of friends and family I will be posting again on this blog for my 2007 tour.

The summer has started off lovely with two shows on the West Coast. Lightning in a Bottle in May and emerg-n-see last weekend.

Emerg-n-see was a wonderful time. We had several of the Native State artists in our home for the week and had lovely meals and a couple of memorable jams with the baby grand piano, the fun machine and the cello. We also had a field trip to the museum the last day to see the Body Worlds Exhibit. Words can not describe what it is like to see preserved humans and all their body parts labeled and placed out for the public to see.

Body Worlds Exhibit

Today in three hours, I hop on a plane to Colorado for a festival called Sonic Bloom. My dear friend Allison will be picking me up from the airport. I find it proper that I get to start this stretch of my journey with Allison. She was there in Croatia on my 2005 tour and we have traveled Europe together several times. A tour would not be the same if I was not able to enjoy some of it with Alison.

So here it is, the beginning of 5 weeks on the road. first stop Colorado, Santa Cruz, London, Paris, London and back. I will have two weeks to recover and then up to Canada for a week.

Wish me luck and I will be posting pictures and more stories soon.

I love you all and hope your summer is a blast.

Canada, the sunshine coast and back again...

OK, I am finally home from the tour. I've been back less than 24 hours, my phone has been ringing off the hook and I am offically pooped!

Shambhala was an amazing festival! The music was incredible and the overall vibe was very special. Evan Bluetech asked me to join him on stage for two sets. We played a sunrise set and an early morning set to close the festival.

After the festival my friend Grig and I headed to the sunshine coast. It was so beautiful there. I really love Canada and can't wait to head back and see more of it.

One gig down two more to go...

So Steve and I played the Supperclub Wednesday night. It was a really good show but there was some juju with my first set. Somehow both my violin and cello were not going through the main system. They were set on two different channels and neither of them worked. We had to stop the music and I had to fix everything and then re-do our first set.

The Supperclub likes the musicians to do two different sets and only 15 minutes long. Each set is done with a course of the meal and then a DJ plays the rest of the night. People really enjoyed the music and we had an entire group in the audience clapping and dancing to the music. It was a nice shift from playing in San Francisco where people just stare at the stage. In all honesty, I really like playing two short sets. It keeps people interested in the music and you have the full attention of the audience for the time that you perform.

Tonight I play at Nomads which is a restaurant owned by the Supperclub and then tomorrow I play the Supperclub Cruise. It will be an interesting night because Saturday is Gay Pride in Amsterdam so the streets will be filled with thousands of people.

Amsterdam

So here I am in Amsterdam. It is unseasonably cold and wet. The rain just came in and it's 15C. When I left Croatia it was about 40C. It's nice to not be so hot but it is a big shift in weather.

When I got here yesterday Zjef from the SupperClub emailed me and asked me to play tonight so Steve and I will head down to the club a little early, get a meal and do soundcheck. It's nice that it worked out this way. Now I have my rides to and from the airport covered in expenses and the rest will be play money for Amsterdam. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to take some extra cash home with me. Not bad for my first European tour. :)

The last time I was here in Amsterdam, I got to see a lot of the city so this time I plan on checking out some museums. I've been wanting to see the Van Gough museum, so I think I will go there tomorrow. Sadly, I only have one day of sight seeing in Amsterdam and the rest of the time I will be doing gigs. Hopfully after my show tonight, I will be able to make it to see a live band play. The bands name is Plastik and they are a live broken beat/hip-hop group that has a live drummer and singer. It would be nice to check out as much live music as I can while I'm here.

The next adventure...

So here I am drinking my cappuccino waiting at the airport for the next adventure. Croatia has been so good to me. I did three full sets at the festival and they all went really well. Several of the DJ’s ended up spinning my record throughout the festival and it felt so good to have my music so well received. I can’t wait to come back next year to play the same festival. The people were so welcoming and helpful. They paid me well, feed me, gave me a room and filled my heart with joy. This tour was just what the doctor ordered. So far I have walked away with dozens of new contacts to record labels, a new booking agent who will help me book shows around the world, several new friends and the highest spirit I’ve been in for months.

I am very excited about Amsterdam as well. It’s been two years since I was there and the last time I was there I didn’t want to leave.

In some ways, it’s good that I lost my job. Now I can be free to travel the world. When I return from Amsterdam, I am booked to perform at the Shambalah festival in Canada and then I go to Burning Man. As they say when one door closes another one opens. I am very excited about having this chance to travel. It’s what I have always wanted to do but I was never sure that everything would work out. So I guess this blog maybe a long journal that lasts a few years. :)

So, here are the pictures I was promising. There will be more to come of the festival and also of Amsterdam. :)

Tales of the tour pictures

3000 year old city...

OK, I am in love with Croatia. The people are so amazing and the country is just as wonderful.

Pula is a 3000 year old city. You can just see all the history in the town. The festival is at an old military base. I can not begin to explain how amazing it is to be in a place that once endured war and now there are thousands of young people dancing and enjoying themselves. There is such a sense of community amongst all the people as well. It is such a different vibe than the festivals in the states.

I have never been so taken care of. The promoters have rented three apartments that house all of the international artists. There are some of the top electronic music producers in Europe staying there. Yesterday several performers arrived from Germany, France, Italy and Sweden.

I was also asked to open the festival on the main stage which is one of the greatest honors. The President of the Croatian parliament was there and I played to a happy dancing crowd of several hundreds of people. I also did a set today and will do one more tomorrow with Bluetech.

Spending this time with Bluetech has been amazing as well. He has become one of my closest new friends and I feel very fortunate to have had this chance to play with him half way across the world. We also are planning an album when we both return from Europe.

I have tons of pictures and video to upload but I might not be able to do that until I get to Amsterdam.

Croatia!

Well, I have finally made it to beautiful Pula Croatia. Three days later several hundreds of dollars down from London, a missed plane flight and a five hour car ride from Venice Italy.

I arrived in London hassle free, got a great room in Hyde park and spent way too much money. I was 5 minutes late and missed my plane to Trieste. The next flight was not until the following day so I decided to fly to Venice because I knew I had to get out of London. Everything there is SO expensive. A meal and two drinks was $60. The airline charged me almost $200 for my cello and baggage. Luckily I can get reimbursed from the festival.

What a crazy mess missing my flight became. Dovla and Zrinka came to pick me up in Trieste but I wasnt there so they freaked out and eventually got an email from me that I was in Venice. Luckily they were very wonderful and patient. They drove two more hours to Venice to get me and we made it back into Croatia late last night. For us in America a 3 hour dirve is nothing. In Europe you pass through three countires and it is considered a long long way.

Everyone at the festival is so nice. I have never felt so welcomed. They rented a room for Bluetech and I in the town of Pula. Everyone has been so helpful and friendly. I was even asked to open the festival on the main stage! Luckily Bluetech and I have some cool ideas together so we are going to do two sets together. One will be my solo set and the other will be an improv set. I am really looking forward to seeing how my music goes over with the locals here.

There are also some great artists from all over Europe including Germany, all of Eastern Europe, Holland and more.


Zrinka in the long car ride from Venice, Italy.