April 25 - Saturday - Ballicasim, Espana

So again I have waited too long to update and have probably forgotten some valuable details. I can't even remember what it was like getting to Bellicasim except that we were all extremely pleased with the theatre we'd be playing in. We sound checked and ran into Hauschka, the pianist playing the night after us, and walked back the hotel. oh, the hotel. It is situated right along the beach, the most quiet beach of endless blue that I've ever seen. But just as soon as we arrived and marveled over our four star accommodations, we had to walk back towards the dinner for another ridiculous feast.

The promoter took us all out, along with Hauschka, and a student helping with the show. There were at least three different equally delicious-looking appetizers, a basket of bread, and bottle of read wine-- for each half of the table. Then, entire time. I got a rather large and crowded vegetarian pizza, and swapped my half for part of Nicole's salami and three cheese pizza. A thing or two about pizza here: 1) they don't seem to enjoy pepperoni. Everywhere we've been offers a bunch of meat that I don't think about putting on menus, like sliced salami and ham with cheese for breakfast. They like Salami on pizza, and to my dismay, never pepperoni. 2) There's never any sauce! Trust me my friends, you will never realize how much you appreciate that pizza sauce until its suddenly absent and your pizza experience feels incomplete. Savor it! Someone, go have a slice at East Side Pies for me right now. And someone, be ready to go there with me when I get back.

Anyway, enough. I don't know what everyone got and you probably don't care, just know that it was fancy. Like putting walnuts in pasta with Alfredo sauce fancy. Then there was a pretty (in the literal sense) chocolatey desert, complete with bits of cakes, tarts, fruit, ice cream all arranged like an edible 3D collage, castle thing. If food could be Legos this would be that sweet giant castle thing that looks so cool you never want to take it apart. We took a picture and then dug in. After dessert, everyone gets a round of coffee or tea. And after THAT you get a shot of some liquor thats supposed to help you digest everything better. I was glad they realize that they eat an extraordinary amount of food at one sitting.

--The Show--

Feeling stuffed, we marched back to the theatre, warmed up and sat down to play. This show was part of a series where musicians play a live score to a film. We used three short films by Jared Hogan that featured a few of our songs, and played a few pieces in between. This was the only time in a long time that I felt nervous. I'm usually very calm, but we opened a new song that we've never performed and that I've only previously played on Viola, not violin...so that got my nerves goin a little. Then we had to alter most songs slightly to fit in the context of the film. We sat on opposite sides of the stage, as to leave the film unobstructed, and watched the giant projection behind us for cues and timing. Naturally, the audience was incredibly quiet. It felt like a classical setting, which always gets my nerves going, and i was overly conscious of trying not to screw up, for the film's sake, which was nerve racking as well. Stressful. BUT really cool thing to do. Afterward, we walked along the beach to a bar that stayed open late. I got a glass of wine for 1.50 euro. nice.

Okay. this is gross detail. Let's wind it down shall we? Post bar hangout, Travis, Nicole and I hung out on the beach until about 3:30 am. The beach at night is so daunting and completely mysterious. I felt like it could swallow me if I dared to come into it. And the sound is so loud amidst the quiet.

perfect.