It's 3:43am and I'm still up! I've lasted much longer than I thought in this attempt to stay up all night. I'll wake up at 7:15 in order to be outside waiting for our airport shuttle by 7:45. If I can keep my eyes open till 4:15 I'll be a satisfied lady.
We killed some time in the van the other day be making a list of our favorite places, people we've met along the way, sayings, etc. But for the past week I've been making a mental collection of the things I've missed about home and am ready for again:
1) FREE WATER. They really get you over here in making you pay for tiny glasses of water that play no part in helping you adequately hydrate yourself.
2) STILL WATER. I'm tired of water "with gas," or mineral/carbonated water. nope. I just want the good stuff. normal, still water. I kept forgetting to ask for it. And just a word of advice, don't try and soothe a mouth burning from spicy Thai food with mineral water. You will regret it. I Promise.
3) feeling literate. It is so strange to walk around and not be able to understand anything around you. I will be so excited to know exactly what I'm getting myself into when ordering food.
4) sun & warmth. It wasn't freezing in most places by any means, but oh how I love shorts and tank top weather. I'm ready for it.
5) bikes. My poor neglected little bike. I've done nothing but sit and eat for over 30 days. My body needs about 50 bike rides stat.
6) Paper > coins! Euro coins: efficient in size. Annoying in weight. I somehow amassed over 6 Euro in assorted coins. To use some tour lingo that will indeed seem stupid in about a week: that was not a tight goat.
7) breakfast tacos. Guys, you have no idea how much you love those things until you can't have them. El Chilito is pretty magical in my mind right now.
4:11am and 7% battery power left on the laptop. Sounds like bed time to me!
See you in Austin,
-Aisha
Takin notes and keepin tabs on the road with Balmorhea from 2008-2013. Check out the archive for Aisha's previous European and American tours.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
May 17 - Germany, near Frankfurt - 4 show recap!
It's 2:45am here. I'm attempting to stay up until my eyes start closing without my permission, in hopes that I'll be a few steps closer to sleeping on that 10 hour plane ride. In other news, yeah, I went a week without keeping up with this guy. Somehow this week flew by! And I never had internet, seems to be a theme of this tour. Here's an incredibly quick recap:
may 11 - Amsterdam
radio show recording for big station. had the best sandwhich ever. downtown walk. pot cafes. creepy, creepy, creepy red light district stroll. Jamaican guy who smells of pot politely cat calls me saying "ello, my preen-ses". i wait till i pass him and then laugh a good laugh. eat bad asian food with Nicole in an empty restuarant called Happy Corner. Finish food anyway, then proceede to eat half a pizza by myself. That's right, half a pizza. Watch tim & Eric and Freaks and Geeks with Rob and Mike. Call it a night.
may 12 - Rostock, Germany
I can not remember thi--wait. Artist collective place. Another room with bunk beds for camp Balmorhea. pretty awesome dinner. best soup i've ever had. already forgot what was in it. though the show was pretty weird. My mind was in a completley different world for the whole set. completely detached from the music. Things in string land seemed a little off too. I walked off pretty disapointed and underwhelmed. people however, love it apparently. really excited fan sitting near the stage yelling entusiastically after each song. crazily decorated stage, featuring a plastic baby doll, a skull in plastic leaves, golden shimmering glam rock-esque curtain hanging from Robs keyboard. giant post show bon fire. charring tree leaves. sing along time with an acoustic guitar. if you were wondering, yes, I sang Miss Ohio. I will add that it was by request.
may 13 - Hamburg, Germany
people were eating at all the restaurants outside in the middle of the day. what jobs do they have and how do I get one? Venue is right next to a big anarchist house. Ironically, they look sort of the same and gather around outside in a pretty organized way. Pretty alright show playing wise. Not so many people there...at all. BUT really nice promoter. Free food and free place to stay with more bunk beds. Crazy awesome guy at the gas station.
guy (just found out we are touring): where you from?
Rob: Texas
guy: USA Texas?
Rob: yeah
guy: oh, hardcore! What kind of music do you play, pop music? (does awkward dance move with arms near chest: fists in, elbows out)
Rob: no, its instrumental etc..
guy leaves only after saying while grinning: "I wish you many happy and successful jams!"
may 15 - Hannover, Germany
small venue. awesome people. fun show! weird string tones. oh well. encore! three songs. met awesome guy named Ralph. He has three guest books full of signatures of all the bands who have stayed at this place. Niciest guy. Long black/grey hair. Tons of punk casette tapes. Nicole, Travis and I have a pretty hilarious pre-bed time conversation till 4am. good times.
may 11 - Amsterdam
radio show recording for big station. had the best sandwhich ever. downtown walk. pot cafes. creepy, creepy, creepy red light district stroll. Jamaican guy who smells of pot politely cat calls me saying "ello, my preen-ses". i wait till i pass him and then laugh a good laugh. eat bad asian food with Nicole in an empty restuarant called Happy Corner. Finish food anyway, then proceede to eat half a pizza by myself. That's right, half a pizza. Watch tim & Eric and Freaks and Geeks with Rob and Mike. Call it a night.
may 12 - Rostock, Germany
I can not remember thi--wait. Artist collective place. Another room with bunk beds for camp Balmorhea. pretty awesome dinner. best soup i've ever had. already forgot what was in it. though the show was pretty weird. My mind was in a completley different world for the whole set. completely detached from the music. Things in string land seemed a little off too. I walked off pretty disapointed and underwhelmed. people however, love it apparently. really excited fan sitting near the stage yelling entusiastically after each song. crazily decorated stage, featuring a plastic baby doll, a skull in plastic leaves, golden shimmering glam rock-esque curtain hanging from Robs keyboard. giant post show bon fire. charring tree leaves. sing along time with an acoustic guitar. if you were wondering, yes, I sang Miss Ohio. I will add that it was by request.
may 13 - Hamburg, Germany
people were eating at all the restaurants outside in the middle of the day. what jobs do they have and how do I get one? Venue is right next to a big anarchist house. Ironically, they look sort of the same and gather around outside in a pretty organized way. Pretty alright show playing wise. Not so many people there...at all. BUT really nice promoter. Free food and free place to stay with more bunk beds. Crazy awesome guy at the gas station.
guy (just found out we are touring): where you from?
Rob: Texas
guy: USA Texas?
Rob: yeah
guy: oh, hardcore! What kind of music do you play, pop music? (does awkward dance move with arms near chest: fists in, elbows out)
Rob: no, its instrumental etc..
guy leaves only after saying while grinning: "I wish you many happy and successful jams!"
may 15 - Hannover, Germany
small venue. awesome people. fun show! weird string tones. oh well. encore! three songs. met awesome guy named Ralph. He has three guest books full of signatures of all the bands who have stayed at this place. Niciest guy. Long black/grey hair. Tons of punk casette tapes. Nicole, Travis and I have a pretty hilarious pre-bed time conversation till 4am. good times.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
May 10 - Dordrecht, Netherlands
We are in Holland!
Yet again, I'm itching to write more, but sleep calls. The show tonight was great! And the people here, their friendliness, their hospitality, is so much more akin to the rest of our Europe experience than our UK days. I am writing you from my room in the four story town home (if you can call it that) we are staying in tonight. Our promoter here welcomed us in and made us breakfast after we drove in this morning. Annnd his girlfriend made dinner for us before the show. Annd he let us wash some clothes. We are happily comfortable.
The show was in an art gallery that lets members browse the collection and check out art to hang in their homes for 3 months at a time! It's like an art library. Prettttty cool. Anyway, we had a great time playing, and were apparently the first band in their concert series to get an encore. crazy.
We sold our last All is Wild... cd tonight. Just records and Rivers Arms left. Looks like we're running out of merch at just about the right time. Tomorrow we play on the Netherland's equivalent of NPR in Amsterdam. Hopefully that goes well! Then it's off to Germany and then home! finally!
Europe has been nothing short of amazing, but I am very ready to come home.
seven days and counting...(down that is)
-aisha
Yet again, I'm itching to write more, but sleep calls. The show tonight was great! And the people here, their friendliness, their hospitality, is so much more akin to the rest of our Europe experience than our UK days. I am writing you from my room in the four story town home (if you can call it that) we are staying in tonight. Our promoter here welcomed us in and made us breakfast after we drove in this morning. Annnd his girlfriend made dinner for us before the show. Annd he let us wash some clothes. We are happily comfortable.
The show was in an art gallery that lets members browse the collection and check out art to hang in their homes for 3 months at a time! It's like an art library. Prettttty cool. Anyway, we had a great time playing, and were apparently the first band in their concert series to get an encore. crazy.
We sold our last All is Wild... cd tonight. Just records and Rivers Arms left. Looks like we're running out of merch at just about the right time. Tomorrow we play on the Netherland's equivalent of NPR in Amsterdam. Hopefully that goes well! Then it's off to Germany and then home! finally!
Europe has been nothing short of amazing, but I am very ready to come home.
seven days and counting...(down that is)
-aisha
May 9 - Ferry ride
Trust me, there is so much I would love to say about that Ferry ride. Ferries are incredibly weird places to me. But it's currently after 1am (I'm writing this retrospectively of course), and we have to get up in about 8 hours, which luckily for me, is just the amount of sleep my body is craving.
I will say this much though:
-Leaving England is so much easier than getting into it! It took approximately 2 minutes to get through the little boarder check thingy (great vocab, I know), but it did take over 30 minutes to drive aboard the ship.
-The cheapest thing to eat in the ferry's four restaurants cost 14 euro. That's what most of us ate, if you were wondering, and it was only kind of good. Probably the most bland burger I've ever had.
-Oh man, this awesomely out of place latin band was playing in the main bar before an empty dance floor with hyper-active multi-colored party lights and a lonely disco ball. It was so bad, I had to take several pictures. They were smiling and dancing and the guy playing guitar had this crazy goatee that was twisted into an incredibly fine spike. So strange! especially since no one was dancing, or paying any attention. I sympathized with them for a minute and felt so awkward for them. poor guys.
-It seemed like people from many different countries worked on the boat...and they were all pissed off. Who knows why! Maybe it's annoying to watch everyone else having fun, drinking over-priced drinks, and getting full on over-priced food while you're stuck on the clock. Or maybe it just sucks being on a boat every day. who knows, but I wanted to give some of them hugs.
-They had bingo on the boat. bingo and so many gambling opportunities. (which I did no seize, if that's what you were wondering)
-tons of old people. Apparently, you can take a short trip to Holland for a few hours and then ride the same ferry back. I think thats what a tone of these older people were doing. That, and singing in a pretty sweet choir. I should've taken video. They gathered in a lobby and sang together. Pretty great.
-we all squeezed into the girls cabin and watched Tim and Eric episodes and Are You Afraid of the Dark on Bruce's computer until we were sleepy.
- Sleeping on the Ferry is not fun a) when the boat is vibrating b) you are me and you do not greatly enjoy boats. c) when you can hear way too much about the on-goings of the people the cabin next to you...and that's all I will say about that.
-The Sea at night under a full moon is amazing. I'm not sure I'll ever see the moon reflect off the water the way it did.
I will say this much though:
-Leaving England is so much easier than getting into it! It took approximately 2 minutes to get through the little boarder check thingy (great vocab, I know), but it did take over 30 minutes to drive aboard the ship.
-The cheapest thing to eat in the ferry's four restaurants cost 14 euro. That's what most of us ate, if you were wondering, and it was only kind of good. Probably the most bland burger I've ever had.
-Oh man, this awesomely out of place latin band was playing in the main bar before an empty dance floor with hyper-active multi-colored party lights and a lonely disco ball. It was so bad, I had to take several pictures. They were smiling and dancing and the guy playing guitar had this crazy goatee that was twisted into an incredibly fine spike. So strange! especially since no one was dancing, or paying any attention. I sympathized with them for a minute and felt so awkward for them. poor guys.
-It seemed like people from many different countries worked on the boat...and they were all pissed off. Who knows why! Maybe it's annoying to watch everyone else having fun, drinking over-priced drinks, and getting full on over-priced food while you're stuck on the clock. Or maybe it just sucks being on a boat every day. who knows, but I wanted to give some of them hugs.
-They had bingo on the boat. bingo and so many gambling opportunities. (which I did no seize, if that's what you were wondering)
-tons of old people. Apparently, you can take a short trip to Holland for a few hours and then ride the same ferry back. I think thats what a tone of these older people were doing. That, and singing in a pretty sweet choir. I should've taken video. They gathered in a lobby and sang together. Pretty great.
-we all squeezed into the girls cabin and watched Tim and Eric episodes and Are You Afraid of the Dark on Bruce's computer until we were sleepy.
- Sleeping on the Ferry is not fun a) when the boat is vibrating b) you are me and you do not greatly enjoy boats. c) when you can hear way too much about the on-goings of the people the cabin next to you...and that's all I will say about that.
-The Sea at night under a full moon is amazing. I'm not sure I'll ever see the moon reflect off the water the way it did.
May 8 - New Castle, England - Day Off
And we drove all day and then we drove some more.
..okay, not entirely. We thankfully had no need to drive through the night, but it felt like we were in the car forever. But the length of drive was redeemed by the scenery. We took the road that followed the coast, and I've never seen anything like it. The edge of the North Sea seemed to go on forever and yet again, I completely understood how people once thought the world was flat. It looked like you could sail right off the edge.
After a stop at the remains of an ancient castle (the sign neglected to share the year, just that it was ancient...thanks, sign), and sheep and cows a plenty, we arrived in New Castle, England at the Travelodge Hotel. It felt great to lay around and eat lunch free. Well, sort of...I had a peanut better and nutella/jelly sandwich and watched a very predictable old Jennifer Aniston movie with Nicole. What, our options are limited with hotel channels, okay? It was either that or pushing myself closer to death by watching an interview with Lady GaGa, who claims her inane pop music is too much for the Americans who "don't get it." I watched about 2 minutes of her live concert. I'm not sure what anyone could misunderstand about the chorus "I'm hot...and dirty rich."
Anyway, lastly, we had a night at the theatre...the movie theatre and watched the new x-men movie. Horrible, horrible effects and a few tired super-hero action flick lines like "lets do this," but I'll shamelessly admit that I was entertained. Poor Rob, who had been talking for days about wanting to go to the movies, was feeling too sick and didn't get to go. Theatres in England are pretty much like ours, except you have to pay 1 euro extra for seats with headrests and cup holders. How silly! Anyway, not a bad way to spend a day off if ya ask me!
-aisha
Thursday, May 7, 2009
may 7
P.S. We're playing in a two stage venue right after Everytime I Die
I'll just say that you should definitely find their myspace, and then imagine our set coming in riiight after them. :)
That is all!
I'll just say that you should definitely find their myspace, and then imagine our set coming in riiight after them. :)
That is all!
May 7 - Aberdeen, Scotland
Hey!
We are alive and mostly well. We've all got some part of a cough or cold thing going on.
This will have to be quick. Sadly, I can't update you on all that's gone on in the past few days, but i will tell you that we took a Ferry from France to England and it was infinitely less fun than I expected. I am bias though. Apparently, my body thinks floating on the ocean in a large ship is reason to feel weird. I've never had another opportunity to feel sea sick, but I think I'm a contestant for that. Anyway, think about this. It's a giant boat so large that cars, vans and 18 wheelers can drive onto it...and it still floats! Yes, yes, I knew that that's what a ferry does, but it's such a strange thing to me still.
anyway, we're in Aberdeen, Scotland now. It seems kind of interesting, but after the show, we'll sleep in the Aberdeen Youth Hostal, and then be on our way tomorrow. Our UK shows haven't been everything I was expecting, and I guess we've all felt a little weird about how things turned out each night...but, we've got a few left. We'll be home in a little over a week. crazy.
We are alive and mostly well. We've all got some part of a cough or cold thing going on.
This will have to be quick. Sadly, I can't update you on all that's gone on in the past few days, but i will tell you that we took a Ferry from France to England and it was infinitely less fun than I expected. I am bias though. Apparently, my body thinks floating on the ocean in a large ship is reason to feel weird. I've never had another opportunity to feel sea sick, but I think I'm a contestant for that. Anyway, think about this. It's a giant boat so large that cars, vans and 18 wheelers can drive onto it...and it still floats! Yes, yes, I knew that that's what a ferry does, but it's such a strange thing to me still.
anyway, we're in Aberdeen, Scotland now. It seems kind of interesting, but after the show, we'll sleep in the Aberdeen Youth Hostal, and then be on our way tomorrow. Our UK shows haven't been everything I was expecting, and I guess we've all felt a little weird about how things turned out each night...but, we've got a few left. We'll be home in a little over a week. crazy.
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