home home home!

We made it!

We are all back in our respective cities, safe and sound after a day of soaring above oceans and states and flying down interstate highways.

I was greeted last night by my roommate sitting on the porch holding this sign she made well above her head.

awesome.

Today was the first morning I've woken up alone in a room and it felt completely odd. And although I came to without an alarm, without an itinerary, I still immediately got up, brushed my teeth, changed clothes and began doing things: hanging up clothes in my closet, calling in maintenance requests for the new house, unpacking things..etc. I think I have forgotten what it's like to wake up and just...lay.

There will be some sort of summary or list of updates, and highlights, and photos, but first I think I need to remember how to be static and not have a thing to do.

...right after I run to El Chilito for some breakfast tacos (!! My first tortillas and warm breakfast in weeks!) You have no idea how badly I want this. Texas, I love you.

Nov. 17

A Brief Foreword: I spent part of this blog bragging about the internet in the van and then it failed me-cut out just as I was about to post this. So pretend its yesterday and that this is in fact a timely account of things. ok, then. carry on.

--

Epic fail on updating the tour blog. oops.

We are rounding out the last days of this adventure. It's been a pretty great run.

Last night we played in Hamburg with Rachel Grimes. She's an amazing pianist who just released a new album and played in an awesome band that inspired Balmorhea called Rachel's. I've listened to their records so much--it was daunting to play for her. But I think it all went very well.

I just realized that I don't realllly feel like writing at the moment, but it's fun because we have internet in the van in Germany. I am writing from the van! I am writing you while in transit! This is the future, I suppose.

um.. que mas?

Highlights:

-opened for a band called Tindersticks in Utrect, Netherlands. Lots o people. Crazy to out and see the standing room packed full of faces. But more insane look up and see full balcony space(!)

-Can't remember if I told you that we played in a huge cathedral in Gent, Beligum with cellist Julia Kent (She won't say it herself, but she's played with many, many bands and is completely amazing). It was built in the 18th century and everything sounded amazing and so, so huge. A couple hundred people showed up I think. And they bought all the merch that we'd predicted would last us till the end of the tour. ridiculous . How in the world does this happen?

Tonight we are supposed to play on some sort of boat in Rostock, Germany. Should be interestingggg. only one more show after this...This has completely flown by! I don't feel tired at all. The rhythm of this, being on the road, has become so normal to me now that I'm not anxious to be home. But, that said, It's currently in the low 40s here in Germany, and I must admit that I can't. wait. for. some. Texas. weather.!!

Home on Sunday!
See you guys soon,
Aisha

Nov. 13th - France

Hello!

I haven't written in days. Forgive me. But things have been going swell. They got weird for a second, but then got way, way better. We played to an enthusiastically full house in Madrid. Travis played his bass in a cage in what is usually a gay bar in Bilbao, Spain. Yesterday, we played in an enormous cathedral in Gent, Belgium that was build in the 18th century. ...And nearly sold out of all the merch that was projected to last us until the end of the week (!!).

It's been so great. I am not anxious to go home. I am not anxious for things to end. Everything is moving at the right pace, I feel. We are about to eat dinner before we play a house show in France at a very lovely, cozy abode.

This is the life, I think.

-aisha

some old photos...

carpi, italy

Nov. 7 - Me Gusta Este Pais

I was too lazy to go with Andrew to get pizza.
I am too lazy to get up and figure out the heater.
And I think I am also too lazy to write you a verbose update about the great time we have had in Spain.

But I'll give you just a little...

Basically, I love it here. Last night was our show in Ourense, Spain. If you ever get to gallivant about this country, you should definitely stop here. The outer edge of the city is a wall of rolling, lush hills, with a glowing river that winds all around. At different spots along the river are banks of natural hot springs, where you can sit and bask and do whatever you do in a hot spring.

We got to see the old city center this morning. Lots of old churches, old government buildings a big plaza where we prowled through a market of antiques. Everything made of a grayish stone, most of the roads cobblestone.

Our promoter led us around this morning. He took us out to dinner last night for Tapas and local wine with some of his family who all work for the venue. We had a pretttty great time! They are all so warm and welcoming and happy to get to know us, even me, the quiet one.

The show sold out at 90 people. It was a small place, but the crowed was close, packed together, sitting just at our feet. They were so incredibly silent during each song, but then exploded with joyous applause immediatley after. So, so fun. It's something about the energy in small spaces like that that I can't fully communicate--but it defintely makes for a great, moving, memorable show.

We signed some things, talked with excited fans, had some beers and called it a night.

Spain surely does do it right.

Two more hours of free time until load in for the show tonight! yesss!

-aisha

view from my window. Lleida, Spain.

Andrew in the Pyrenees

Nov. 3 - Balm vs. The Pyrenees - Chapter 2

6:30pm - We are in Spain. The sun is down. It looks like the middle of night. The van is quiet. We're all tired or dazed or bored or something.

7:00 we reach the edge of Lleida! We are baffled by civilization. Other people. Lights. Buildings. Flatland.

7:30 - we pull up to the venue, over two hours late. Set up, soundcheck, walk to dinner with our promoter, who doesn't seem to care about our existence at all. "What can you make in 5 minutes?" he asks the cafe owner. The guy laughs, and points to his watch and says not much. "Is bread with Tuna okay?" the promoter asks us. A couple of us explain that we don't really like tuna. "Fine. Bread with Ham then?? What about bread with Ham?" He's speaking urgently. "Is there a menu we could look at?" Andrew asked. "WE DON'T HAVE TIME! There is NO TIME!" He snaps back.

It's 9:20. The show is scheduled to start at 10. Doors supposedly opened at 9, however, there was absolutely no one waiting to get in when we left. This guy is uptight and angry for no valid reason. He's already told us that the don't expect many people. WE were the ones stuck in a van, lost in the twists and turns of the mountains. Surely, someone knew that tunnel was closed...At any rate, we tried to be polite. He tried to rush us every step of the way. "They are slow. So we must eat very fast," he says. "We're not in a hurry," Travis murmurs. "We have to eat some food, just for our sanity," Michael says kindly. An unsympathetic face. "Seven hours in the mountains..." I grumble, grabbing my "dinner," wondering how I'm going to make myself eat this ham."Well, it's very important the show starts on time," angry promoter man snaps. He sits for a minute more, then gets up and walks away. Leaving us to pay for a "dinner" we were led to believe would be paid for. What a sweetheart.

And that's where I'll stop talking about him. He doesn't care. He is pissed off. We play the show, and play it well. Never, have we worked with someone so disinterested, so disgruntled, so supremely rude.

But--in complete contrast with the rest of the evening, we pull into what must've been at least a three or four star hotel. And it's allll free. The boys give me a room to myself. I can't tell if sharing a room with a girl really makes them that uncomfortable or if they're just trying to be nice. I always assume it's the former. They like to shove me off into girl island sometimes, which I typically don't enjoy. I was momentarily perturbed, but then decided to enjoy the alone time. I watched 5 minutes of Hook on the Disney Channel in Spanish (I'm not sure why). took a glorious shower, and for the first time in three nights, slept in my real pajamas.

What a day.

Nov. 3 - Balm vs. The Pyrenees

10:40am - I wake up to the bell tower alarm sound blaring from Robs iphone. Dylan and Rob are on a thin mattress on the floor. I am sleeping on a futon that our host declared was the location of some..eh, we'll say scandalous encounter. (gross--why, oh why did he have to tell us that? Couldn't he just change the sheets in silence? I sleep with the day's clothes on). Anyway, the alarm goes off. We lay on the floor as though we hadn't heard it. I brush my teeth and get out of there.

11:00am - After a great parking debacle (we were blocked in by a medical car), we arrive at the hotel and retrieve the rest of the band. They looked so rested and fresh-faced...jerks. We stop at a roadside cafeteria where everything is hot with the illusion of real food, however, it all tastes very strongly of nothingness. I order "fish," "roasted vegetables" and "rice," with a bottle of water and relinquish 12 euro.

Noonish- we are on our way to lleida, Spain, leaving France, and all that stands between us are the great Pyrenees mountains! We have done this drive before, and it's beautiful, climbing up and up through the tree lined switch backs until you reach the snowy peaks, and then come back down again. So up and up we go! Michael is driving. We are wide-eyed, glued to the windows. We pull off to take some photos. I jump out for some pics that don't do the view any justice. But I love that feeling of standing and being made aware of how massive the world is, being dwarfed by the mountains. People finish their cigarettes, climb down off choice viewing points and buckle up in the van. onward.

But not for long.

This whole way, we've been seeing some sort of temporary electronic sign featuring the word "tunnel." We guessed it meant that a ROAD to the one tunnel you take through the mountains was closed. But sure enough, we roll up to the tunnel entrance and it's definitely shut down.

Thus begins what will become 7 hours of driving through, in, around and getting lost in the Pyrenees Mountains.

We got vague directions from the road worker, with Andrew as our translator. The boys bought a map, tried to get the GPS to create an alternate route.

And this is where I mentally check out. Never in my life have I been car sick. But today, with that glorified TV dinner sloshing around left to right with each extreme switch back after switch back, hour after hour--ugh. I thought I must be in some extreme reality show challenge. "Hey, see how much of this gross food you can consume! Fill yourself, because you won't be eating for 9 more hours. Oh, haha, and now we're going to drive you dizzy up and down the mountains for 7 consecutive hours! But wait, don't drink too much water to avoid the affects of the climbing altitude, because they're aren't bathrooms in the mountains, silly!"

A few hours later, the boys pee outside. The Police drive by and stare, but don't seem to care.

Meanwhile - I'm laying down, trying not to watch the blurry scenery. "Think about your elbows," I tell myself for some reason. I was paying too much attention to the whirling feeling consuming my head, the dehydration headache, the cartwheels my stomach was performing..."Think about your elbows."

Tuesday - France

ok. I have 20 minutes of internet left and if I want to continue thinking of myself as a good daughter, I should save some time to skype call my mom. But oh GOSH the past two days have left me with lots of words, so we'll just talk about Tuesday for now.

I'm not quite sure how to begin...

Tuesday

We pulled up to the venue, and parked while Mike ran in to assess the situation. We began to conjure up all sorts of horrible scenarios when a second look at the info sheet revealed the venue's capacity to be 40. Not 400. Not 40 times 3. Just..40. In about 3 minutes, Mike hops back in the van and says, "Literally, I can jump from one side to the other. We're not going to fit in there."

And really, we shouldn't have. I could've done about 1 cartwheel in there and got half way through the second one before I crashed into the wall. But we decided to play an acoustic set and squeezed ourselves in there akwardly in front of the bar. Mike and Rob on acoustics, Dylan celloing right before me; Travis on the "stage;" Kendal borrowing the other bands drums; and me perched up on the bar countertop. silly. Maybe 20 people squished themselves down the stairs and into this hobbit hole. We played about 3 old songs we never, ever play, and tried some acoustic versions of other things. All in all, we did the best with what we had. A girl came up to me afterward and said she cried during our set. ? How we accomplished that with our hodgepodge impromtu arrangements, I have no cluse. But somehow we sold some merch and garnered some applause. bizzare.

I skipped the part about how we ate Chinese food for the third night in a row. We come to France, we eat Chinese...is there some connection here that i've missed? Anyway, that was hilarious. I don't have the time, nor the skill in political correctness to explain the comic value of our waiter. Funny, funny man, continually speaking to us in French about food we didn''t really understand, and opened and closed the night by obnoxiously banging on a tiny, tiny gong.

I will also skip the part about how I slept. Sometimes an absence of words is best, I think.

tomorrow, hopefully I'll get a chance to tell you about what it's like to drive through the mountains for over seven hours and then meet the worst promoter ever.

but until then, I'm going to sleep in this swanky, free, hotel.

night,
-aisha

Tissues, Tissues, French Tissues

it is 8:10pm. I am in France, and I haven't left this awkward, poorly lit room in nearly 12 hours. It's like my body has some 6th sense. It knows exactly when we might have some time in a town that is cool and decides to retract the immune system gates and let a virus of sorts waltz on in.

Gee, thanks.

But really, this is probably the best time in the whole tour to be sick. Today is our second consecutive day off, and lucky for me we've booked this hotel for two nights. It is not the coziest place we've been in (my bed, unfolded and placed diagonally across the floor, seems like some sort of afterthought), but as I go down the list of creature comforts, they are all present: AC/Heating, more than one tiny lamp light, bathroom, shower, toilet(!), warm water, windows.

Last night, I felt terrible. It took four blankets on top of me sleeping in tights, jeans, a t-shirt, and sweater for warmth to find me. I felt similar symptoms to the death flu I had in Prague last spring and silently panicked. But Travis was kind enough to give me some Theraflu. Rob retrieved hot water and a mug so I could prepare that awful-tasting medicine, and Andrew kept me company so I wouldn't be all alone.

I am on tour with the nicest boys ever.

While everyone has wandered about, found the sea, found food and acquired new garments at H&M (!), I've been confined to this bed. I feel sort of like Repunzel, gazing out of this balcony window, watching people strolling about in the real world and wishing I could come down. But it's cold and rainy and I know I have to stay bundled in here while I can. Tomorrow we have a show..somewhere in France.

I woke up to food the boys brought up for me from the Hotel's breakfast buffet. Then I set what would be my routine for the day: 1) Play a few rounds of Unblock Me on my ipod touch. (It's a game where you have to skillfully re-arrange wooden blocks to free a Red block to puzzles the exit.) 2) sleep. alot. 3) play a few rounds of Unblock Me. 4) sleep..

I think you get the idea.

Throw in there my waking up and pretending not to be asleep whenever anyone walks in, just because I've grown tired of being alone. We chat, they leave. And I go back to the routine.

I make it sound terrible, but I guess it hasn't been. I Skyped a bit with family. Wrote some folks. Thought a lot. It's rare to ever this much time to yourself. It's not so bad. But hopefully this illness has about had enough of me, cause I'm quite sure I'm done with it.

just a fun little something made magically by a fan with photos from the show in Ravenna, Italy.

http://www.maikid.com/home/blog/balmorhea/