Photos

Some photos from our first day in Europe.  

Off the plane, through the airport, in the van, straight away to this:

warming up.

(literally.  It was freezing in there.  During soundcheck, in-between songs, I slid my hands back into my   sleeves and breathed down them to bring my fingers back to life).

Rob.

Travis. Kendall.

Feet (mine).

Right behind us.

We spent a day recording for our next record and heard a previously unexplained animalistic cry in the background.  The church is located in a small fenced in neighborhood, with a huge gate that is locked faithfully at midnight every day (locking you in if you are a straggler, locking you out if you are late. strange). Anyhow, all this to say that after exiting the church to investigate the sound, I didn't expect to find two cows moo-ing in the excitement of feeding time.

Travis, Kendall, and I stood outside their fence and watched, while the farmer stared curiously at us, dropped the bucket and walked away.

Brussels

This is what its like.

"Candor"

France

We've just finished our late night post show dinner at the home of our promoter.  He walked us to his place, brought many bottles of wine and beer, and left us in the living room while he cooked a very, very delicious meal.  So nice! so. gooood.   Barley, chicken and ratatouille. We stuffed ourselves. and now we're walking to the hotel at long last.  Maybe i'll tell you more about our day tomorrow if the internet gods are good to us.

ta ta,
-aisha

Ghent

Greetings from Belgium!


We made it!  We landed on Wednesday, and were off to quite the speedy start.  But it's about 1:30am and we have to wake up at 9 tomorrow, so we'll see what my brain can do with about 20 minutes.

Last night we played in the Sint Elisabethkerk for the second time in almost exactly one year.  That place creates such us massive sound!  Its also, unfortunately, does a supreme job and insulating frigid, frigid air. I forgot how difficult it is to play an instrument that depends solely on the very specific muscle memory of your fingertips when you can't really feel your finger tips.  crazy.  But I think we did alright for having been awake for 30 something hours straight.  That day of travel is a doozy.  And although I slept on the plane for a good amount of time, I may have been the only one.

Afterward, we signed a bunch of things (cds, posters, the inside of someone's coat--haha), and then split up to go to bed.  A few of us stayed with our friend Braum.  He's been to all of our shows in Ghent, and this is the third time in a row he's hosted some balmies!  And its so nice to walk into a familiar place with a friend even when on the other side of the world.

Travis, Kendall, and I pocketed our exhaustion for a while and couldn't resist staying up and chatting with Braum and his girlfriend Hayde.  She made us tea, and he brought up some Belgian beer from their basement.  Trav was amazed, apparently, he housed quite the collection.  We talked about America and Belgium and fast food and Starbucks and how stupid it is that we all paid thousands of dollars per semester of college.  Except our hosts--In Belgium, even if your parents are well off, you pay around $500 for the year.  Sooo crazy.

It is cold here and this town is lovely. All day we walked on cobble stone roads, dodged bicycles, and struggled to read Flemish (or Dutch? They are similar) signs.  Its so much quieter here at night, being miles and miles from the highway.  And it could just be me, but it feels a little calmer here.  I like it.

Ok. sleep time.

-aisha

Ta ta!

Boarding our flight to Brussels!!!! 

Up All Night

I've deleted the start to this sentence about four times now (I just decided that the honest approach is the way to go), and its got to have something to do with my brain running at about half speed.  In 3.5 hours I will have been awake for a full day.

 This is the part in the pre-tour prep time when I stay up through the night (packing, cleaning, organizing--that is my method of choice) to ensure some kind of miraculous sleep for the full duration of the flight to Europe!  It sounds slightly tortuous, but it works every time.  Once that plane takes flight, my eyes are open just long enough to push all the appropriate buttons to make 30 Rock appear on the headrest screen before me, get cosy under that tiny complimentary blanket, annnnd then I'm out. hard. deep. beautiful sleep. 

...But I'm hours from that, so lets not talk about it.

Lets talk about this:

My armoire.

My wardrobe.

That is the full spread of what will live in my my bag. ( far left) My favorite boots, tiny impractical black wanna be oxfords, ballerina flats on their last leg, new Simple shoes--water repellant and warm and fuzzy on the inside. 

Next up: shirts for the stage. Followed by pants land.  Followed by shirts to relax in.  Bookended by warm things.  That's all of it. For three whole weeks.  Three, cold weeks.  Three sure to be fantastic weeks.

Yeah..it's 5am and I'm not technically fully packed.  But, well I had to give myself something to stay awake for.  Ever feel like life is a series of you tricking yourself and tricking yourself over and over again?

Two and half hours until breakfast!  

Look at that.  We're not even gone yet and already I'm blabbing about food.

Alright, until the time change, ta ta!

-aisha

Fall European Tour 2011

Exactly one week from today, I will be walking around on the other side of the Earth.  

Balmorhea's fifth European extravaganza begins October 25th. 

 As usual, check back here for all the dirty deets.

Can't. wait. (!)

-aisha

October 26

Sint-Elisabethkerk

Gent, Belgium

w/ Christina Vantzou

October 28

Bozar

Brussels, Belgium

October 29

Le Ceeac

Strasbourg, France

October 30

Treibhaus

Luzern, Switzerland

October 31

Bad Bonn

Düdingen, Switzerland

November 2

Scighera

Milan, Italy

November 3

La Claque

Genova, Italy

November 4

Bronson

Ravenna, Italy

November 5

Caracol

Pisa, Italy

November 6

Mattatoio

Carpi, Italy

November 7

Init

Rome, Italy

November 8

Menza Pri Koritu

Ljubljana, Slovenia

November 9

B72

Vienna, Austria

November 11

HBC

Berlin, Germany

November 12

Feinkost Lampe

Hannover, Germany

November 14

Haus 73

Hamburg, Germany

November 15

Paradiso

Amsterdam 

(Poster by Matthew Genitempo)