Here we are, settin up in Paris, France. We had quite the driving adventure last night after a show that seemed to sort of underwhelm us a bit. It wasn't bad at all, but sometimes you just finish playing and all you can think of to say is, "well, that happened." And then you pack up and think about sleeping. Or in this case you pack up and get stuck in midnight traffic, get misled by confusing highways, and drive for nearly four hours. Weird. frustrating. But Andrew and I distracted ourselves quite nicely with at least a 2 hour Super Mario Bros. 3 adventure on my laptop. so so fun. I forgot how fun it is to just keep playing video games and laughing until you're completely exhausted and useless. haha. Twas great.
We finally pulled into a hotel at 3:30am (first out of three we tried outside of london that wasn't completely booked) and I had a bed to myself for the first time in a long time and I felt like a queen!
Well well, we are in the middle of soundcheck and I feel strange sitting up here typing, SO! I think I'll go now. more later!
-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.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sounds
Albums I've been Listening to In that Van of Ours...
In urban spaces: some beats: http://vodpod.com/watch/542-four-tet-hands
Most mornings: a friend: http://myspace.com/kellieanngrubbs
Today:
In urban spaces: some beats: http://vodpod.com/watch/542-four-tet-hands
Most mornings: a friend: http://myspace.com/kellieanngrubbs
Today:
Edinburgh, Scottland
Somehow, whenever I'm ready to write in this thing, my battery is quite near to death. oh well. I'll quickly say that last night was swell. We played in Edinburgh, Scotland for the closing of Peter Liversidge's gallery exhibit. He invited us to play this event and by some work of magic it happened to fit perfectly into our schedule. He was so excited to get to know us and make us comfortable. I can't remember the number of times he thanked us for playing. After the show, he took us, along with some friends, to this really awesome Indian restaurant. A girl who worked at the gallery told me that she vistited India before but still loved the Indian food in the UK better somehow. ?! Not sure how that's possible, and I've never been to India, but this food was pretty delicious. Ate way too much annd loved every minute of it.
We spent the afternoon with Peter's family, who made breakfast for us and joined us at the table. I've never had such service in a house! They were refilling drinks and bringing out more and more food. I feel like sometimes I don't know how to respond to strangers with such enthusiasm for getting to know me, because I can't imagine anyone being so excited to know a person they've never met and will probably never see again. That paired with a general sleepyness and thirst for a moment alone left me with a bit of a subdued reaction. BUT I hope they didn't think I wasn't appreciative or glad for it all. They were so nice! Peter, his wife and his father took us for a walk atop this till that provided for the most scenic view of the city. Castles, hills, the ocean and so much green grass. ah, beautiful. I would move there if I could.
I got to briefly know two of the most adorable kids I've seen in ages. Man, wish I could post some pictures. But they were so cute. I turned around and Nicole was holding hands with 4 year old boy George and walking. She asked him about the book he was holding and he replied "Shall I show you?" Shall I ?! See? cute.
I just ate a whole pizza (not huge, maybe a small). I've gotten quite cosy on this couch in a restaurant/bar/venue we've been in for the past four hours. I think Nils is about to start so I think I'll head downstairs soon. Tomorrow we're make our second 7 hour drive in 3 days, down to Oxford, England. Oh the glamor of touring :)
-aisha
We spent the afternoon with Peter's family, who made breakfast for us and joined us at the table. I've never had such service in a house! They were refilling drinks and bringing out more and more food. I feel like sometimes I don't know how to respond to strangers with such enthusiasm for getting to know me, because I can't imagine anyone being so excited to know a person they've never met and will probably never see again. That paired with a general sleepyness and thirst for a moment alone left me with a bit of a subdued reaction. BUT I hope they didn't think I wasn't appreciative or glad for it all. They were so nice! Peter, his wife and his father took us for a walk atop this till that provided for the most scenic view of the city. Castles, hills, the ocean and so much green grass. ah, beautiful. I would move there if I could.
I got to briefly know two of the most adorable kids I've seen in ages. Man, wish I could post some pictures. But they were so cute. I turned around and Nicole was holding hands with 4 year old boy George and walking. She asked him about the book he was holding and he replied "Shall I show you?" Shall I ?! See? cute.
I just ate a whole pizza (not huge, maybe a small). I've gotten quite cosy on this couch in a restaurant/bar/venue we've been in for the past four hours. I think Nils is about to start so I think I'll head downstairs soon. Tomorrow we're make our second 7 hour drive in 3 days, down to Oxford, England. Oh the glamor of touring :)
-aisha
Thursday, April 8, 2010
April 8 - London
Guys, you have no idea how nice it is to have my facebook and blogger back in English again. The Flemish, and German and French was getting a little confusing.
Today has been pretty alright. I feel like touring makes me very aware of every slight mood change I experience. And I think that simply noticing each change makes me overreact a little to them. It's a strange thing, what happens to my mind on the road. I have spent and will spend a disgusting amount of time trying to figure it out.
I've been feeling pretty quiet today. I think I need a good deal of time alone to recharge or reset or something. And the lack of that is probably one of the hardest things for me to adapt to on every tour for some reason. In its absence, I've felt a bit zombie-like. Hopefully it'll subside soon. Its quite boring this way.
The highlight of my day might've been the great video game adventure Andrew and I had this morning in the van. We installed a Nintendo emulator, and Andrew has an actual Nes controller that connects through a usb port! haha. so fun! We played pac man and then Mario 3 (my favorite), where he out-played me repeatedly...until the power went out on my computer and it was game over for real.
Traveling through the chunnel wasn't as exciting as I'd imagined. It just looked like a dark train ride. boooring. i slept through most of it. Then we had a slightly tense drive through crowded London streets, filled with impatient, and honk-happy people. agh! Things look sort of crummy in this area. It's not at all what I'd imagined London would be like. But apparently, I heard from a local that lots of artists live in this neighborhood. I heard a few different languages out on the street. There's a huge immigrant population here as well. We ate dinner in an awesome Turkish restaurant, and for some unexplainable reason, the waiter kept giving us free things! Free drinks! Free Turkish delight ( a traditional dessert). So, so good.
---I wrote the first half of this before the show. Things went alright tonight. Unlike our last show in London where about 8 people came, this place was packed. They sold 150 pre-sale tickets. nuts! I think there were definitely some weird moments in the set..not sure what happened exactly, but regardless, people were into it! We played Truth as our encore and sang the end without mics. It was great! Easily the favorite part of my day. I'm ready for bed now, but Mike and Rob are still chit chatting away with important people.
Tomorrow, well...not sure where we're going tomorrow. :)
starting to miss all you guys from home,
-aisha
Today has been pretty alright. I feel like touring makes me very aware of every slight mood change I experience. And I think that simply noticing each change makes me overreact a little to them. It's a strange thing, what happens to my mind on the road. I have spent and will spend a disgusting amount of time trying to figure it out.
I've been feeling pretty quiet today. I think I need a good deal of time alone to recharge or reset or something. And the lack of that is probably one of the hardest things for me to adapt to on every tour for some reason. In its absence, I've felt a bit zombie-like. Hopefully it'll subside soon. Its quite boring this way.
The highlight of my day might've been the great video game adventure Andrew and I had this morning in the van. We installed a Nintendo emulator, and Andrew has an actual Nes controller that connects through a usb port! haha. so fun! We played pac man and then Mario 3 (my favorite), where he out-played me repeatedly...until the power went out on my computer and it was game over for real.
Traveling through the chunnel wasn't as exciting as I'd imagined. It just looked like a dark train ride. boooring. i slept through most of it. Then we had a slightly tense drive through crowded London streets, filled with impatient, and honk-happy people. agh! Things look sort of crummy in this area. It's not at all what I'd imagined London would be like. But apparently, I heard from a local that lots of artists live in this neighborhood. I heard a few different languages out on the street. There's a huge immigrant population here as well. We ate dinner in an awesome Turkish restaurant, and for some unexplainable reason, the waiter kept giving us free things! Free drinks! Free Turkish delight ( a traditional dessert). So, so good.
---I wrote the first half of this before the show. Things went alright tonight. Unlike our last show in London where about 8 people came, this place was packed. They sold 150 pre-sale tickets. nuts! I think there were definitely some weird moments in the set..not sure what happened exactly, but regardless, people were into it! We played Truth as our encore and sang the end without mics. It was great! Easily the favorite part of my day. I'm ready for bed now, but Mike and Rob are still chit chatting away with important people.
Tomorrow, well...not sure where we're going tomorrow. :)
starting to miss all you guys from home,
-aisha
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7 - Brussels show
I have exactly 6% battery power left on my laptop and a frightening looking outlet in my room. ack! I also need to be dressed and ready to go at 8am. Really, I should be sleeping. But I'm very wide awake.
I'm only writing to say that tonight was the most fun I've had playing music yet on this tour. I think I somehow got into an autopilot zone before. But tonight, we played nearly acoustic (just a small amount of strings and acoustic guitars coming through the speakers) and with a beautiful piano. It was lovely. It was incredibly refreshing to not worry about hearing myself, or the frustrating sound that is my violin running through a pick up. Maybe it was that. ...I don't know. For some reason that I clearly can't explain, my mind was in a different place, and definitely more connected to just making music in a way that it hasn't been in a while. And it made me really love doing what I'm doing.
I'm not sure I could be more vague.
All I'm trying to say in way too many words is that I had an awesome, memorable night. Favorite so far. That's all. Bed time now.
-aisha
I'm only writing to say that tonight was the most fun I've had playing music yet on this tour. I think I somehow got into an autopilot zone before. But tonight, we played nearly acoustic (just a small amount of strings and acoustic guitars coming through the speakers) and with a beautiful piano. It was lovely. It was incredibly refreshing to not worry about hearing myself, or the frustrating sound that is my violin running through a pick up. Maybe it was that. ...I don't know. For some reason that I clearly can't explain, my mind was in a different place, and definitely more connected to just making music in a way that it hasn't been in a while. And it made me really love doing what I'm doing.
I'm not sure I could be more vague.
All I'm trying to say in way too many words is that I had an awesome, memorable night. Favorite so far. That's all. Bed time now.
-aisha
Amsterdam. M.Muller.The Balmorhea Tumblr is a'tumblin.
Go enjoy some pics. Michael sometimes makes things look better in photos than they do in real life.
Andrew also begged me to document and share with you all that he loves sparkling water. There it is. He also just dropped two barbecue chips on the floor and ate them. Thought you should know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)