Finally! I've been writing for the past hour and a half and finally made it to today! I thought I'd never catch up. We checked out of the hotel provided for us at noon and just finished a crazy drive through the mountains. It was hot outside when we left. By mid-mountain drive, everything was covered with snow. That's how high up we drove! woah. I took some pretty great pictures that hopefully capture some of it. But man, there's noting like going through it. We were so high up and there were no guard rails for part of it. AND there was a toll stop inside this enormous tunnel. ...Thanks Italy.
Anyway, now we're en route to...Carpi? Remini? I'm not really sure. I haven't been very clear of our route this whole time. I just kind of get in the car each day. Nicole is asleep to my right, and Travis is gazing out the window. He's still a little sick. Agh, sickness and touring are not fun, that's for sure. The front seat chicos are pretty chill and we've been driving without music for a little bit after a run through a grouper album.
I'm really excited for some Italian food.
Oh yeah, we blew a fuse trying to dry clothes with our hair dryer. It was plugged in to our converter too. weird! So no computer charging for a while. Expect some Touring Tales delay. we're all doing well. Healthy (save for Travers' throat), emotionally/mentally well and no swine flu. Is it as crazy in the U.S. at it seems according to the New York Times? Or are the journalists just going nuts and creating a frenzy (If i learned anything from J school, its that journalists tend to do that)? you tell me. If it really is crazy, be careful my friends, as well we.
ciao for now!
-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.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
April 29 - wedesday - Lausanne, Switzerland
Back to Switzerland! this place is so awesome. Everything looks really nice and well designed, I thought. And the scenery is fantastic. Enormous mountains and deeply blue skies compose the Swiss skyline. We were in Lausanne, Switzerland at a venue called Buzz Club. It looked pretty cool inside. In European fashion, our promoters had a table full of sandwiches, snacks and water for us. Truly do they know how to take care of musicians here.
After a pretty lengthy soundcheck, we hung out until dinner. Our friends from the band Henry Almond were opening, so I hung out with Jacque for a while (I hope I spelled that right...). We worked out a song in the stair well to play together, but because all three sound checks took forever, they got cut short. Three bands in three hours after things get started late is sort of a pipe dream. Anyway, our show went really well! We felt great and the crowd seemed to enjoy it all. We played a new song we've been calling "the christmas song" for our encore annd then i dashed away for the merch booth. I hate awkwardly lingering around the stage right after I play. But I found Jacque and his sister, who i got along with really well, and hung out with those two. All in all, pretty fun! Kiiinda wish I lived in switerzerland.
After a pretty lengthy soundcheck, we hung out until dinner. Our friends from the band Henry Almond were opening, so I hung out with Jacque for a while (I hope I spelled that right...). We worked out a song in the stair well to play together, but because all three sound checks took forever, they got cut short. Three bands in three hours after things get started late is sort of a pipe dream. Anyway, our show went really well! We felt great and the crowd seemed to enjoy it all. We played a new song we've been calling "the christmas song" for our encore annd then i dashed away for the merch booth. I hate awkwardly lingering around the stage right after I play. But I found Jacque and his sister, who i got along with really well, and hung out with those two. All in all, pretty fun! Kiiinda wish I lived in switerzerland.
April 28 - Tuesday - Lyon, france
Lyon! I don't feel like saying much about this day, because we didn't have a very great show. We did however get to play on a boat. Yes, on a boat. That part was pretty cool. Our promoters were young, but really nice and made us quiche! We met up with Ora, who we met and befriended back in Madrid. She's been really great to be around. The show itself was not worth mentioning, other than we all messed up all over the place. I left feeling a little defeated.
We picked ourselves up though and headed to this old business building that Nicole said was given to our promoters for them to work. It looks like those cool artist warehouse places you read about, where people just take them over until the gov finds out and takes it away. Except the government apparently gave it to them..maybe? it's called ground zero. There were ex-office, now pseudo artist hotel rooms for us. Pretty. cool.
We picked ourselves up though and headed to this old business building that Nicole said was given to our promoters for them to work. It looks like those cool artist warehouse places you read about, where people just take them over until the gov finds out and takes it away. Except the government apparently gave it to them..maybe? it's called ground zero. There were ex-office, now pseudo artist hotel rooms for us. Pretty. cool.
April 27 - Monday - Ballicasim to mount pillier
Second day off in a row! We drove back to France to stay in the Primier Class hotel we slept in a week ago. On the way, feeling starved, we had lunch at a Mc Donalds, which they call Mc Drive here. Ordering in a strange dialect of Spanish was interesting...I had a McRoyal with cheese. Pretty good for as good as McDonalds can get. However, I'm currently reading Fast Food Nation, and my disdain for the company (which was already rather strong from a nutritional standpoint) is growing exponentially. Talk about cheating your way to the top. Anyway... Oncewe arrived Mount Pillier, France, we stopped at grocery store for dinner. Ready for our menu? Bread, Nutella, bananas, red wine, crackers, cheese, and salami. Yesterday was gormet. Leave us to our own devices and we eat like stray cats.
We took everything to the beach and ate. We jumped around, laughed a lot, had a rock throwing contest, and all agreed that we were happier playing music and living this way than waiting for the weekend working a 9 to 5. good times.
Back in the hotel, we watched episodes of Tim & Eric Awesome Show and Freaks and Geeks while drinking cheap boxed wine.
We are so rock and roll.
We took everything to the beach and ate. We jumped around, laughed a lot, had a rock throwing contest, and all agreed that we were happier playing music and living this way than waiting for the weekend working a 9 to 5. good times.
Back in the hotel, we watched episodes of Tim & Eric Awesome Show and Freaks and Geeks while drinking cheap boxed wine.
We are so rock and roll.
April 26 - Sunday - Bellicasim, Espana
So that last entry was rather hefty. How do you feel about a bullet point recap? Good? good.
-woke up after five hours of sleep for free breakfast. I will do a lot for free food. Serendipitously, Michael had just sat down, so I joined him.
-took a nap, then lounged out on the beach for an hour. No one was there! it's the tourist off season I think.
-Had lunch with Nicole, Mikey and Hauschka. then sangria with the boys.
-Hauschka's show! But not before Nicole and I see-sawed on a playground definitely made for 5 year olds.
-His show was great. He plays with a prepared piano, meaning there are all kinds of things taped to the strings to alter the sound (i.e. plastic, paper, bottle caps, beads, etc.). Was pretty cool, although the silent b&w film, "Vampire" was confusing and hard to follow.
-After the show, we went back to that awesome restaurant for round two. It was just as great, and hanging out with Hauschka and hearing his stories was so fun. He's incredibly nice and down to earth and pretty fun to hang around. New Balm friend.
until next time,
adios
-woke up after five hours of sleep for free breakfast. I will do a lot for free food. Serendipitously, Michael had just sat down, so I joined him.
-took a nap, then lounged out on the beach for an hour. No one was there! it's the tourist off season I think.
-Had lunch with Nicole, Mikey and Hauschka. then sangria with the boys.
-Hauschka's show! But not before Nicole and I see-sawed on a playground definitely made for 5 year olds.
-His show was great. He plays with a prepared piano, meaning there are all kinds of things taped to the strings to alter the sound (i.e. plastic, paper, bottle caps, beads, etc.). Was pretty cool, although the silent b&w film, "Vampire" was confusing and hard to follow.
-After the show, we went back to that awesome restaurant for round two. It was just as great, and hanging out with Hauschka and hearing his stories was so fun. He's incredibly nice and down to earth and pretty fun to hang around. New Balm friend.
until next time,
adios
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.
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.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday - Bellicasim, Espana
y
e
s
.
I have just had probably the best couple of days I could ever ask for. This weekend has been incredible, and I have so much I want to tell you! But, alas, it is 1:15 in the morning and I need a good night's sleep. However, I'll leave you with these great teasers:
-film scoring
-four course meal
-the most beautiful dessert my eyes have ever seen
-beach front hotel
-beach front hotel
...did i mention beach front hotel? :)
e
s
.
I have just had probably the best couple of days I could ever ask for. This weekend has been incredible, and I have so much I want to tell you! But, alas, it is 1:15 in the morning and I need a good night's sleep. However, I'll leave you with these great teasers:
-film scoring
-four course meal
-the most beautiful dessert my eyes have ever seen
-beach front hotel
-beach front hotel
...did i mention beach front hotel? :)
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