day 57 (or thereabouts):
word up from CRK squat in Wroclawwww
-Warsaw was one of the best shows of the tour so far, punk and noise bands tag-teaming all night on two performances areas in a sweet basement cafe. every performance was great and at the end of the night Charlie and I borrowed drums, guitar, etc and did the first (last?) ever BACKPATCH set. so much fun. we met and stayed with our new friends (forever) Sergei and Renata (from the excellent harsh noise project MAAAA!). Sergei showed us around the beautiful old city and we ate perogies and drank a cup of hot wine (???) and there was no fucking sadness allowed.
-we then went to Poznan and there was tons of snow and everything was beautiful and bright white and man, Poznan is a nice looking city. Lubomir and Frederic put on a great show for us complete with an endearingly enthused and wasted elderly man dancing and making a weird hand swirling gesture and totally loving harsh noise and dance beats. After the show we went to a house party and met some rad people and in the morning we went to a small, eerily emptyd zoo. It was mostly vacant, snowy cages and looked like some post-civilization Omega Man shit, which was actually very nice since I generally find zoos to be cruel and depressing.
-our growing crew of Polish bros and ladies took a train to Wroclaw and we walked from central station to CRK. CRK is an incredible squat that has existed for 10 years and it is one of the most inspiring places I have had the pleasure of visiting. As soon as we walked in, we were given an amazing, hot vegan meal and shown the room we'd be staying in for the next two nights. Unreal.
The guy who "organized" the show here totally ghosted out and dropped all contact with me about 2 months ago, and sent a text message to someone at CRK yesterday morning saying he was in fucking Holland and asking if they could handle the show instead of him. So, so shitty. The folks at CRK debated on whether or not they would still do the show (as it was an understandably frustrating and sudden responsibility that was dropped on them at the last minute) and much to our gratitude, borrowed a PA and made it happen. It was a really great show and one of my favorites of the tour. Everyone was extremely happy, friendly and generally it was just an awesome vibe. CRK and everyone here is the best. Thanks a million guys.
-This morning I woke up early and went with Sergei and Rena to the university, a cafe and the train station to say goodbye (the saddest part of our time in Poland). Then I walked around Wroclaw alone for 3-4 hours, collecting icicles in my beard and eyebrows and generally having a really good day. I really, really love Poland and I've seriously been considering just staying and starting my new life here.
This is significantly intensified by the fact that I am painfully, painfully attracted to Polish women.
Charlie and I are spending the day in and around CRK tomorrow then getting on an overnight train to Budapest, Hungary. Fuck yeah.
noise/love not war/pain,
-g.w.a.29.11.MMX.C.E.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
day 53
day 53: we are in Warsaw and it is really fucking cold.
recent stuff that happened:
-Lithuania was totally amazing, our friend Armantas is the best. He rented us this crazy apartment in a really gnarly looking building in his hometown Jonova (it is a very small town near Kaunas). Furnished complete with a sweet boombox. We hung out with Arma and later that night met up with Alex from Colonel XS (from Parma, Italy). We had some beers (yeah, I do that again) and improvised some card games because none of us know how to play card games and we were using a weird German "Skat" deck which only has 7, 8, 9, 10, B, D, K and A cards (????)
-The next day we did a show at the Jonova library. I did a tape loop performance and after the show a woman said some things in Lithuanian and we were each presented with a single, long-stem rose. Seriously. We went for a walk later that night and chilled on a train bridge and watched a train fly past 10 feet in front of us and he showed us some Soviet era bunkers and a bombed bridge. We then went to a bar and hung out with some dudes and ate deep fried garlic bread with melted cheese.
-Next day we went to Kaunas, a bigger city and walked around, ate some Italian food, played at Arma's venue "Insait." It was good but I fried the stage right PA speaker (or hopefully just the crossover fuse). Felt like shit.
-The next day it was Thanksgiving and I walked to the library then ate some bread(?) flavored yogurt and cut off my gross rat tail listening to weird Lith. technopop and cast off my rat tail into the first snowfall of the year from the 6th story balcony. Fucking poetry. We then went to Vilnius which is a gorgeous city with some really romantic old world style streets and awkward graffitti. We went to a cabin-looking pub with tons of beer nerd paraphernalia and Charlie and I ate super super greasy potato pancakes and a beer made with some purple flower "that horses eat." we played at a rad basement venue in Vilnius that night and had to get on a bus for Poland right after playing. It was the most violently skittering/jostling bus ride I have ever been on and we arrived in Warsaw at 4:30 AM this morning and now we're hanging with Sergei who rules.
p.s. Arma is THE SHIT and he gave me his old winter coat and it is saving my ass in this Baltic coldness and I can't say enough great things about him. Thanks, Arma.
-gordon
-
recent stuff that happened:
-Lithuania was totally amazing, our friend Armantas is the best. He rented us this crazy apartment in a really gnarly looking building in his hometown Jonova (it is a very small town near Kaunas). Furnished complete with a sweet boombox. We hung out with Arma and later that night met up with Alex from Colonel XS (from Parma, Italy). We had some beers (yeah, I do that again) and improvised some card games because none of us know how to play card games and we were using a weird German "Skat" deck which only has 7, 8, 9, 10, B, D, K and A cards (????)
-The next day we did a show at the Jonova library. I did a tape loop performance and after the show a woman said some things in Lithuanian and we were each presented with a single, long-stem rose. Seriously. We went for a walk later that night and chilled on a train bridge and watched a train fly past 10 feet in front of us and he showed us some Soviet era bunkers and a bombed bridge. We then went to a bar and hung out with some dudes and ate deep fried garlic bread with melted cheese.
-Next day we went to Kaunas, a bigger city and walked around, ate some Italian food, played at Arma's venue "Insait." It was good but I fried the stage right PA speaker (or hopefully just the crossover fuse). Felt like shit.
-The next day it was Thanksgiving and I walked to the library then ate some bread(?) flavored yogurt and cut off my gross rat tail listening to weird Lith. technopop and cast off my rat tail into the first snowfall of the year from the 6th story balcony. Fucking poetry. We then went to Vilnius which is a gorgeous city with some really romantic old world style streets and awkward graffitti. We went to a cabin-looking pub with tons of beer nerd paraphernalia and Charlie and I ate super super greasy potato pancakes and a beer made with some purple flower "that horses eat." we played at a rad basement venue in Vilnius that night and had to get on a bus for Poland right after playing. It was the most violently skittering/jostling bus ride I have ever been on and we arrived in Warsaw at 4:30 AM this morning and now we're hanging with Sergei who rules.
p.s. Arma is THE SHIT and he gave me his old winter coat and it is saving my ass in this Baltic coldness and I can't say enough great things about him. Thanks, Arma.
-gordon
-
Monday, November 22, 2010
day 49
day 49(?):
so, we're in Jonova, Lithuania now.
some things:
Kortrijk, Belgium and THE PIT'S are the shit. Killer show our friend Dries set up. It was really hard to restrain myself from nerding out on Belgian beers and trying a bunch. Basically I've just swapped alcohol for sugar and had some insane Belg. choco treats and things. I've been drinking fancy sodas every once in a while (word up to Fritz Cola), and of course I feel like a total wuss. And I sipped a bit of this Old Damnation II beer that was super good.
We played a harsh noise show in a fucking train wagon in Offenbach, Germany while a decked out cruise ship was docked 20 feet away.
Tilburg, NL was fun, thanks Kevin. My new favorite name for a Dutch clothing store is MEN'S DIGNITY.
Mulheim gig was canceled so instead we took a 15 hour bus from Rotterdam to Copenhagen. I still don't understand how it took 15 hours but we were on a ferry for a while and there were some total sketchers on the bus and two or three guys got vanished by police officers when they checked our passports. Then a dude fell down the stairs face first at 5:30 AM. MAYHEM is an amazing venue and Copenhagen continued to rule really hard. Sam and I did a Black Air performance including me contact mic'ing a mysterious hole from within the audience and Dan didn't even notice. Fucking Dan.
We took a train to Hamburg and played at a theater. It was great, people sitting in chairs and everything and I'll bet they'd even eat some popcorn if there was some popcorn around.
We took a bus to Berlin and oh man, Berlin was so good. Met up with Daniel at Rumpsti Pumpsi (best noise/weird music record store ever) and he is the King of the Hospitables. Thanks, Daniel. We played show at the awesome venue NK and it was sadly our last night with Sam / The Rita. The next two days Charlie and I went to the Nuclear War Now Live Ritual 2 at C-Halle and saw a ton of war/black metal bands from all over the world. So many dudes with long hair and millions of embroidered patches on their jackets milling around and drinking beers in plastic cups etc. The soundman was TERRIBLE and I don't want to know how much he was brutally overpaid to eat in front of a mixing board and blow it for two nights straight. I was really happy to finally see many of the bands, but it was also incredibly awkward and boring at times. Probably the last metal fest I'll attend. I'm old?
We also went to the Ethnological museum and saw all kinds of amazing artifacts and ate at Nil's twice. Nil's is a Sudanese restaurant in Kreuzberg and instantly one of my favorites. Coriander-heavy falafel sandwich with peanut sauce is on my death-row meal request without doubt. Last night we had a really enjoyable show at Raum 20 and got to see Family Battle Snake and crashed at Federica's place (she served us potato and leek soup and cookies). Today we woke up super early to fly to Kaunas, and now we're in Lithuania at our friend Armantas' flat and it's very green and sunny here and I gotta go.
-gordog
so, we're in Jonova, Lithuania now.
some things:
Kortrijk, Belgium and THE PIT'S are the shit. Killer show our friend Dries set up. It was really hard to restrain myself from nerding out on Belgian beers and trying a bunch. Basically I've just swapped alcohol for sugar and had some insane Belg. choco treats and things. I've been drinking fancy sodas every once in a while (word up to Fritz Cola), and of course I feel like a total wuss. And I sipped a bit of this Old Damnation II beer that was super good.
We played a harsh noise show in a fucking train wagon in Offenbach, Germany while a decked out cruise ship was docked 20 feet away.
Tilburg, NL was fun, thanks Kevin. My new favorite name for a Dutch clothing store is MEN'S DIGNITY.
Mulheim gig was canceled so instead we took a 15 hour bus from Rotterdam to Copenhagen. I still don't understand how it took 15 hours but we were on a ferry for a while and there were some total sketchers on the bus and two or three guys got vanished by police officers when they checked our passports. Then a dude fell down the stairs face first at 5:30 AM. MAYHEM is an amazing venue and Copenhagen continued to rule really hard. Sam and I did a Black Air performance including me contact mic'ing a mysterious hole from within the audience and Dan didn't even notice. Fucking Dan.
We took a train to Hamburg and played at a theater. It was great, people sitting in chairs and everything and I'll bet they'd even eat some popcorn if there was some popcorn around.
We took a bus to Berlin and oh man, Berlin was so good. Met up with Daniel at Rumpsti Pumpsi (best noise/weird music record store ever) and he is the King of the Hospitables. Thanks, Daniel. We played show at the awesome venue NK and it was sadly our last night with Sam / The Rita. The next two days Charlie and I went to the Nuclear War Now Live Ritual 2 at C-Halle and saw a ton of war/black metal bands from all over the world. So many dudes with long hair and millions of embroidered patches on their jackets milling around and drinking beers in plastic cups etc. The soundman was TERRIBLE and I don't want to know how much he was brutally overpaid to eat in front of a mixing board and blow it for two nights straight. I was really happy to finally see many of the bands, but it was also incredibly awkward and boring at times. Probably the last metal fest I'll attend. I'm old?
We also went to the Ethnological museum and saw all kinds of amazing artifacts and ate at Nil's twice. Nil's is a Sudanese restaurant in Kreuzberg and instantly one of my favorites. Coriander-heavy falafel sandwich with peanut sauce is on my death-row meal request without doubt. Last night we had a really enjoyable show at Raum 20 and got to see Family Battle Snake and crashed at Federica's place (she served us potato and leek soup and cookies). Today we woke up super early to fly to Kaunas, and now we're in Lithuania at our friend Armantas' flat and it's very green and sunny here and I gotta go.
-gordog
Thursday, November 11, 2010
day 37
day 37 (i think):
word up from Paris... since I last updated this, lots has happened. here is an abridged highlight reel:
-spent 4 nights in Copenhagen with our friend Mikkel, Posh Isolation dudes and Klaus. totally ruled, the night after our first show we drank a million beers and Charlie, Mikkel and I each ate entire pizzas and I woke up horribly sick. I threw up in several bathrooms then did another show. the next day we went to Christiania? which is one of the most special places on earth. We walked around the lake and looked at weird little houses, graffiti, qnd i purchased and smoked a joint legally. (sorry Mom and Dad, but I didn`t do nothing criminal).
-went to Amsterdam, walked all over the city and played a really nice show at STEIM. almost had some beers in our friend`s little boat that was chilling in a canal, but it was taking on water and it was a cold night, and seemed like a bad call in general.
-went to Cologne, and went to a bunch of ridiculous clubs (including mega packed narrow club with bad digital DJs) and I stayed out until 7 AM and surprisingly felt terrible the next day. The next morning we went to the incredible Cologne Dom cathedral and caught some trains to Tienen, Belgium.
-stayed in Tienen with our friends Cybelle and Wim. They treated us really nice and cooked for us and we went to Brussels. There is an astoundingly huge and varied flea market DAILY in Brussels and I bought a rad 1953 10``record of music from north Africa and a bunch of really old photographs that were probably of Belgian people.
-the morning we left Belgium for France I was violently sick and felt horrible all day, puking in the street, etc. I had three beers over the course of the day before and ate the same as Charlie and Wim. I think I may have developed an alcohol intolerance and this shit is NOT cool. I will not drink for the rest of the tour (hold me to it, someone). Being sick on trains and at people`s houses is a real downer. We played a nice show in Lille and stayed with our friend Sonny and his girlfriend, who are great folks and treated us really kindly.
-the next morning we took a train to Paris and hung out with our friend Brian who made us gnocci and then we met up with Sam (The Rita, from Vancouver) and had a really excellent show at Les Instants Chavirez with Tourette. Now it`s the morning and we are going to visit Eurocine and Pere Lachaise cemetery, where I will appreciate Chopin`s grave and spit on Jim Morrisson`s.
My camera is still busted and is probably never coming back... sorry.
xo
-gordon
word up from Paris... since I last updated this, lots has happened. here is an abridged highlight reel:
-spent 4 nights in Copenhagen with our friend Mikkel, Posh Isolation dudes and Klaus. totally ruled, the night after our first show we drank a million beers and Charlie, Mikkel and I each ate entire pizzas and I woke up horribly sick. I threw up in several bathrooms then did another show. the next day we went to Christiania? which is one of the most special places on earth. We walked around the lake and looked at weird little houses, graffiti, qnd i purchased and smoked a joint legally. (sorry Mom and Dad, but I didn`t do nothing criminal).
-went to Amsterdam, walked all over the city and played a really nice show at STEIM. almost had some beers in our friend`s little boat that was chilling in a canal, but it was taking on water and it was a cold night, and seemed like a bad call in general.
-went to Cologne, and went to a bunch of ridiculous clubs (including mega packed narrow club with bad digital DJs) and I stayed out until 7 AM and surprisingly felt terrible the next day. The next morning we went to the incredible Cologne Dom cathedral and caught some trains to Tienen, Belgium.
-stayed in Tienen with our friends Cybelle and Wim. They treated us really nice and cooked for us and we went to Brussels. There is an astoundingly huge and varied flea market DAILY in Brussels and I bought a rad 1953 10``record of music from north Africa and a bunch of really old photographs that were probably of Belgian people.
-the morning we left Belgium for France I was violently sick and felt horrible all day, puking in the street, etc. I had three beers over the course of the day before and ate the same as Charlie and Wim. I think I may have developed an alcohol intolerance and this shit is NOT cool. I will not drink for the rest of the tour (hold me to it, someone). Being sick on trains and at people`s houses is a real downer. We played a nice show in Lille and stayed with our friend Sonny and his girlfriend, who are great folks and treated us really kindly.
-the next morning we took a train to Paris and hung out with our friend Brian who made us gnocci and then we met up with Sam (The Rita, from Vancouver) and had a really excellent show at Les Instants Chavirez with Tourette. Now it`s the morning and we are going to visit Eurocine and Pere Lachaise cemetery, where I will appreciate Chopin`s grave and spit on Jim Morrisson`s.
My camera is still busted and is probably never coming back... sorry.
xo
-gordon
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