day 24

                                                                                BERLIN:

 Berlin is one of my favorite cities so I was very happy to spend two days there.  Yes, it is a massive metropolis, very international, very focused on art & music, and it's relatively cheap, etc etc etc, but my main passion for Berlin exists because of falafel.  I have not had the opportunity to visit the Middle East, the lower Mediterranean, or North Africa, and falafel in the USA is generally restricted to decent Lebanese restaurants, or pan-Euro/Eastern restaurants with "veggie mezza" platters.  Counties in the European Union, being much closer to the origins of such cusine, typically has a much greater availability & more culurally distinct versions of falafel.  And Berlin is a fucking falafel mecca.  The last time I was there, I became obsessed by Nil's Sudanische Imbiss, which features a very coriander-heavy falafel with a KILLER peanut-chili pepper sauce.  It is something I've tried to recreate at home, and more significantly, haven't stopped thinking about for a long time.  So of course I was determined to go at least once when back in Berlin.  And of course it didn't happen.

 It was probably a blessing in disguise because instead, I went to three other places (each a different style from a different country) and they were ALL. FUCKING. DELICIOUS.   First was "Falafel in Berlin," or possibly "Falafelinberlin.de," or possibly just "Falafel," the signage was pretty confusing.  It is located on Skalitzer Strasse and is (apparently) distinctly Syrian.  One of the best I've ever had.  Very fresh, light and fairly soft falafel with a heavy lemon/coriander flavor, not the over-fried crunchy style that dominates in the US.  Top notch & highly recommended.
That night, we attempted to go the new Nil's location in Neukolln, but it closed right after we parked the car.  No big deal, we went to another amazing place across the street.  I had a vegetarian platter and everything was SOLID.  I'm not sure the country of origin for this place, but it was a little less distinct but still very good.  Halloumi (fried cheese sticks), some nice tabouli, rice, and three sauces (yogurt, chili and a really nice, unique, orange-colored, curry-based sauce), good (but not great) falafel (crunchier brown style).  I don't remember the name... sorry.  The next day, we were a bit rushed and Bill insisted that we go to Mo's King of Falafel.  I trust the man and he was absolutely right.  It was Moroccan style, served by an adorable old lady who's German seemed a bit rough, despite operating this small restaurant in Neukolln for seemingly decades.  The falafel itself was quite good, though I preferred the Syrian joint, but the accoutrements is what really came through on this one.  An amazingly complex mix of pickled vegetables, halloumi, mint, sauces & the Moroccan equivalent of guacamole.  WHAT??? 

 Falafel nerding aside, yeah, everything else was great.  We hung out with the excellent Bill Kouligas all weekend who was an amazing host and all around awesome guy.  We did two very solid shows, made some new friends, got lost in the flea market, got even more lost, worked it out, and went to the fantastic Pumpsti Pumsti Musick shop (one of the best record stores in the world, excellently curated selection of electro-acoustic/avant/noise/etc).  I spent a lot of money on 3 releases I was very happy to get my hands on & we booked it to Hamburg.  THANKS BERLIN.

                                                                         HAMBURG:

 We anticipated being late to the Hamburg gig to discover it was a very relaxed show at the FSK radio station.  It felt really good to soundcheck & relax for a couple hours before the gig.  I went for a run and saw some cute Hamburg shit.  The show was nice, mellow, and friendly.  The radio station was covered in typical independant radio station ephemera: posters, a list of radio-rules, and band stickers.  But very strange (and seemingly restricted to Germany and Austria), was the proliferation of pro-Israel political/punk/antifa stickers (statements such as "Isreal Supporting Antifa" and vice versa=.  Apparently everywhere else in the "punk world," the consensus is overwhelmingly pro-Palestine, to which I am fully sympathetic.  My views are not intended as an attack on certain avenues of German culture, but it was a stark reminder of the Anti-Deutsch movement, which is virtually invisible and unknown throughout the rest of Europe and the US (where various "chapters" of Anti-fascist activist groups exist), and is a fascinating but, in my opinion, very misguided and myopic perspective.  Guilt and history can be very intense motivators.   Politics aside, Thomas and Martin were great hosts and it was really nice to see them again, and spend a night in Hamburg.

                             
                                                                          MALMO:

 

We drove to Malmo.  We thought paying 75€ for the ferry from Germany to Copenhagen was too expensive, so we thought we would save money by driving an extra hour through the Danish mainland.  Then we paid about 75€ in bridge tolls.  Goddammit.  On the plus side, it was a really nice ride and we got the take the bridge, check out some nice Danish water, and it wasn't all that much longer than the ferry.  Auspiciously, there was a seemingly deserted, but very capsized boat right as we crossed into Sweden.  Good sign.

 We went straight to the gig, a nice upstairs gallery that kindly allows weird music shows.  It was a good, small show, mellow night, good performances all around.  Halfway through the night, I spotted a dude wearing a VILE HORRENDOUS AERIAL BOMBARDMENT patch, which defies all logic because, A: less than 10 of those patches exist in all of Europe, which Charlie and I gave to some friends in 2010; B: it is a band I play in, which has never played outside of the USA and it is extremely likely that this man is familiar with the band; and C: it was on the jacket of a fucking insane dude who had no idea what the patch was, had never heard of the band, and just happened to end up with it and just happened to sew it onto the jacket and wear it to the gig.  Life is strange.  Thanks to Rickard & Hannes for a nice night in Malmo.  And thanks to dude for cluelessly sporting V.H.A.B. patch.

day 18 part two

                                                      WROCLAW, WARSAW & LODZ:

We drove through Czech towards Wroclaw and realized very quickly that there isn't really a "highway" once you get into Poland.  The last time I toured in Poland, it was by train, so I was not prepared for very, very slow-going rural roads.  We stopped to get some picnic stuff & buy some cheap groceries in Poland.  I was stoked on low prices and stocked up on some stuff, thinking I was really getting a good deal.  Immediately after checking out, the bag holding our 3 beers bottomed out and they smashed on the floor of the grocery store.  I really, really, really felt like a dick.  Sorry, small town grocery store somewhere near the Czech border.

 

When we finally got to Wroclaw, we were late & folks were waiting around for us.  The show was booked right when we left town, so it was all last minute anyway.  It ended up being a really great gig at a theater.  Everyone was super nice & Rafaele was an amazing host.   I really like this city & met some great people.  I wanted to visit the incredibly well organized and inspiring C.R.K. squat, but it is being renovated until early 2012 (with help from a hefty grant from the city of Wroclaw, which is absolutely amazing and the kind of thing that never really happens in the US).  Keep in up, Wroclaw.  But please, please, please stop inciting violence because of football.  It is very, very, very stupid.

The next day we drove to Warsaw.  It took fucking HOURS, again.  Apparently, Warsaw is hosting some sort of massive football match in June 2012, and they are apparently working on a new highway system that appears to be nowhere near completion.  Good luck guys.  So the path to Warsaw was the same kind of rural roads passing through small towns, no highways, very pretty but painfully slow & often gridlocked.  We even got pulled over by the police.  It was the weirdest cop experience I have ever had.  Basically, we were cruising down this country road (after being gridlocked for ages), and a man in a police uniform hopped out with this flashing paddle thing, apparently signifying that we needed to pull over.  Sure.  Thankfully Giuseppe speaks passable German (not the first, nor last time this will come in handy), because none of us speak Polish and the cops did not speak English or Italian.  Apparently they were extremely friendly and just wanted a bribe.  They took our 50 euros and let us go with a "warning."  I hope they enjoyed their 50 euros and every single beer bottle they bought with it embarrassingly smashed on the floor of their local grocer.  Fuckers.

So of course it took 8 hours to drive 300 km and we were late to the Warsaw gig.  Thankfully it wasn't a big deal and we even got to eat some soup and drink a beer while the first few performances went down.  The show was at Eufemia, again where Charlie & I performed last year.  Still great, still seems the same, please keep up the good work dudes.  It was an awesome show, no problems, great sets, nothing more to say other than THANKS.  We stayed with Sergei (aka MAAA, one of the best contemporary harsh noise acts), his wife Rena, and their brand new baby boy, Roman Sampo.  Man, what a treat it was to not only see Sergei & Rena again, but to meet their three-week old baby.  I haven't had a lot of baby experience, but I must say, Roman seemed extremely well behaved.

 

In the morning, we headed to Lodz, now accompanied by both Sergei & Stas (aka Nyctalops), who came from Russia to perform the Warsaw & Lodz gigs, as well as Berlin.  Nyctalops is a great harsh noise project which I highly encourage checking out.  The car was packed as we get a very early start in anticipation of the sssssllllooowwww Polish roadways.  Thankfully it was a shorter distance and wasn't as harsh.  We got into Lodz early, loaded our gear into Justynia's house, chilled with her cat, and went out for some awesome Polish food.  I ate something called a CRIPSY ROLLER (the anglicized version of the Polish term), which was AWESOME.  And also a killer potato pancake with green mushroom sauce (see photo above).  Very nice.  I haven't been able to do laundry since leaving home, so I was keen on buying some fresh boxer shorts to freshen up until we have the chance to wash our clothes.  Buying underwear at a massive department store in Poland is very funny but not really recommended.  I walked away with one really hilarious pair that seems to fit fine, and two other pairs that I am pretty sure will be way too snug.  Not a bad way to spend $2.00 and 10 minutes of life, though.   Then we went to the gig, in a(nother) industrial, weathered part of Lodz, at the venue DOM.  It's a very nice place and the show started on a very promising tip.  Then it got really rough and I will spare the details.  Regardless, thank you Lodz.  We were sad to part ways with Sergei this morning, but he had to get back to his family.  Today we drove back to Wroclaw (it surprisingly, took a really long time), for a night off to hang with Rafaele, take it easy, and get some rest before a weekend in Berlin.

Thank you, Poland.

day 18 part one

alright, lots to report since the last update.  I will try to do these experiences a bit of justice while we have our first night off in ten days.

MILAN, GENOA & TREVISO:

update: I realized that I didn't include a post about Milan, which was AWESOME.  I will add some photos from that day later on.  Long story short, it was an amazing show at the La Cruda microbrewery (great, American style craft beers).  Killer venue, huge crowd, all great people.  Last show of the tour with THE RITA.  Excellent performances all around, got to check out a Giallo film store, and lots of time with good friends Barbara, Steffano, Giovanni, Christiano, Luca & Lorenzo.  Thank you for everything, Milano, we can't wait to see you again.  Sam flew back to Vancouver in the morning, a bit sad but I will see him again soon and now the tour crew is a compact, brutal Italian/American power trio.

Genoa is the birthplace of pesto so I could never hate on a place that claims such.  I guess they are known for being kind of stingy with portions, my gnocchi was quite good, but, come on guys, you could be a little more kind.  The city is half beautiful, half ugly-grey-urban, and reminded me a lot of Naples, but much less chaotic.  We had some time to kill so we drove up to the heights of the city into a beautiful pastoral zone and came up on a fantastic cemetery full of very distinctly stylized statues.

 The gig was at a really awesome dingy space called Spazio Targa.  Really nice vibe, great people, great PA, great night.  Federico was an awesome host and we got to eat farrenata for breakfast (surely misspelled, it is a pancake-ish square of fried chickpeas.  not bad at all, and apparently very Genovese).  Then we got up and drove northeast to Treviso, in the Venezio area.   Another nice, dingier DIY space beneath a massive Section-8 apartment tower.  More nice folks, good vibes, great night.  Thanks for everything, Italy.  See you again in a few weeks.
                                           
                                                              VIENNA & PRAGUE:

We got up in the AM and drove into Austria.  I fell asleep a nice, dry, warm northern Italian scene and when I woke up 40 minutes later, we were in the ALPS and it was immense, grey, pouring rain and kind of terrifying.  Peppe handled the FIAT perfectly.  We got some lottery tickets and cruised into Vienna, late for the first time in a string of being-late-to-shows (sorry folks, please try to understand the important part is us getting there alive & performing happily).  The show was at Subterrarium, where Charlie & I played last year.  It seemed exactly the same, which is a compliment because I really like that place.  It was a long, strange, and pretty drunken night.  Thanks everyone.  In the morning, we checked out a massive, bizarre & very Austrian carnival/fairgrounds full of oddly themed rides and super awkward airbrush art (one of my all time favorite things).  We got a late start out of town because we had to wait to pick up copies of my new record then cruised to Prague.  Of course we had to stop at EXCALIBUR CITY, one of the most weird-call tourist traps I have ever witnessed.  There is a giant, disused jet plane, a bunch of wack King Arthur shit, and of course, tons of garbage for sale.

 

I really love Prague, the aesthetic of the art design, street flow, and architecture is very dialed into my tastes.   Still looking good, Prague.  The show was in a weird basement student center, complete with some Italian tourists who were very bummed on our soundcheck.  Sorry dudes, I am not sure why you guys were hanging there in the first place.  Unfortunately, they were about half the audience as it was the onset of a major Czech holiday, celebrating the end of the German occupation.  Regardless, everyone who actually attended the show was great, friendly and really nice to talk with.  Vaclav was a wonderful host, and I got to hang with my old friend Freddy and drink some very harsh Czech plum liquor (not liquor, this was some pretty blinding BOOZE). 

 After the show we wandered around Prague and went up the hill to the massive metronome that used to be a massive statue of Stalin.   Coincidentally(???), we came across a very wasted man who was wandering up the hill, swilling the last of his vodka bottle & blasting mega-distorted Slavic radio from a little CD-AM/FM combo.  We got a photo with him, which he decided was an appropriate time to gesture a seig-heil.  It was definitely the first time I witnessed a man wearing a Che Guevera t-shirt while simultaneously hailing Hitler.  Unfortunately the photo was not taken with my camera.  We made our way back to Vaclav's neighborhood, where I decided to get some sleep while he took Peppe & Francesco to the local pub to drink a million beers until 7 AM.  Dudes looked a bit rough when it was time to head for Wroclaw at noon but powered through the drive like real road doggs.  Thanks for everything, Vaclav, and Prague.

day nine

we are in Vittorio Veneto, Italy now.  Highlights from the past week:

Napoli:  we mad sure to get to the Istanbul airport over two hours early, everything was smooth until we got to the gate and they said "the gate is closed, you are too late."  Since we had absolultey no notice that our flight had been rescheduled to over an hour earlier, we managed to convince them to let us on.  Customs dude was a DICK.  We ran way harder, way more Home Alone style than before & made it to the gate just in time to see a "20 minute flight delay" message and the other passengers calmly waiting and staring at us.  Awesome.  Giuseppe met us at the airport, good vibes immediately.  We went for pizza margherita (a la umbria) & dug through some junky magazines.  It was May Day so most everything was closed & the streets were eerily mellow.  The first time I went to Naples it was INTENSE, greasy dudes on vespas tearing through narrow streets piled high with garbage, total chaos that someone doesnt just crash & crash constantly.  It was surreal to see the city very quiet, mellow and also pretty clean (I guess the mafia cleaned up the garbage problem).  We met up with Francesco, did a great show at a rad basement speakeasy club.

Vittorio Veneto:  we drove about 7 hours northeast to the Veneto area, I am forcing myself to run & do 20 pushups at every gas/strech break on the Autostrade.  Vittorio gig at Codalunga was awesome, many thanks to Matteo, Nico and everyone else.  We head to Milano in a few hours. 

day eight pt. 2

ISTANBUL pt. 2
we cut it close at the Athens airport, ran to our gate Home Alone style and flew to Istanbul.  Gaelle met us with a written sign and we took a bus to Taxim (the main square).  Instant bustle & overcrowding flow, hustling through hordes with our equipment & luggage.  Right off the bat I found a santoor / cimbalom street musician, & singer who randomly stopped by to collaborate.   The gig was solid, a stray cat crept up onstage and slept on my bag for the entire show.  Istanbul is covered in stray cats, and it is probably more charming than any other kind of stray animal overload.  The next day we hit a bunch of spots all over the city, usual tourist stuff & a few skirty avenues.  I love any country with inexpensive fresh squeezed juice vendors and I drank a ton of orange, pomegrante and grapefruit by nice old dudes with juicers for 1-5 liras a pop (about 0.50-2.00 USD).  They were always out of kiwi when I asked.  We took a lot of taxis in Istanbul and nearly every one was a terriying experience.  I drive a taxi for a living and while there is a bit of admiration and comradery for taxi dudes tearing through the city, it was really not to my tastes.  Good luck out there, taksimen.

day 8

ISTANBUL PART ONE: