In Rainbow

July 29th, 2010

As I write this I’m sitting on the Stena Saga from Fredrikshavn to Oslo, where we are going to a little duo recording tomorrow. (Not feeling too queasy from the ship…) We is myself and Janos Bruneel, a great bass player I met in Banff a few years ago. We have just spent a great week in Antwerp rehearsing, eating fine food (Belgian chocolates, just like Swiss Toni) and generally enjoying ourselves. A great way to prepare for a record. Fantastic beer there too, that goes without saying. We did a little gig near the marina which was quite pleasant. Janos is also an incredible cook: pasta with smoked salmon, pasta with turkey, steamed mussels, fried mussels, etc etc. Killer.

Yesterday we crossed four countries in one day: Belgium, Holland, Germany, and finally Denmark, where we stayed the night. Great to drive (well, particularly given I wasn’t doing any of it) – much better a sense of distance than flying.

In Oslo I hope to catch up with Wendy and Havard (friends from VCA) as well as Adrian, another bass player from Banff. We have brought beer which is much cheaper in Belgium than Norway!

I took this photo just as we were pulling out of the harbour:

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Ausländerbehörde

July 8th, 2010

I’m reluctant to use the term Kafkaesque when I didn’t get very far into The Trial, but anyway.

The Ausländerbehörde was everything I heard it would be (numbers called in random order and full of scared foreigners) but not really so bad. The staff were nice and I was lucky to summon a German translator at short notice (thank you Jana!). I didn’t manage the hole-in-one of visa sans appointment like my friend Alexa, but I think alles ist in Ordnung for next time.

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DMY

June 12th, 2010

Let’s see, out of the tens of thousands of euros that were no doubt spent printing posters, programs and tote bags for the International Design Festival Berlin, they ran out of steam for the sign on the front?

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That said, good show, and Tempelhof is quite the piece of architecture.

Harvest

June 12th, 2010

I’ve been listening to Harvest, Neil Young’s 1972 album, on repeat. It’s incredible. Oh to make an album that sounds that good. The drum sound!

Anyway, I meant to write a bit about Spain, because as infrequently as this is updated, I would at least like to document all the countries visited. I took lots of photos, which you can see here.

I started in Valencia where I went to my friend Jean-Baptiste’s wedding. JBM and I were both quite interested in Windows RPC protocol analysis; we met in Paris a couple of times some years ago (he’s also quite a Metheny fan so, I mean, how many other people are into starting at packet traces and Pat? possibly only Denny Dias!) So yes, it was very nice to be invited to the wedding. Here’s a snap of Valencia:

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Particularly noteworthy was the mojito stand. I haven’t enclosed a photo as it might remind me of the slightly more excessive than usual amount of alcohol I consumed last night.

Certainly, Spain feels quite different to Germany, the weather and the sea make a big difference I suspect. And, of course, staying with family who (however distantly related they might be) were completely welcoming.Viviana and Bernat, who visited Australia last year, were great tour guides. And I ate like a king. Really. (And tapas is not outrageously overpriced like it is at our favourite places in Melbourne. Nor is there any of that Melbourne pretentiousness because – it’s just what they eat.) This is them in their apartment:

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and this is the view out of their apartment:

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Love the outside clothes lines! Very Spanish. Wouldn’t fly with my body corporate back home (sorry, I mean Owners’ Corporation). Very fond of these colours, good album cover material methinks.

Culinary highlights: tortilla made by Maria Jose with potato and egg; this amazing Sardinian “pizza” with tahina; lots and lots of fish; and some jamon (yes, I broke the rules, I’m not making this a general pig exception though!).

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And the obligatory picture of a traffic light with a Gaudi building in the background:

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A highlight was visiting Montserrat, a mountain of particular significance to the Catalan population. It’s a decent walk, but the view is fantastic. I’ve always wondered what clouds looked like too (must be the name).

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I recently wrote some music for Hush, the Royal Children’s Hospital charity project, which was recorded with Len, Slav, Tim Stevens, and a small orchestra conducted by Ben Northey. There are some photos here. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s going to be interesting, a real privilege to have them play.

I’m planning a couple of other recording projects which is possibly foolish given I’ve hardly done anything with the Icelandic solo stuff, but hey, one must make hay whilst the sun shines. Or whatever the saying is. Deadlines, important. Also trying to learn some repertoire to play with cello- and opera-playing friends; possibly taking on a bit much but at least it gets the fingers moving. Of course, this is somewhat contingent on getting another visa, but hopefully that is going to be possible!

Fernsehturm

May 20th, 2010

Fernsehturm

Holland, briefly

May 20th, 2010

This time to listen to music, instead of playing it. Saturday night I spent in Amsterdam, not anywhere particularly interesting, but I suppose that’s bound to happen when you look for the cheapest hotel. Spent most of the time in the hotel room working on a composition and doing some crypto stuff for MIT.

Sunday, off to Almere, a concrete jungle built on reclaimed land which appears to have escaped from the distant future. There’s a great library there:

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with a coffee shop (which I didn’t sample owing to being at the two espresso limit). After killing some time there (best place to hang out on a Sunday) I saw my old piano teacher Donna play with, at one point, a hundred other guitars. Quite the event. Lovely to hear her play. I was made very welcome in the home of expat Peter Constant, former VCA guitar maestro that moved to Holland the year I started at college.

Monday, caught the train to The Hague, where I saw a few Banff friends. In particular, Janos, this incredible Antwerpen double bassist (who is now teaching at the Koninklijk Conservatorium). He has prodigious technique and a Stevens-esque knowledge of harmony. In spite of my attempts to eschew the jazz idiom I think we might just do a duo recording this year (particularly after he mumbled something about rehearsing at his uncle’s place in the south of France, yum).

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They have a very interesting system for assigning practice rooms that’s kind of like being in a bakery or airport (your name is called when one is ready). I couldn’t imagine that working in Australia.

That evening we heard a saxophonist’s final year recital, always very interesting to see this things: a certain enthusiasm and commitment in recitals that you don’t find at the average gig. Also interesting to contrast how people play here to home (which, in these days of everyone being able to listen to everything, is not a huge contrast). Stayed with my friend Matthew and then on Tuesday, heard Nadia’s recital (violist from Maddy gig a few months back).

Summer seems to have arrived in Holland:

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Berlin, however, is a little more unsure about the weather, as usual. Back to “work” today.

Gelandet

April 8th, 2010

Back for a few weeks. Please forward details about new coffee shops and bars that are SWPL-approved.

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Magnolia

March 29th, 2010

For sale here and here.

Ice House

Espresso, Kaffismiðja, Reykjavík

March 27th, 2010

Got the Monocle seal of approval; pretty, pretty, pretty good. Coffee quality would not be an impediment to relocating to Iceland.

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Paradiso

March 17th, 2010

Last night we played with Maddy at Paradiso, a club in Amsterdam (actually one Experimental Jetset designed posters for many years ago). Was a pretty nice gig. Nice audience, great band (Clemens, guitarist, is killer – I’m ashamed to admit he knew the songs better than I did!)

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We had the good fortune to meet Claude Vanheye, a Dutch/Indonesian photographer who has shot everyone: check out this picture of a young Michael Jackson (although I’m quite partial to this Tom Waits one, perhaps because I like posters). The other day he snapped Maddy, JZ and I, and last night gave us some beautiful black and white prints (which I look forward to showing you upon return!).

Did I mention the Magnolia launch? I think I did. CDs are at the printers. You can find us on jjj Unearthed here, perhaps you can vote for us or something (I confess I have no idea how that works).

Back in Berlin now. Out of clean clothes. Need ramen.