| Rahim Euro Tour (Entry 1) |
[09 Jan 2008|06:48pm] |
The following is a bit about the European tour we made from November 14 - December 6, 2007 with the French band Jordan. It is posted in two parts. Some photos are posted here, but the entire photo set is available HERE.
Novemeber 14
We arrived at Charles Degaulle in Paris. After retrieving our instruments and bags from the conveyor belt and wandering like lost children through the airport, we were picked up by Celine - proprietor of Summery, the agency who booked our tour. This was the first day of a transit strike in Paris (an occasion which is, apparently, familiar to Parisians) and it was difficult getting from the outskirts of the city - where the airport is - to the venue. When we finally arrived at La Fleche d'Or (operative Rahim joke: "The Flesh Door"), we immediately drank all their juice, then napped hard on couches, as we had about 8 hours until show time and were profoundly jet-lagged. The show went well, aside from my voice completely betraying me. I was told by more than one Parisian that onstage I am reminiscent of "Young Curtis," a formulation I realized was my mishearing of Ian Curtis. On Day One, Rahim was still not all the way there on the French accent.
November 15
After a fitful sleep at the apartment of Adrien (illustrious member of our tourmates Jordan, and booking agent for the entire tour) and Adelaide, we embarked for Amsterdam, Holland. Having spent the entire previous evening drinking French beers and trying alternately to get Adrien drunk, and to prove to Adrien that Rahim are crazy dudes, we were tired. So we did more sleeping, contributing the the French's already developing impression that Rahim sleeps all the time. A few interesting things for the day: 1) To meet the van, we had to travel a long way with all our luggage on the Paris subway, which was incredibly crowded since the trasit strike meant modified service. The van was a full nine-seater. 2) We discovered that certain details of the tour were messy as a result of a German promoter pulling a disappearing act in the weeks before we arrived. Adrien had to work overtime to make up for it. 3) We discovered that rest stops in France have bars, sell bitchin' chocolate and cheese, and inspire our French compatriots, Jordan, to drink impressive amounts of coffee while smoking impressive numbers of cigarettes.
The show in Amsterdam fed us well. The attendance was OK. The patrons were noisy and the sound was weird. You can't win them all. At this point, we were continually reminding ourselves that we were in Europe. After the show, we checked into a hostel called Stayokay that was as nice as a hotel, but without any soap in the bathroom.
November 16
Since we had only a few hours drive to the next show in Haarlem, Holland, we spent the day walking around Amsterdam, a city as proud of its canals as of its weed and window-seated prostitutes. People like to party in Amsterdam, regardless of time of day. Christian taught me about the Dutch fondness for tulips. We even saw some tulips. Baptiste, the resident teacher of Jordan, gave us what amounted to a guided tour. We were learning new things every day - for example, I learned that Amsterdam has canals. The evening's show was not well-attended, but it was fun, and there was a discotech next door, to which we had access. So Rahim and Jordan had our first dance party together.
November 17
We drove to Luxembourg, passing through much of the Netherlands. We stopped in Maastricht to check it out and Thibaut (of Jordan) and Nico (our driver) were ticketed for jay-walking by a bike cop in a full windbreaker outfit. He made them fork over the euros right there, lest they be hauled downtown.
In Luxembourg we played with our friends Cinemechanica, from Athens, Georgia. They were on tour with Mutiny on the Bounty, a band from Luxembourg who have long been friends with Jordan. We ate a feast, then played on the largest stage we've ever been on. The show was complete with light show and smoke machine. It was huge. Afterwards we all stayed with Mutiny on the Bounty. They had animal masks and a cool house. It's always nice to meet friends along the way.
November 18
From Luxembourg we went to Munster, Germany, and played with a huge band from the UK called 65 Days of Static. In Munster, we ate and drank well. In the hotel room after the show, we became quite intoxicated and played an epic round of the game Snaps. Baptiste, to his credit, figured the game out almost immediately. For this, he is a hero to us. In the morning, the German hotel fed us sliced meats and cheeses for breakfast (you know, like delicious cold cuts). This is done in Europe. Meats and cheeses are available for every meal (often to the exclusion of anything else). Rahim's collective gastrointestinal tract had hell to pay.
November 19 & 20
Because of some scheduling problems, we returned to Paris and had the day off. This afforded us the opportunity to sleep late, see the city, play with Adrien and Adelaide's Persian cat, Leoni, see Papier Tigre, a good band from Paris, and drink to excess with our new French friends.
Several unrelated impressions: dozens of Parisians carrying baguettes through the city; a baby saying "ooh-la-la-la-la" repeatedly; a bus stinking front to back of body odor.
November 21
We played a small bar in Niort with Papier Tigre. I searched the town to send some mail. Mailboxes are different in Europe, and not always detectable to American eyes.
November 22
Our next show was in Giessen, Germany, in a punk squat converted from some sort of railroad building. Vegan meats were served with sauerkraut and polenta. Rahim and Jordan killed time at the bar while we waited for the show to start. Phil discovered the wonder of international calling centers, which saved us countless dollars and euros over the course of the tour. The show went well and we slept on Army cots and tried not to step on any broken glass in the night.
November 23
Magdebourg, Germany was excellent. Great venue, great show, great food and people. I was fed the largest Red Bull and Jagermeister I've ever seen. Round after round of bright green, tooth-achingly sweet, peppermint-flavor shots of a liquor called Pfefi were furnished. Carsten, who promoted the show, took us all over town the next day. We saw the Elbe River. We saw crazy, pink architecture by Hundertwasser. We were fed meats for breakfast. We left satisfied.
November 24 & 25
Berlin was also great. The show was packed and we got to hang out afterwards with Berliners. We were able to stay above the club, a good small room called Shokoladen (which means chocolate). When Christian became lost in the snow late at night in Berlin, he asked German strangers where he could find Shokoladen. Needless to say, they were confused.
We had the following day off, so we walked around Berlin a bit, checked out a flea market, got rained on, and drank a lot of coffee with the French and their German friends. We also ate Turkish kebab, of which there is a delicious abundance in Germany.
November 26
Poznan, Poland. Small show in a back alley club in the city. Monday night. Load-in all stairs. It was a tough night but we had fun. When in doubt in the fourth largest city in all of Poland, eat dubious falafel, play a tiny show, then have a spontaneous dance party DJed badly by your new French friends and some drunk Polish girls (one of whom has a bowl cut and a rat tail like Davey Crockett).
The drive in was a trip. There were stark, bleak Eastern European farm houses. There were crazy drivers passing impetuously on the left. There were Polish woods! Everything seemed fascinating to me.
After the show our host, Konrad, became extremely drunk. It was dicey getting back to his place, since he kept passing out in the front seat of our van and forgetting how to speak English. When we made it back, we got ready for bed and Konrad began blasting techno with the lyrics "Hate Fuck!" And Nico assumed the character of Christmas Dad, as depicted below.
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