THURS MAY MAY 19, 2011 // SAN FRANCISCO TO AMSTERDAM
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
I awoke at quarter til seven in the morning on Wednesday May 18th and rode Supershuttle to SFO airport. I got told by an importer of clothing who was headed to Shanghai that there comes a time in life where one makes a decision to choose a path. He was kind. It wasn’t like how my grandmother thinks I’m a beach bum. I met Eric in the terminal. We both had a guitar and a suitcase.
We arrived in Amsterdam at around nine the next morning. The long flight had passed quickly. We picked up a Fiat Panda rental. It was stick shift. I felt delirious. Driving on the Dutch highway after being on a plane for eleven hours I had to remind myself the other cars were real. We saw raindrops, bicycle riders with one hand on the handle bar and the other on an umbrella, and a house boat with a bird’s nest at the base of a buddha statue.
We got the key to Lotje’s apartment from a woman named Anita at Lotje’s office who didn’t seem terribly thrilled with us. After that we drove to Lotje’s apartment building and carried our belongings up the steep flights of stairs to her apartment. Eric opened the door and had a look around. He then turned and asked me if I’d ever seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I told him I had not, and he said I have to when we return home.
Then we left and found a cafe to eat food. We ate a bagel, salad and coffee and then went for a long walk through Vondel Park. Upon returning to the apartment we tried working on a song. Then Eric went to sleep on the couch and I wrote this journal entry that you are reading now.
If you’re wondering, here are some reasons why we decided to go on tour:
To create music together undistracted by the routines of modern life at home.
To experience life before death rather than waiting for after.
To make film and field recording documents in peculiar settings.
Here is our itinerary:
May 18 - 21 Amsterdam, Netherlands (Street perform. Film documents of old songs. Write new songs.)
May 22: Castricum, Netherlands (House concert. Swim in the North Sea.)
May 23 -24 Brussels, Belgium (Cafe Show. Shoot an Episode for the Stolen Concert Podcast)
May 25 - 27 Paris, France (Visit with Sarah Krebs. Street Perform. Film project with Patrick Brice.)
May 28-29th Gryon, Switzerland (Peform at Chalet Martin. Make films.)
May 30th Paris, France (Cafe Show.)
June 1 - 2 Amsterdam (Be characters in a story)
Here are some topics we discussed while traveling from San Francisco to Amsterdam:
Native American Chiefs revere plants and animals.
Dwight D Eisenhower's nationalism.
Odd Future: Is it artistic courage or self conscious, post ironic condemnation of self?
Songs for God dressed in a bikini, chewing tobacco.
After I finished writing these notes Eric woke up and began playing guitar. Outside the window the sun is going down and starlings are flying by.