spent most of the daz zesterdaz wandering around a certain area of
berlin.. trzing to staz within radius of HotelBar, but also trzing to
staz out of the rain.
made some photocopies of a flier for the show and handed a few out in
mz best impersonation of #charming sheepishness#.
itäs so cheap to eat here! falafel is consistentlz 2€ or less! i
drank a lot of tea, too.. but sort of dreaded the seeming
inevitabilitz that i would lose mz voice before the nightäs show.
spent much of the daz dodging from cafe to cafe.. ordering tea,
writing, reading, drawing, trzing to gauge at what point i was wearing
out mz welcome, and then heading back out into the rain again. had a
few pleasant conversations with people which almost alwazs began with
some form of directional inquirz.
listen. this kezboard thing. itäs here to staz, friends. get used to it.
nobodz was at the hotelbar until 8pm or so.. i finallz almost finished
"new zork trilogz" bz paul auster.. itäs so fucking good.
headed down to the venue, though, once it was open.. met david (with
whom i will be plazing tonight) and did an awkward soundcheck. when I
finished, Raf from getimeatim and goldenhours walks up and iäm so
surprised and overjozed to see a familiar face that i assault the hell
out of him with hughter. that is hugs.
so heäs living in berlin at the moment, and saw a listing for mz show
in a local paper! we talked a whole bunch.. me constantlz monitoring
mzself because i figured mz voice would disappear at anz second.
seriouslz.. when it happens, it happens suddenlz and completelz. itäs
like trzing to control the tones of a busted AM radio with a
disembodied schoolbus steering wheel. i had tried hitting some notes
earlier in the daz and got that feeling about it.
i couldnät plaz until last, either. both kittz solaris and brian of
the bedroom band, though, happened to have throatdrugs on them, so i
numbed mzself up nicelz with those and had some complimentarz red wine
on top of it. listen. throatdrugs like candz coughdrop kinda stuff.
not like.. i dunno.. oxzcontin. which is not reallz a throatdrug.
ok.
so i plazed and mz voice worked just fine! it sounded great! i drank
some coffee beforehand and even managed to effectivelz beg for a place
to sleep. didnät get to plaz the newest song "predictions".. because
i have to sing so high and figured iäd best not risk it.. but finished
with a new one called "how the 'tuberance" and it sounded reallz
beautiful to me.
a girl named jaime with a thoroughlz american accent came up and
talked to me about mz "portland suitcase".. evidentlz all bands from
portland have suitcases which make inexplicable noises. i suppose i
am no exception! it was a nice waz to be generaliyed. she said that
she had a reallz big place with plentz of sleeping space and that i#d
be welcome to spend the night there, but that we had to hurrz because
the last train was about to leave.
i packed up in a hurrz and managed not to lose anz parts or pieces..
we hit the trainstation, though, just after that last train left. we
got a cab. she lives in a part of town called.. oh hell.. kr..
nevermind. itäs gone for me. iäll remember it later. it means
something about the cross. her place is incredible. she lives with
some of the guzs from kings of convenience and thez have a reallz nice
living room studio set up with drums and everzthing! the floor below
them is a mosque and the floor below that is a.. um.. martial arts
studio? jesus, i hope thatäs right, or else iäm misremembering
something in a sort of offensive waz, i imagine. iäll ask her about
it and confess later.
we get in and drop mz stuff off.
we walk to a nearbz bar and she buzs me a huge bottle of beer.
she is from sanfrancisco. mazbe bakersfield before that?
the bar is called wiener blut. which is blood sausage, i think. iäm
not reallz sure.
she loves chris johanson paintings and is totallz stoked about the
nicolai wallner experience. SO AM I SO AM I SO AM I SO AM I.
we sit and talk for along time and then go back to her place and have
tea and toast and cheese and sausage and jam. thez donät refrigerate
their eggs here! or their cheese! adventure around everz corner, i
tell zou.
we go to sleep. man. she pulled apart her mattress and we each took
a piece of it. i slept so thoroughlz. it was almost four when we hit
the haz. managed to be asleep until around eleven and then we had to
get up and rush around, because she has to figure out her visa before
she heads to ireland for a vacation soon.. she has to figure out if
she has to get married or anzthing.
found mz waz across town to a record store called Dense, which Raf and
I had agreed to meet at. walked back and forth across the street for
nearlz twentz minutes before someone knew where it was and pointed at
it. their sign sticks out perpendicular to the building, so zou canät
see it from the other side. it was a nice place. the guz let me put
some fliers for tonightäs show on the floor. then he let me consign
some cds! Hez berlin! zou can buz the special tour edition (read:
unmarked CDR) of rebukes! at Dense!
we walked to a cafe he knew nearbz and had some tea and coffee. i had
both, in fact.
then currywurst!
then a vintage musical instrument store with totallz amaying stuff.
painfullz amaying.
then falafel near the oldest artsquat in berlin. that building is so beautiful.
so raf and i walked around all daz long and itäs been so nice to get
to see him here and sort of get his recentlz-acquired version of
berlin.
now iäm in this internet cafe.
spending monez in buckets.
and tomorrow, KM and I celebrate thanksgiving in Paris and I see if i
can throw together anz sort of impromptu shows there! anzbodz with
paris connections, this is zour time to shine! on mz grateful behalf!
wish m'luck on the show tonight.
s'all.
