London/Holland in my words

[Professor]

Sunday, March 5th

Brian arrived today. I spent the day preparing to see him and to get ready for our flights the next morning to London. Carolyn spent the day away from me. I only saw her late that night. We met up with our friend Garrick, from New Orleans, who’s now living in Brooklyn only a few blocks away from me. It was the first time we’d all been together since our friend Chris got married in 99 or so. We also ended up meeting a friend of Brian’s from San Francisco, and we all went out for dinner. Later that night, we settled into my apartment and played with the computer and eventually Carolyn made her first appearance of the day. Distant as usual, she barely paid any attention to me. She eventually went to bed, and Brian and I stayed up late, too eager to sleep. London was in the morning, and we’d been dreaming of going there for many many years. Finally around 2 am, we decided to go to sleep. We talked quite a bit about what I should do about my current situation.

Monday, March 6th

Brian and I woke up at 5:30, our car was to pick us up at 6. Carolyn also got up with us. We sat around and had some coffee and waited for our ride. Carolyn took me back into the kitchen, and made the most emphatic seemingly heartfelt comment in a long time. She looked me in the eye and told me how proud she was of me that I was going on this trip. A nice moment, but stained with the pain of her not wanting to go in the first place.....and the thoughts of what I’d come home to.

We made it to the airport without incident, and found our gates without any problem. In fact, we just walked right up to it because we’d checked in online the night before. The plane ride was really slow, and the closer we got to London, the more excited we became. The usual screeches of giddiness we rampant as we started to see the lights of London as we flew over. Unfortunately, the plane circled the city for nearly 45 minutes and then it took what seemed like eons to get through customs. But we’d made it. We were in London. Brian and I, together. Something I’d just chalked up to never happening. We got some cash and went into the tube.

We took the train into King’s Cross, where we were staying the next two nights. While riding, I phoned Thorsten and told him of our arrival and made plans for later that evening after we got settled in. When we got to the hostel, we found that the other people in our room had all gone to sleep. So, in the dark, we fumbled to get our stuff put away and to make our beds. Really, we just ended up sleeping with somewhat folded up sheets and our backpacks and jackets in the bed with us. To me, noone was to be trusted. That night I felt the worste of the panic that I often get when I travel....”is it going to be like this?”

Before settling in for bed, howver, we decided to call Thorsten and see what the plan might be. He was up for some chillin, so we took a cab over to his house and I met him for the first time. I met him, and a couple of other people there: Kyun, from the Mandlebrot Set, and Simon, a younger friend of Thor’s who was into graphic design (who I found out later in the trip really liked Tomato.) It ended up being another late night, and when we finally got back to the hostel, it was going on 3am. I took some Kava, and that helped the panic a little. I was still pretty worried about Carolyn and the trip in general. I was not feeling good about the hostel we were staying in.

Tuesday, March 7th. (The Show)

Tuesday morning we got up really early (7ish) and headed out. We really didn’t have much direction, we just decided to take care of all the “touristy” stuff that day to get it over with. We walked from King’s Cross down to the water. It took about 45 minutes, but it was a beautiful walk. It was raining and pretty cold, but neither of us seemed to mind. We walked down to the Tate Modern Art Museum (free), the Waterloo bridge, the Millennium bridge, the Tower of London, and London Bridge. Then we walked up to Trafalger Square and saw Big Ben and Parliament and Westminster Abby. We didn't go into any of these buildings, but took many pictures of the outside.

After the “old London downtown” walking tour, we started thinking about music and the obtaining of it. While on our way to HMV, we stopped a what turned out to be a great coffee shop in a store called “Snow and Rock.” On the 4th floor they had a nice little coffee shop with free internet access-- so we checked out emails and made plans for the short trip to Holland the next day. After coffee and a short run-through of HMV, we headed back to the hostel to pick up my gig bag and head off to the sound check for the night’s show.

It took us a while to find The Old Blue Last, but we did it. It was raining pretty hard and we were soaked through when we got there. I was starting to get genuinely concerned for my gear in the bag on my back. Thorsten was already there and some beers were in order. Sound check went ok, with some confusion about plugs, AC converters, and how my vocals were going to work. Much to my disappointment, I wasn’t able to use my Kaoss Pad for the necessary effects on my voice, so the vocal turned out pretty badly (in retrospect). For the rest of the show, though, I played a pretty good set and people seemed to enjoy themselves. It was a little anticlimactic....about 30 people showed up. Enough to put bodies in the room, but not enough to “fill” it. But I did get to play in London. As it turned out, one of the guys who was playing after me was an artist that I was familiar with (playing under a different name). Standec played a really nice set. After they played, I came back on for a few techno songs. I didn’t realize that the night was to end so quickly. Apparently, pubs in London close around midnight. I really wish that I’d had the chance to DJ a little more. I was wonderful to hear both my own songs, and the DJ music really loud. It was a little bumpy, but overall a great night. Thorsten offered to keep my gig bag for safety while we went to Holland. Thank goodness. He’s a really nice fella.

Wednesday, March 8th (Holland)

We had an early flight and were on the tube at 7. I’d never been to Amsterdam, and we were to meet Steve (Stimpee) for the first time. It was amazing. Stimpee showed up at the airport/trainstation in a few minutes after we got there and we were on our way. He led us throughout the town, some coffee shops and food. We took copious amounts of pictures....it did rain all day that day. We went to a modern art museum and really just wandered the city looking at interesting buildings. Eventually, we caught the train to Utrecht, where Steve lives.