this is just a modern rock song.

u.k. adventure

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:46:11 GMT

sunday
-------

edinburgh.

the drive to edinburgh was certainly the most beautiful. the night before in york kate had told us about a place called holy island that was not far off the road that we would be driving. we went there and it certainly was incredible. there is a road to the island that appears during low tide and disappears during high tide. we arrived just as high tide was coming in. what a magical fucking place. it was one of my favourite moments ever. just watching this road get slowly swallowed up by the sea. i can't explain how beautiful it was...

we stopped at the border to scotland to take some photos and magically boards of canada came on the ipod. if you don't know who they are (shame on you) - you should. they are a scottish duo who make the most incredible music. one of my favourites. we got off the road to take some windy backroads along the scottish coast line. what a beautiful beautiful country.

we arrived in edinburgh and at the forest cafe. it was a perfect place to play a sunday night show. we were all feeling a little tender and they fed us some tasty veggie food and we had some drinks and played our little rock show. then we walked home through the scottish air. it was good times...

dai was the fella that booked us what a great guy he is. he just had something about him. a coolness, or a greatness, or something. he was simply lovely. we all slept at his house in big giant beds inside big giant rooms. it was grand.

thank you for the gift dai....

u.k adventure

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:42:37 GMT

saturday
------

york.

this was another grand night! we had a super early start (i awoke at 8am after a mere 4 hours of sleep). we were on the road a few hours after drinking some morning tea. off to york. a pleasant enough drive once we figure out how to get the hell out of norwich.

our gal pal diane had taken an overnight plane from new york to london and then had taken a train from there to york. we were rushing to meet her and ended up being only an hour late.

eventually we realized we had no idea where we were playing. i mean we knew where but we could not find it. we drove around for a long time. finally we parked and walked down a pedestrian area to get there. the basement city screen is a lovely place - a new building wedged in between an old church and some other old buildings. it was also right on the water and the windows were only a few feet above the river. we loaded in and immediately all split up. i took a long walk around the castle walls that line the inner part of the city and quickly discovered that york is unbelievably gorgeous.

we were headlining and we also had the guardian saturday night rock & pop pick of the week. that was exciting! there were a few openers and they were all lovely. a lot of parents from the band were in the crowd and when we played they were all so polite and said such *ahem* encouraging things. i can still see the one mother wince when dominica sang the word motherfucker. ouch. the only bad thing about the night was that somehow tom scarlett's guitar had been damaged in flight and on this night it went beyond the point of playable. such a shame. we played a song shorter than usual and tom seemed truly disappointed.

from there we went out. another night on the town. a saturday night too! it was a damn good one as well. there are just miles of windy streets with windy little alley ways with treasures and treats at the end of each. we walked a lot of them and we drank at the ends of a few of them. i met so many more lovely people and had some more great laughs. at some point simon (the promoter and extraordinarily wonderful gentleman who was putting us up at his house) rounded us all up and took us to a taxi (not before we all bought late night fried english food like chip buttey's) and whisked us off to his house for some much needed sleep. he had to be at work the next morning and i (the only person who can drive stick) had to go with him in order to load all the equipment back into the car and pick up the rest of the sleeping crew and drive their lazy arses to edinburgh.

you know what though? i actually had a lot of fun with simon and kate (who showed is the way of the chip buttey) on our early morning walk back to the car. we pretended that we were a gang and that all the streets were ours. i also heard the loveliest music coming form the cathedral bells when i was loading up the car. it gave me the goose bumps.

god dammit i like england....

u.k. adventure

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:21:39 GMT

friday
------

norwich.

we were excited about this one. we are on a label and compilation with a band called the sargasso trio who we think are fantastic. one of my all time favourite songs are on this compilation and it is by them. this another long drive that google maps lied to us about. four hours my ass. i guess it was friday traffic? dunno...

anyway. we arrived haggard and out of it. especially me. jet lagged + too much alcohol - food - sleep + the only driver = haggard. i was so tired that i am not even sure if i made any sense when i first arrived and spoke with pete, emily, & ben (from the sargasso trio).

the sound was definitely dodgy* but that was mostly due to the fact we were playing in an old tomb under the city. i had a great time playing and just really got into it. the sargasso trio played after us and were really great.

we went out afterwards and ended up at some strange cheesy techno bar. somehow our jedi mind tricks worked on the doorman and he let us in free. our pretty large group was out of place in there but it seemed to be one of the few late night drinking establishments and our group was a thirsty group.

i had some great conversations with people and talked about everything from music to england being godless and controlled by fear. god damn it really was a fucking good time. the people we have met so far are truly truly wonderful people and so fun and funny and good hearted.

thanks to the sargasso trio for putting this night together and having us over. extra thanks to pete for blowing up that air mattress at 4:30 in the morning. you are a champ!

*british for sketchy ;)

u.k. adventure

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:13:16 GMT

thursday
------

bath.

fuck yes! bath was not only one of my favourite shows in a long time it was also one of the most beautiful places i have visited. we arrived very late because london traffic is a fucking nightmare. everything from too many cars to no street signs to windy roads that change names randomly made that one of the worst driving experiences ever. i mean it was kind of fun too though. driving on the left side, shifting gears with my left hand, and fearing for my life every 10 minutes. i kept expecting swinging rocks and poison arrows to come our way at any moment. oh, and by the way - i am the only one who can drive stick so i am now also the tour driver.

anyway, enough about london. we arrived in bath late. the sound guy was amazing and gave us a quick sound check anyway. then he told us which way to go and see some beautiful things. and beautiful they were. what a fantastic place. i had no idea really...

then there was the show. the promoters were great! they were so lovely and fun and dj'd before during and after the bands. they wedged us in between the two local bands and i thought everything and everyone sounded great. let's tea party played last and were really really good. there was a big dance party afterwards and god damn it if we did not dance until the wee hours. the venue was fantastic and had the likes of the smiths, blur, the damned, massive attack, oasis, radiohead, pulp, primal scream, tori amos, and squarepusher grace it's stage.

a million thanks to ashton and rachel for a lovely night, for taking great care of us, and for making us pizza at 4 in the morning before tucking us into bed...

u.k. adventure

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:48:43 GMT

wednesday
------

london.

the first show of our little u.k. tour was in london. it was kind of strange. i mean it was great but a little new yorkish? there were a couple of singer songwriters and they played and did what all the singer songwriters in new york do which was leave right after their shows. the venue was cool and the last band was great and friendly and lovely and everything good about live music. it was a fun night and it was also the first time we have played live since the soundwave festival last summer so it was lovely and all that...

u.k. adventure

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:16:29 GMT

tuesday
------

alexander's palace.

it's tuesday. we all slept 12 plus hours. we are cold. a deep down cold. it started about 20 minutes after leaving the airport and seems to not be going away. i guess that's england in april. no matter - we are happy to be the hell out of america.

we are at gaia's house in the wood green section of london. it is great seeing her. i had only ever seen her in the desert at burning man so it is slightly strange to be wandering around london with her. we all walked to alexander's palace. it is a beautiful old palace surrounded by lots of fields and parkland. i went snowless sledding with some young kids, we met a crazy stonemason artist fella, and then capped the evening off with a trip to the pub.

it was a nice, mellow, and lovely day all around...

u.k. adventure

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:32:33 GMT

monday
------

suddenly we are in london.

well, i guess not suddenly. months of planning, weeks of practice, days of packing, a night of no sleep, and six hours in a big plane flying over the ocean had brought us to london. it had hit me though, that we were in london, while walking to look for cheap cans of white lightning after midnight. (there is nothing better than cheap strong cider to take the edge off of a day of air travel.)

anyway; we are here. we are haggard. we are happy.

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:02:58 GMT

too little too late...

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:59:25 GMT

i am so ready for adventure....
so excited and ready...

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:32:26 GMT

yesterday i stood in the rain on a misty cold brooklyn bridge with a friend from berlin smoking cuban cigarellos and soaking in the view.

it's good to be alive.

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:58:35 GMT

snow is falling. new york is quiet. perhaps even lovely...

there will be blood.

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:37:25 GMT

-
daniel day-lewis is one of a very short-list of artists that make me thankful to be alive at this particular moment in history. i highly recommend this fucking stunning film.

i love this man.

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:17:06 GMT

i am a tourist

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:39:43 GMT

american christmas
- -

it is the day before christmas eve. it really snuck up on me this year. i know people say that every year - but it really did this year. i am always a sucker for christmas. all the lights, decorations, the festiveness. i really enjoy it. obviously i ignore all that baby jesus popping out of marys virgin vagina part and do my best to not fall for the spend spend spend aspect. i just love that these pretty pagan celtic traditions live on through the cooptation of their old holidays. it also makes nighttime much prettier.

this year though. even though i went to rockafeller to see the big tree, does not feel quite christmasy.

i think it has to do with being gone for much of the build up, but also this will be my first american christmas. i usually go back to canada every year. although i did spend one christmas in glasgow. it always seemed so disappointing in america. there is the huge build up and it is over on the 25th. that's it. finito. thank you come again.

in canada and the u.k. the day after christmas is boxing day. while growing up we usually spent that day with extended family. now it would be spent at the pub with friends and family. then there would be the whole week between christmas and new years eve which is generally full of visits to and from friends and family. that would build up to new years eve and then it would all end on january first. then a few days after that the decorations would start disappearing and things get less pretty and soon there would be no trace of christmas (bar the one guy on the block who never takes down his decorations).

i am going to do my damnedest to make christmas last from now until new years though. i think a train ride to breakneck ridge on boxing day would be fun. then a few days after that my new friends nicole and becko will be visiting me from berlin.

which brings everything full circle and allows me to finish up my last entry for my i am a tourist thread. see how smart that was?

berlin [part three]
- -

once again, i woke up in berlin with the light fleeing fast and the skies gray and foreboding. i had just awoke and night was already taking form. i ate a little and decided to explore the neighbourhood that i was in. i wandered through the afternoon nighttime. i found many thrift shops and met some chatty cathy type of fella who was actually very nice but i was feeling very mellow and very much into my quiet thoughts.

i found a coffee shop and sat down at a window seat with an espresso. i was listening to my pod and just thinking. well, it was kind of more like the space between feeling and thinking. all kinds of moments seemed to be washing over me. scythian empire by andrew bird came on and suddenly something was triggered by the line 'now they are selling breathtaking views of exiting empires'. i was teary eyed and sad. it seemed to be summing up some kind of beginning of the last days of the american empire as well as the end of neighbourhoods that i had fallen in love with which are being torn down to build awful looking monstrosities with stupid names like 'north 8' or 'edge' with mottos like 'williamsburg, all grown up' which sell lifestyles to boring mediocre people who move in and then complain that the bar across the street that has been there for 30 years is too loud and the haunted old neighbourhoods disappear, and the beautiful old buildings disapear, and the artists disappear, and the puerto ricans disappear, and the polish people disappear, and everything interesting becomes boring and bland and buggaboo strollers become the topic of conversation and new york becomes even duller than it already is and no seems to be able to do anything because the money keeps flowing harder and faster and, fuck, it is such a goddamn shame...

i walked around in the cold german night and drank a chech budweiser (the real budweiser that was ripped off by the american budweiser). i wandered a grafitti filled area and found a lovely little kafe/bar. i spent the rest of the night drinking cheap red wine and scribbling in my notebook. the music was lovely, the atmosphere was lovely, my life was lovely.

i wandered back home, tipsy and happy.

- -

my last day and night in berlin was spent with nicole and becko. they took me to a bunch of really great bars, my favourite being rose's. it was this great little gay bar which was filled with red fun fur and red lights and red decorations and great old house music and it was just a great place. i think we drank at about four different places that night and soon it was 4 in the morning. i really really like both of them.

we took some kind of night train thing and all of a sudden it was my stop and i had to go and i hugged nicole and it was all over and i was sad. i slept for an hour and then took a train to frankfurt which snaked across the german countryside and it was all rather beautiful. soon i was in the airport and then on a plane and then on the subway and then at grand for a couple quick drinks and then in my bed and then i was fast asleep...

i am a tourist

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:25:15 GMT

berlin [part two]
- -

i just walked home from grand. my local bar/lounge. i like it there. it is cozy and fun. i shied away from the liquor tonight though. ginger tea, hot cocoa, and fizzy water was sipped on. it is cold and snowy, very much like the weather in berlin.

my second night in berlin was, like the rest of my time in berlin, fucking wonderful. i met up with nicole who will be couchsurfing at my place in brooklyn for a week over the holidays. when i told her that i was visiting berlin she set some time aside to show me around. i was feeling a little under the weather from the long rainy walk home in paris and mentioned that i would be up for going out for a few hours. of course, i wandered back home after 6 in the morning (still pitch black out).

we met each other for the first time ever at the some platz strasse or other and went to a wine bar. i was pretty certain from the first moment that we would be fast friends. the kinds of friends that come along few and far between and the ones that may see one another a couple of times a year at most (if they are lucky) but it will never seem like any time has passed when they are together. the wine bar was not really a bar. you paid one euro for a glass, drank as much or as little as you wanted, and when you finished you paid what you thought was fair. wow. this could never happen in new york. or philadelphia. or most anywhere i have ever been really. at least, i don't think it could ever work. apparently there are a handful of them in berlin.

from there we went to a party in a clothing store. more free wine. there was a dj playing old school hip hop. fun stuff like slick rick and the beastie boys.

we went to a bar that was not unlike a brooklyn bar really. the drinks were cheap, the atmosphere friendly, and the place was gritty. we told one another stories and laughed a lot.

next we went clubbing. clubbing is weird to me. i have been playing house music for a long time now and i never really go out unless i am playing somewhere. i guess i just know too much about the behind the scenes. it was still fun though. we went to one club and the cab driver was trying to figure out how to get there with a map and i could not understand anything. the first club was kind of lame so we went to another one called arena club. i was in a minivan with five other people who were all speaking german. i had no fucking clue what was happening nor where we were going. arena bar was fun though. great sound and fun people.

then i was off.

back home. to sleep the day away. the day that gets dark at 3pm. to awake and catch the last moments of the gray afternoon. to start my 3rd night in berlin.

-

i started my 3rd night in berlin feeling a little tender and was craving tuna casserole. weird. i hadn't eaten tuna casserole in about 10 years. i told kate that when she woke up. she laughed and we went grocery shopping to buy the ingredients for tuna casserole.

we all hung out in sean and kates kitchen. it is so cozy in there. we played music and sipped beer out of giant thin glasses. we watched wondershowsen and drank dark heffewiessens. we ate tune casserole and it was fucking delicious.

around midnight it was time to go out.

we walked over a bridge and then sean pointed out the berlin wall. there is some of it still standing. it was the only touristy thing i did in berlin. i took some photographs of the graffiti and we walked behind it to find a boat on the river that was turned into a beautiful lounge. we had fancy drinks that tasted horrible and debated whether girl talk is actually a dj or not (and came to the conclusion that he most certainly is a dj).

we ended up at another club in what seemed like an abandoned area. the club had the most beautiful courtyard. a lot of berlin reminded me of burning man. the randomness of things. the effort and care put into the courtyard was something that didn't have to happen, yet it did. there was an old man who had set up a great little shack and was making food. i had me a god damned tasty veggie burger and laughed every time he laughed. it was one of those amazing deep laughs. he was speaking in german so i have no idea what he was saying to me but i laughed every single time he did.

we wiggled a little in the club and then found ourselves back in the courtyard in the middle of a big snowstorm. it was simply lovely. everyone was suddenly nine years old and having a big snowball fight.

then we wandered back home through giant falling flakes of white in the pitch blackness of 6am berlin.

i am a tourist

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:12:05 GMT

berlin
- -

so, i am home now. it is beautiful and snowy outside. that perfect snow; light, fluffy, falling gently. i am sitting in my kitchen listening to music and drinking coffee. i have been home for a few days now and i am still waking up at 7:30 in the morning. it is not so bad on a morning like this, but most mornings in new york (or any cities really) are ugly and depressing. that's why i tend to do my best and sleep through them.

i hope that winter looks like this from now until march.

i arrived back into the u.s. after spending a little over three weeks in europe. after deplaning i stood in the line for customs/immigration and noticed that they had big flat screen televisions playing cnn. cnn was televising the republican debates and they were talking about whether torture was okay or not. my stomach sank. it was like a punch in the fucking head.

while on this trip i have found plenty of time to reflect on the country where i reside. i have had such a nice news break. i have enjoyed my respite from what has become daily life in america. a break from the sense of hopelessness a lot of people are feeling. from the madness of the direction this country is going. from the lies and double speak and the spiritual decimation of day to day life. the bar has been pulled so low that no one seems to know what they can do about it anymore. no one is talking about it. you can just feel it.

it looks like a snow globe out my window. i have already taken a certain snowy bear who loves this kind of weather out to play. i think i will have to take him back out again. he has that look.

another thing that no one is talking about in america which i realized once i wandered the streets of paris and watched everyone enjoying themselves (and i am not talking about that certain joi de vive that the french and most other western european countries seem to have always done better than the americans) is; the united states in in a recession. everyone i met in europe is making decent money and enjoying themselves immensely. everything seems to be going downwards financially (and other ways) in the united states. even canadas money is doing better. it was such a strange and obvious realization. although this recession seems perfect in it's timing if everything i have read about the amero and the american union are true. supposedly spring of 2008?

ok. enough about that.

berlin was pretty much fantastic. it was the dirty part of paris that we had been looking for. it was where all the 'cool kids' were. it is a city that is strange and fun. night time is when it really became alive. all night too. move over new york, this seemed to be a city that really never slept.

my first night in berlin was during american thanksgiving. i met up with my old friend sean and his wife kate. both of them are from philadelphia and they moved to berlin because of music. they both run a great label (called foundsound) and play minimal tech house all over the world. on top of that they are absolutely the sweetest fucking people i know. i had only met kate once before and very briefly. she was simply lovely and wonderful.

i arrived at their house a little late due to google maps. from there we went to a thanksgiving party with a bunch of american musicians living abroad. there were a few brits there also. at one point the doorbell rang and another friend of mine walked in. it was pretty crazy. although i guess us all being musicians the chances of things like that happening were increased. it was a nice introduction to the world of electronic music in berlin and most of the people there were down to earth and cool. we had a grand feast and much vino collapso was consumed. i had some nice conversations and wandered home by myself to sean and kates and, for one week only, my apartment.

i am a tourist

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:13:46 GMT

berlin
- -

is new york 20 years ago.
is bubbling with creativity and excitement.
is random and free.
is kind of like burning man but in a city.
is grey, wet, and bleak.
is the tits.

according to the mayor: "berlin is poor but sexy"
according to the same mayor: "i am gay. this means i am good".

day seems to turn into night so quickly here.

i am a tourist

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:57:58 GMT

paris
- -

so i am travelling around europe in the middle of not only a german train strike but a french train strike. it has been equally fun and annoying. fun because of the random adventures. annoying because i am paying for things that i am not receiving.

right now i am on an a train leaving luxembourg again. everything is shrouded in fog and i definitely feel like i am in another world. i am leaving luxembourg again because it is the only train i could find that was leaving from paris. all the trains have been canceled. the strikers have even started sabotaging the train lines. i did not have a ticket and just got on the high speed line from paris to luxembourg for free.

it seems the sun is having as much trouble waking up as i.

i am on a new train now. i transferred in cologne. there was 5 minutes to make my connection and everything happened perfectly on time. there is a crazy german man in my seat. i picked a window seat so i could see the german country side. i told him that and he just shrugged. so it goes. i am drinking terrible overpriced german train coffee and he seems to be drinking grain alcohol. my coffee tastes like truck stop coffee. i miss paris. everything tastes duller to me now.

those were some hard days of walking. those were also some lovely days of strolling. paris is one of my favourite cities in the world. it just has a feeling that nowhere else i have been has. i won't really try to write about it because so many better people before me have tried - but it does feel like the whole city is a beautiful museum.

-

i arrived in paris on a friday night. late. due to the train strike. it must have been 10pm. i left the train station and it was chaos. there were hundreds of police and thousands of cars stuck in traffic. there were demonstrations and protests and just craziness. it felt amazing. i skated along the wonderfully flat and perfect for skateboarding slate sidewalks. i was meeting dominica at the eiffel tower at 10(ish). it was on the other side of town and i was already late. i played my odb/kool keith/misfits/just generally rowdy playlist and zig zagged my way along the parisian streets.

after a long long time i made it to the hotel room where dominica and diane (and soon to be me) were staying. hotel eiffel rivere gauche. room 320.

it was great to see her in paris. we wandered to the tower and along the riverbanks of the seine with a bottle of wine and had a superb time.

-

mmm. the train is going through a birch forest.

finally i am on my way to berlin. the whole purpose of this trip. well, adventure is always a big part of it. because of the strikes it looks like i will only be able to spend 4 full days and 5 nights there. hiho.

-

once again, like my time in luxembourg, i spent the whole time just exploring paris. this time with my lovely gal pal. i was fortunate enough to go to the louvre with an art historian (aka lovely gal pal) who showed and taught me about many of the pieces of art.

the only subway line that was working was the 'ligne 1'. we used it constantly to go from place to place. i found a great little coffee shop which i frequented everyday. we also found one of the most bizarre shops i have ever been to. i am still not sure what it was to be honest. i do know it was cool.

one night was spent in a gay bar near the inside out building. the night started off very quietly and was soon one of those ridiculous nights where we made many new friends and found ourselves walking many miles home along the seine in the pouring rain while laughing non stop.

-

ah, there it is. blues skies and sunshine.

-

i ate so many baguettes and chocolate croissants.

i drank so much cidre

i drank quite a bit of wine.

i ate a lot of cheese.

i walked and walked and walked. mon pieds!

i am a tourist

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:51:29 GMT

luxembourg luxembourg
- -

luxembourg is an absolutely beautiful city. quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities i have ever been to. to top it off - my luxembourg couchsurfees were unbelievably wonderful hosts.

before i arrived in luxembourg though, i had to navigate a strike ridden german rail system. i had awoken early and made my way to the train station in order to catch a 9:30 train which would have saw me in luxembourg by 12:30. this was not to happen. instead i found cancelled trains and empty platforms. an unbelievably helpful woman told me that would be able to keep jumping on trains to different cities and eventually end up in luxembourg. so i would just get on one train after another mostly heading west. a couple of times i ended up having to backtrack but i did eventually make it to luxembourg. a three hour train ride took me seven and a half hours.

i met sebastian at exactly 5:30. we went to his place and i met his girlfriend kat and we all went out for a delicious meal. they drove me around and showed me some sights. it was so cool to be in the back seat of a car whizzing around luxembourg.

so, there is also a rail strike in france. almost all the trains are cancelled too. there is one train leaving from luxembourg at 19:10 (usually they leave every hour all day long). sebastian and kat took me to the station so i could buy my ticket. see how fucking cool they were?

the next morning i woke up far too early and ventured off into the icy cold morning. i walked around all the windy streets into the lower part of the city. i was cold so i found myself a little cafe and treated myself to a chocolate croissant and a hot coffee.

i basically spent the day wandering everywhere. it is such an unbelievably gorgeous place. there are old castles built into the sides of cliffs with less older buildings built into them and they are connected by glass and steel walkways. it is simply stunning. seriously.

i also learned that luxembourg is now the capital of europe.

i went back to that coffee shop and thought about why i feel so alive whenever i am travelling like this. at home nowhere and everywhere. i ate another chocolate croissant. i drank an espresso. i peed.

i am a tourist

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:36:42 GMT

frankfurt - day 2
- -

oh wow. i really like frankfurt.

i spent yesterday exploring the city. it is beautiful and bizarre. it is one of the few european cities with skyscrapers and they are all mixed in with the old buildlings. my new friends have been telling me that 90% of frankfurt was destroyed during the war. so it has this kinda new old feel. or old new feel.

no matter what the feel is - it really is beautiful here.

i was actually regretting bringing my skateboard. my first sleep deprived day was spent wandering in misty cold rain with it on my back. it had even snowed last night. today i used it all day. i saw so many parts of the city because of it.

my couchsurfees live in my favourite part of the city. it is called bornheim. i spent some time here wandering and ate a tasty delicious breakfast. from there i skated along the ziel shopping area and listened to an amazing gypsy band. i saw some more stuff. i dunno. i just looked around and watched people and noticed that there are so many bicycles riding everywhere in every direction. i have always felt you can detect the health of a cities way of life by the amount of bicycles. frankfurt is in tip top shape.

from there i went back to the river and watched some boats go by. they are really cool looking. long and flat. then i skated along it and found a skatepark. i played around there for a while and then was off again. just wandering and playing the right left game. getting lost on purpose.

i found a street called leipzig (well, i was told i should definitely visit this area). it was bustling and fun. i wandered some more. went to a cafe and had a cup of tea. it was all rather lovely.

skating around the city was just fucking wonderful. especially at night. it lights up and looks so great. from the skyline to the bridges and cathedrals. i really like frankfurt.

i am a tourist.

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:10:10 GMT

frankfurt
- -

i just woke up from a fourteen hour sleep.

it is now wednesday at noon. on monday night i got on a big airplane (with an upstairs even) and flew to frankfurt. the flight left new york at 9:30 pm and arrived in frankfurt at 10:50am. i can never sleep on airplanes. apparently even after two benedryl. bethany schooled me that the ingredient in benedryl is the same ingredient that makes you fall asleep in tylenol pm. that shit didn't work. i arrived in frankfurt completely out of sorts.

i was treated nicely and efficiently by the customs officials (just like every other country sans america). i took a train from the airport to the main train station which went through a lovely forest whose floor was covered in fallen leaves. the first place i saw once i got off the train was a starbucks. strangely enough, this made me happy. i would not need to start my crash course in german in this state of mind. i drank some coffee and wandered. for a long time.

my first impression once i left the station was that i was in an eastern european country. it was dirty and empty and cold. lot's of drunks, porno shops, and places to by knives. i actually had a moment where all i could do was wonder what the fuck i was doing here. sleep deprivation can be rough.

i eventually found the river which was gorgeous. i watched it as i drank my coffee. i started skateboarding around. playing the left right game. i had plenty of time to kill before meeting the people i was staying with so i found a cafe and had some tea.

i kept wandering and finding new and interesting places. slowly erasing my first impressions. the people i am couchsurfing with (couchsurfing is kind of a global community of travellers who share their home with you for free of charge just for the experience and culture and whatever - more about it here) lived in a great part of town. i head up the berger strasse towards their house. it started raining, but for some reason it did not bother me. eventually i met them and dropped off my ever heavying bag and we went to a cozy bar to eat and drink.

applewine is my new favourite drink.

we were home and in bed by 10pm and i was damn glad about that.

i am a tourist.

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:30:21 GMT

ferry rides and tram cars
- -

i took a ferry to the highlands which is just off sandy hook in new jersey. in one direction is the atlantic ocean. the other is the new york harbour (skyline and all). the third direction has a big hill wit the twin light houses.

i had lovely meal with friends and awoke to rainy miserable day and cancelled ferries. the best laid plans of mice and men...

it wasn't the worst thing to happen. i love my friends house. i love my friends. we had another incredible meal. it was just that i have been so busy as of late trying to wrap up the mixing and mastering of the new album as well as a new tech house e.p and blah, blah, blah. it has been a busy, wonderful, and great time in my life musically even if it allows for very little time for anything else.

on sunday i did my best to make it home to catch my little sister running in the nyc marathon. it actually runs right past my house. the best i could do was watch some of it from the the side of the queensboro bridge. the ferry ride home (after driving under many beautiful bridges and along autumn scene filled islands and through the massively tall buildings of manhattan - dropped me off at 34th street).

after watching a few thousand runners blur past me i decided that the tram car to roosevelt (or blackwell or welfare or rock) island looked like fun. i was to be a tourist in my own city today.

the ride was terrifying and short. well. terrifying for a second and exhillarating for the rest and over in about 3 minutes. i had my skateboard so was able to get from tip to tip pretty quick. it is a strange place right in the middle of americas largest city. it feels kind of spooky to be honest. a lot of abandoned stores on the first floors of buildings that are full of people. at the southern tip of the island is the crumbling old remains of the smallpox hospital. it is now a lovely and quiet park.

i went to my sisters hotel and we all went out for a meal and drinks and the night soon turned to morning (as it does so easily in new york). i found myself in a bar with some of the worlds greatest runners, the owners of adidas, and being filled in on some of the dramas.

i skated home from times square....

an end, a beginning, and a reprise.

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:26:16 GMT

- - -
i awoke early on saturday morning (of october 20th) and skated to the china town bus. i had spent the friday night of cmj in new york city at my apartment watching the first season of degrassi jr high.

that's how i roll.

when i arrived in china town all these ladies started yelling at me while banging on a big metal sign and waving tickets around. i said philadelphia and almost had to break up a fight between them. i paid my $10 and got on the bus. we did 90 miles an hour all the way to philly.

i drank coffee, ate, and wandered. i visited my old apartment. it is now a mens clothing store. an ugly mans clothing store. i walked around inside and told them where my bedroom used to be and that we paid $650 for all three floors. they feigned shock.

there is a new skyscraper in philadelphia. it seemed strange amongst the old reliables.

eventually i made it over to wkdu. i was in philadelphia to play my last ever intergalactic faerie funk set. it was perfect. i did it all right. no big show. no inviting of friends that would just surely disappoint. i just played for an hour and twenty minutes on the radio raising money for charity in the city where my whole musical 'career' began. i was in a room all alone (although the lovely and kind jenn louie was in the control room) doing my thing. i was soaking wet with sweat by the end. i felt great.

i figured that i should go eat at the place which was a few blocks from where i lived and was also the place where this all began in the head of a slightly fresher and less cynical marc hug. it is a place called monks. so i did just that. i knew the place was changing before i moved away, but the people who go there now are pretty much just dreadful. i ignored them like a champ and ate, drank, and smiled away. from there i went to bob and barberas which was a mere block away from my old house. i had the trailer park special and watched nate wiley and the crowd pleasers.

dominica eventually picked me up and i ended up in woodbury new jersey watching the new amityville horror with the sound from the old amityville horror. it was interesting.

we spent the next day buying and carving pumpkins. also eating. then watching death proof and planet terror. it was fun.

- - -

on my way home it suddenly made sense to keep driving all the way back to gatineau. to the same place i stayed in the summer although in a different house on the property. i swung by brooklyn to drop dominca off and pick up my dog. then headed off into the night and spent 8 hours driving north.

the border was easy. i stopped at duty free and the silence was overwhelming. i bought a bottle of whiskey and drove on.

i arrived late into the night or early in the morning. whichever you prefer.

i spent 5 days wandering around the beautiful autumn coloured landscape of gatineau. i had many long walks along the railroad and through the woods. i spent some time working on music and when corey was home we mixed and mastered the new mossyrock album. that boy is a genius.

one day i drove to wakefield to find out where that amazing old steam train went.
it is a gorgeous drive along the gatineau river that ends in a small mildly touristy (but not annoyingly so) town. i bought a giant pumpkin, some juice, and walked my dog. lovely nearly describes it.

i spent the next day carving a pumpkin and roasting sunflower seeds. more walks ensued as well as an aborted rowboat ride. corey came home and we worked on some more music. then we watched hard candy with an amazing actress who's name i can't remember.

corey had to leave to meet friends in montreal in order to go to my house back in brooklyn. i watched the full moon rise over the ridge and i spent a night alone in that incredible place. i went for a long night walk making it home just before the fog rolled in and the beavers got busy. it was quiet and lonely in that big old house.

i awoke and packed, ran the dog, got in the car and started the long drive home. i took some back roads and crossed over the border. the u.s. border guards are notoriously nasty but i must have been lucky to have a couple of the nicest ones ever. they joked with me and sent me on my way. i took some more back roads and noticed the darkening sky. it soon turned to rain and made a long driver longer.

at one point i took a power nap so i would be ready for my halloween weekend and canadian visitors.

once i got home i drove a few liquor drinks in me, dressed myself as a freshly zombified scientist (along with corey, shawn, and miss paige) and went out to the dance party at supreme in williamsburg.

it was a damn fine time that stretched from friday on through saturday into sunday and even though i was pretty exhausted and ready for season two of degrassi jr high - it did seem to be over far too quickly.

trans canada highway #17

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:53:38 GMT

epilogue
==========

so.

i was on a train last night and someone asked me if i was jeff magnum of neutral milk hotel. i politely replied 'no' and he actually didn't believe me. now i am sitting in a bar in dumbo and in the aeroplane over the sea is playing in it's entirety.

we have finished the recording of our album and i am not entirely sure how to feel about it. i feel rather sad to be honest. rather alone in my celebrations.

i thought coming to my new favourite bar might cheer me up. it is half filled with smiling chattering people. there is a dog nearby. the music is heart wrenching. the bartender is uninterested.

i would love to call the new album the trans canada highway. unfortunately boards of canada have beat me to it...

-

i can smell the sea from here. the big front window is wide open and welcoming in the lovely scent. outside there are old haunted factories with secrets for us if only we would listen. the streets are quiet and the light is hazy from the humidity.

night is doing what night does best.

i love when i can smell the sea in new york. i am two blocks from the east river. which is actually not a river. that is what i tell everyone who comes to visit. what i learned from the school of discovery channel. it is a tidal flat. it flows in different directions whenever it feels like it.

-

i am so happy with the recordings. don't get me wrong. i just wrote and recorded some of the most beautiful music i could ever hope to make. everything about it feels perfect. now i am just alone and looking back at the music and at the summers adventures and at the last year in new york and the last 3 years of my life and...

i guess i am just taking it all in and processing it. this is kind of the first real downtime i have had in a long time. we had the spring tour and came home to spend that time booking the summer tour and recording our e.p. to spend a month touring to come home and plan some west coast adventures and have them before hitchhiking across canada to come home and write, record, mix, and master our new album.

i guess i just had such an incredible time that i have no idea what i should do now.

-

on the way here i helped a hasidic fella thwart his god. i was skating down the road and i heard him ask for help. naturally, i stopped to see if he was okay. he asked me if i could come into his apartment and turn off a light that a child had turned on. it was a holiday and he was forbidden to do it. i guess it was less of a sin if he asked me to do it.

-

so. i was in montreal. at what became the end of my trans canada adventure. my original plan was to end here. once i was on the road though, i became determined to go the whole way to sydney nova scotia. i was even contemplating getting on a ferry and going all the way to st john's newfoundland. i was staying with my friend corey. we had a lovely night out at the p'tit bar and i awoke the next day with a decision to make. he had reminded me that he had reserved a weekend at his grandparents cottage for us to go and record at and that weekend was only one week away. so i could keep going for a few more days and have to race home and get my instruments together and arrive completely fucked - or i could go home and get everything in order and have a productive weekend in the quebec countryside. after some near begging from my lovely, i jumped on the bus to new york.

it was everything awful that greyhound is. it left 40 minutes late. we were at the border for 3 hours. it dropped us off in the nightmare that is the new york city greyhound terminal. there was this one moment that stood out though. night had pretty much rid us of day and off in the distance, in the middle of nowhere, was an empty baseball field with all of the floodlights on it. it just sat there looking so alone and beautiful and ghostly.

i spent the week trying to readjust while getting ready to leave again. we soon found ourselves in gatineau quebec at a lovely little cottage located right on the gatineau river. although we were only a fifteen minute drive from ottawa it really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.

we recorded some music and played some guitar hero and put some pennies on the railroad tracks and played some ball with the dog and drank some beer and ate some poutine and went for some walks and made some new friends and watched the river which was a stones throw from the cottage. in the morning and again at night a big black steam train billowed past us and every time i was as excited as a child to see it. we stayed an extra night after everyone went home and we laid in a sleeping bag and watched the stars until our dog started growling at some unseen force in the woods. we ran inside and laughed.

the next day (monday) we had some breakfast in ottawa and got on the trans canada going back west. it was a different leg of the trans canada than i had travelled a few weeks earlier. for whatever reason once the trans canada hits ontario, it splits three times, eventually joining back together in ottawa. i had travelled on the middle branch to ottawa and now we were on the southern branch leaving ottawa. we followed the road west (which about half of that drive was spent with two adorable hitchhikers that we drove from just outside of ottawa to peterborough) until it eventually turned straight north. this is where i finally parted ways with the trans canada and kept driving west. from there we drove a few more hours along georgian bay until we hit lake huron. we stayed with family for a few days and then we drove 14 hours back to the big dirty city...

trans canada highway #15

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:47:42 GMT

montreal [je t'aime]
==========

this morning i was rudely awakened by my bladder. it was from one hell of a deep sleep. with my head weighing about 90 pounds i stumbled into the bathroom and back out to find my friends mum wishing me good morning and peppering me with questions. she was a sweetheart but i barely knew who, where, and what i was. anyway, i slowly rehumanized by hanging out with didi (corey's mum), drinking coffee, and eating some food. when corey came home from work we went off exploring montreal. we sat by a river (maybe it was part of the st. lawrence?) and let ourselves be blown about by the rough cool winds. it was lovely. we drove around and saw some pretty looking old buildings and ate 'just noodles' before stopping and falling in love with le p'tit bar. how could we not? with it's yellowy walls, huge selection of cassette tapes, snooty french barmaid, and cozy atmosphere that dripped of joi de vive? i was there with some friends but they may as well have been a million miles away. my mind was lost in thoughts of the trans canada and it's witnessing of days changing to nights before changing back into days that eventually become seasons bringing storms and sun and clouds and snow and the people going away and people coming home and connecting cites to towns to villages through mountains and valleys and islands and prairies and forest and lakes and cliffs and i thought of the loneliness of that road which so many people travelled on and i remembered listening to the secrets of the hissing grass stirred by the wind in the thirsty scorched prairies and i thought of the days i went through hell just to get a glimpse of heaven along that road which snakes through a country like an old weather beaten garden hose through a yard and i wondered about the people that i will never know that live, work, play, wander, sleep, fuck, sing, and dance along the banks of the trans canada highway.