Eurotour 2009

I am with 8 middle aged dutch men and women, on a patio, drinking wine. There is another American, and we are all speaking Dutch. I am drinking too much wine. I am eating more than the others. I explain. “I have not had dinner before the concert. I only ate some soap. No, soup. Soap??” The man next to me laughs and gestures as though he is washing himself. “That is soap. You mean soup.” I swim in the sounds of laughter and half understandable Dutch. Sometimes I ask for translation, other times I just let it go. Everyone liked my concert. My host offers me water for the ride back. As I cycle under the open starry sky, with a cool wind upon my face, the memories of the day return... And I am sitting in a tower playing, I am climbing strange towers, I am in the car next to a Czeck carillonneur, trying to sleep or make small talk, I am riding a bicycle amidst evening sun, green pastures, cows, and horses, I am riding a bicycle under the stars with the wind and the whiz of the chain playing a concert for me. I am playing Barneveld, one of the lightest, smallest carillon in the Netherlands, and I am digging my fists and feet into Dordrecht, its lowest bell over 200 times the size and weight of Barneveld's (to call these instruments by the same name seems a dreadful oversight of human language). I am waking up at ungodly hours, I am dangling a fish over my mouth and sinking my teeth into it, I am playing and climbing and playing and climbing, and the stairs are steep and wooden, like century-old ladders, curved and worn from all the footsteps through the ages, and they shake as I grip the banister to descend. July 16th, Netherlands, Eurotour 2009.

Its finally coming together. I got to visit and play towers with a visiting carillonneur from Prague – my first casual playing in a group setting this visit (its all been lessons and concerts so far). I got to travel to my concert tonight by bike and back again, the chain whizzing between the open sky and rustic countryside, not too different from what I was doing 5 years ago in New Zealand. I got to feel relaxed and free and casual as I approached the tower for my concert, went up, played well, came down, and had some drinks and practiced my dutch with the local community. I got the pleasure of the inside track – invited with the locals to someone's house for drinks and snacks, as the guest of honor. I rode there with two 50-60 year-old men, all of us traveling by bike, and thought how strange a sight that would be back home: two retired men riding like teenagers - what a country!
Now the wind rustles in the leaves, I an in a hammock in Boudewijn's yard, back from the biking, the drinking, the playing., amidst countryside and farmland, horses cows, irrigation canals, and tall reeds. Tomorrow his dog will greet me enthusiastically as I wake up once more at an ungodly hour to tour a couple more carillons with Radeck, who incidentally, speaks like they do in the movies - “I start carillon when situation change in Czech... yes, that was very great unhappiness” He plays at the only carillon in Czech Republic, a 27 bell Fremy carillon, historic 17th century instrument. He's filling in for Boudewijn who is traveling and concertizing with his kids and their friends in France and Barcelona.


Its been a very long time since I blogged and my memory grows more condensed with time. Today will be very rich in details. Last week, a bit less so. A month ago, even more succinct. By the time we reach the last blog entry, what took me 5 pages to say might only take one sentence. You'll have to imagine the rest.


Getting back to Europe:
Was initially quite nice – I landed in Amsterdam and immediately knew my way around. The train system was a piece of cake. Money, no problem. The language, I spoke it better than when I left. I slipped back into this world of Europe and made my way to Middelburg, where I proceeded to drink, socialize, and play carillon with 7 other students for the better part of a week.

Dinner w/ Geert, Isaac, and Jason

A visit to Gent, where the biggest bell was pierced by artillery. By sheer fortune, the hole was made at a sonic node, leaving the sound unaffected, but allowing for comical photos like this one.

Lessons in the cramped tower of Veere

Veere carillon

"Some traditions need to be upheld", says the poster for Hollandse Niewe. These fish are uncooked, stored in some sort of liquid for a while, and then served deboned and decapitated, with the tail still on. Tastes like a very rich, fishy sort of sushi. Melts in your mouth. Until they start serving them in the US, I'm gonna have to keep doing concert tours here.

The only thing I couldn't slip back into was my playing. Last time I was in this world, I was a lot more comfortable, confident, and effective on these European instruments. It was a bit of a shock to be back and somewhat impotent on them. It is a big difference in playing style, especially for the big tall towers here. It uses a lot of mental muscles that I just haven't had to use in the US, playing low Barnes-style carillons, or playing the Dutch traveling carillon, 10 feet off the ground and light in sound and action. On the big towers, you need to project and build your volume from the bass bells while blending that big extra sound into coherent lines, etc. I started right away with lessons, which was good for getting in shape ASAP, but bad for feeling OK about my playing. By the time I got my European chops back, I thought, it would be time to leave and go back the the US where I'd lose them all again. Was it time to abandon the dream of being a bi-continental player? But things have started to shape up, and the Netherlands has been good for that. Many more baroque style, lighter, shorter sounding carillons. That's a bit more similar to what I've been playing. And maybe I'm regaining some of what I lost. We'll see when I return to Belgium.

Otherwise, I'm based out of Belgium.... Its been me, Eddy, Jason Lee from Yale, and Isaac Won, an Australian carillon student. We live in Eddy's apartment building in Mechelen, where I lived last year (now I'm on a different floor). We're like a temporary group house, complete with cooking rotation. I'm often away for my concerts. But its good to have a community.
The concert schedule looks grueling on paper – 19 concerts in 4 weeks. I was worried about it. But really, its quite nice. Sure, I don't have time to go to Spain for a week, but I get to go to the Netherlands for a couple days here and there, and I do have time to take it slow and enjoy life here. Most people have to go into work 5 days a week. Same with me, only my work is really only a one hour concert, plus travel time (3.5 hours to the Netherlands for this concert). Plus practice I suppose, but I'd want to be doing that anyways. The rest is for reading writing, chatting, practicing, drinking, eating, living, etc. Its a nice lifestyle. We'll see how I feel at the end, but for now it gets 2 thumbs up.

A handful of towers (with captions for the cities you've heard of):

The City of Gouda - Notice the Cheese Wheel

Antwerp

Staircases - Been Climbing Lots of these:

That's Geert and his 5 year-old, who climbed the 500 stairs of Antwerp with us.

Bells!

This bell is as old as my country! (well, 1 year younger)

1777, and its certainly not the oldest one I've been asked to play (1509 coming up in 2 days)

Views from the towers:



Food and Drink:

Clockwise from Left: Kibbeling (fried fish chunks), Broodje Mackereel (a roll stuffed with smoked mackerel that practically melts in your mouth, and Hollandse Niewe (see above)

Another Take on the Broodje Mackereel

A great tradition - The post-concert drink (carillonneur drinks free)!

Surprises and Special Treats:

They Hung and American Flag for my Concert!

Radeck, the Czech Carillonneur, takes me along while he covers for Boudewijn Zwart (dropping an extra half dozen towers into my tour)

In Leuven they had video monitors showing me playing live - and a staff of a dozen students doing tech, photos, sales, etc.
The view on the way to the Nijkerk concert - Boudewijn's family lives a 20 minute bike ride from the tower, and they loaned me one to take the trip. Best concert commute yet.

Before Europe, there was America (in a travelogue sense, not historically speaking): concerts from Kentucky through Connecticut, with a week-long carillon conference in the middle. I performed 3 times the week of the conference, felt like I was always running between things, but I rocked all the performances, represented, and had some fun too. The whole conference was situated at Longwood Gardens, a beautiful botanical garden in the Philly area. Check out photos:

The concert that preceeded mine in Frederick (I guess that makes them an opening act? :))
Tower in the background

The Mobile Millenium Carillon Team at Longwood Gardens, with the instrument

Valley Forge, where I performed in front of, like, the entire Guild of Carillonneurs of North America!

Chairs and Blankets -- the Guild Listens to a Concert at Longwood

The Mobile Millenium Carillon, where I performed in front of the whole GCNA again, but this time while wearing a funny costume

The Longwood Gardens Fountain Display is not to be missed!

Atrium with Eddy and Isaac
I should have more garden pics, this doesn't do it justice, but, um, I was too busy running around performing?

And before, the Georgia Renaissance festival, 2 months living in a very comfortable motor-home in Georgia, situated on a campsite full of motor-homes, trailers, converted vans, tents and hippies galore. 2 day workweeks, in costume, entertaining the public, playing the Eijsbouts / Mobile Millenium traveling carillon with Cast in Bronze, being a rockstar in a very small small world. Don't ask me where the weeks went. But I know it was one of the happier and more carefree periods I can remember.

One of my favorite performers at the GA renfest - Todd with The Flying Debris Show

My Stage

Hangin Out Backstage

My Backstage - Hammock for unwinding, crutches because I twisted my ankle

Driving North from GA

The Noble Steed meets the Blue Ridge Parkway

And before that?
Travelling between DC and Boston and NY,, staying with family and friends, living, trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up (a question that fell cozily to the wayside while in Georgia, by the way), and the like.

Looking through old boxes w/ the folks in NY

Innauguration 2009

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin, DC

Mt Pleasant early buds

Brunch in DC (ok, technically this is from a later DC visit, but it fits the mood)

Off to Practice at the National Shrine...

I played three Sundays for Mercersburg Academy, in mid-PA. Here are the awesome Menonite students who came one of the weeks.

And I had to take a video because its the coolest thing -- after I finished giving my concert, the Menonites all ran downstairs to the chapel (mini-cathedral might be a better term) and started singing in 4-part harmony. Talk about reciprocity! This happened two of the three times that I played in Mercersburg, with completely different groups each time!

I took a Dutch carillonneur to play the carillon at Luray Caverns. Then we checked out the caves...

Stone Tallit

Before that, being in Washington State with my sister, and / or with an Anglican priest, playing carillon for the Christmas season, cross country skiing, and doing everything that I did in DC, Boston, and NY.

Man this was a change -- from sleeping in an RV by a dusty renfaire to sleeping in a guest bedroom by a snowy church!

Craziest access ever - He's on the last step of a nearly vertical ladder - I'm below him. When you get to the top of the ladder, the door out is BEHIND you, meaning you have to step over the 20 foot drop. This, by the way, is after the elevator with a 2ft inner diameter (like standing in a pipe), and before the squeezes shown next...

It just gets tighter from here...

The Carillon in Spokane

Christmas Service at the Church

Minister of Music / Smurf Extraordinaire

Approaching my Sister's place - not bad, huh?

Kitchen

Oh didn't I mention? my sister has goats. You can read ALL about them on her blog... :)


Leavenworth, the fake Bavarian Town You've Always Dreamed Of

Sunset Cross Country Skiing near Leavenworth

XXSki

Skiing Party

And before that, Texas, at the Texas Renaissance Festival, the biggest in the country, being a stranger in a strange land of frito pie, racism(TM), hippies, hicks, and cowboys, (and some run of the mill wonderful folks too) not knowing where I was or what it all meant, doing my job and just trying to hold on to who I was.

The Parade During the Faire

Home Sweet Home

The Trailer on the Inside
Thanksgiving (that's the Turkey's Name, Lee Raised him Himself)

Leisurely Monday Mornings at Rio's (that's the first day of our 'weekend')

The Copper Rose, Renfaire Drive - My Home, And Home to the Full-Time Restaurant Catering Only to People Who Work and Live at the Faire

Dinner after a work day at the Yellow House, a weekend cafeteria-style eatery on the grounds and catering, once more, only to rennies.

Morning Coffee and the Fire Pit, very useful once the nights dropped to 25 degrees

Gypsy Camp Potluck after a Faire Day

Fireworks -- Every Day of the Faire!

And before that I was writing the last blog entry, sitting in Pittsburgh and learning how to play the Cast in Bronze Show.


Its been one full year since I've paid rent anywhere. I've been on couches, in motor-homes, hotels, with friends, employers, family, and near strangers. I've been earning my keep with nothing but a set of 48 bells , two fists and two feet (one foot during the week after I sprained my ankle). I've been in Pittsburgh, Texas, Washington State, New York, DC, Boston, VA, MD, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I've been on trains, planes, cars, bicycles, hang gliders, and my own two feet.


Soon, but hopefully not too soon, this concert tour will end, and then I'll be back in the US, attending weddings, seeing friends, and biding my time until the Carolina renfest in October. I hope it will be as fun as Georgia was. And then, your guess is as good as mine. Its a strange life. I never thought I'd be doing anything like it, though I often fantasized about it or other things of a similar nature. I don't think I'll be doing it forever. It has its drawbacks, and its advantages. I look at my friends who are earning degrees, learning a field, and digging deep into exciting and important work, and I think, well, they've got a very good thing going there. What I have is sometimes harder to grasp, quantify, show on a resume, or hold firmly when sadness strikes. Its elusive that way. But its me coming into myself. Me learning, moving, experiencing, and enjoying. And for now, that's a very good thing.