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From top to bottom:
-The dinner at my house ...
a table for 34 people, charcuterie, lamb, ratatouille, potatoes gratins, cheeses, and desserts .... and of course wine for all !
music until 6am, some of my musician friends joined the group...
-In the subway...
one has to know that in Paris your time spent in the subway is enormous, therefore you have plenty of time to experience the parisian experience going from different trains to corridors to gates to ticket collectors hiding behind walls to bored and angry people to madmen to big gipsy bands playing ...
-The first gig...
took place in a bar located in an area where people go out a lot on saturday night, it's quite a big bar with a small stage where everyone performed acoustic. People seemed to enjoy, although it's sometimes hard to tell because some people in Paris don't always let themselves go for it, they are shy and are afraid of people's judgment. Therefore very few people were dancing (mostly us!)
I think also people were very surprised by the music (in a positive way) and were more inclined to observe something they can't see very often; but everyone had a good time and the music was, as always, very good.
-The restaurant after the gig...
that was an epic moment, we asked a friend of mine who's a cook in a restaurant specialized in duck recipes if he could book a table for all of us that night. His both was ok with, letting us know that we could play music.
We arrived, 26 of us, at 11pm....and stayed in the restaurant until 6am !
we had the whole place for us and ate like king with a very good wine pouring like a fountain. That night we experienced some of the best music. A young guy from switzerland heard about it and came, he was playing cajun music like a god !
He borrowed one of Ray's accordeon and played and played and sang ! Ray was in heaven.. . .. .
The owner of the place was so happy! He totally hallucinated when Thomas went in the kitchen and did all the dishes of the restaurant !!!
-The second gig...
took place close to my house in a small bar, where people know each other better. there is more of a feel of community and people there are more inclined to dance and feel more comfortable. It's a place that I like a lot and where I often go get a coffee. We started by showing a movie that I did from wy trip to Alaska and last year visa quest. I was very happy to be able to show it to the visa questers, it was for me a way to thank all of them. Then they started playing music and they started strong, we could feel they felt really happy to play, we felt it in the music.
it was a good evening of music and the audience were really into it, they danced and screamed and sang and clapped their hands until the very last bite.
Afterwards we all went to my house and played music until 6am, as usual!
These three nights were really magical and intense and I think everyone felt the same way.
One could think that you can do whatever you want in the city of lights, but like every old cities, it has rules, old fashioned mentalities and narrow minded people.
When you have people like these guys, coming all the way from Alaska to play music and discover french habits, you might think that each door should be open to them.
Unfortunately it is not. Even though they are renting an amazing 200 meters square parisian flat in a typical Haussmanian building (Georges Eugene Haussman was the guy who redesigned Paris streets during the 19th century), the neighbors don't see it the same way: they don't want to be bothered in their everyday habits and especially by fiddles and banjos.
Therefore these guys had to go outside to be able to relieve their thirst of music.
After trying a couple different bars where they've been told they couldn't play inside (owners prefered to keep tv turned on playing commercial music videos !), they finally found a place where people were enjoying their presence and music.
Later on, after a dinner made by King Ray and his queen, they went out again and started playing outside of a bar (see picts above). It was a big hit! People stopped in the street to listen, amazed to see that here; some kids passed by, took their guitar and started to play with everyone, scating and dancing. The waiter kept bringing beers and everyone felt good.
It was a very nice moment.
Tonight everyone is coming to my house to play as long as they want.
To be continued ...
Here is the poster I made for the sunday gig in the bar close to my house.
I took this picture three years ago when I came to Homer for the first time;
it was on the beach, underneath Jane's house.
I believe it was my first day in AK and it felt particularly magical for me, the light, the mountains, the frozen sea foam...
It was some sort of a revelation, a revelation of a good time to come.
And I couldn't imagine that one day the good time would come to me, to Paris ... and it happens next week !
In France we have such a cheesy chicken humor !
To be shure that everyone has my adress written somewhere:
77 rue Vitry 93100 Montreuil
my cell phone number is 06 68 02 24 12
underneath are explanations to come to my house
my friends, here are indications to arrive at a place where you will be more than welcome after a long and exhausting travel.
If the airport is charles de gaulle (CDG) also called Roissy then you have to take the RER B (a train commuting from suburbs to paris) going south, make shure that is it going to paris.
If you fly to the other airport, called Orly, you will take the same train RER B, but going north, towards paris.
In both cases you'll have to get down at "chatelet les halles" then you take RER A towards "marne la vallée"
get down at the station called "Nation" then you have to take the subway line 9 (follow indications inside the corridors) towards "mairie de montreuil" and get down at the end of the line (station called mairie de montreuil)
When you get out of the subway, you need to find the avenue walwein (it is facing an austere building (the town hall) built with a touch of communist style, with a clock tower on top of it) the avenue goes alongside a square with a fountain, go up that street until the second crossroad.
Then turn right into "rue gallilée"
At the next crossroad, turn left into "rue de virty" and walk up the street until number 77, which is my house, see the picture above.
In case of emergency, call me from a phone booth when you are lost.
If you can't find the booth just give me a call !
my phone number is 06 68 02 24 12, home phone: 01 48 58 59 61
you will probably have to buy a card in a tobacco shop.
good luck...
My friends
Yesterday I had the honnor to receive Bob-Oh and his wife Debra(and I can tell you that she is not imaginary!). They arrived at my house, which means that my indications were not that bad, after two planes and three different subways. My house is a mess right now because of architectural restructuration (that will be ready for visa quest) and it was not the best place to rest after that much travel; the electricity was turned off, no light in the bathroom, no shower possible! But Bob-Oh and Debra didn't complain and we went out for a coffee and croissant (the must do!)
It was a typical Paris weather day: grey, rainy, with a wind made to dehorn cows (a good french expression).
It was Bob-Oh's birthday and it was also Beaujolais day (the first wine of 2006 wine harvest) so you can imagine that we didn't stay at home. We ate and drank and then at night we drank and ate, walked around in the center of paris until I felt that Bob-Oh's legs were tired, that they didn't want to carry him anymore!
They left this morning for Spain after a coffee and croissant !!!
Of course today is a gorgeous day with a good old sun!
I was really happy to be able to host them for a night, and it made me realize that visa quest in paris is a reality, approaching as fast as horses runing wild.
It makes me think that I really wished for it to happen and I am ready for it. It will be a good experience and I can't wait to see all of you here. And for those who can't come, we will think about you.
Alexandre ::::: a visaquester ready for it :::::
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