Friday, December 15, 2006

finally... more images of this epic visa quest

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.

2 comments:

marsi said...

alex and julie and all the questers
thank you so much
we had such a great time

we are home and tired and sad and happy and SO FUCKING LUCKY!!

xoxox
maridon and sean

Unknown said...

Ray, Jen, Steve and Karen are all home; safe and sound. We'll be sleeping with thoughts of Visa Quest Paris dancing in our dreams. Merci beaucoup to all that made the epic journey all that it was. I am a changed woman!
Time for sleep.
Love and kiss, kiss.
BergerQueenII