BUSINESS AS UNUSUAL
A routine? Two weeks that resembled each other? I could almost substitute last week’s post for this one, minus the last post’s disbelief at the arrival of a bit of home-based life. In fact, like last week, this week I spent the week working on the Bud Reichard album by day, attending to a few social events at night, and then came to Tours on the weekend to visit Aden and Dom’s folks. We are in the last days of recording with Bud; Bud went out to Dourdan to oversee the recording of drums with
Julien Audigier, my choice in Paris for drummers with a vintage style. I added some bass and keyboards, and Bud did his last vocals. We also had Pierre Blondiau over to do some shaker on a rather difficult guitar instrumental, that we hadn’t cut to a click track, so it pushed an pulled quite a bit. Pierre had declared the job impossible, but Bud got him to give it a go, and after playing thru four times, he had a pretty good road map of the tempo changes, and I was able to edit the changes to put them in synch.
On Tuesday I wasted an entire morning going out to the Institute Pasteur’s travel medicine clinic, to pick up a prescription for anti-malaria medicine for my tour of South America next month. I had already taken my vaccinations in Bellingham, but they didn’t have the pills I needed in stock. So, since Pasteur is where all the French bands go for pre-tour consultation, I thought I would too. On their board of prices, they include ‘consultation w/presciption’ so it seemed reasonable to assume...one hour on metro, one hour waiting for my number to be called, 5 minutes to fill out a form, then 30 seconds to be told, ‘oh, you have to go to a doctor for that’. One of the biggest infectious disease centers in the world and you don’t have any DOCTORS around? One hour back on the metro. Our family doctor gave me the prescription the next day.
Tuesday evening I celebrated a bit with my neighbor Remi, of the band
Cheap Star, who have at last released the album "Speaking Like an Elephant" that was partially made with sessions I recorded and mixed in 2004; Jon Auer also worked on later sessions (when they had a better studio and a better drummer, so his sessions sound hi fi, and mine sound like they were recorded on 8 tracks in a rehearsal room...which was the case!). I did remix one of the tracks at home later, but before I had my current set up...but still, the record is really good, you can contact their
label to order it, or to the band directly.
On Wednesday evening I went to the record release party for
Flairs the Panic Room, next door to the Pop In on rue Amelot. Flairs is a lovely guy, and his music is cool, and his party was crowded, but, it was to my experience a bit thematically disconnected. His friends--Alex Gopher, Cocosuma, Housse de Racket--DJd, and in theory he did too, tho I didn’t last that long, but it felt just like any other night at a bar, rather then a big event to launch a record. Like, I don’t know how many people walked out thinking about Flairs’ album, which is kind of the point of a rec. release, but maybe that’s too linear thinking in the electrofantastique world...
On Friday I went to see
Ben Rault, Flairs’ brother, do a solo set at the China Club (now, to try and dissuade you from associating it with the L.A. watering hole for coked-out has-bro’s, called just ‘Le China’, but it still has a kind of weird Hollywood vibe). I felt for him, his stuff is way less confrontational than mine, he sings in a kind of Johnny Cash style, in English no less, virtually guaranteeing him close to zero interest in France. He is an excellent guitar player, and has worked out rather superbly how to work with his Line 6 loop pedal to accompany himself and make solos. I really liked his stuff, pity that most of the people were there to just take up space on a Friday night. A few of us listening tho, and enjoyed it and I, being a solo performer myself, empathized with his efforts in face of the impossible. One thing about Le China, tho, they had Chapoutier Cotes de Rhone for €5/glass, really quite a good deal in Paris. The place is also spacious, which is also kind of a rare atmosphere in a city with very old and expensive real estate. And it’s a 7-minute walk from my house.
On the weekend, we made the 2.5-hour trip to Tours. Yes, there is a TGV that takes 55 minutes, but it leaves from Gare Montparnasse, back where the institute Pasteur is, so all the way across Paris, and it’s at least twice as expensive. So, we take the cheap/slow train, which leaves from Gare D’Austerlitz, just ten minutes by bus from our place. Of course, just to torment the poor, they play a little game: they don’t announce the track of this train, which is open seating, until the last minute, and you have the phenomenon of all the people--children, parents with strollers, old folks, people with all their luggage--having to RUN to the train to try and get decent seats. This was really apparent last weekend, when it was the beginning of winter vacation for all the kids, and our train was packed. Here we were at the halfway point, when the divorced parents do the kid exchange, so it was still busy, but there was a little more breathing room. A mom with 2 kids was in our compartment, and they got off at Orleans so we actually had the compartment to ourselves for most of the way.
Here in Tours, Dom’s mom does her great home cooking, plus we raid the moldy bottles stored in the ‘cave’ next to the house. During the week, like any good Parisian, I am living on 400 gr. of pure protein per day and a little yoghurt as a reward, celery--as a Parisian you feel the unspoken pressure of living in a city populated by at least 46% models. So, when I chomp down on Dom’s mom’s vittles, no doubt I enjoy it, and no doubt my body is completely unprepared for the richness, diversity and quantity of the nourishment, and flushes it out IMMEDIATELY. Ooooh. But it’s worth it. This morning we went to les halles, the covered market, and tasted wonderful rillon (a kind of tender back bacon), boudin noir aux pommes (sweet blood sausage made even sweeter with cooked apples), and other lovely things. There’s a real Italian espresso maker there, and we picked up a cheese (Chaource) so foul and radioactive that my throat is still burning. Delicious.
Aden is very happy here, being spoiled by the grandparents, and she has a playmate here, Dom’s mom’s b.f.’s granddaughter.
Watching a children’s science program, ‘C’est pas Sorcier’ which in this episode dealt with the issue of paralysis, I was amazed by its frankness and thoroughness. The causes/mechanics and effects of being para/quadraplegic, were covered--including such topics as the social benefits of having handicapped people in the workforce, and the implications for sexuality/reproduction by being wheelchair bound. I thought, an American program would never put the truth on display for children in such a straightforward manner, and I admire French society for this kind of strength.
Love
KS
Tours, FRANCE
