Music has brought me here again. To lovely, lovely Hossegor in the Landes region of France. Last night Edwige, Laurent and I walked down to the ocean and watched the surfers compete along side a group of nuns who were in town for a conference. Hallucinant, quoi? The first week of my return to Europe has been a triumphant one despite lost train tickets, ‘flics,’ and lack of sleep.

Einstein on The Beach is a group of musicophiles who program wonderful festivals in the gorgeous little towns in the south of France and sometimes Spain. They invited me to tour with Cannibales et Vahines – a free jazz noise 3-piece from Toulouse (and lovely lads!). We all rendez-vous’d in Bayonne (I was suffering from the jet lag so mostly just said hello and passed out on whatever surface available) and drove to Toulouse to play our first show. On the way we stopped for a delicious sandwich and admired this giant sculpture (sometimes used as a half pipe!):

After dining on savoury breads (goat cheese, smoked ham) and vegetarian pasta, and petit Kronenbrugs we prepared for the show and rocked Bar du Monde.

At the end of the night I snapped pictures after the load-out and caught this one of Les Cannibales:

Quelques images de Bordeaux:

I awoke to Jean (our driver) winding down some of the skinniest stone streets ever and most of them were pedestrian or bicycle only! Wonderful except when in a mini van with a lot of gear…Jean performed a miracle and got us there! Palm trees with black coconuts adorned the walls and there was a little makeshift record shop set up on a wooden table. Silkscreened vinyl for 7euro! We played in a stone cave only accessible by a winding rot iron staircase. People of all ages packed the cavern for a night of music.

Bera, Pays Basque:
After learning a few ways to say thank you…Es-kary-kas-co in Spanish Basque, Meel-es-ker in French Basque…we loaded the gear into an anarchist bar in the little town of Bera, “Spain.”

After lovely Bera, we stayed chez les amis a Bayonne and ate some of the most delicious seafood I've ever had. Fresh fish a la plancha - crevettes, moules, calamari...St. Jean de Luz was our last night on tour at the always rock and roll Gaztexte.

I'm watching a horror movie ce soir en mangeant du confit du canard que le mami de Laurent a fait. Bon app et a Athenes, Grece!

At the beginning of the mini US tour with Shane Watt, we stopped off in Amherst, MA to revisit places I hadn't been in 25 years. I managed to find the house we lived in, the candy store I frequented and the elementary school where I learned to play violin. What an impact a year can make even when only in grade 2!

More tour photos and stories from the road to come...