Italy Italy Italy
Had a stellar time here. First show of 9 we played in a small club in Italy. They dig the blues brothers. This is one of the table tops.
The owner was a sweetheart and the audience went
bananas. People were really
listening and getting into it – dancing too. We were lucky – there was a great birthday party there. We were playing for folks in their
20s. Beautiful people. They had never heard of Hank Williams
and Patsy Cline. Wow. We are not the center of the universe
in the US.
Before the gig, we hung out in Trento, a small but beautiful
city. The politics may be
absolutely crazy and corrupt here, but Italy, without fail, is Italy.
The coffee, the food and the sound of the language lived up to my expectations. They do take coffee to another level.
And they have interesting gum:
and even more interesting guitars.
Gig #2 was at Steinegg Blues festival. Although Steinegg is in Italy, it is,
for all intensive purposes, Austrian.
Just an hour north of Trento, this area of Italy is called Sud Tirol –
not very Italian at all, except for the excellent coffee. Most of the people speak
German. Before WWI, it was
Austrian but the Austrians had to give it up after the war. War, what it is good for. The people would rather be part of
Austria now and I suppose I understand why. Better social services! i.e. we waited a good 45 minutes to an hour at the post
office to send a package in Italy.
Just a small microcosm of how things seem to operate most of the time
here.
It is staggeringly gorgeous here. I missed my hub and dog, but I loved taking in the scenery
and playing music. Being in the
moment – really pays off. It is
something I am trying to pay more attention to in this life and yes, it works.
Of course, it never hurts to get to know the local royalty too!
The Steinegg Blues Festival is pretty fabuloso. I am very honored to have been a part
of this festival. Some incredible
artists have played here and the folks who run the venue do it for the love of
the music – not for money.
Seriously, they work for free.
They only have a few concerts, so when they do, they do it up and
promote it to the hilt. We had a
sold out show.. Wonderful
audience. Quite a memorable
night. Check out the festival
here: http://www.riegler.it/steinegglive/
The chickens seem content in Steinegg too – they can walk
around a bit, but, their fate is ultimately not so happy – not sure if you can
see the guillotine-ish blade on the stone…That rooster is headed right for it. Talk about ol' skool!
There’s something very magical in Italy – I’ve been there a
few times and no matter where I’ve been, I always feel that. As soon as you cross the border back
into Austria, it’s different.
Austria is great too, just not Italy.
After Italy, we drove to the next gig in Switzerland. Audience response couldn’t have been
more different. They were very
quiet. I got the feeling they
didn’t like the music but I was completely wrong -- folks stayed for both sets, were very enthusiastic about getting the new cd, and the promoter invited us back. Amazing what a few hours distance does to change people.
From Switzerland, we went to Rottweil. Germany, birthplace
of the Rottweiler dog.
Vienna has changed since the last time I was here six years ago. They have a health food store where they sell, you guessed it, American Cookies
Last gig was at the “Rockhouse” in Salzburg. Excellent venue. Since the band is based in Salzburg, it is
always our last show and it is always bittersweet for that reason. There’s a video clip here of one of the
tunes. http://www.meinbezirk.at/salzburg-stadt/kultur/ann-klein-and-band-in-concert-in-der-rockhouse-bar-salzburg-d948682.html
As soon as I got back
to NYC I had three rehearsals and two gigs, one of them in Maryland. The gigs couldn’t be more
different! One was a rockin blues
gig at Hill Country and the one in Maryland was pretty straight ahead
pop/country gig where I played only mandolin. The gear switching has been very intense.
Now as I sit here in my
apartment, absolutely exhausted, reflecting back on it all, it seemed so large
in that moment. And all those
moments, now gone, are memories! I
have a couple of days to recoup before the next bunch of events – again, all
very different projects. But I
hope to see some folks on May 28 at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1 where I will be
doing an acoustic show.
And yes, they had an accordion festival in Salzburg, which makes me question everything now!
xx, ak
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