Welcome to Hell

After having about 2 weeks off, Copenhell was just the festival we all needed to remind us why we are out here to begin with. We played on Saturday, so Friday was my night to go rock out. I got to see In Flames, Ghost, Alice in Chains, Danzig, and make some new Danish friends. I even ran into Petie (any metal fan in the Philly area knows who I'm talking about), but unfortunately we got separated before too long. I had a great time hanging with Michael of Labrador Records, and was happy to learn the former owner of The Rock, Copenhagen's best metal bar that recently closed, has a new place opening up. Another thing I learned is that I have a Philadelphia accent. That might not seem so strange to hear until I tell you it was a Philadelphia Flyer who told me that. Yep - Oliver Lauridsen, a Denmark native playing for the Flyers, just happened to be at Copenhell and we wound up crossing paths. Too funny! Oliver is a cool guy - it was interesting to hear his perspective of Philly, and I'm excited to have someone to route for on the ice!

I arrived back at the fest on Saturday just in time for a torrential downpour. The sky opened up right before Testament, and the crew scrambled to evacuate the stage. Everyone got lucky tho and the storm passed just in time for them to play a full set. Even better than getting to see Testament play, was getting to see Gene Hoglan and spend the day with the lovely Robin Mazen! Robin does mech and production and is currently working for Testament so I got my girl to rock out with for the day :) I was also stoked to see Down, so it was a pretty damn good day overall. My only disappointment was that I wasn't able to make it in time to see Newstead. I've never met Jason but being an old Metallica fan, and following his career for a while after that, I always thought of him as a rad bassist with a good attitude. He recently came back on my radar and I was looking forward to seeing him play, and secretly thought it would be pretty badass to meet him. Alas, no such luck, but he did leave a big Happy Birthday message to King in our dressing room - only adding to my belief that he is a cool guy.

When it came time for us to play it was really cold out and I thought for sure I would be freezing the whole set. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but it wound up being the best show of the tour for me. The metal chick in me was psyched to have members of bands I always go see in our audience. Of course, being in Copenhagen, there were a lot of friends and family there so it was awesome to have everyone around to celebrate with after.

One last highlight came at the end of the night. Gene had mentioned to me earlier that even tho he and Andy had both played on Death's Individual Thought Patterns album TWENTY years earlier, they had never met. It was finally time! I introduced the two and it was adorable to see two sweet guys I know, who also happen to be metal legends, so excited :)



It was a treat watching Ghost up close!








The late night rowdy crowd


I <3 Testament!




Down!


Down calling all friends on stage


Hank Sherman in the house!


\m/ (-.-) \m/

I Miss Prague Already!

Back in Copenhagen after a 9 day excursion to Prague. I could have stayed longer - much longer. I felt instantly at home in that city and at the same time, like I could be there 10 years and never see it all. I wanted to check out everything, but it was overwhelming. How could I decide where to start? I planned a few destinations, but the small roads weave a web that can be quite difficult to navigate. The great thing was, when I couldn't find what I was looking for, I found something else just as interesting. It didn't take long for me to realize that the best way to investigate was to just pick a starting point and see where it lead.

I didn't go to a single museum or take a tour of any historical building, or pay for any of the countless attractions that I'm certain are worth seeing, yet I still witnessed more every afternoon than I could have hoped. The streets are cobblestone. I skipped running entirely but walked for hours each day - in Chucks - I do not know how the women of Praha wear heals in those streets! For the most part, pedestrians obey the traffic laws and cars stop for people in cross walks. For someone who drives down 2nd Street through Liberties Walk 5 times a week, THAT was an incredible site in itself!  Another huge difference from Philly - those streets were clean. It wasn't until I saw one piece of trash in the road that I realized it was the ONLY trash I saw. How refreshing! Mainly tho, it was the amount of detail spent in the creation of Prague's architecture that got me. Various styles are represented, each more ornate than the last. Of course you expect it from the Baroque churches and Gothic castle, but the post office and the pizza shop, and the apartments down the street - the sheer abundance of beauty amazed me. And where there was a break in the buildings, there was a park, with even more sculpture. 

Besides eating at a different vegetarian, often vegan, restaurant every day, a big highlight was getting a tour of Prague. My host works as a tour guide and was generous enough to spend 5 hours showing me the highlights - free of charge! By that point I had seen most of the city, but hearing the history enriched my experience of each place we stopped. Prague was occupied by the Nazis in WWII and I again found myself holding back tears as I was told about events that took place not all that long ago. To be honest, I never fully understood the connection that Jewish people today feel with those who lived during the time of the Holocaust. Of course the violence was horrendous. I am disgusted by bigotry and the level of mistreatment was astronomical. I cannot wrap my head around how something so wrong, gained so much power and destroyed so many people. But I had never felt it. I felt it in Warsaw and I felt it in Prague. I felt connected with a history that wasn't even my own, and I thought to myself if I was in a place where thousands of vegans were rounded up and persecuted for their beliefs I would be balling my eyes out. That feeling, along with a personal connection, would be more than I could take. 

During this tour I did learn that the Christians thought to work with finances was to work with the devil, and therefor forced Jews to be the ones who handled the money. Of course it didn't take long for people to realize that those who handled finances ended up with money, which threw everyone off their game. This gave me a good chuckle :)

I will wrap up my ramblings about Prague by praising the people that I met there. Funny enough, most were not Czech. Tourism is huge there and I met a lot of couchsurfers from various European countries.  Travel, as opposed to going to a vacation destination, seems much more prevalent in Europe than the US and I feel more akin to that mentality. Not that I am opposed to sitting my ass on a beach and sipping piña coladas for a week, but I always have the urge to get to know the inter workings of a new place. I will also say that I am a big fan of traveling alone. Again, with another person would be great, but when you are walking by yourself, your company is your surroundings. For me, it makes for a stronger connection with the area and the people in it. Thank you Prague for being so good to me!

AFTCP14

If I were at home I would be going to InLiquid's Art for the Cash Poor this weekend. As some of you know, I did the graphic design for InLiquid since it's inception about 15 years ago. Designing the identity for this year's AFTCP was one of the last projects I worked on before I left. Last month I handed the torch to Chris Lawrence and hit the road. I've seen just a little of Chris' work and it's cool to see him take what I did and put a new spin on it. A lot of work goes into these events, and when you are the organization putting it on, it can be hard to step back and enjoy. I look forward to going to AFTCP next year, and other InLiquid events once I am home, and appreciate them as a visitor :) But since I'm not there now - you should go for me. It's a fun day, a great way to get some affordable art, and enjoy a few beers and some music, all while supporting the Philadelphia art community.

AFTCP14

Czech Czech

After Warsaw we made our way to Plzen, Czech Republic. We arrived in the evening and I decided to go to the festival site with the crew to check out the stage. The weather was miserable. We drove past tents and I thought about how bad it's gotta suck to hang out all day in the rain only to retire to a wet tent. The stage was no safe haven from the water either. Seeing enough we went back to the hotel for a night in... or so I thought :) Wandering the halls, I bumped into guys from Bloodbound and Kataklysm, then tagged along to a local bar. What a weird scene. The place had the atmosphere of a rock/metal club, but the music was anything but. Regardless, it was cool to get a chance to hang out with some other festival peeps for a much needed night out.

The rain continued on show day. It was the coldest I have ever been on stage by far. I gotta hand out to the metal fans in Czech - they weren't deterred a bit. Thanks for making it an awesome show despite being soaked to the bone!

The following day we all parted ways. Without a show for 12 days, some people went home, some to work other shows, and some to hang out in Copenhagen. I decided this would be a great opportunity to visit Prague. Of course, my plans were made before the flood came :/ A few hours before I was to leave, I heard that the military was going door to door giving out bread. It was about then that I started wondering why the hell I hadn't planned on going to Spain!

Our tour manager, Ole Bang, had arranged for me to jump on a shuttle with Enforcer to get a ride into Prague. The driver would only take me to the airport tho since closed roads in the city center were making it hard to get around.  Myself and a couple metal chicks from Poland were left to find a taxi into town. It was on this ride that I got my first view of how high the river was. Yikes! I saw restaurants 90% underwater, and soldiers stacking sandbags, and it was still raining... with rain in the forecast for the next week :(

Luckily tho, the rain has let up and the sunshine has been increasing every day. A lot of buildings are still closed so I have been exploring the higher lands first, and making my way closer to the river. I have gone to a couple Couchsurfing events and it has been awesome hearing tales from people traveling all over Europe. I even met an American graphic designer who has been traveling while working for the last 2 years.  Hmmmmm....

I set out yesterday with a site seeing plan but quickly decided to throw it out the window and wander instead. It was then that I stumbled into Fox Gallery. I saw some beautiful work here and chatted with a super sweet woman. She was uber helpful and took the time to write down other galleries and organizations show thought I would be interested in. Oddly enough, when I explained that I was in Europe doing performance work she said that she had that feeling about me... do I look like a performer?? Grateful for her help, I thanked her and continued walking around. I found another gallery who's name I did not commit to memory, but had a great show on display, and lastly another showing work by university students. This gallery was in the basement of a hotel. A guy opened it up for me and told me how their mission is to give students the opportunity to show their work publicly. I admired his passion as he explained to me that the show was not curated; it was a chance for the artists to express themselves freely. He spoke about how he wants to highlight Czech artists, and explained that most of the work you see in the galleries not not created here at all, but shipped in from Russia and marketed to tourists. It was a familiar conversation about the struggle to push underground art past the mass produced decorations, and into the public eye. I left feeling invigorated.

It was at that moment that I started paying a little closer attention to what you can't help but notice - visually, this is an amazing city. It is saturated with beauty. I decided to spend the rest of the day taking note of the textures and patterns around me. I don't know that I could ever get tired of seeing all it has to offer. I think I'm officially in love with Prague :)

Uh oh, welcome to Prague

A memorial to the victims of communism

While pork knee might be a popular dish in Prague :(
there is no shortage of vegan food - even raw!

Warsaw Bonus

I thought I'd go ahead and throw in some pics from sound check in Warsaw. Plus, the lovely Maja Vikstöm just sent me the one she took of Nergal visiting - which made me so happy I had to share :) Enjoy!

Loved touring with Behemoth in 2005 :)

This venue had a rock climbing wall in it - crazy!

Taking care of the backline - Sébastien Blaize

Warsaw

Touring has taken me a lot of places over the years and given me great memories. A lot of the time tho, I can't match up the memory with the location. Seeing Warsaw again gave me the chance to "place the name with the face" so to speak. We arrived in the evening and headed out for food. Luckily, the King Diamond entourage is big on Indian food - which is always one of the best vegan options for me.

We had the following day off, so as luck would have it, the rain came and refused let up. Determined to do some sight seeing, Matt, Andy, Chris (our monitor guru), and I headed for old town. We passed by some KD posters where I remembered seeing ones for Behemoth posted 7 years ago. When we got to the heart of the city, it all came back to me. It was a much nicer day the last time we were here! Cold and wet, we breezed through the sites quickly and didn't take many pictures. It's a shame - there is a lot to see in Warsaw. A visit from the show's promoter topped the day off - Wojciech is one cool cat!

I did get some dry time on show day to do a little bit more exploring. Our hotel was directly across from a placard noting the location of the Ghetto Wall. Confining an estimated 400,000 people, it was the largest Jewish ghetto in Europe when the Nazis occupied. I don't even want to try and imagine the sadness and pain that filled this place as 3/4 of its occupants were sent to extermination camps. Notations in the ground can be found throughout the city pointing out the wall's former location.

On a much lighter note, I also explored a giant halal market. If I had been able to cook I would have went nuts over the all inexpensive produce. I'm pretty sure I saw one stand selling halva, and I'm still kicking myself for not stopping to buy some!

Örebro

This was my first time in Örebro and it didn't start out good.  My first quest was to find food.  The location of the one vegetarian restaurant I read about eluded me and I got stuck paying way too much for a tortilla with lettuce and guac at some taco joint. Next I tried to find some of the guys, but with no success. Back at the hotel, I managed to get a hold of Matt who was at the festival with none other than one of my absolute favorite Swedes, the adorable LG of Entombed.  I jumped in a taxi and headed out.  Now, without a European sim card I lack the luxury of being able to text people when I'm not within wifi range, so upon arrival I searched for the boys... and searched, then searched some more. I hung around long enough for the crowd to spill out then jumped in a taxi back (which was no easy feat either). Annoyed and disappointed I went back to the hotel. One peek into the lobby tho and the night was saved - Biffen! Yet another of my favs :) From that point on, people trickled in and the rest of the night was a blast!

The following day was warm and sunny and I had all day to explore. I'm starting to believe that jogging is the best way to check out a new town. So far, at least in Europe, every time I wind up discovering a beautiful park. In Örebro, it was a botanical garden filled with sculpture and a path conveniently guiding my way.  It also took me right up to the city's most exciting feature,Örebro Castle, which as luck would have it gave me an amazing view from my hotel window. To top it off, the festival sent us to a local restaurant for meals, and although they had nothing vegan on the menu, they made me a special dish and it was outstanding. ~If you haven noticed by now, the easiest way to win me over is to feed me well :)

Another great attribute of Örebro is it's location. Stockholm and Gothenburg are both within a couple hours drive. I hadn't realized this so it was a great surprise to see so many familiar faces at the show. Also, joining us were Mike and Andy's wives who are some of my favorite chicas!

Biffen!

LG!

The view from my hotel room - woot!

A great surprise seeing Patrik Jensen :)

Copenhagen - Part 2

After Tivoli, our drum tech Sebastian and I took a train north up the coast to check out Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.  I gotta say, it was pretty damn refreshing to hear someone other than me suggest going to a museum!  The museum is in a nice, residential area, and the grounds are right on the water.  We soaked up some much needed sun while strolling through the sculpture park before heading inside. The current exhibit featured Pop Art by some of the biggies - Warhol, Lichtenstein, Hamilton, Eames, Panton and Sottsass.  I'd actually seen a few of the pieces before in the Warhol Museum in Pitsburgh, and it was cool to see them again.  I was most impressed by the installations. Here's a few shots, but they don't do justice at all.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art