Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Spasibo! (the only Russian word I know)

For reasons beyond our control, our show in St. Petersburg was unfortunately cancelled. Traveling to Moscow still took us through St. Pete tho, where we had a fairly uneventful evening of bland sushi. The next day we jumped on a second train to the capital. Some of you know that King has had pretty severe back problems in the past, and some of you who have had back problems yourselves know that those problems never fully go away, and that they can be horribly debilitating. A bumpy train ride tends to not be the kindest thing you can put a bad back thru, so between that and questionable circumstances regarding the St. Pete show, our arrival into Moscow wasn't the happiest occasion. 

Moods were lifted tho when we arrived at our hotel and found out that Down was staying in the same place. Sadly it was too late to try and catch the show (good thing I saw them play Copenhell!), but luckily we had a chance to say hi when they rolled back in. At that point we learned that Blackmore's Night was also in the hood, so Matt and I decided the only logical thing to do was go out and celebrate over drinks :) The only thing better than making new friends in far away lands, is finding out their hometown is not so far away from yours. I shared beers with folks from as close as New Jersey and Long Island, and even met friends of the infamous Tommy Skriver. Tommy was working back line for King Diamond back when I first got this job, and is forever a member of the KD family. Now that I know my new friends, audio extraordinaire Pete Retsey and drummer David Keith, are hanging out up in Connecticut with him, I might just have to get up there for a visit!

I took the next day to get reacquainted with the down town. I ran into a stage that was blocked off for what seemed to be a dress rehearsal, but the sounds of the opera singer backed up by a full symphony that filled the air as I wondered Red Square made my walk pretty sweet. I had been there before so I wasn't as floored as the first time, but St. Basil's Cathederal is still an awesome sight to see. I also took this day to take advantage of HappyCow.com and map out some vegetarian restaurants. Have I mentioned I love HappyCow? In general, Russia is nightmare for vegans. The cuisine is primarily meat, and while I can always find something, it's very challenging when not even the alphabet is recognizable and few people speak English. I treated myself to a meal at Fresh (I say treated because Moscow is very expensive) and it was delish! Other than that, it was the girl at Subway who knew enough English to understand "all vegetables" that got me through my visit.


Playing the show in Moscow was a blast, but there were some disappointing details. We found out that ticket prices were either high, very high, or unbelievably high, depending on the section. Not cool. While we understand that this is a business, we want fans to be able to afford to see the show! There was also an issue with merch so we had none at the venue, and I've already read about fans being bummed out they couldn't buy a tee shirt. It's a shame because we have so much fun playing the shows and want the fans to walk away feeling like they had an incredible night. Remember, to catch up on KD news you can always find out the latest HERE. I also got my butt back on the FORUM so I can keep up with what fans are saying :)


I wanted to do some more sight seeing before we left town but I caught a cold and spent much of the rest of my time there trying to sleep it off. Apparently writing down "decongestant" in Russian and showing it to the counterperson at the pharmacy won't get you anything. Overall it was cool to be back in Russia, but I'm looking forward to Finland!



Pat Bruders looking un-human and a snarling David Keith


Pete Restey





Good morning Moscow!

Look to the streets for signage in St. Pete

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Homeward Bound - On View thru July 10

You may remember me telling you back in May about the opening of Homeward Bound: A Benefit for PAWS. The show is a compilation of work from over 50 artists, myself included, who donated work to raise funds in support of Philly PAWS.  I have volunteered for PAWS and also fostered with their help and it was really exciting for me to be included in this group of artists working to help the animals. You can still check out the show until July 10, and if you want a peek, some pics of the show have been posted HERE.

Where it's at...
Grindcore House (my favorite, all vegan, heavy metal coffee shop!)
1515 South 4th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
















While you're at it, check out the Blow The Scene Fest also benefitting PAWS. It's coming up June 29, at Broad Street Ministry.



Monday, June 17, 2013

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 Newsted. 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/

Friday, June 14, 2013

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!







Saturday, June 8, 2013

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

Friday, June 7, 2013

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!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

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

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

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!