Artichokes and Belize by bike

Lots of people ask how I managed to get us the ten shows... for this tour 'myspace' was the best source. I don't even know how many sites I visited, how many singer/songwriters I heard singing on their profile. Somehow the website of Artichoke Music, where you can not only buy musical instruments...they got a sweet little stage, too. When I contacted them in january they told me to call back later cause they don't book that far in advance. The planning of the tour went on and we got another show in Portland, only a few blocks from the Artichoke away, at the Red and Black...so the Artichoke disappeared in my file 'USA locations'.
But because Jan hasn't got enough guitars we had to chek out the Artichoke as well. What a nice surprise! Great instruments, very friendly people and Richard -who's in charge of the bookings - spontaneously offered us a 10 minute-slot that night, right before our show at the Red&Black. It turned out to be a high quality open mike with local folks who really listened...we enjoyed it so much that we dind't even want to leave and plug in to the almost dead sound system of the Red&Black.
Like the two shows before (Tacoma and Seattle)...not exactly a big crowd of people, but a few listeners and a nice atmosphere. A few times the thought popped up in my mind that everybody actually really understands what I'm singing. I mean, dutch or german people understand English as well...but it's different. But nobody laughed or left the room, shaking his head in disbelief :-)

One thing we like about the US is that people start talking to you very easily. And lots of times it's about politics. They want to know how European people think about America. They want to express their fears and their anger about certain things in the country...just to make sure we understand that 'not everybody in the US is closing his eyes'.
So after our show at the Red & Black I started talking to two guys: one who quit his job a couple of years ago cause he didn't believe in capitalism anymore. He didn't want to live for his work anymore. Now he's restyling and renovating his house so he can sell it and then give most of the money away.

The other guy was a buddhist that owns one important thing: his bike. He hasn't got an ID, no job and even though I didn't ask...probably no home either. But he looked so happy and peaceful. In fact, he wanted to give me 1$ as a tip for the show. A guy with no money, but he really wanted to give me this Dollar. He had parked his bike around the corner. When he showed it to me I noticed a blanket, rolled up on the rear rack. 'What if somebody steals it?', I wanted to know. 'Well...then it's THEIR bad karma', he answered. 'But you won't have a blanket anymore and it might get cold.' 'But it will still be their bad karma...and I wear different layers of wool, so...'. He's planning a trip to Belize cause he feels like he has to do that. Freedom.

Tomorrow we'll play at the Brainwash café&laundromat in San Francisco again. We'll get a free burger (veggie or meat) and then play in front of people and dancing washing machines. Sounds like fun, he? Come and listen (and take your dirty laundry...)