Alexa Across the Atlantic

Berlin, DE
15.4.14 – House Show
16.4.14 – Prachtwerk
17.4.14 – Madame Claude
18.4.14 – Scheinbar
20.4.14 – Mauer Park
20.4.14 – Al Hamra
21.4.14 – Arcanoa
24.4.14 – Kuss Kuss Kuche
25.4.14 – Scheinbar
26.4.14 – House Show
27.4.14 – Madame Claude
28.4.14 – Arcanoa
30.4.14 – Projekt Teufelsberg

Berlin’s infrastructure, architecture, & remnants of the Wall are physical remainders of the oppression-stricken & war-torn history of the city. But now in place of divisive boundaries, free movement & accessibility have given room for a re-imagination of spaces through the arts. Beautiful garden shanties crop up in the small spaces between the S-Bahn and privately owned property. Tempelhof, an old abandoned airport repurposed as a public park, boasts the infinite in its asphalt runways. Graffiti isn’t so much graffiti as gallery-quality art statements portrayed in the hidden quarters of alleys. Did I mention that one of those art alleys was home to a flea market within which I found and welcomed into my toy collection a rare and darling psaltery made in the time of the German Democratic Republic?

Copenhagen, DK
3.5.14 – Vi mødtes gennem ruden
4.5.14 – Rhuset
6.5.14 – Spillestedet Stengade

I have to say that Danish currency is probably the most adorable currency I’ve ever pocketed and that mid-modern Danish design is wildly appealing to me. While sitting in Hans Wegner chairs, I admired the practicality & function of designs that maximize the ease of the use of self. I also contemplated the ultimate redundancy of building a crown-shaped castle on crown-shaped land surrounded by 3 crown-shaped moats while visiting Kronborg Castle, home of my favorite fictional man, Hamlet.

Oslo, NO
7.5.14 – Cafe Mir
8.5.14 – Cafe Mir
9.5.14 – Sound of Mu
11.5.14 – New To Oslo Radio Program
12.5.14 – House Show
Bergen, NO
15.5.14 – Cafe Opera

Navigating through Norway’s quiet, quaint, & slow-paced cities, suburbs, mountains, & fjords was blissful. The landscape was often painfully gorgeous, so much so that closing my eyes was my only answer to preserving my own sanity. It was all I could do to laugh at the almost senseless joy of living such a dreamy moment inside of what I was sure had to be the inside of an unshaken snow-globe or an Encyclopedia picture. I fell in love with Oslo’s Vigeland Sculpture Park, where the depictions of the human lifecycle somehow managed to emulate a plush quality far from the hard reality of their concrete origins, and Bergen’s Floibanen, which graciously transported me from the city center into the heart of secluded & breathtaking hiking territory. As for my toy-related work, it was a thrill to be invited to play the New to Oslo Radio Program and to make a video/recording with At The Loft Records in Oslo. And to be lauded by Tuva of Valkyrien Allstars at my first of two Cafe Mir shows.

Stockholm, SE
21.5.14 – Landet
22.5.14 – Street Show
24.5.14 – House Show

Arriving in the hustle and bustle of Stockholm gave me the abrupt shock that I’m certain first-time visitors to New York City encounter. After the easy-going nature of Norway, the rush of Sweden’s big metropolis was incomprehensible, but I reluctantly found myself adjusting to the pace. After my show at Landet, I made a super new friend and found myself trekking to a cozy farm co-op, swimming in a blue lagoon, biking through Skogskyrkogarden cemetery, and eating incredible baked breads in the best weather I experienced for the duration of my tour.

Berlin, DE
28.5.14 – Prachtwerk
31.5.14 – Scheinbar
1.6.14 – Mein Haus Am See

Prague, CZ
6.6.14 – Klubovna

To my delight, I found this giant metronome in Prague, where a huge statue of Stalin used to be. To my dismay, its usual task of conducting the tempo of the city was not functioning upon my arrival. I also found the splendid grave of Dvorak in the Vysehrad cemetery, but was disconcerted when his New World Symphony was no longer housed in my ipod for venerable listening. There was, however, nothing at all disappointing about viewing Mucha’s Slav Epic, a spectacular series of 20 humungous paintings depicting the history of the Slavs, except that google maps had no truthful indication of where the National Gallery was actually located.

Vienna, AT
10.6.14 – House Show

My first destination in Vienna was Zentralfriedhof, which houses the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Johann Strauss, and Otto Nicolai. But the main reason for my visit was to pay homage to Shonberg, the genius behind the 12 tone technique. Schonberg’s masterful evasion of the hierarchy of pitch influenced the writing of my song “Plastic Cups”, which happens to be riddled with 12 tone rows in the toy piano part. Some of my other encounters in the city of music included a tour of Musikverein, the ornately decorated & lavish-sounding philharmonic concert hall, and the even more grandiose Spanische Hofreitschule, where the Lipizzaner stallions trot circles around a grand piano (performed live of course) in what might as well be a horse palace. Neat Musikverein acoustics fact: There are hollow resonant chambers both below the stage and between the roof and the ceiling of the venue (quite similar to the architecture that contributed to the Motown sound).

Glasgow, UK
15.6.14 – Bar Bloc
22.6.14 – Bar Bloc
23.6.14 – Nice ‘N’ Sleazy

It could be said that Scotland was my vacation from my vacation-esque tour. After prolonging my stay in Europe to perform at Fusion Festival,I made the impromptu decision to journey to Glasgow & the Orkney Islands, where the beaches promised to be breathtaking(ly cold) and uncrowded. What I discovered was how rich the Glasgow music scene is and how unrelentingly in love I am with Scottish culture & countryside. (Especially Norse-influenced and archeologically-rich Orkney) I must also confess that of all the organs I came in listening’s length of during my European tour, the Glasgow Cathedral’s organ had the richest tone & the organist performed the most beautifully dissonant music I could ever hope to have seducing my ears.

Lärz, DE
26.6.14 – Fusion Festival

The European music scene was incredibly good to me, so much so that I was tempted to miss my flight back to the States after having already extended the length of my tour once. The welcoming nature of the music & art going/making/event-producing community was almost unbelievable. Doors seemed to open because of the quality of my musical content instead of the dollar figure I could pull in. Opportunities multiplied out of other opportunities at an almost exponential rate. Casual conversations with people turned into gigs at huge art parties, house shows, radio stations, and even an insane, large-scale music festival. One show planned from my studio in NY turned into 3 or 5 more spontaneous shows in the city in which I was performing. Nowhere else in my touring travels have I had so many unexpected and incredible offers practically thrown at my feet just for showing up. The lesson? No matter the necessity of internet communication, meeting people in person forms a connection that is much more gratifying and meaningful than any fleeting transaction provided by the internet.