On Mud, Mountains and the Inacessibility of the Third Order Dirivative of Accelleration

So, I went to RockOtocec festival in Slovenia and was amazed to find that one of the rules of this festival is that you ruin *at a minimum* a pair of shoes and quite possibly some pants, shirts, dignity and intelligence. I, fortunately, kept all of my stuff from destruction with the sole exception of my shoes. My running shoes were mudded beyond recognition. So seriously in fact, that I gained about 53.48 pounds of mud weight. The mud menaced my pants but I was able to stare it down and wash the wretched stuff off. The mud was EVERYWHERE.

Enough with the mud, though. I loved the concert. It was my first day with the guys from BillySi and they did not disappoint me. I was able to also enjoy the inestimable Dan-D (D-Day) before the the main act, BillySi.  Dan-D played all their hits and saved my personal favorite for last, “Time.” The song is so powerful and poetic. Then the team from BillySi came on and was amazing. Okay, just saying right now: Matic can freaking ROCK. BillySi covered “Sweet Child of Mine” and were amazing. The people with Otocec were quite annoying in that they only gave the bands a short amount of time to play and therefore the set was only about 12 songs long, if I recall it correctly. Then we all went back to Ljubljana for the night to gear up for Austria the next day.

Sillian, Austria is set in the most magnificent mountains that I’ve ever seen. Oh, yeah, that’s right. They’re the ALPS. The people at this festival, CrusadeFest, were so very accomodating, kind, thoughtful and fun to talk to. I got to speak to the organizers and they were so expressive about they goal of the festival. They wanted to create a festival for the community (let’s guess-timate about maybe 20,000 people?) where they can experience music beyond simply the major foreign bands that play in the Big City, Lienz, that is about 45 minutes away. You know what is closer? Italy. Yeah. I could see it from the hotel we were staying in. Yeah. We were that close. Epic. The festival had many musicians from the area, Slovene, Italian, Austrian and others were in evidence. Most of the bands were punk, hardcore or pop-punk. BillySi played a combination of their songs and big Western Hits: Sweet Child of Mine, again, and others. This concert was LEGENDA. That’s the word that I heard every 5 minutes for the whole trip. The back-up singers used it like it had a shelf-life of a week and therefore needed using up. Despite this lexical humor, these girls were so very funny to hang out with. The whole crew of the band was phenomenally fun to be around in fact. I was so glad that they let me take part in it.

I spent another few days in Slovenia after that mostly recouping from the wild fun of the festivals. I was honored to stay with the Legenda team for 2 days. I really enjoyed hanging with them. Oh, yeah, and they whole lot of them are JAZZ musicians! The house was always full of great music.

I came back to Budapest to get ready for Berlin. I met up with an old friend from when I lived in Moldova. Kate Elliot. She and I hung about Berlin and Potsdam for a few days. It was quite fun… except getting lost on our bike tour and adding an extra 12 km to our already 15km that we had to do. Yeah. Easily over 25km riden. My bum hurt for 2 days.

I have been bouncing about for a long time one festival to another running into old friends and making many new ones. That’s great, but now it is time to spend a week decellerating in Budapest. The city that I have a Love/Hate relationship with. I’m going to concerts but not exerting myself to be up and doing all the time. This is great. This is so relaxing. Aaaah…

 

1 part Serb, 1 part Scot, 1 part American, add metalkova and stir.

So, the past two days have been very exciting. These are the reasons why I stay in hostels: I’ve met 3 really cool guys, but specifically yesterday and today I got to hang with Fraser (of Scotland) and Goran (of Serbia). Yesterday Fraser and I went about in the rain and saw a Slovene band playing New Orleans style jazz. When I say jazz, I really mean they had the whole Bourbon Street look (Straw hats, Suspenders, Bow Ties, etc) and they were playing stuff like When the Saints Go Marching In. Excellent, I guess, but just oddly out of place. Meh.

Subsequently, we met up with Goran and went to a really cool pub, Jugoslavia. It was complete Kitsch, but was sooooo worth it. Tito watched us with unswavering eyes. I love this place. It was quite the find.

Then we went to a squater’s paradise, Metalkova. It’s what the hippies, I think, had tried to achieve in San Fran. The issue is that here the ruined factory was already ready already. We then went to go to some reggae place that, of course, was completely smoked out. Oh, and the power went out at 3 am. Maybe it was supposed to be a way of getting rid of everyone, but more likely it was just some fluke. Regardless, the DJ’s tried to keep some semblence of a beat and freestyle a la Rasta. Epic fail. They were too… just too much in general, shall we say. No one could even comprehend the beat, let alone even attempt to find a way to hit the drum which was in their lap.

Today, Goran and I went to the castle and had a great day on the only day we’ve seen the sun in about a week.

Literature: Starting The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.

Music: Letu Stuke and Okean Elzy

 

Epic train ride!

So, I’ve made it to Slovenia and I’ve had the best train ride of my life yesterday. I was so excited to be traveling by train again. I love the relaxing feeling and the ability to enjoy the scenery. The trip did not disappoint. Hungary = Kansas in many respects but that’s fine. I was able to talk to an interesting young lady who helped me put my phone on roaming. Don’t you just love having to read technical stuff in a completely foreign language? Hehe! I know enough Hungarian to get into trouble, but the big thing is that technical jargon. It’s still a bit of a bugger.

I was so happy to see the mountains throughout Slovenia. It is just breath-taking. I should be meeting with a singer named Christine today and the Baruca clan later this week. Oh, and that awesome set of 2 festivals with BillySi is this Friday/Saturday. This is going to be a great week!

With the cool Raul, a nice Spanish guy

Chez geek card game late at night

"Fog crept in on little cat feet"

First mountain!

That's pronounced "Ptuy" yeah. Like when one expectorates.

Leaving a raining city for... another raining city...

Literature: Finished Live and Let Die, also read Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. Started the short story collection of Ian Fleming.

 

Photos and Concerts

So, I’ve gone through round one of the concerts and generalized milling about. I’m quite pleased with the shows that I’ve seen. It’s going to be great stuff for the book that I’m writing.

Peter

Cathedral in Central Pest

Gothic Cathedral

Orias Concert

Andrassy

Concert 1: Marionette ID was quite impressive, but needs to work on better sound balance. Andrassy, a German band with Hungarian name, was very good but tried too hard to incorperate various styles. That occasionally comes off well done, but these guys need to refine their sound. Too scattered. Lastly, Shell Beach was a great example of Hungarian Hardcore. I was quite impressed. I look forward to seeing them again in an acoustically better venue. About the venue, A38 is a boat on the Danube that is docked permanently just south of Petofi Bridge. It was a great venue in the aesthetic sense, but it lacked a good sound quality (Go figure, eh?).

Peter

Concert 2: One of the best concerts of my life. I was so excited to hear Orias again. It was by no means disappointing. The opening act, Turbo, brought lots of elements of late 80’s and pre-grunge rock to the forefront. Oh, and the bassist is Freddie Mercury reborn. Seriously. Then the boys from Orias, led by Peter, took stage and bore the night away on alternative rock wings. It was fantastic. Everyone was singing along on the more popular of the songs. This is interesting: Orias refuses to sing in English and for good, artistic reasons. Peter feels that their music has Hungarian intellectual and cultured sentiments which would be cheapened by English lyrics. Bravo, gentlemen!

 

The Cossack has landed.

So, the ride over was not too bad. I met an awesome guy from Baghdad on the long flight and we had a great time chatting. I got a bit of sleep but for me the big thing is that tonight is a PASO Live act: reggae, hip-hop and ska all rolled into one. Sweetness.

So, I’m here in Budapest and I’ve got to nip down to the T-mobile store in a few minutes to get my phone active again. YEAH!

 

Exit, stage left.

I am now officially done packing for the trip to Europe. I am going to bed in a few minutes to read, remunerate and generally try to get some decent shut-eye. Likelihood? 1:37,149 against. I, more thank likely, will end up being awake for a long while and finding it impossible to sleep. That is more than fine with me. In fact, I’ll be giddy if I sleep at all tonight! I’m headed home finally…

I see again the stones and flowers,
Cities and stations and the sun and the snow.
I will await, I will desire
To see them again and toward them I’m bound.

I’m homeward bound, to you homeward bound,
Where the eyes are familiar and always renewed.
I’m homeward bound, to you homeward bound
So far away they are these nights and days!

And you know it happens, when ever I’m not able
To arise further into captivity of eyes
But I can sense an unseen power
Which beckons me again and again!

This song has been continuously playing in my head today. It is by Elza’s Ocean, a great Ukrainian band. I blabber on about them incessantly, I know.

My only remaining problem is that of logistics. My layover in Detroit is 40 minutes. Amsterdam? 60. That’s just insane. There is no way my luggage will make it. I need luggage made of sapient pear wood.

I’m reading Adam’s Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul. Oh, yeah. NICE.

Music today: above and VM!

 

Insomnia

Can’t sleep. That’s quite the bugger. I’m tired and can’t breathe. I’ve got some kinda problem that isn’t allergies, but isn’t a cold or what-have-you. It’s four in the bloody morning. Seriously. That said, I’ve finished reading Flow, My Tears, the Policeman Said. It is a mindbindingly good novel. I was quite impressed. Philip K Dick has been a personal favorite for a while, but this was just that bit beyond his normal stuff. It was obviously written during his drug days, but nevertheless it has some very drastic lessons about “recreational” drugs. I hesitate to even use that term. I can’t see the fun in going illegal for a high. Anyway, I’ve started to re-read Dirk Gently II – Douglas Adam’s The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul.

As for music, today was a mellow day and what with meeting Tudor’s grandmother yesterday, I have been in a Romanian mood: Alternosfera (Md), Grimus (Ro) and Aria Urbana (Ro). I wish I had a copy of Slang, too. Ugh. BUT! I did get a full copy of the new Honeyball CD. How exciting!

 

On literary diversions as a means of coping

So, I’ve finished Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die and was impressed. Much better than the movie. And this raises an interesting problem. I’ve had a cold for two days and have napped and read a lot. Also, I’ve done a touch of translation. The interesting point is this: I have to divert my mind so as to not dwell on the prospect of the next few days and the time that is in them. Perhaps, if I could find a car fast enough, I could drive and drive at top speed and somehow to manipulate the space/time continuum. Besides, Red has always been better to my mind than Violet. In this vein, I’m trying to narrow down the weight of books (including my physics and literary theory books which are quite heavy) that I’m taking with me and hoping to figure out some kind of place to stash a second suitcase while mucking about for a month and a half. I’m sure one of my friends has a practice space that has a corner or something…

Today’s music: Pannonia Allstar Ska Orchestra (Hu), Grimus (Ro), Ich + Ich (D) and Billy’s Private Parking (Si)

Literary endeavors: Working on my novel, Philip K Dick Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said and William Gibson Burning Chrome

 

The weight of the wait

So, I’m trying to be marginally productive over this next week, but it will be interesting to see what actually gets accomplished. I have to distill my entire existence down to 50 pounds plus a carry on. WOW. Books shall be left behind. Unfortunately. Anyhow, I’ll be narrowing things down over and over again this week. Ugh. I don’t like this.

On a bright side my new G1 Google phone is in just in time to go to Europe! The only problem is that I’ve already cancelled my mobile service and therefore can’t use it yet. Dang it. BUT! My SIM card for T-mobile Hungary works, so that’s at least a relief. I just don’t have any money on it ERGO I can’t use the phone yet. Bugger. It is nice to know that they didn’t cancel the SIM card due to two years of inactivity.

Music: New Orias CD! Soul Music by Terry Pratchett audiobook

Shall finish Live and Let Die by Fleming today.

 

End of school, beginning of adventure

Today work at the high school ended. I made my rounds and tried to say goodbye to everyone that I could. Regretably, I couldn’t get to everyone. Nevertheless, I’m outta here. It is somewhat funny, for weeks the students have been chomping at the bit about the end of the school year, but for me the one focal point is the chance to move to Europe. So, the waiting game commences: June 16th cannot get here soon enough. While I do feel like there is some unfinshed business in some respects, I cannot help but feel like I’m racing forward now unstopably.

Today’s Playlist: Okean Elzy, Isten Hata Mogott, Simon & Garfunkel, Honeyball, Leningrad and Veronica Maggio

Reading: Fleming – Live and Let Die; Teach Yourself Slovene