30.8.2010
We just got to Don Hopkin’s apartment in Oosterpark. He’s an old friend of Thoth’s. We stayed two weeks with our new friend Rene. Don is very energetic and funny and has a lovely apartment right across the street from the park. He becomes very calm once he takes a few hits on his bong. While I was cooking my chicken breast, Thoth serenaded me with his violin. Beautiful.
Rene has been our hero for the past few weeks. While we were at his apartment, we tried playing under the bridge in Vondel Park two weeks ago but it ended up not being so nice. The first weekend, a group of punk kids made an obnoxious racket while we were trying to perform. Rene came to see us and asked several times for them to be respectful or go somewhere else. The alpha male of the pack started being belligerent and tried to fight Rene but a girl stood between them.Itturned out the boy was kicked out of 5 high schools and was taking it out on everyone else. The next day a group of rude homeless bums wouldn’t stop playing guitar when we were trying to sing. Rene had to drag a drunk bum out of the road in order for us to perform. Otto, the head homeless bum, who claimed to love our music, wouldn’t stop playing his harmonica. He tried everything he could impress us and called Rene stupid for passing Thoth’s hat for donations.
He brought us as a surprise for a his friend’s birthday party on a houseboat. Rene cried after we sang “Scottish Song.” He loves our music.Rene’s brother-in-law heard our CD and wanted to help us make a new one so he set up recoding session for us. It was disappointing. Basically we paid 120 euros for a guy to record us. He didn’t set up anything. He didn’t mix it, master it, or do anything. He wouldn’t even let us listen. I felt taken advantage of. Again.
We haven’t played in a while but it’s nice to have friends and free places to stay. Rene took some beautiful pictures of us I will post. Thoth also cooked which was lovely. One night he made salmon and another night he made chicken. Don has a nice kitchen so we can cook here, too. I love when Thoth cooks. I think next week we’ll go to Ruigoord to stay until we do a performance on September 11th then on Sunday we’re invited to do a prayformance in their church for the people from the village. Last night Rene cooked a delicious salmon pasta creme sauce and Thoth and I sang together. We’re going to have dinner with Rene later this week. We are blessed.






