Sarah’s Diary

Big driving day. Off to Genova to meet Max, who is playing the last 2 gigs. We put most of our stuff in his apartment, parked our tiny, little fuel efficient car in his parking spot and rode in his station wagon with him and his bass to Castiglion Fiorentino for a gig at Velvet Undergroud. Nice to have a break from driving, especially with all the tunnels. These tunnels were dug in the 60s and now is jammed full of vehicles. The right lane is almost a solid line of 18 wheelers that you have to squeeze past as it twists and turns.

We had probably our biggest laugh of the tour today, thanks to our GPS lady, who now has the name Griselda, like patient Griselda from Chaucer. We had to navigate up and up the hair pin folds of a street that she pronounced Via Gina Bustamente. When we were almost there, Slim declared that we only had 200 more feet of foreplay before we reached the Via Gina Bustamente.

Tuscany… WOW! Now we’re talking. This is the furthest south I have been in Italy and I can only hope that future tours will take us here and further. Max says that many people consider Tuscany as the part where Italy begins. This is certainly more in line with my idea of Italy. So many grape vines and villas and vistas. Stunning. Our little hotel is what they call Agrotourismo – meaning we are staying on the property of a small vineyard. The old town center was…. well, one of the classic quotes from this trip came from Francie, but has been adopted by all
“Wow… that’s some…. that’s some old shit.â€? She is earning her keep as our tour guide. And then of course the occasional ruined fortress elicits something like, “Look! That’s some REALLY old shit over there.â€? You have to say it like stoner to really get it.

Velvet Underground was cool and OLD. Here are some photos. There was a group of University of Texas students who came to our show because they are studying architecture there for the semester and staying in an old monastery around the corner from the club.

Best wine I had was made right there in Castiglion Fiorentino.

Silvio is our host and he is taking excellent care of us. He booked the show at Fluido, which is right on the River Po, the longest in Italy. We had lunch there.

Our first bass player, Cesare did a great job, especially at Fiori Oscuri. It was really a bummer not to be able to do our thing, our Texas, hippie, laid back, two beat, hottin’ and hollerin’ version of Jazz, but we had our moments with both Cesare and Max. Tonight in Torino, a sax player named Alfredo sat in with us. He told me on the break how Italian women sing a lot straighter than me… yeah, I know my phrasing is way back there. It was never on purpose, but enough people have mentioned it to where I realize it’s true. But he thought it was really great to get to play with REAL AMERICAN players like us and was telling Cesare that he must feel psyched to have the experience. I hope so. It was a lot to ask of Ceasre, to find him through email a few days before and then meet him and have a 1 hour rehearsal right before the gig. When Alfredo and Cesare were playing with us, I felt them leaning into their own, familiar way of “Playing Jazzâ€?, like they were locked in and there was more weight on the Italian side. Not tug-of-war in a bad way, but it was very interesting to hear the moments where things were cool and locked in, but not what we do and moments where we pulled them into our zone.

Here is a video from the encore at Nidaba. It was another great show. It was so full, people were watching from the doorway. We sold a lot of CDs. Slim had a lot of old friends there who are musicians and/or have helped book shows for him in previous decades. So many people from Austin play here, the posters on the wall for shows past and future make you feel like you’re at home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjNNmomCuA

another day off.

It looks like we got here just in time for one, glorious breakfast outside. The weather is turning. Now it is time for sweaters and layers. We went to Lugano. I got dropped of at my friend Angela from Texas’ home in Magliaso to visit for a few hours. We ate grapes from her neighbors vines that actually tasted like concord grape jelly. People are always foraging in her little village. So much of their food grows all around them. We shared a small gnocci and salad by the lake for $50. Very Idyllic. This lake is one of the shallower ones, so she says they can swim 2-3 months of the summer. (photos, when I remember how to get them in here).

We stopped into a few music venues to introduce ourselves for the future. 2 miles took 50 minutes. We lost 10 euro in the self-pay gas station machine.

Can’t wait to play Nidaba tomorrow. Such a great little hole in the wall venue.