AmStErDaM the ToUr beGinS

I arrived from Amsterdam on a direct flight from San Francisco.  When I arrived in the baggage area I united with my bandmate, Justin who arrived directly from Los Angeles.

My second suitcase-guitar did not make the flight and is still missing.  It was boxed up and checked in as baggage along with some other batteries and electronics.  Buggers.  However, Justin and I were happy to see each other and start exploring.

We stopped at the 420 smoke shop on the lost trek to our hostel to see what all the fuss was about.

We then stumbled into the Flying pig Hostal and were hurting with jet lag. I didn’t get much sleep the night prior either ’cause i was prepping for this trip.

    

           

My favorite places to busk are in front of live peep shows.  For some reason all the men in there throw euros out at you.  Justin and I are the weirdos and play in front of the live sex show theaters, but we feel an unease when the local gangsters question are affect with their businesses.

We still had to explore our first night and Justin couldn’t help but play his guitar in the bar that night either. Somehow our first night we stayed out meeting new friends at different spots and along the canal and ended up at a house party until 6 am.

I almost collapsed when the sun came out and we saw the rabbits hopping next to the birds chirping.  We overdid ourselves and today we woke up hurting, but this would need to officially be our first day of hitting the streets with our amps plugged in.  WE haven’t rehearsed much together, but we connect fast and our first day we gathered a large crowd in front of a plaza playing all my original tunes which will be available online next week.

We also played the plaza for two hours and then we played in a quiet section of the Canals in the Red Light district.

WE then took a short ride on a train to the Van Gogh Hotel where I will be staying tonight.  It is right across the Van Gogh museum and near Vondelpark.  Vondelpark was bustling today with people playing music and large groups cooking and drinking freely.

It was extremely busy with bike traffic and cops on bicycle grouped in different areas.  Justin and I charged in and looked for a quiet spot to play, but as soon as I saw a percussionist alone i bolted towards him.  The percussionist teamed up with us and they shut of the techno music so a large crowd could hear.

We had a great jam in that section of the park and I had a great time dancing with some locals.  We then hit another chill spot in front of the water on the park and made some new friends. A jazz singer joined randomly joined us and justin threw down some jazz standards for her.

All in all I am jet-lagged and hungover, but Amsterdam is proving to be an energetic city.  People have been wonderful, giving us free beer in the park with warm welcomes – such lively, fun and intelligent people.

We are meeting more musicians on the road and our band will grow.  The website will be up next week with the album available for streaming, free download, and the full album for sale.  Today was such a wonderful day of sharing my music and hanging out with my musical brother.  The road is coming to us.