Paris, pt. 1

Short blog from Paris. I've been here 8 hours and my head is spinning. It all started at the quartier latin, the university quarter of Paris. I paid respect to tradition and started at Place De Vosges, close to the maison Victor Hugo. After that, meeting up with my dear friend and former partner in all things music and dancing, Hester at her job and getting rid of my luggage.

From there on, to Jardin de Luxembourg, another old favorite from my past explorations of this magnificent city. I had coffee and finished an article on Cloud Nothings, the American powerpop group I interviewed for OOR Magazine last february during Festival FabrIQ (review HERE - in dutch). It will be the first article to be published in the actually (hardcopy) magazine. The great leap forward? Not sure. What popped into my head today was that while it really adds to my street cred to be published in an actual magazine, I would be the first one to close it down in favour of online journalism.

I'm meeting my friends Hester and Benjamin in a bit at a place near Montmartre. I decided to go early and wander around. As soon as I exited the subway, I noticed a huge sign saying "Bass center, for everything bass" (or something of a similar notion). Off course, I was intrigued! Like a rat in Hameln I followed the instructions on the sign and walked to Rue Douai. It turns out this is THE music shopping street of Paris. There's specific shops for bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, amps, effects and what not. And every shop is stacked out with gorgeous, sometimes very rare pieces. It was mesmerizing. I went from shop to shop to look at the goodies, and eventually ended up in the most ragged place of them all. There, covered in dust, stood a guitar I had been setting out to buy for a while now. It's an unlacquered, red Epiphone SG with 2 standard humbuckers. It was an occasion, so only 190 euro's. I had to buy it! I feel like such a tool because even though it's a small price to pay, money doesn't come easy. But still, I'm over the moon with it.

YIPPIKAYEE

so there.

Now I'm off meeting my friends at a club called Carmen. It's in the old mansion of famous composer Georges Bizet, who is said to have written the famous opera the club ows its name to right there. Exciting stuff, looking forward to checking it out...

cheers,

J