The Journey Itself Is Home

I had SUCH A GREAT TIME YESTERDAY! WE performed Where Is the Line, among other songs. It was a splendid setlist.

Usually after a long break (this time we have had a five weeks’ vacation) our first concert is something of a mishap. I’m not saying it is a total failure, just that we are often quite rusty and make mistakes, often accompanied by technical problems. At least, that’s how I experience it. But not yesterday. The vibes were beautiful and I think everyone did their very best.

Today we drove to London. I wore an amazing sleeper hoodie made Burton Snowboards, sent to me as a gift by one of their team managers, no less. I highly recommend it!

The tour has begun again. It is now more than a year since it started. In my reconing it begun on April 1 with our very first live performance, though the first REAL concert was on April 9.

The harpsichord I’m playing on sounds nice and resonant, I tried it yesterday. A lot better than the harpsigurdy I played on in Japan…

Last night I heard Wonderbrass having a rehearsal from an adjacent room. I considered knocking on the wall, just to tease them!

We arrived in Manchester yesterday. It was raining. Kind of depressing, really.

It is still grey outside. Hopefully, tonight will be more fun.

Great concert in Shanghai! Björk sang Tibet, Tibet… during Declare Your Independence. I was so happy I kissed her for it afterwards. I read somewhere that Björk’s inclusion of Tibet’s name in the song had gone more or less unnoticed by the audience, but I definitely felt hostility.

Maybe it was just me…

After the concert many of us went to a fabulously beautiful restaurant in Shanghai which used to be the British consulate. I didn’t stay long though, for those going to Iceland had to get up early in the morning.

I’m in Reykjavík now, which is wonderful. This will be my last entry for a while. See you all in April!

We arrived here on Friday after a splendid stay in Hong Kong. Our concert there was very good, I think, though we did have some technical problems. Something happened during Hyperballad that wasn’t supposed to happen, and the electronic harpsichord kind of died on me early in the evening. Nonetheless we were all in high spirits and the audience was GREAT.

Yesterday was interesting. In the morning I went to the place where my grandfather spent his last years. And in the afternoon I hooked up with Björk and a few others of the group to see a Chinese opera.

In the beginning the screeching falsetto of the singers made us all have a laughing fit. But then the monotony of the music started to have a dulling effect on us that was strangely soothing.

After some time had passed though, it was no longer soothing.

The last hour was pure hell!

I suppose many Chinese persons would say the same thing about some (maybe all) modern Western operas…

Anyway, tonight is our last concert for a while. Tomorrow we will go home for a vacation - we look so much forward to it!

I took this one today. It shows a woman praying in front of a Taoist (?) shrine, more or less right on the street.

I had fun in Hong Kong today. In the morning I went with a friend to SoHo (which here means “South of Hollywood Road” - yes, they have a road by that name) and had a fantastic meal. My friend, who has lived here for more than a decade, told me that the food was of Szechuan origin, which is a province in China. The Chinese food found in the West is usually Cantonese, i.e. from the Guangdong Province. The Cantonese food is more mellow than the Sezchuan, which is spicier and has a richer taste.

After lunch I walked back to the hotel, enjoying the sights of the city and savouring the somewhat decadent atmosphere. Outside the entrance I met a few of the brass girls and told them I had just had a blissful taste of Sezchuan cuisine.

One of them misheard me and thought I had said “sexual cuisine”.

Alas, no such luck.

Excellent concert in Osaka tonight. We performed Undo from Vespertine. Don’t remember having done that live before, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t do it. I just don’t remember it.

I think the harpsichord gave it a magical aura. The brass was also powerful, as was the rest of the gang.

The capacity of the house was 16000 I believe. As far as I could see it was full.

This concludes our Japanese tour. Tomorrow: China!!!

My grandfather was Chinese, he spent his last years in Shanghai. Can’t wait to see where he lived!

Other terms are:

Consulting your ASStrological chart
Dropping the kids off at the pool
Full moon over troubled waters

The list is seemingly endless.

Doing it with a high-tech gadget such as the one found in my hotel room in Osaka…

Pure delight!

I saw someone say somewhere on this website that if Björk were a religion, he would convert.

What kind of a religion would that be? And what kind of a church?

A Björch?

n69n wrote (and I totally agree):

“i always think of the differences between the tokyo & nyc subways & how they reflect their cultures.

“usa = marilyn monroe
japan = audrey hepburn

“i liked japan very much. it was the first time i ever felt respected as an artist.

“in america, if you say you are an artist, you might as well be saying “i am a homeless bum!”
but in japan, even if they are just being polite, people are interested in your work.

“there is no value on ettiquette or art in america.

“in tokyo, people would leave their bikes unlocked outside the subway station. i asked my friend, “arent they afraid of someone stealing their bikes?”

“he looked bewildered by the question, and said, “no one would steal another person’s bike, because then someone would steal *their* bike.”

“like, the karma was so instant & obvious, no one would even think of going there.”