i'm trying to be a good student, i really am. i've spent every day this week at the public library. the problem is that there are so many fun things to do here in amsterdam, that even being at the library is distracting. there are a bunch of good parties and shows on any given night INCLUDING THE ONES AT THE LIBRARY. last night when i was trying to study diligently, there was a reception going on at the library upstairs and about a hundred metres away there was a live performance going on with a girl playing on a beautiful guitar, recording for a TV show.
also, the library serves beer.
i know when not to fight fate, so after a few hours of studying i went to the awkward i CD release party at Paradiso, one of the cooler music venues in Amsterdam. i already liked awkward i's music from before, but i was not prepared for how enjoyable the live performance would be. it was a packed house and the stage was just as packed, with cello, violin, trombone, pedal steel, loads of guitars, drums, a vintage organ, and even an autoharp and A SAW.
i'm always amazed at the Dutch's talent for writing music in a language that is not their native tongue. you forget when you listen to the recordings, but when you go to the live shows and all the stage banter is in dutch (and everyone is laughing except you), you definitely remember.
afterwards i biked over to the party at the Containers and ran into Ioanna and Marie who were sitting on the shore watching the harbour. i joined them for a bit and we talked a bit about the universal language of music. Marie told me about how she traveled through Cuba without knowing a word of Spanish, and then one day she saw some musicians standing near a piano, and asked if she could jam with them...and ended up playing for hours, even though they didn't speak Danish and she didn't speak Spanish. i also found out that Ioanna used to play the accompanying music at the circus in Romania. i love these random characters and their random stories.
