TravelBlog

A little Kitchener, and a lot of Mo's

2011-11-11T09:16:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, Nov 5th we performed in Kitchener at the Jazz Room. What a fantastic venue!

Sad we had to miss the Sausage Fest...

Movember updates...

East Coast Tour!

2011-11-10T15:53:00.001-08:00

Dan arrived in Toronto on Oct 30th. We were both so excited, we could hardly contain ourselves!

The next day was Joel's B-day, so we decided to greet him at the airport with a welcome and Happy B-Day sign (courtesy of my lovely and talented wife, Jenny)

Halloween was the next day, so we put Joel right to work carving a pumpkin.

It was a sad pumpkin.

On October 31st, we departed for PEI to play some gigs and lead some masterclasses. We travel in Jazzy style.

While in Charlottetown, Dan wanted to buy a toque. Where better to get a Canadian toque then Roots?

So, for the month of November, or Movember, men all around Canada are growing moustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer. This is what we look like on day 1.

We went out for a B-Day dinner with Joel at the Gahan House in PEI. Yummy food, and a nice B-Day Brownie for Joel.

Some pics from Charlottetown. I'm sad that we missed "Muddy Buddy."

Lunch at Swiss Chalet. Swizznay!!!!

We drove to Wolfville, NS where we stayed at a cute B&B

We played a great gig at Acadia University. It was well attended, and I think people really dug what we were doing!

In the morning we were invited to Mark Adam's place for some breakfast. It was YUMMY!

There was a chicken in the kitchen

Dan looks good with a oven mitt on.

I was not so happy about my Minnie Mouse coffee mug

Thanks Mark Adam, and thanks Acadia!

Unfortunately, my camera broke when we arrived in Antigonish so that's all the pics I have from the East Coast. But, I just arrived in the West Coast so more pics will follow!

Opio - Day 10 and 11

2011-10-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmm...this morning started with a fantastic breakfast at the b&b. Michel explains to us what's for breakfast.

Our host, Michel. He was working on cutting those bushes for quite a while. He told me it takes him a week when he does it.

After a great run around Opio, we were driven into Nice by Robert and Jocelyne to check out Nice, and do some shopping for our lady friends. The market was quite a sight, and amazingly colourful!

Hilarious...I guess this is proof that jazz drumming really isn't that hard.

Here's a bunch of pictures of beautiful Nice. Wow, right?!?

The water looks AMAZING! I wish I could have jumped in.

We took an elevator to the top of this lookout point. It was breathtaking.

There was also a beautiful man-made waterfall up there. Dan had an Irish Spring moment.

We had lunch in a main square in Nice. It was a perfect Nicoise lunch. Great food, nice rose, beautiful scenery, great conversation and yummy gelato for dessert!

In the evening we had our performance at the Salle Polyvalente in Opio. The audience was great, and they really dug the music!

Here are some performance pictures taken by Yves Moch. Thanks Yves!

The sun sets on our European tour now, but we will be heading across Canada in a couple of weeks!

The sun rises on the Alps....seen from my 6am flight from Nice to Munich. I'll be home soon!

Opio - Day 9

2011-10-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today, we are traveling to Nice, France. After a week of clouds are rain, I'm looking forward to the gorgeous Cote D'Azur.

We were picked up at the airport by two of our hosts, Patricia and Philippe. They are really fantastic people, and we had a nice lunch at Patricia's house.

The countryside around Opio is incredible. It's very scenic, and I had to serious work at restraining myself from taking 8000 pictures. Here's a couple.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast type place right next to our hosts house. This was the entrance to my room.

Dan, Adrean and I decided to go for a walk. There is a big banner about our gig in the nearby roundabout! How cool!

On our walk, we discovered a fruit tree of some sort. Perhaps a fig tree? Olives? We weren't sure, but we definitely investigated. We tried to use our senses...

Afterwards, Patricia took us for a "touristique" drive to Antibes and Juan de Pins. Again, it was gorgeous and we were all psyched to breathe the beautiful ocean air.

We found a beach at Juan de Pins and spent some time there. I really wanted to swim, but I fought the urge (as I didn't have any swimming stuff on me)

Patricia's house is really slick. Her and her husband Michel designed it themselves, and they have lots of stylish art.

We saw a particularly beautiful sunset

Afterwards we had a reception with the volunteers from JazzUp (who were hosting us.) We put on a little impromptu concert in Patricia's living room.

Some fun with the fish-eye lens.

Tomorrow, we hang in Opio and perform at night. Last full day on tour!

Back to Munich - Day 7

2011-10-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

A couple more funny German things I saw...
Tricky Ricky hand soap. Tricky Ricky? Really??

Polenta with Roadkill

Before we left Marburg, we went to a woodwind shop so Joel could try some mouthpieces.

Bizarre Poster in Munich

Another Music Hall bites the dust!

Had a great dinner with Adrean and Dan. Appetizers of sausages for Dan and I. Adrean had awesome tomato soup. The mains were killing. Pork chops with Mushrooms (for Adrean and Dan) and I had pork chops with onions. It was great.

Sissi Mode - hee hee hee

We did a little bit of drinking this night. Beers as big as my head!

Love my band....

Day 6 - Marburg

2011-10-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

This morning, we got up bright and early for a 6 hour drive to Marburg, Germany. Time to say goodbye to the Czech Republic. We went to a supermarket to get some breakfast and decided to use the self-checkout. We single-handedly brought the line to a standstill.

We arrived in Marburg around 3:30 (still love the Autobahn!) an checked in to our chic hotel

We had a great gig at Jazz Club Cavete. The club has been open since the 60's and Art Blakey and Elvin performed there!

Before the show we went out to the Curryhaus for some great indian food! My stomach was only a little upset.

I'm still fascinated by the German language....

Right before the show, Dan and I went on a little stroll through the quaint town of Marburg.

We had a nice audience for the show, and they seemed to really dig the music.

Big thanks to Lars, Carsten and everybody at the JazzInitiative Marburg for bringing us to Jazz Club Cavete.

Tomorrow we are off to Munich for a couple of days off.

Prague - Day 5

2011-10-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today started off a little rough. Due to a little too much fun at Klub Alterna, Dan and I missed lobby call by about 20 minutes, at which point Adrean called to wake us. Oops. Bad bandleader!
We got on the road for Prague...approximately a 2 hour drive. Unfortunately I accidentally told the GPS to avoid toll roads, so it took us over 3 hours. Then, I discovered my mistake so we got on the highway. We were promptly pulled over by the Czech police and given a 125Euro ticket for not buying a highway pass. Obviously we should have known (as there are no signs explaining this) that we needed this stupid 4 Euro pass.

Anyways, we arrived in Prague. We decided to go for a walk and explore the beautiful city. It's amazing! Very old and beautiful.

There's an amazing astrological clock in the main square. I don't know how to read it or what it all means, but it looks pretty darn cool!

The river in Prague is very beautiful, and our hotel was right on it!

We walked back to our hotel and on the way back we saw a segue tour. Stupid segues. They look really dorky.

When we arrived back at our hotel lobby we noticed this strange mannequin (man that's hard to spell...) in the lobby. What an awesome name!

We went back to the main square in town to play our gig. I got some nice night time pics of the architecture.

Our gig was at a restaurant called Bily Konicek. It was a fun gig, but unfortunately the person that was supposed to lend us a keyboard got the dates mixed up. So, Adrean got the night off and we played trio.

When we returned to our car after the gig, we discovered that our car had been booted because we had accidentally parked where we weren't supposed to. If only one of us could read Czech!

Oh well...tomorrow's another day. At least the gig was fun! Tomorrow we're driving 6 hours for a gig in Marburg, Germany. We've had a great time in the Czech Republic, but at this point I'll be happy to leave all those annoying police behind!

Brno - Day 4

2011-10-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest....this post is mostly about food. Just sayin'

This morning we were given a traditional Czech breakfast at the hotel. Our choices were ham and eggs or sausage. I'm not really crazy about eggs, so I ordered the sausage....

After breakfast we hopped in the car and drove to Brno, Czech Republic. It was a quick drive (3 hours) and upon arrival Dan and I went out to grab some lunch.

This was the menu...

Pretty easy to read right?!? Luckily the waiter was very nice and he hooked us up with some great food. We both had soup, and goulash. It was very yumma!

After checking in to our stylish hotel....

Dan and I went for a walk around town.

We saw some interesting things, including this ad for meat

Then we went to play our gig at Klub Alterna

After sound check we were taken out to a great restaurant for dinner. The food was great, and we were all on our best behavior!

We had a fantastic gig at the club (best one yet!)

Afterwards we stayed to hang out with the manager Daniel. We had some drinks...perhaps a couple too many!

One of the bartenders taught us how to pour a proper pint. Dan was almost awesome.

Tomorrow we are off to Prague! Very exciting. Rest is necessary. Good night for now...Thanks Brno and Klub Alterna!

Day 3 - Teplice

2011-10-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a bit of a rough one. I think this was due to the combination of little too much fun last night, going to bed at 4:30am and jet lag. But we had a great gig, so that made it all worthwhile!

First off, a little aside about the van we are renting. I was pretty sad when I saw our giant stupid black van. I was excited about driving on the Autobahn, and this didn't seem like it would be able to keep up!

What I soon discovered is that even the vans in Germany are super-well made. This one happens to be a Mercedes, and I was soon doing 150km/h on the Autobahn!

Now, back to our travels. We hopped in our speedy van and drove 4 hours to Teplice, Czech Republic. It was a beautiful drive through the country side, and we saw some beautiful stuff. Unfortunately I was driving so I don't really have any pictures of that, but I did take this one while we were stopped getting gas.

Speaking of gas, the super van only takes Diesel. I went to the gas station in CZ and the nozzle didn't even fit in the tank! But, I carefully filled it anyways, and only spilled a bunch all over me and the floor. Oops. I should have just followed the advice on the side of the gas tank, and played trumpet in a wheelchair.

We arrived in Teplice around 3:30pm at our hotel, the Hotel Dexter. It was a neat place, with flat-like apartments.

After a brief rest (and run through the city by Dan and I) we headed over to the aptly named Teplice Jazz Club. It was a cute spot, and we had a great gig for an appreciative audience.

After sound check, Dan and I went on a little roam around town. Here's some scenery pics!

Tomorrow, we are off to Brno, Czech Republic. More fun to follow!

Pfaffenhofen - Day 2

2011-10-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

I got to watch the Leafs game (game 1) on my puter. They looked like garbage in the 1st, but they won...Hooray!
Had a tough time sleeping...I can't imagine why....

In the morning, Adrean and I did some grocery shopping before we went to the airport to pick up Dan and Joel. Saw some strange things at the grocery store...

Afterwards, Adrean and I drove to the airport to pick up Dan and Joel...

Then we drove to Pfaffenhofen Germany. Upon arrival, Dan and I went on a walk to find some lunch, and check out the town. I had the schnitzel. It was great

We played a super fun gig at the Kunsterwerkstatt. It looked like a woodworking shop, but the audience was awesome, and they loved the show! We had a great hang afterwards as well.

When we got back to the hotel, we watched the exciting end to the Brewers-Diamondbacks game.Joel was really excited the Brewers won!
On to Teplice, Czech Republic!

Munich - Day 1

2011-10-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

Adrean and I arrived in Munich this morning (after a wonderful 1-hour sleep on our flight)
Once we had picked up our Meatwagon

we drove into Munich to our hotel. We went out for a brief pint and some lunch (pint = so good, food that's not airplane food = also sooooo good!)After a nap, we went out to grab some dinner, and check out Munich. It's beautiful here! Adrean and I spent some time laughing at the German language...We went to the Hofbrauhaus, which is a giant beer house/tourist trap for a pint. They only serve beers in 1 litre stiens. I had to try one!
Munich is an incredibly beautiful city, and St. Peter's Cathedral is really breathtaking!
I'm trying to stay awake (it's 12:30am here) to watch the Leafs game (which starts at 1am.) we'll see how I do. CNN is getting boring, but watching tv shows in German is even harder! Here's a little video I made at the Hoffbrauhaus...Enjoy!

ACQ West Coast Tour 2011 - Seattle and Portland

2011-03-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

I flew to Seattle on Air Canada Jazz....allllllriight

ACQ? Beatles?

The Space Needle

Mark Lau

ACQ by the lake

Performing at Lucid in Seattle

The ACQ on a tractor at the Cabe farm

View from the stage - Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, OR

Mark Lau

Messing around backstage

With the Cabes on our last minutes in Seattle

End of Western Tour

2010-10-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Masterclass at Capilano University in Vancouver, BC

Western tour is finished. We had a blast! The audiences were really great, and super-receptive! Dan has gone back to NYC (sad...), and the rest of us have a couple of days off in Toronto. Joel and I are going to the Leafs game tomorrow night (happy!) We're looking forward to our 2 nights at the Rex and 2 nights at Cafe Paradiso. Hope to see you there!

3-D glasses for viewing Jackass 3-D....wow....weird dudes!

At the airport....end of Western Tour....boooooooo!

Beautiful Vancouver

2010-10-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

At the base of the mountain. Pretty cool to be at Cypress

Really cool root system

Rickety Bridge

This is how we found our way to the summit

More crazy roots

At the summit

This humongous raven was eyeing our food. We chased him off though (cause we're tough)

Edmonton, and back to Calgary

2010-10-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

Saskatoon

2010-10-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

2 days in Saskatoon. Saturday we played at the Bassment. What a great jazz club.
Sunday, we played a jazz vespers at Mayfair United Church. The service was really nice, and the audience really appreciative. Afterwards, we drove 6 hours to Edmonton (arriving at 3am.)
Enjoy the video!

Calgary - October 15th

2010-10-16T00:49:00.000-07:00

So, Continental Airlines....huh....what fun. Joel and Dan left Brooklyn at 5am and got to Calgary at 7:30pm (which is 9:30 pm in NYC.) WTF?!? Luckily, they are proffesh and they played their butts off!

Adrean and I had a much easier travel time. We left Toronto at 11:30 and got to Calgary by 2pm local. Nice'n easy

So, tomorrow we're driving 8 hours to Saskatoon for a gig at the Bassment. Will try and video from the road!

MEM3 Canada Tour (April 2010) - Montreal

2010-04-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

So, here we are in Montreal...

Here's some pics from Day 1

Mike gets started early...

(actually, that was my beer...)

Setting up at Upstairs

ACQ - Brockton, MA

2009-12-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

I let Amy do the majority of talking on this one....ACQ tour of Eastern US.

The stage at the Jazz Standard, right before we rocked the house!

Marky backstage

Also Marky backstage

Smooshed in the car

Mike the party animal

Winter shenanigans....man it was cold

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Toronto

2009-12-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

An Update from Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Vernon

2009-11-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

Last Video Update...Travelling to Vernon, BC and back

Home now...we're leaving for Montreal in about a week, so there will be more soon!

Ninja

2009-11-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Victoria

2009-11-21T01:51:00.000-08:00

Video Update - Victoria

Battle of the BC Ferry

On the ferry, en route to Vancouver

Dan and Adrean at the airport

The Quartet, a prom photo...at the airport

Vancouver, at dusk

The oil ships

An inuit statue

bird on light...

ferns

Lovers lane....uhhhh...we just happened upon it...

Cool tree....cut down...booooo...

Dan's next album cover....strong, no?

pretty duck

Dan likes cupcakes!

Me and my buddy Iain

Dan, me and Iain

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Vancouver

2009-11-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

Video Update - Vancouver

Long, long drive to Saskatoon...

Jazzy News? The ECQ Storms Canada!

Joel's not so sure...

but I'm convinced...

the world DOES need more Canada!

Foos in the airport

Dan scores!

but I win!

a reasonably priced meal at the airport.....just joking

Hangin' in Vancouver (with Dan's friend, Erin)

wicked shades

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Brandon

2009-11-17T00:48:00.001-08:00

Video Update - Special from Dan Loomis...

Dan and the large rooster spoon

Sunset in Saskatoon

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Saskatoon

2009-11-14T23:31:00.000-08:00

Video update - Saskatoon!

Foot massages at the West Edmonton Mall

Seen in the back of a pickup truck in Edmonton...creepy....

ECQ Cross-Canada Tour - Edmonton

2009-11-13T00:08:00.000-08:00

Video #1 - Edmonton (thanks to Dan, my new camerman/hype master)

The Roller-Coaster @ The West Edmonton Mall - The Mind Bender

Action shot of the Mind-Bender...Joel looks positively creepy!

Goodbye Japan!

2009-11-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

Feast on the last night....man, do they love to give speeches!

Breakfast of Champions

This toilet had a remote, with instructions. I know it seems like I'm obsessed with toilets, but these people take it REALLY serious

Waddya think? Possible album cover? I took this shot myself

I find this kitty thing a little creepy

Alright...this is the opposite of the remote control toilet. This one? just a hole....

Concert in Yamagata, view from the drum throne

Sayonara!

Music Shots, and video update

2009-11-03T06:07:00.001-08:00

Conference time...Our first performance at the Sugita Theatre in Yokohama

My Drums

Sound Check...160+ years worth of experience....

Having fun back stage....weeeee!

Autograph Session

Recording session in Tokyo with Hiromi Masuda

Everyone loves taking pictures...some stereotypes live...

Gene and Hiromi

Gene and I

Everything made a little more sense when Neil saw things from our point of view...

Performing at DeLonghi's Restaurant in Tokyo

Gene serenading Johfu-san - Recording Session with Ted Brown in Yokohama

Ted and Neil chatting

Our Producer Johfu, and our driver Hiro...listening to the tracks

Video update, and Korean BBQ fun!

2009-11-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

Had Korean BBQ for dinner. It was fantastic!

Went for a walk around the 'hood

2009-11-01T05:05:00.000-08:00

At many restaurants, they have plastic models of the food. Creepy at first, until you realize you can't read the menu at all...

Lunch

At times you can almost forget you're in a foreign country...

But then, it's made blatantly obvious again. Dig the taiko drumming game....I should have played it!

Even in the public washrooms, you can still squirt your bum (if this doesn't really make any sense, check out my first post...)

"Thomas was a little concerned when the new neighbours moved in..."

I like this picture...I can't believe this actually exists...

More line-ups for bad food...

Across from the hotel

My hotel, the Navios

Japanese business man riding off into the sunset...unconcerned, or unaware that his bike is pink

Signage

2009-10-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

From the World Series coverage in Japan....man they love Matsui!

Seen in the elevator at the Navios Hotel

Brutally honest, what they think of Americans....ouch

McD's...of course, there's tons of people there!

ha ha ha...

Also lots of people at KFC. A line-up out the store!

hmmmm...I'm not sure if they know the colloquial meaning of "loose"

Some Japanese Scenery, and an update...

2009-10-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

Tokyo electronics store. Incredibly colourful!

The front door of the restaurant we ate at...and our GIANT beers

Tokyo at night

Pachinko is this gambling thing that's HUGE in Japan. It's like slots, but involves these tiny ball bearings. I'm going to try it one of these days...

Japanese cab...sweet ride!

Tokyo subway around 10 pm. Packed, and dig the surgeon's mask on the lady in the middle. I'm not sure yet why people where those, but they freak me out a little...

All found in the hotel "vendor room." Juice, pop, beer, smokes and japanese food!

You want to tell them, or should I....

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Just Arrived in Japan!

2009-10-27T17:44:00.001-07:00

Japanese Safety Precautions

My first "authentic" Japanese meal, courtesy of Air Canada

Many "toileting" options

I didn't know it was necessary to stress this...

Sunrise outside my hotel window

Cool kimono and slippers, courtesy of the Navios Hotel

How do I look?