Amadeus Euro Tour 2008 ~ Tour Blog

Tour Entry #1 – June 4th 2008 – Flight New York – Berlin

After a disaster with continental airlines, some 8 or 9 years ago, where the airline and its European partner KLM delayed my 56 hours (loooong story), I was reluctant to book another flight with them but due to the high prices of flights to Europe during the summer months every penny saved made a big difference. Even if it meant flying out of Newark. I must say though that I was pleasantly surprised. The Check-In was a breeze due to touch screen counters, which are assisted each by a continental employee followed by a quick security run through (it helped that I cut into the airport workers line, haha). The person checking the screen saw my sampler in my bag and asked if I had a Playstation and as usual my backpack was taken off the conveyor belt to be checked for explosive device ingredients or whatever (since I carry always carry my DJ gear with me on the plane and in the past had the weirdest questions asked including what record needles were or people wondering that vinyl records were still made). Nothing was found and I had a chill two hours in the terminal (hey better early than late) and I come to know that Newark Airport, though in dirty jersey, is actually a lot less crowded, has a lot more stores and a much nicer food court than Laguardia or JFK. Upon entering the aircraft there was almost no line, and I was lucky enough to score an exit row with extended foot space. Not only that but this was the smallest plane I ever flew to Europe with (I’ve flown every year for the past 11 years since I’ve moved to the states, so I have plenty of experience), which was nice because the bathrooms were never crowded. Not only that but each seat has a widescreen (!) TV set in the headrest of the seat in front with a choice of TV shows, 15 or so movies (classics and new ones) as well as arcade games (!) and music. Then the food was served pretty much right away in the air (maybe 30 mins in). My silverware was actually real silverware, not plastic, better for you and the environment, and though mine came with a spoon and two knives, the guy behind me, his came with two forks and a spoon so we traded and everyone was happy. The food wasn’t very good (when is it ever), the chicken too dry, the rice too bland and the veggies soggy. The salad too small and I didn’t bother with the roll or the chocolate brownie. Wow this blog is getting super interesting. Haha. My handy flight map in my tv just told me it’s another 6 hours 26 minutes to Berlin. Time to chill out, catch some z’s, maybe organize some tunes for this weekend and watch some movies. See you guys there (as Mr. Rogers would say).

Tour entry # 2 ~ June 5th ~ arrival in Berlin

Upon arrival in Berlin (june 5th), I was picked up by my brother and his good friend Dino, whose big van escorted us to my mom’s place in Berlin. Amazing weather and seeing my family again made my day right there. Since I only slept about an hour on the plane (my seat wouldn’t recline, grrr), I was pretty exhausted but the excitement and a lavish breakfast brought me back on my feet. This day was dedicated to chillin. Hit up my childhood friend Tomek, we grabbed some brews and snacks and went to the park, and kicked it in the grass riverside. Now that’s how you begin your stay in Europe ☺ Great food and company, some drinks and some catching up were the topic of the day. I made it until about 1am until passing out. At 3:30am I jolted out of bed wide awake. It took 1.5 hours to fall back asleep so I checked emails, message boards and played around online. Damn jetlag.

Tour entry # 3 ~ June 6th & 7th the first two gigs in Berlin & Dresden

Waking up in the early afternoon on Friday, another great breakfast awaited me. The weather was amazing once again (and has been ever since) but I spent most of the day burning backup cd’s and sorting tunes. The past weeks before tour were pretty stressful so I kinda took it easy and just stayed inside. Around 8pm the first people started coming around our place to pre-party. Some of my friends, lots of my brother’s friends and voila: we had a huge posse getting ready to roll out and light up the night. Though I was supposed to go to soundcheck around 10:30pm, I didn’t end up going, was expecting a call from the promoter which never came but no biggie. After years of using serato and since I had already bought all my necessary conversion plugs and cables (European outlets have different voltage as well as plugs) last tour, I can pretty much set up in a few minutes. We rolled out to the VCF around 12:30am, all 15 of us taking the train a few stops. At the club the bouncer was pretty strict but he was just doing his job, and after sorting out the list everyone was happy. The club was pretty dope. It is located in one of the warehouse under the big arches underneath the above ground trains. Like a big dungeon, with cool lighting, a wicked sound system, a pretty big dancefloor and a long bar (good for access). There weren’t a lot of people there, so we just listened to the opening dj from the 2 hard Kru the crew hosting the party, and knocked back the brews. It was dope catching up with my boy Freesteppa, a good friend and a staple in the german drum n’ bass scene. Every US tour he usually comes to chill in Brooklyn with me, so it was nice to catch him in berlin (even though he lives in southern germany – Mannheim). He always knows how to get the people on the dancefloor with his sets and the party started heating up. Though it wasn’t packed the people enjoyed themselves and were ready for some serious sounds once Heist (Metalheadz) manned the decks. It was getting late (heist played ‘til 4:30) and his set was a bit all over the place, ranging from hard dark techstep to almost liquid funk, but with skipping a few transitional styles. Anywho, people started trickling out. By the time I was on to close out the party, the crowd had thinned out but the people left were dancing maniacs. I kept it more on the drum n’ bass side of ragga (well, I guess that is my style anyways) and rocked it til 6am. Big up all dance crew! Thanks to the 2 Hard Kru, Bassfieber peoples and Roly for making it a good night, solidly hosted and lots of fun, despite the so-so turnout. When we finally strolled out of the club around 6:30am, the sun was up, I felt like someone had tossed me into a clothes dryer and spat me into the sun. It was sooo bright. Thanks to my close friends Tomek & Sascha who kept the commute home (though short it felt like 100 miles) pleasant and entertaining. This jetlag is still killin me. I just fell onto the pullout couch and was out like a light.

Event Flyer:

DJ Freesteppa:

The boys:

Saturday ~ woken up at 1pm by Mighty Melody, the promoter in Dresden, hitting me up with the info for my travels to Dresden, a two hour car ride south of Berlin. She really did a great job finding a Mitfahrgelegenheit, after being on the phone forever. The aforementioned long ass german word refers to a way of people posting up on a website when and where they are driving, no matter how far or close within germany. Then they offer a spot in their car and a good price, much cheaper than train or even the discount airlines in Europe. It’s kind of based on a trust system but it’s really helpful since it’s a pretty easy way to travel and it’s inexpensive. At 3pm I went to the main berlin train station which is only a 15 min walk from where I was staying and quickly found my ride. After waiting for two girls who were also going down to Dresden, the packed car rolled out. I was pretty much sleeping the whole ride, only woken up by the girls in the backseat wanting me to roll up or roll down the window. Since the AC was broken, I did prefer the latter but the airflow was messing up their hair or something. Anywho. Arriving in Dresden around 5:30pm, I was picked up by Mighty Melody, Eddy (a promoter working for the Puschkin, tonight’s venue) and a member of Sensi Movement, a successful german sound system, who were gonna run tings in the reggae room at tonight’s party.
They dropped me and MM off at an apartment where we were gonna stay and then at the park for a chill session, enjoying the rest of the sunshine and just chatting away. After dinner in a nearby asian restaurant we went back to the crib to hang a bit, and get everything together. Then it was on to the venue for soundcheck. Everything was set and the party kicked off. It was good to see D.I.S. there, with whom I’ve spoken online forever but never met in person. We retreated to the backstage room which was actually on the 2nd floor and where sensi movement and a few others were already relaxed on the couches. The room also had a fridge with plenty of beer, liquor, mixers, energy drinks and water and you could climb out the window to kick it on the roof and watch the people venturing into the venue. The ideal way to enjoy the pre-performance time. Many interesting conversations ensued and we finally ventured back downstairs around 1:20am or so. I wanted to catch some of Mighty Melody’s set. The club was packed and people were dancing their asses off. The reggae room was vibin too, and in the main room, MM heated up the crowd something wicked. Around 2am I manned the decks and the ride was on. Complete with torch n’ flame from lit hairspray cans (dancehall / clash stylee), feet stomping and big shouts for rewinds. Fun set, amazing crowd, now that was the tour kickoff I was waiting for. After the set I joined D.I.S. in the outside area, where fires were lit in big barrels and the horizon slowly started lighting up. The last dj’s set became a B2B session, and him, MM and me rocked it til the club closed. Once the people were all out the door, the real afterparty started. A handful of us, including the two venue managers drank, laughed and enjoyed whatever tunes MM and I were slappin on the cdj, while D.I.S. played with the mixer’s onboard effects and looped the tunes on the cdj, under MM’s watchful eye though haha. Leaving the club around 7:30 or so, it was bright day outside and already hot. The sun burned our eyes and brains so we jumped in the cabs rather quickly and jetted back to the crib. I passed out on the couch around 8am with D.I.S. on the other end. Around 1pm, MM started preparing what turned out to be a lavish breakfast (yeah yeah I know, my gushing about breakfast again but it’s a cultural thing in Europe and really the only way to start a day on no sleep and feeling the remnants of last night’s party) and I showered. D.I.S., MM and I ate, shared some more stories and relaxed on the balcony until it was time for my ride back to Berlin. Thank you Dresden for a flawless night, amazing hosting, great vibes and crazy fun party. I hope to be back very soon!

Event Flyer:

D.I.S. (Ruff-E-Nuff Crew):

Mighty Melody (Seance De Danse):

Me in Dresden:

Back in berlin in the late afternoon and euro cup fever had befallen the city. Germany was playing Poland in their first game. I was tired from the previous two nights and sitting in a crammed van for a few hours but nothing a few beers couldn’t fix right ? After a big meal, my brother and I went over to my friends’ place and a bunch of us went to check out the game at an indoor / outdoor bar / restaurant. It was of course packed but once the 2nd halftime kicked off we had some pretty good spots. Germany won 2:0, so everyone was live and the beer was flowing. Good times. A late thai dinner rounded out the day and we ventured home. Looking forward to a good night of sleep. Gotta kick this jetlag once and for all.

German Soccer Fans:

Berlin Main Train Station at night:

Tour Entry #3 ~ A few days in Berlin ~ June 9th-13th

Monday, the 9th was my first of four continuous days in Berlin and I mostly hung with my family. Caught up online in the morning and then walked to the old “west” center of town, by the Zoo. Checked out some shops, had a shrimp sandwich at the Ka De We (I do this every year), which is the biggest department store on the continent (only the one in London is bigger, but that’s not on the continent, it’s on the island), and walked back home through the park.

Me and the Liberty Bell made out of chocolate at the Ka De We:

They also had a huge selection of beers there:

And my favorite bus line ever:

Dinner at my friend’s new restaurant, but he was off that night unfortunately (the boss should always be working, ts ts ts), went and checked out an exhibit at the Kulturbrauerei, which is an old brewery converted to a massive arts, entertainment, music, club, restaurant and concert venue. The exhibit was way down deep in the dungeons, with 100 projectors set up in the long dark tunnels, projecting found Super 8 (8mm footage from old small cameras) footage of Berlin. It was rather bland, the projections would have had a lot more impact if shown on white screens but a few things piqued my interest nonetheless. We went through this rather quickly so we just went upstairs and caught the rest of the Holland – Italy game on the large public viewing screen in the courtyard (there are TV’s, Projectors and public viewing setups all over the city – Berlin is very multicultural hence every European team gets support someplace).

People watching soccer at the Kulturbrauerei:

We got home around 11:30pm and after hanging out with my brother for a bit, I went over to my buddy’s place to chill out for a few hours.

The next day, Tuesday, I began the day by catching up on tons of online stuff and especially writing this blog. Then went out walking around for a few hours, taking some pics, checking out what is called Sandsation, the world championship of sand sculptures. 12 teams from around the world competing, making amazing (and huge) sand carvings. They made the whole outside venue a beach right by the water with seating areas and wagons where you could food and drink. Hence of course we sat down had a beer and watched the artists at work.

Volley Ball World Cup in artificial beach in front of the main train station:

One of the many so called “beach” bars on the river Spree:

Amazing architecture in the Berlin governmental district:

From there it was a nice stroll to the Brandenburg gate, the symbol of Berlin, where we another drink watching all the tourists and then strolled home. I love my city so much, especially in the summer, and this weather really renders any time spent inside rather a waste. The evening unfolded itself rather relaxed as well. Dinner with an old friend and hanging at a beach bar by the river Spree across the main train station. Vacation feeling ☺

Wednesday and Thursday were chill out days in Berlin. Went to hang with some friends, checked out a photo exhibit at the C/O art forum, and watched all the soccer games. Germany lost to Croatia but Austria tied Poland, which ensued a lengthy debate with my boy, since he’s polish and i’m half-austrian whether or not the penalty kick in the 92nd minute was justified or not.

Me at a Berlin restaurant:

I liked this:

The Berlin Dome:

The Old Museum and it’s rotunda inside:

Saw some more posters from last week Friday’s show

The main train station. The tracks are underground with stores above them…crazy:

Either way, it was some relaxing times before heading off to Belgium on Friday for my next gig in Hasselt at Muziekodrom for Rave Our Souls. Mad Dem Sound will be playing too which will be dope to hang with them again. Last time I saw Paulie was when he visited NYC with Jenn from owned and the Gone Jah Men Crew from Cali.

Tour Entry # 4 ~ June 13th & 16th ~ Berlin – Gig in Hasselt / BELGIUM – Berlin

Friday ~ though I was woken up a half hour later than planned, it was an easy commute to the airport. As usual I got stopped at security and taken into a special room. First of all, it tends to be my luck and just a regular occurrence (do I really look like a threat ?), but it doesn’t help to carry a sampler and other electronics most airport security have never seen. After all my gear was dusted off with a vacuum, which was analyzed for chemical particles, I was allowed through. The main thing to remember when flying short distances in Europe is that, though it may be comfortable, rather inexpensive and fast, you are very limited in the weight you can take on board with you and steep extra charges can really cut into your tour budget. Also the measurement constructs they use in the counter area to check whether or not your bag can fit into the overhead bins are smaller than the actual overhead bins. Any bag with records or gear rarely fits. Thus try to avoid those because they will make you check your record bag, which is extra weight you will have to pay for. Trust me, I’ve gone through this. Key is to keep your record bags unconspicuously dangling from your shoulder or on your back. Or at least pretend it’s light. UDG guarantees that their record bags are made to fit all overhead bins but this is only valid for flights in the US. In Europe every little airplane has different specifications and airlines will try to make extra money everywhere they can. If you travel through europe with big bags, because you have to take promo stuff (t-shirts, cd’s, vinyl, stickers) to give away, your own clothes, your DJ gear….the best way to travel is by train. It just takes much longer, but at least you can have all the weight you want with you. I would still recommend always using luggage with either a handle and wheels or big hiking backpacks. At times while connecting trains, you will have only 5 minutes or less to get from one platform to the next (that’s how European ticket counters will book your routes), so if you cannot run with your baggage, you can sometimes risk missing a gig. Keep it simple and efficient and you will enjoy your travels and gigs a lot more ☺

Currently on the plane to cologne from where I will take the train to Hasselt to link up with my good friend MC D.O.C. We shall see if Riot is down to chill today, but he might be super busy. Rave Our Souls is his new series of (very successful) events, hence he might be busy taking care of last minute things. Promoters rarely sleep the night before an event

Arriving at the Cologne / Bonn Airport, I took the S-Bahn (above ground city train) to the main train station where I had an hour and a half to grab some food and hang out.

The Cologne Airport train station inside the airport, dope:

Then jumped on the train to Hasselt via Liege (where I had a 30 min layover). Finally in Hasselt in the afternoon. I walked over to pick up MC D.O.C. from his work (here is where the simple and light traveling comes in handy – you can be mobile), and we ventured to his crib which is an awesome two story house, an older place where he lives with another graffiti writer. Art everywhere and a big indoor piece in the covered sun room. Perfect place to relax.

After grabbing some food and indulging in the amazing Belgian beers, we headed back to the crib to receive my friend Pascal. He had driven over from Germany and since I wouldn’t be able to see him in Berlin, it was dope to be able to party together in Belgium. Later that night we hit up the Mosquito, a local watering hole, where everyone congregated. Even Riot made it over and we hung out, swapped stories and many beers and shots found their way into our bellies. On the way back home we stopped by The Zoo, a popular music venue. The funny thing was that on the way there D.O.C. lead us into a big construction zone with the words “I swear there was a big road here”. We fought our way over piles of rock, wood and metal, through muddy pits and over caterpillars and finally made it to the The Zoo. The music was kind of boring but I got to meet Goldfox and Der Schmetterling, two DJ’s from the next day’s party. After another beer we ventured home and eventually passed out.

The day of the party started off with some coffee and tea at the crib and a trip to the local supermarket for breakfast stuff. D.O.C. is an amazing chef and whipped up a sick breakfast (technically it was lunch time by then). Always on point behind the stove that guy!

The living room table, in the morning:

Then it was time to head downtown and explore the city center. There were a bunch of cocks there:

We ran some errands and I got some local goodies, like the famous Belgian chocolate and a bottle of local schnaps, which comes in a heavy clay bottle. The bottle is heavier than the content! A quick stop at the supermarket again and we got everything we needed for a big dinner.

Belgian Beer (which is some of the best in the world) in the supermarket:

You can get it in champagne style bottles. A big bottle of Leffe is merely 2 euros. Holy shit:

Oh and I got some big nuts:

D.O.C. made a great pasta dish with meat sauce, and after a few more beers we passed out during the first (of two) soccer games. We had a long night ahead of us so this nap was perfect. After waking up around 8:30 or so, we started packing all the gear and walked over to the venue around 10pm. A quick stop on the way at an all night spot, similar to a Brooklyn deli (just cleaner lol). There was a vending machine right outside of it, which had beer in it. Since youll never find this in the US I had to take a pic:

Event Flyer:

The Muziekodrom is a massive event complex, which has separate rooms of various sizes, a huge event room and some smaller ones, as well as recording studios and practice rooms. The backstage looked like a huge conference room, featured a big fridge full of beers, water, red bull and other soft drinks. It was nice and quiet, the perfect place to relax from the madness that was about to ensue. The venue was decorated with lots of smiley banners, inflatable smileys and other smiley related party goodies, since that is the logo for Rave Our Souls. The promoters had bought tons of inflatable objects like sharks, boats, guitars, baseball bats….you name it.

MC D.O.C. doing it up refuge style:

I took one of the smiley covered bandanas and rocked it bandit style. Riot had gotten me a smurf hat, since the night before we had talked about the smurfs and I had proudly described in detail extensive smurf collection I had as a kid. The hat was dope but way too hot so I stuck with my usual white hat.

Me rocking the renegade smurf outfit:

The party started filling up slowly but by the time I went on, around 12:30am, the place was bumpin. A brand new Mackie sound system guaranteed massive bass and just full sound altogether, almost a bit too loud on stage, but you get used to everything. I played until 2am, and people were feelin it. Sometimes the place was going wild, sometimes it calmed down, and D.O.C.’s mic didn’t work properly until the last 20 minutes of my set. Oh well, people were jamming and as I got harder towards the end to prepare the crowd for Mad Dem Sound’s barrage of hard beats, the vibe in the room got hotter and hotter as well. People were fallin over themselves to get my Tour Promo Sampler which I distributed during the last tune. Rinse out!

As Twinhooker and Paulie Walnuts did their thing in the jungle room, I returned to the backstage to relax and dry up a bit. I was soaked, it was so hot inside the jungle room.

Backstage with Riot, D.O.C. and Goldfox (hidden by smiley 7inch):

A few heads from last year’s tour had rolled out as well as some other friends in the scene and I happily chatted it up inside and outside the venue. Dublogic who will be playing with me in Holland at the end of the tour had stopped by, as well as AKS & Meche. Good times all around.

I stopped by the jungle room every now and then and Mad Dem was killin it, but the crowd was not really getting super hyper either. It was still craziness but sometimes people just kinda swayed instead of losing their shit. Paulie finished up their set with a really fun remix of 99 luftballons and since we were all on stage the party caught our vibe and finally went super crazy haha.

Then Riot entered the room, in blond jesus outfit and wrapped up the party with some Ragga classics.

Everyone on stage was losing their shit and the crowd was still rocking out til 5am (when the venue closed), even as the lights when on. The blow up shark seemed to have a blast too as he was crowdsurfing in the background. Props to the guy right by the stage who had gotten a hold of an inflatable guitar and jammed on it for hours on end to whatever the DJ’s played.

The party wrapped itself up pretty fast as security got everyone out. I chilled with Twinhooker and Paulie in the backstage until their ride left. Always nice catching up with those guys. This was the last gig of their tour and they were heading back to the US a day or two later. We hung out outside the venue until we had everyone together and headed to the afterparty at a smoky local bar downtown.

D.O.C. outside the venue @ 6am

Me, Pascal & D.O.C.:

I was starving and I think I annoyed everyone with my constant requests for food but you know how it goes. Man gotta eat! We hit up a local bakery which was just stocking up their spot with the baked goods for the day so everything was still nice and warm. Got a roll with two slices of bacon layed out in a cross over it. Interesting. A simple croissant joined it in my tummy and we rolled back to the bar. Didn’t stay around for too long. Me and Pascal were tired, the place was very smoky, the owner was wearing an open shirt, his gold chain barely blingin through the extensive chest hair. He played some classic rock which was really the last thing I wanted to hear at the moment, everyone was hammered yelling in Flemish, so we caught a ride back to D.O.C.’s crib (he stayed at the afterparty) and chilled out a bit before crashing. I was trying to stay up since D.O.C. had given me his keys and was gonna just bang on the window. Luckily I was able to wake up out of my slumber to let him in as he came through an hour or so later. Good night / morning Hasselt!

Sunday was pure chill day. As we got up one by one in the afternoon, the first thing on the agenda was some food. But on Sundays in Europe very few shops are open. As we walked to the bakery, it started pouring and to no surprise the bakery was closed. So we drove over to a gas station and got some paninis and other eats.

Other events that day: my boy went back to Germany, me, Riot & D.O.C. enjoyed some beers, food and jokes at a café downtown (after we found out that the rock show we were gonna go to at the Old Jail was done by 6pm and we got there at 6:30pm), I linked up with Wasp and Ladylite who had just returned from Prague (they told me my name was on posters all over town – can’t wait for next weekend!), and finally went and crashed at Riot’s infamous crib (lots of touring Ragga Jungle DJ’s have crashed there over the years, as well as a lot of other international talent – it’s one of the coolest cribs I’ve ever been to). Goldfox and his girl rolled through later, movies were exchanged, funny youtube clips were watched and some more laughs were had. Riot lives close to the train station hence it was the most convenient spot for me to stay at and D.O.C. had to work in the morning anyways. Either way, I crashed out around 1-2am.

Monday I woke up, packed my stuff and cruised out to the train station. Riot was still asleep (I think, tee hee) and after some train rides and a flight from cologne I landed back in Berlin in the late afternoon. Relaxing evening with the fam, more soccer and chill out session with my boy Tomek.

Tour Entry #5 ~ June 16th – June 20th ~ Austria

On Tuesday morning I caught a flight to Austria to visit some family. Spent the days until Friday relaxing, eating and drinking well and enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Austria truly is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been too. It looks like it fell out of a picture book.

Me and my boy Fabian, whom I met in Klagenfurt:

On Friday, the 20th I had lunch with the fam and hopped on a train to Vienna. I was supposed to play Konkrete Jungle Austria, for which I was booked 5 months before tour, but just 8 days before leaving for Europe the promoter cancelled the party. I really wish it would’ve happened a bit earlier so that I could’ve found a replacement gig. Also, Psychofreud from Norway as well as Riot & MC D.O.C. were supposed to play, and Riot and D.O.C. were gonna play with me in Prague as well, but it really only made sense as a double whammy, so they didn’t make it down. Mz Revolution from Canada was in Vienna (she was in Austria for work) because she wanted to catch the show and also hit up Prague. But since the show didn’t occur, we met up, got some food and watched the soccer game at an outside Bar spot in a big plaza in front of the Art Museum, near the Stephansdom, a gigantic cathedral.

Some pics from Vienna:

The town was overrun by mostly Croatian (and some Turkish) soccer fans, since those were the countries playing that night and Croatia is not far from Vienna. It came to penalty kicks, so everyone was on the edge of their seats and though Turkey won, a massive crowd of soccer fans congregated in front of the big cathedral to chant the fan songs and, I guess, console each other.

Tour Entry #6 ~ June 20th-22nd – Prague (Czech Republic)

After some breakfast and checking emails, we cruised to the train station to get the tickets to Prague and walked back through the castle garden of the Belvedere, an amazing huge castle near the center of town, and right by the train station.

Though the walk from the hotel to the train station was rather short, once we were lugging our bags in the hot sun, we were sweating up a storm, and made the train rather closely. On to Prague!

Vienna Train Station:

In Prague we were picked up by Michall, the promoter, and driven to the hotel to drop off our gear. Then on to a dope little club / bar called XT3, at which he used to host all sorts of shows but now manages some business affairs and books mostly bands.

Club XT3 has handles built into the bar, perfect for holding on in drunken stupor:

The first few, of many, Czech beers were killed and it was on to his crib he just bought. A wicked 2 floor apartment with the top floor being right under the roof. Then it was on to dinner at Akropolis, which is a restaurant adjacent to a club venue with the same name. Palac Akropolis to be exact. Tried some chicken Czech style which is cut into medallions with cheese over it. A lot of Czech dishes are either fried, or feature cheese (or both, i.e. fried cheese).

Prague Streets can be very steep:

Michall gave us a tour of the town as we walked from there through the park, stopping at a huge beer garden (I think Czechs need to drink a beer every 20 mins or so to keep their hops level from depleting), then taking the subway to Cross Club where we would be performing that night.

The Cross Club in Prague is one of the most amazing clubs I’ve ever been to. It’s completely custom built and unique: the owners used pieces of scrap metal and all other sorts of old machinery to build out the entire club. It reminds me of the movie “City of Lost Children”. They didn’t just stop at pure metal work. They also built moving constructs with lights, hanging from the ceiling, built into the ceiling as well as behind the stage. Apparently they constantly add and change things so the club is like a living metal monster lol.

Event Flyer:

We hung out, started drinking and listened to the opening dj’s. Mz Revolution was gonna fill the spot right before me, to replace Riot & D.O.C.. Michall was telling me how much the Czech crowd like hard shit, so I was gonna have to sort out some harder tunes, since my style is more on the dubwise / ragga dnb side. As we chatted it up, the heads were almost not gonna let us back to the hotel in time but we finally put a foot down and hustled back to shower and grab the gear.

Mz Revolution started at 12:20 with a nice set of dubwise and ragga dnb, and people were feeling it and dancing quite hard at times, which relaxed me a bit, since it seemed I wouldn’t have to dig into my mashed up crate too much and stick to my style ☺

I finally manned the decks at 1:30 and rocked it til about 3:30. People were vibin and really feelin a lot of the tunes. I had to skip a bunch since the opening DJ Dada, had already rinsed a bunch of them with his impressive record collection. Michall was rockin on stage as well but then disappeared. I later found out he bounced out a bit earlier since the previous night was mayhem for him. I finished the set with a wicked remix of “Your Love” (I think that’s the name of the classic ragga jungle track), and people went wild once more. Tired, but happy I receded to the back room after the set to sit down for a minute.

The Bassbeast crew finished out the night in a dope ass tag team set, Basstien, Rich (DJ Name ?) and Jacob (MC Name?), who was really something else on the mic. This kid could toast, rhyme and just go over any tune but also hold back and let the DJ’s do their thing. A first class MC! The Bassbeast guys rinsed it real nice so I spent most of the rest of the night hanging beside them on stage and dance. The let me get on for one more tune towards the end and I just wanted to hear “Roadblock Tonight” so I played that and we all sang along.

By 5:30 we were cashed out, and headed back to the hotel. The sun was out but my limbs were heavy as steel and I passed out rather quickly.

Here is a video of the night:

Sleeping during the day in a European hotel can be tricky. Not a lot of places have AC, so you’re torn between a hot room with drawn shades, or a room with a bit of a breeze but the windows open (and in this case the streetcar running non stop outside) which also lets in the sun. I usually drink a lot of red bull to keep me up so I rarely get decent sleep after a long gig so I was up by noon or so. We linked up with a friend of Mz Rev, Lara from Ireland (originally Canada), and then went on an odyssey to get to the hostel where another friend of hers, who also came the night before, Rob, was staying at. The main train station in Prague is huge but there is no way to get from one side to the other, unless you walk a huge tour around it (we couldn’t find the way Michall guided us on the night previous night) or take a streetcar through a tunnel under it. So we chose the latter, then walked from the stop behind the station to the hostel. The district around the TV Tower has very steep streets, reminiscent of San Francisco, so walking a few blocks can sometimes mean also walking up streets at what feels like a 45 degree angle. We met up with Michall at a restaurant next to the hostel, and I ordered a beer (duh), and whatever he was eating, which was deep fried blocks of cheese, with French fries. My heart shit its pants and my arteries started trembling, but it was great. Probably cut a day or two off my lifespan haha. Michall and I handled the biz side and he had to get back to his place to cook for his big family arriving that evening, so us remaining four north Americans hit the tourist trail.

Prague is one of the most amazing cities in the world. It’s truly a King’s City, amazing architecture and urban planning wherever you go. It’s simply incredible so I let the pics speak for themselves.

This was on a famous bridge and apparently people rub the two golden spots for a blessing:

This knight’s sword looked like it was on fire in the setting sun:

After 5 hours of cruising around, including a pit stop at a Pilsner Urquell Restaurant (mo’ beer) we ventured back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading back to Akropolis.

DJ Yukimura hosts a dope reggae / dubwise (the original dubwise stylee, not the dnb version) night in the club below and Dada invited me the night before to come through and maybe drop a set. We had dinner at the Akropolis restaurant again, this time I had lasagna (you can’t escape the cheese so I was like fuck it, might as well get something smothered in it). Michall and his girlfriend joined us later, though tired they came and kicked it at the club for a bit after dinner. The crowd was chill and the music was really something. One room was a bit more packed where some older guy was playing reggae, but he wasn’t mixing it at all, just playing one record after the next and the sound system didn’t feature bass so I spent a lot more time in the room where Yukimura was playing. I spoke briefly with him and he got me on around 1:30 and let me rock for an hour. Since this was a reggae / dub / dubwise crowd I was selecting some chill tunes and remixes of popular reggae tracks so that people who might have never heard this style would be accepting. The crowd was really feeling it though, sometimes packed, sometimes thinning out but always keeping a steady stream of people dancing. The Bassbeast guys from the night before where there as well but everyone was beat and a lot of them had to work in the morning to they bounced out during and after my set.

Amadeus live at Akropolis:

Surprisingly we made it til almost 4:30, greatly due to the amazing tunes that were dropped, pure dubwise / dubby flavor. As we made our way out of the club, I asked the doorman if he could call us a cab and he just shook his head and went “No, No”. oh-kay then. I guess he just wanted to be a dick. So it was time to find our own cab on the deserted streets of Prague at 4:30am on a Monday morning. After about 20 mins of walking we finally caught one. It was driven by a huge man with that haircut where it’s short in the front and long in the back (business in the front, party in the back), wearing a plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off , some jeans made into shorts, and to top it off his knees were pretty much snug against the dash. As he dropped us of at the train station near the hotel we asked him to drive us further but apparently a few minutes later he was done with us. As I checked the meter I was surprised: The fare was almost three times what we paid earlier to get to Akropolis. But at this point, we were just too tired, scary looking mountain man didn’t look too much up for arguing and I wanted to keep my teeth in my head (and my gear in my backpack) so we just paid and walked the rest, which luckily was only a few minutes. Coma time!

Tour Entry #7 ~ June 22nd – 25th ~ Prague & Berlin

The next morning I had to get up early to pack up my stuff, grab breakfast and get to the train station. I hate rushing and I always calculate in extra time because something always happens that will delay you. Hopped on the 10:30 train to Berlin (Mz Rev was off to Austria the next day) and got back to my beloved Berlin and my fam’s place around 4pm. Time to kick off the shoes and just relax. Went to dinner, watched some TV and later on some movies with my brother and my homie. I kept passing out after 1, so around 2:30 we called it a night.

Tuesday, the 24th, was a day of relaxation. Walked around town, ate and drank well, visited friends and at night grabbed some drinks with an old friend at a really chill bar right by the river that goes through Berlin, which had a sand in the outside and inside areas. I needed a day off ☺

The Government District with amazing architecture:

Dope Stencil Art with the TV Tower in the background:

Time for some more beer after all that walking haha:

I didn’t really sleep well that night, probably thinking about all the stuff I had to get done on Wednesday before catching my flight to Bucharest (Romania). Got up a bit earlier than usual and went downtown to do some shopping, mostly chocolate for everyone back in NYC. It’s the perfect gift, since german chocolate products are amazing, and who doesn’t love chocolate ? Went home, packed my stuff and it was off to the airport. I’ve never been to Romania so we shall see….The plane was rather old, probably bought off some other airline and reeked of old cigarettes, even though it was forbidden to smoke on it and there were no smoking signs everywhere. Is this plane really that old that the seats still held smoke from back in the day when it was allowed to smoke on planes ? (was it really ever on modern planes ?).

Tour Entry #8 ~ June 25th – 28th ~ Romania

After about an hour of flight time we landed in Bucharest. I initially thought the flight was going to be longer but forgot about the 1 hour time difference, since I was now in central Europe, a straight up shot north of Turkey (but not adjacent). As we landed the plane went to the end of the runway, did a U-Turn and backtracked a good few hundred feet up the runway with the lights of the next plane about to land already in sight. This older airport, called Baneasa features only on landing strip. The planes were lined up next to each other in front of the airport building and buses picked up the passengers. Our bus decided to cut right in between two adjacent airplanes driving right under the wing tips (uhm security guidelines be damned ?). I’ve never seen anything like it and I knew right away that Romania was going to be an adventure.

Customs took a bit but I finally made it out of there as well as the baggage claim and was picked up by Florin, the promoter, and his friend Alex. Florin and I had been chatting online for months so it was nice to finally meet him in person. We rushed out of the terminal to Alex’s car, and drove downtown. Though it was 10pm it was still almost 30 degreees Celsius, i.e. HOT! They informed me that it was gonna be really hot during the days (and I hadn’t even bothered to check the weather, thinking it was gonna be like in Berlin, milder but warm during the days).

First stop: the roof top of the National Theatre where a big bar and beer garden was set up. It was very bohemian style, and there were huge painted canvases propped up against the walls. Shouln’t have left the camera in the car. Oh well.

The soccer game was playing (Germany defeated Turkey 3-2, but I kept my cheering to a minimum since this part of Romania is very Turkish influenced After a few beers (I learned how to order 4 beers in Romanian – padro bere! And how to say cheers – Norok! But with a rolling “r” so it sounds like an orcish war cry). Alex’s girlfriend Andra and another friend who liked to be called “Grassu” (meaning “the fat one” – well he’s overweight but actually likes to be called that) joined us and we exchanged some stories. They are all 20-21 years old but very mature and really nice people. I was starving and it was already after midnight so Florin and I were dropped off at his apartment where I met his roommate Dragosh (phonetically spelled), who plays World Of Warcraft all day. Florin served up some leftover stuffed peppers he had made that day, which were delicious. After checking a few things online I retreated to the back room where I crashed out.

I slept irregularly until about 9:30am, and tried to rest more since the next few nights were gonna be hectic but it was starting to heat up rather quickly and since the apartment was on the top floor of the building, with no AC nor fan, it was already getting very warm. I had thought Florin to be at work but turned out he took a half day to study for an exam and take it before lunch. I took a shower, but it was hot and humid so you never really dry off, and we took the subway to Florin’s University.

Venturing through Bucharest is very interesting. Romania has just joined the European Union merely a year ago and some years back, when it was still communist, was ruled by the fierce dictator Ceausescu and his deranged and dangerous wife. Since the fall of the communist reign around the turn of the 90’s the country has been struggling to rebuild itself and poverty and political corruption are constant problems. Of course technology, the internet and other western goods / evils have entered the country, resulting in a very intriguing modern society. It is hard to describe but it was very different and exhilarating but also familiar.

Dope graffiti on the Bucharest subway:

Dope stencil art in Bucharest – It says “ the city is ours”, referring to the many stray dogs all over the city and pretty much everywhere I went in Romania:

I waited outside the university building where Florin took his exam rather quickly and successfully (took this kid like ten minutes, damn!), we ventured into the center of town for some food and beers. I had Goulash which is actually an Hungarian specialty and tried the local beer Ursus (Bear), both delicious. Florin had decided to take a full day off but still had to take care of some business stuff so I started to doze off, the beer and the humid heat doing their job.

Very interesting covered alleyways, with great restaurants:

Chillin with Florin:

And of course, Romanian Beer:

After getting back to the apartment, the full impact of older communist style apartments and the hot climate hit me. We were melting up there, I fanned myself down with my laptop cover, just waiting for the sun to go down and playing around online. As it was getting dark we hit up the Mc Donald’s across the street (I never go to fast food places), and the AC and a milkshake finally cooled me down. Then it was back to the apt for a quick shower and off to the venue for tonight’s gig: Club Fabrica.

Since we were gonna have to take a train right after the party, I had both my stuff and my DJ gear with me. As the cab dropped us off we were welcomed by the club manager Jay (also an Alex but he preferred to be called Jay), who was a super chill guy and did his utmost to be courteous and a great host. We parked our stuff in the VIP room and relaxed by the stage with some drinks as the venue was filling up. Fabrica used to be a socks factory, and has been turned into a beautiful and very spacious two level venue, that hosts all types of music, theater and shows.

The projection at the back wall, showcasing the poster for the night:

The night kicked off with a band, L’Orchestre De La Roche, which played a great set of breakbeat / house beats with guitar, bass, drums and an MC over it. They had the venue getting live within a few minutes of their set.

They played until 12:30 or so and then it was my turn. I waited until the table with the decks was moved forward a bit on stage and started to set up. For some reason the right turntable didn’t respond but after some fiddling we got it all set up and I got started. People were feeling it from the start. The funny part though was that 1. The crowd was not very jungle / drum n bass knowledgeable (I played Lighter Rmx and didn’t see one lighter up) and 2. Though they go crazy during the drops, it was during the breakdowns that everyone just stood still, like completely still. This had a weird effect of the vibe dropping back to zero but once the tune rinses out it’s right back up to 100. Haha. Different folks, different strokes. It was a fun set and I played until about 3am. Since it was Thursday that was about the time people stuck around til. Before dropping my last tune I announced that I had some CD’s to give away but people had to come to the front. I meant the front of the stage but somehow it was misconstrued as “bumrush the stage” and everyone just jumped right on stage to reach for the cd’s. The poor stage manager just tried to carefully push people back, so I ran to the front of the stage to hand out the CD’s so people would get back into the crowd. Next time I’ll make sure to learn it in Romanian and to be more specific

The pics didn’t come out so good but here is one to give you an idea:

Crowd at Fabrica:

And some footage, it turned out pretty dark because there were no lights whatsoever. Pretty strange but that’s how they kept it ☺

Hazee, a local dnb DJ and festival promoter, rounded out the night with some dubwise and more chiller tunes, while I was hanging with the VJ (who had some really interesting projections going) and cooled out with some more drinks. As the club closed around 5-5:30 we made our way outside to catch a cab to the train station where a 7am train was going to take us to Galati (say “Galatz”). We were literally the last people to catch a cab and made it to the train station tired and still drunk.

The Bucharest train station, though early, was buzzing with people already. Many gypsies and other homeless people were sleeping on the benches. As we were pulling out of the station we passed out rather quickly and woke up aching and with stiff necks, after some restless sleep, as we pulled into the Galatz train station around 11am. We took a cab to Florin’s parents’ place and crashed for a few more hours, which wasn’t easy since they were having their kitchen remodeled and the workers were drilling and hammering all afternoon. Waking up around 5pm, I took a shower and luckily a thunderstorm had passed by then which had cooled down the area a bit. We went out to pick up Florin’s girlfriend, went to grab some coffee and food and met up with Alex, Andra and Grassu who had caught a train from Bucharest to attend that night’s show. We relaxed by the waterfront of the Danube, the huge river that goes across Europe and ends in the Black Sea.

After stopping by Florin’s parents’ place and picking up all my stuff, we made our way to the venue, Club X Cave.

A nice club, sectioned off into 3 rooms but all featuring the same quality sound and connected through big archways. The interior was made to look like a cave, complete with fake stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. I set up my gear and chilled with the crew, sipping on Tuborg beers, which is actually a Danish beer but brewed in Romania. DJ Moondust opened the night with some Breaks and people started filling up the club, some already dancing right from the start. Next up was Kishazz (Florin) who played a mix of dubstep, breaks and drum n’ bass, and was later joined by Epsilon.

Then it was my turn around 1:45. I started off with a high energy Capleton Rmx and kept that level throughout the set. The club really started wilin out once I kicked off some Hip Hop Remixes. People were hollering and dancing like crazy. I was jumping around like a madman as well, and the energy was amazing. It must have been like 110 degrees at least in that club, I was completely soaked from top to bottom and trying to avoid dripping sweat onto my laptop and the equipment. This was one of the best sets I played this tour, and the people were getting wilder than any other place so far. Around 3:15 or so Goblin, the next DJ, was up and I wrapped up my set with another high energy tune, and went into the crowd to hand out some CD’s. People who were sitting down didn’t get any I was completely spent and sweated through but happy. Excellent vibes!

Some pics of me behind the decks:

And the crowd getting crazy!

Nothing like seeing it as a video though:

As I went outside for a minute to cool off, Florin told me that we had to leave already in ten minutes. The thing was that the next train from Galatz to Bucharest wouldn’t make it on time for me to catch my flight to Brussels, even though it wasn’t until 11:20 am. So I grabbed my stuff, and the 5 of us (Alex, Andra, Grassu, Florin and me) made our way to the town halfway to Bucharest where we would catch a train. Florin was driving us with his Dacia Logan, which is only interesting because it is a Romanian Car company that makes really good vehicles. We were trying to find our way for the next two hours, which wasn’t always easy since in some towns people steal the road signs for scrap metal. Though only worth a few euros, it can be enough for some to make a big difference. As we stopped for gas, I pulled out my bag and grabbed a dry shirt, as I didn’t want to catch a pneumonia sitting there with a completely wet top. I passed out for a bit and was woken up around 4:45am as we were pulling up to the train station. I was wrecked.

We caught a train at 5:30, that is, all of us but Florin who drove back to Galatz to relax for the weekend before having to go back to work in Bucharest on Monday. Another 1.5 hours of sleep. After you don’t sleep for a while, these little naps really only have you waking up more tired than when you passed out. No rest for the wicked though lol. We got to Bucharest around 7:30, and the gang was kind enough to hang around with me to wait for a proper cab, which Alex called. The thing is that many cab companies are run by the mafia there, and / or the drivers will take extensive routes or not turn on the meter. Either way, there are certain good ones that have to be called, which will not screw you basically. Around 8am, finally one of the good cab companies sent a taxi and I said good bye to the three musketeers who were have been so nice, helpful and courteous. Big up the Romanian Massive ☺

As I got to the airport around 8:20am, I still had three hours before my flight was leaving. The airport was packed with people already and there was only one big room where all the counters, shops and the café were, so I downed a coffee and a sandwich and just waited. The usual routine. Trying to stay awake, keeping an eye on my bags, counting the minutes until the flight. Finally the Wizz Air (real name) counter opened up and I checked in and proceeded to the waiting area for all “gates”. Each “gate” was just a different glass door from the waiting area but they all used the same one as well as the same buses to drive everyone to the airplane. More waiting. As I finally boarded the plane I was out like a light. Another hour sleeping in an uncomfy seat, but I left Romania feeling exhilarated having met such awesome people (Florin really took care of everything and busted his ass to make it all happen (like all promoters of course, but this was quite the odyssey! Much respect mi friend!) and having been enriched by a unique culture and country.

Tour Entry #10 ~ June 28th ~ Hasselt (Belgium) and final gig in Heerlen (Holland)

In Brussels – Charleroi (which is actually nowhere near Brussels), I was picked up by Gert (DJ Wasp), and during the hour long drive back to Hasselt we exchanged stories, news and laughs. Back at his and Alex’s (DJ Ladylite) house, i jumped online to catch up on a few things, while waiting for Ladylite to come home. I made a quick pit stop at D.O.C.’s crib across the street to say what’s up. He was still a bit faded from the previous night’s festivities (D.O.C. hosted a big event in Genk, a neighboring town on Friday night). Wasp, Ladylite and I then went out to grab some food and ended up at a small but really good pizza / pasta joint inside an indoor mall. I’ve eaten there before, last year on tour D.O.C. had taken me there, and it was still as good as ever. We then strolled through town for a bit of shopping, stopped for a drink and headed home to chill out a bit. And I really needed a shower at this point and I hadn’t really slept much the previous nights, so it definitely helped in waking me up a bit. Ladylite’s sister Kath came over, because her car was going to be our means of transportation this evening and after getting everything together we hit the road. Wasp had to go to Ostende, a town two hours west to play a gig there, so it was me, Ladylite, Kath and their friend Sarah, rolling out to Heerlen in neighboring Holland. But beforehand we made two more stops in Genk: One was the Youth Center where D.O.C. had hosted his party, he was still doing a bit of clean up before driving to the same party Wasp was playing at to perform later as well. As I said my good bye’s to D.O.C. (see you next year brother!) we ventured on to Genk On Stage, a big music festival happening that weekend as well, to hang out for a bit and check out the Hip Hop Stage. Interestingly I caught a bit of D.O.C.’s brother performing (funny coincidence!), ran into a kid I met on last year’s tour, and slammed a few beers.

Check out the poster of this event, best band name ever:

It was time to drive to Heerlen! The car ride was quite an adventure itself (as the rest of the night would be). Let’s just say these three women have quite the fire in them, and were chatting away happily in Flemish, Broken English and Fake Swedish (you don’t wanna know). Ladylite had knack to invariably always drive into the wrong direction, wherever we turned, but we ended up safe and sound in Heerlen, just around the corner from Nieuwe Nor, tonight’s venue for DNNB pt. 12.

At the entrance we were greeted by Maurice, one of the promoters, who’ve I’ve been talking to online for some time now.

Dope art in the entrance way of the club:

He guided us up to the backstage room, and a nice cozy spot with a fridge, stacked with beer, water and soda, as well as a couch facing a tv with a Nintendo loaded with Super Mario (!) and private bathroom awaited us. Good vibes and relaxing atmosphere to get us ready for the show.

I ventured downstairs to the stage area to say what’s up to Markus, DJ Dublogic (the other promoter and whom I’ve met in Hasselt at Rave Our Souls), who was warming up the crowd with MC Shelzen from Spain, playing one murder plate after the other. Once on the dancefloor, you could feel the excitement rising. The venue was sick! Huge stage, with massive sound, four hollowed out oil barrels up front, lit from inside with the letters DNNB cut out and huge screen behind the DJ with projections by VJ Loudanov. There was also a 2nd level with a separate bar, that wrapped around the top part of the venue but the action really was on the dancefloor.

Soon after arriving Ladylite went on and started dropping her heavy style of ragga jungle and leaning onto a bit of breakcore, but keeping it melodic (thank you . Ladylite got the place bouncing as usual. So far I’ve played with her on every euro tour, always a treat! Kath, Sarah and I danced a bit and then it was time for me to get my stuff and start setting up. We switched off around 1:30am, I gave the lady a shoutout on the mic and kicked off with my intro.

The Holland crowd is really more into the harder stuff so I quickly went into the more mashed up tunes, even a few old school ragga jungle classics, and back into some of the harder ragga dnb tunes. People finally got loose, and as I played my last tune I went and grabbed the mic and just went up front of the stage to hype the people and hand out my CD’s. The last 15 minutes, dublogic and another dj tagged on 3-4 tunes and I worked my sampler which was a blast. I think the other DJ tried shooting me a dirty look, but I was on beat, it was almost closing time and this was the last gig of my tour. I was getting loose to say the least! People stormed the stage and got crazy! What a finish ☺ Thank you DNNB Crew, Markus, Maurice and the dutch junglists for a memorable wrap up of the tour.

VIDEO of the party:

Check out the video blog on myspace

Once the sound was shut off, we were there for maybe another 20 or so minutes. Someone actually brought sandwiches to the backstage (thank you!), had another drink and then it was time to get back on the road to Hasselt. But the night was not over yet! Wasp was back from Ostende and we linked up to go to an afterparty in the basement of some house where a DJ was dropping some funky ass tech house. It was way chill and people were having a blast dancing in this very cozy afterhours, but my eyes were shutting and it was taking me longer and longer to open them again. The last nights and long travel days came all crashing down on me. Wasp and Ladylite took mercy on me, while Sarah and Kath had snuck out to get some beer from an abandoned beer tent, leftover from some street festival, haha, crafty girls We cruised back to the crib and I was out by 5:30 or so, only to get up at 8:30 again. Had to pack my stuff, and catch the train to Cologne (the later train would have made me miss my flight to Berlin). Ladylite was knocked out but Wasp drove me to the train station and we said our good byes. They will be in NYC in 6 weeks so it will be short lived! Good times behind us and even better times ahead. ‘Tis the life ☺

Train Hasselt – Liege (change trains) – Cologne – Cologne airport. A bit of time to chill and eat something. Flight to Berlin (of course I was knocked out). Finally arriving at 5pm. The last night was spent hanging out with family and friends, watching Germany lose in the Euro Cup finals (come on! You couldn’t do me that one last favor ???) and chatting into the night with my homies Tomek and Bosse as well as my brother. Though it was sweet, it was also melancholy. I will not see these people so close to my heart again until next year!

Getting up at 7, shower, a bit of breakfast and it was off to the airport with my brother and my mom, to catch my flight back to NYC. Exhausted, but very happy, and a bit sad at the same time.

Until next time, my beloved Berlin and Europe! Thank you to all my friends across Europe, new and old! Thank you to all promoters who booked me and all people who came and danced at each gig! I cannot wait to come back and see you all again!

Peace, Bless and much love.

-Amadeus