Thursday 1st August 2013 – Day off in Paris
Due to our re-arranged dates in Paris we get the day off today! So after a Belushi’s breakfast and chatting to some of the folk who are staying here we head out for lunch: curry @ JJR café just round the corner from the hostel on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis. In the afternoon we wandered along to the 1st to check out the venue we’re due to play on Saturday evening; Le Vieux Léon. The guy that booked us no longer works there, but the manager is happy for us to play either an acoustic or electronic set and has the tour postcards out in the bar. It seems like a really nice place & we’re definitely looking forward to playing to a different crowd in Paris. We initially targeted hostels in Europe as we felt the travelling community was a good bet for new fans, but the more we play in Paris the more we realise that these folk are mainly in the bar for good times (and beer pong), so might not remember anything about us in the morning. However we have been getting great feedback from the locals and even had a couple of extra gig offers in other venues this time round.
Paris Plage 2013
From Le Vieux Léon we headed up to Belushi’s Canal in the 19th to catch up with Lio (the man behind the music up there) to confirm the arrangements for tomorrow night’s show. As we were in the area it seemed right to pop into ‘a-Mi-Am-i’ and see our good friend Jacob. We met him last year whilst on tour and he’s been really supportive ever since. We drank, played some songs on his guitar and most of all chatted about music. He told me that in his religion (Judaism) it is forbidden for a woman to sing in front of men, so being a curious cat I wanted to find out more…
“The division by gender reflects the creation of man and God’s universe. The Jewish tradition loves opposites and conflict: light and dark, day and night, man and woman, song and silence.
In a fascinating, typically Jewish contradiction, Prayer and Song are largely female, as in the song of Devorah, Chana and Miriam. Even King Solomon’s Song of Songs is set in two voices for a man and a woman – with the woman’s voice predominant.”
Taken from: The Jewish Tradition by Maxine Handy
We spent the evening at Belushi’s GDN – they had a live covers band playing who we wanted to check out before heading upstairs. The bar staff all really like this band so we were keen to see what songs they had in their set… was just the usual tunes (Wonderwall / Raspberry Beret etc) but played well – I guess that makes a big difference when you play such famous songs in your set.
Friday 2nd August 2013
Gig 7 – Belushi’s Canal, Paris (Acoustic show)
It was a very warm day in Paris, 33 degrees at 11am and due to get hotter as the day goes on. I think my peelie-wally Scottish skin is coping pretty well so far, but that is maybe due to the large amount of factor 50 that I’ve been applying. We spent the afternoon in the Rodin gardens and ate at the café there. The grounds of the museum are beautiful and so we spent ages wandering round seeing the marble and bronze works.
AlexisSs & Carrie Noir, Rodin Jardin
We headed up to Belushi’s Canal for about 7.30pm to get set up for tonight’s show.
Tom (the newly promoted bar manager) and Lio (the events manager) looked after us really well. Spending time up there is like hanging out at a friend’s house – very welcoming and laid back.
Belushi’s Canal, Paris
The place has had a makeover since we last visited in March and the new drinks and food menus are very amusing. We ate at the bar and as always it was really good (much better than you expect from a Hostel / Bar). We played a mix of covers and originals and were lucky enough to be joined for a few tracks by Lio and his beat-boxing skills. If we lived in Paris we’d have to recruit him for the band!
By the time we got back to GDN it was raining so we just went to our room and watched the first episode of ‘Jo’ (an American detective show set in Paris).
Next gig:
Saturday 3rd August @ Belushi’s GDN, Paris (afternoon chilled electro set)
Saturday 3rd August @ Le Vieux Léon, Paris (evening acoustic set)
sacrenoir 