TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: MAY 2005

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

11:18 PM
Posted by jodi rose

apparently I am no longer an 'emerging artist'
according to a random sample of peer review
seem to have crossed that invisible line
and become if not established then maybe slightly coagulated
out of the cocoon but still finding my wings. or spots. or something.

have a lucid moment between 2-4am these days
can't seem to think straight any other time
oh well, guess I'll try and sleep for a few hours
then get up and tackle those to-do lists in the wee hours
get to look at the clear night sky and all those stars

sad and not quite here yet even though it's been good so far
spend so much of my time dreaming of somewhere else
and why? it's so much effort and not really any different
or is it? maybe the difference is in me, not the place

yes, all kinds of disaster and trauma taking place out there
people dying, going to jail, being born, getting done over, done in
too much time for self-reflection is that it? making up for lost months
ah well a visit to mum will stop that, she'll get me working
don't just sit there, do something she used to tell me when I daydreamed
I can quite happily sit and daydream for hours
or used to.... now I can say it's positive visualisation & meditating ;)

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

5:35 PM
Posted by jodi rose

did I mention I saw the most incredible shooting star a few nights ago?

It was so close and distinct, tail blazing through the sky for ages, and then exploded in a spectactular final blast of ecstasy.

maybe it's a good thing not being able to sleep, you can be reminded of the wonders of the galaxy during random star gazing in the tiny concrete backyard.

feeling nostalgic for people and moments
especially the roof of the island hostel the last night, now that was magic.
still makes me smile.

and since I appear unlikely to be 'settling down' in any way shape or form any time soon, those moments are what I have to live for. That and hearing new bridges sing.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

5:18 PM
Posted by jodi rose

oh but the pain is real....
yes, welcome to another train wreck confessional
I've had occasion to read some blogs lately which are purely promotional, sales, gigs, rehashing media, nothing personal. well you won't find that here. a friend in berlin commented to me recently, I read your blog for a while; you're very.... honest.

yes well you know the old hollywood saying.
sincerity, once you can fake that, kid, you got it made.

what is exactly is real? what's constructed, imagined, perceived....?
aren't we always conscious of how we present ourselves, except in those hyper real moments of intense emotion, stress, trauma... or am I being cynical. again.
had a mini festival of gritty uk cinema in the last few days - hasn't assuaged my longing for escape by any means - started with 9 songs.. what was michael winterbottom thinking? the mediocre sex only interrupted by extremely average indie rock bands. apparently that was the idea, I read afterwards, to show the decline of a relationship entirely through the couples physical interactions.. and music. only, they didn't seem to be having a relationship, only woefully improvised conversations and intensely banal sex. if you'd taken the structure of an actual story, and made up some characters, and then given us those moments in between, maybe it would be more interesting. then again, maybe that's the reality of relationships. what would I know? I'm simply an observer.
albeit not a dispassionate one.

followed that with Ken Loach's 'Sweet Sixteen' on DVD, gritty as fk but entirely fascinating, complete sympathy for the lead character, engaging story and flawlessly real acting. now that was a cinematic journey.
today saw Loach's 'Ae Fond Kiss', which was disappointing. trying to make a valid point, but with a sledgehammer and more fairly inept improvisation - or else a very weak script - that really didn't have me believing in the bond between the lead characters at all, which was crucial to the whole story. more of the same highly unsensual sex - am suddenly irritated by constantly seeing these scrawny women held up as the height of desirability, I really wanted to see the larger sister getting some action, if we had to see anybody. Yes, coming to terms with those curves. Personally and as a culture - I think it's high time we celebrated female flesh in abundance. Not that kate moss (as the epitome of this particular brand) isn't sexy in her own way, but that is not the only shape women can be - tired of it. Sign of a very sick culture, and not one reflected in the actual desires of many people, but somehow it's the main fetish of western media, only skinny girls get to be the romantic lead. except for the very rare ocassions, which I can't think of right now.
rant rant rant.

dave grohl on denton kept saying he was the luckiest guy in the world, gets to do music etc, after the 3rd time, denton replies: yes, and I'm starting to resent you for it. indeed. but grohl had a nice perspective, on waking up each day being a blessing, that you get to 'be'. trying to get into that frame of mind, maybe need to let go and it will float on in.
used to have it all so clear. many years ago, wandering behind a random fence at the horden during big day out, found myself backstage and had a very nice chat with dave, who had much longer hair then and told me about touring scotland - having a fine time too. then kurt walked past, head down, and he had to go onstage. nice to see him doing so well.

tired, my circadian rhythms are out of whack, and something about being back home is making me question what I'm doing with my life. Again.
Partly the cultural cringe factor, I think, and partly the people-who-have known-you-for-years and have certain expectations factor.

could be being oversensitive or self-indulgent, but sometimes feel a slight edge of condescension and resentment, that I'm so irresponsible and childish as to think I can just keep doing what I want to with my life, and yet apparently am getting away with it, even becoming vaguely sucessful. Well, you know I did my three-and-a-half-years or more of office hell, and it's taken a good 20 years of being ignored and struggling to get to be 'one of those people' and I'm damn well going to enjoy it. So, back to work, proposals to write, symphonies to create.....

Saturday, May 28, 2005

7:53 PM
Posted by jodi rose

just had to log back in after christopher eccleston uses a bit of 'jiggery pokery' to mae rose's phone work at 5 billion years in the future - she calls her mum and asks: what day is is?... wednesday, all day says mum. hell I want him on my bridge team, reckon he get us streaming from anywhere!
sifting through the various permutations and requirements for laptop - aiport, bluetooth, pc slot, it's hard work being a media artist sometimes - bring back pen and paper I say. maybe time to be like the aware boys, do everything on post-it notes, when you're not using high-end telecommunications hacks.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

7:49 PM
Posted by jodi rose

wow. watching the new dr who with the very divine christopher eccleston. smart, sexy, funny... it's only been 2 minutes and we've just landed at the end of the world, when the sun expands. I'm in love.
so great being home. have run into heaps of people already, kate at giulia when having lunch with julaine; alex, gail, clayton et al at disorientation; visited sherre and delivered particle wave mix from seamus at tesla, lunch with kynan; sumu, stephanie, trevor, caroline, daniel at sole & ben's choir gig 17th birthday brackets and jam - back in the hood, jam on the block - gorgeous voices, fabulous seeing old friends/family. came home for cuppa tea - it's still warm in the sun but once it goes down the chill sets in fast. oh well, lining up for 3 winters in a row.
finding good connections here for local career plans, all fine tuning and proposal writing now. although looking forward to getting stuck into some sound editing and writing again.
there's a blue plumber on dr who currently.
feels like I've been back for months already, had dinner at garry and helen's last night with julaine and simon, good to see the important things don't change.... oh dear, blue lady just got sucked into a vent by creepy silver spiders with laser beams...
earth death in 25 minutes

Monday, May 23, 2005

1:16 PM
Posted by jodi rose

back in newtown, my fingers hitting the wrong keys on the once familiar keyboard - how quickly they become accustomed to the variations.
arrived 10am this morning - is now 1.20pm so can still officially claim jetlag for any lapsed synapses.
30 hours in transit, from helsinki. there was a medical emergency on the plane from london, someone had a heart attack so we had to land in Delhi and get them to a hospital. Then spent 3 hours on the tarmac while the pilot arranged a line of credit for the US$35,000 payment which the airport officials wanted in cash for the refuelling.
everyone was very calm and patient, you can't really get upset when some poor bastard has had heart palpitations and ended up in an Indian hospital.
can't remember much from the flight, watched the life aquatic and sideways, both entertaining. tried to sleep, walked around, stretched, had minimal but friendly conversation with the people next to me.
ah yes, stopped in at the oxygen massage place in bangkok airport during our 50 minutes there, convinced it makes those 24 hr long haul flights far less damaging to the back and stressful than they would otherwise be.

last day in helsinki was quite sad
really wished I had done and enjoyed it more while I was there. but guess that's how stuff goes.
almost everyone was out of town, in a way that's good, as I got to see Mika and Aura, and almost lotta but not quite. Andrew off storytelling in scotland, kate in lapland, sophea on the train to st petersburg, mari I'd just seen in berlin, juha still in paris where I'd also recently visited. hardly anyone I knew in town.
walking home at midnight, still almost daylight until almost 1am - when the very gentle twilight shifted into dawn.
readjusting to life in australia - although it also doesn't feel permanent, but in a good way. need to develop sustainable work practices for nomadic art.
ripped out an article from british airways inflight magazine, about offshore investments - are you a fiscal nomad? it asked. I wish. seemed to mean maximising the interest and minimising tax on earnings and investments. If I could just work out the basic principle of 'spend less than you earn' or even 'earn consistently' that would start to make sense. one day. eeek.

Friday, May 20, 2005

11:22 AM
Posted by jodi rose

if it's friday, this must be Tallinn.
you know, I and the Estonian capital have never got on well. today is no exception. the weather is far better than last time, wandering lost in the drizzle was particularly depressing during isea. even though the sun is shining now, my mood remains blackened towards this city which I'm sure has many charming features. tried to revisit the caucasian restaurant last night, muuust lamma... but they claimed to be fully booked at 10pm, even though a few tables were still free... maybe didn't want a single woman dining to ruin their atmosphere. so tried the place we didn't go last time, which had horrible pumping banal dance music and average food. was intrigued by the sexual politics going on at the next table though....
something about the eastern europe exchange of sex and power is particularly open, especially for white heterosexual males. friends claim they always get in trouble in riga, and I'm sure tallin is no exception. anyway, this not-so-young-anymore pretty boy english man with rosy cherub cheeks and silver hair was teasing three young (19yr old) estonian girls about their film careers, and coming to london - but they couldn't stay with him because 'she' lived in his house - while they stroked his ego and one of them his foot, which was in her lap. all three were of course fresh-faced and beautiful, although dressed in the predominant mode, which appears to have been culled from smuggled cosmopolitan magazines circa 1985, and takes the maxim 'you can never be too rich or too thin' to new extremes. anyway, I'm sure they are all happy with the exchange, he gets the night with three nubile and willing young lasses and they get a taste of the foreigners power and independence. or maybe I'm misreading the situation completely.
although the tallinn by night section in the tourist info booklet from the airport does warn, after a list of the top nightclubs and pubs, and the famous clubscene alternative parties in abandoned warehouses and factories, that: 'when diving into the nightlife of Tallinn, we still recommend you to keep a part of your head cool, it's not advisable at all to go who-knows-where with complete strangers you just met.' hmm, no not at all.

but, as I said, the exchange rate seems fairly overt. one of the massage places on the main street in the old town advertised: thai, indian, lymphatic, sensual, erotic, swedish etc etc. all only around 300 eek. estonian kroner. I love a currency whose name is eek. totally explains my relationship with money.

quite funny, a woman just mistook me for an official of the tallin city port, standing here in my bad mood and orange t-shirt from seamus, which had an electronic circuitry diagram and the phrase elektronischer widerstand - electoronic resistance, from the freie radio in berlin radio kampagne.

oh yes and the reason I am standing here using the internet and not on the ferry... I'm sure there's a curse on me in operation as soon as I set foot in tallin. so not only did the best restaurant refuse me food, but this morning when I left the hotel to find the ferry, first of all took the tram in the wrong direction, then got off at the stop advised but it was much further away than the previous one from the port, so had to walk for about 20 minutes, then didn't know which terminal, saw the ferry just pulling away, tried the nordic jet line but even though theirs was running late, refused to sell me a ticket, so schlepped all the way back from terminal c to terminal d, found the superseacat had left at 10.20, which if I'd come straight here could have made, but now have to wait until the one o'clock, which cost an extra 7 euro. so I'm as grumpy with tallin as ever.
and they appear to be renovating the building used in stalker, which was its only charm for me.
anyway, enough of this grumbling, life is fabulous, I'm incredibly privileged to be doing what I dreamt of, travelling, meeting people, making sound art...

if I could only get out of Estonia......

Friday, May 20, 2005

11:20 AM
Posted by jodi rose

tob - transmitting object behaviours tuning radios and interference
tesla podewil palais - guest appearance at tesla radio night, talking about particle wave with seamus who did a fabulous 30 minute cut-up/mix from the material we recorded.
lunch with sabine, talked experimental radio
special guest of radio kopernicus workshop along with felix kubin, who came up with the idea which the project is based on, for a german-polish radio. interesting to see their working process, 6 young producers, 2 admin and production support people, and various technical support. look forward to hearing the results on the airwaves or streamed in ether.
www.schlosslanke.de friends of torben and jasmine have rented a castle for the summer, doing music and food and artists studios. 9 days not long enough, feel like I live here again. stepped back into an alternative life that has been continuing on without me. a little sad at leaving, but then started chatting to a friendly aussie at the easyjet checkin - it sure is easy, says this guy in broad strine - and he kept me from reflective melancholy with stories of drinking and travel. also had some great ideas about bridges - from time as a mechanic in the army, he reckons I can get to watch a bridge being blown up - they build them just to destroy, for training. but not cabled. he suggested recording the cables while they're being tested, as they are strained until breaking point. and just before they snap, he tells me, you can hear them start to sing...
no way. I hadn't told him the name of this project.
yeah, when you're winching something, that's how you know when to stop. I love that, the bridges sing just before they break apart. just like tacoma narrows. looks like bridges and military is a connection I'm going to have to explore more thoroughly.
but for now, back to the global symphony. really must write that blurb for keely.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

7:50 PM
Posted by jodi rose

fingers chafed with cold
farmers tell that if the first two weeks of may are cold and rainy, the whole summer will be cold and rainy. people in berlin are not so happy about this.
had a lovely geek music day with jasmin, interviewed her about musique concrete and minit, checked out the excellent record shop around the corner, found a donna regina early days and expanded europe compilations - both on hold until i go back with cash - can maybe swap a couple of my cd's too. love the alternate economy.
met torben at hackescher hof and saw 'darwin's nightmare' very sobering film about the fish industry on lake victoria in tanzania. amazing doco, the way the story unfolded and pieces started to fit.
on the way to bianka's birthday now.

Monday, May 16, 2005

6:00 PM
Posted by jodi rose

berlin
public holiday today, whatever pfingst is.
sleepy sunday morning feeling, at 5pm on a monday. visited kreuzberg, evoked feeling of pointless meandering. kind of listless.
two boys across the street postering an electricity box, with serious wide glue brush, stripy tracksuit top, frayed jeans and rockstar dirty brown hair. a girl pushes one pedal on her bicycle, swings her foot across the seat in a fluid movement and rides off.
the net cafe man is sweeping the floor next to me. dire straits install microwave ovens on the trashy radio.
speaking of trash, experienced the white trash phenomenon at the bar on saturday, very stylin scene, rockabilly meets chinese kitsch. then weekend club, on 12th floor of an old gdr office building in alexanderplatz. great view, minimal 80's german techno which I didn't like until leon pointed out that it was perfect in context, and then got into dance trance for a few hours.
last night caught up with torben, walked around mauerpark and mitte, then watched kill bill 2 with seamus. must be one of the last people on earth to see it. enjoyed the pacing, dialogue, twists in plot and character. the only piece of news that has made it past my bubble is an uprising in uzbekistan, which sounds bloody and serious.
wafting about doing conceptual art of questionable relevance to anything. sometimes remember that it is incredibly privileged and somewhat self indulgent, as art so often is. but hopefully offers more than that. oh well, too zoned out to worry about existential questions today. looking forward to tesla night on wednesday.

Friday, May 13, 2005

3:15 PM
Posted by jodi rose

according to paul virilio (as told to me by ben, since I haven't read enough yet) it's all a matter of speed. the difference between a caress, a massage and a hit.

thinking more about bridges and war, military destruction and engineering. something to explore with the bridge guard residency in slovakia.

I love how these new tangents develop. someone sent me a new bridge today - anonymous, although I have a few guesses about who it could be.

comment: The following email was sent by a visitor to the Singing Bridges website

topic: Suggest a bridge

message: Sloboda Bridge built in 1981 reconstructed in 2005 after demolition in NATO bombing.

Stay Cables bridge over Danube in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro.

Friday, May 13, 2005

2:13 PM
Posted by jodi rose

back in the net cafe, this place is on a non-stop 80's hits radio station, with an entertaining selection of hits, right now is video killed the radio star, yesterday treated to aha - take on me - and toni basil, mickey as highlights.
can't even begin to talk about how much I love being back in berlin. just feels like life, am totally at home here. haven't been disoriented or lonely, hanging out doing my thing, meeting up with seamus and bianca to play with fionn in the park, or have really good cheap thai food. quarter of the price from helsinki and 5x the quality and freshness.
decided that berlin is a cross between paris and helsinki - the architecture is not as austere as hkl, but more serious than paris, people make eye contact a lot more than hkl, but less in your face hassling than paree.... you get the idea.
my quest to become european is well under way, although caved in this morning for a giant german frustuck, but otherwise living on red wine, cigarettes and coffee - when I can drink it black, then will be truly european :)
writing blurbs for various projects in 2006 and 2007 - lordy this art thing is taking on a whole new dimension, have never been organising that far in advance before. welcome to the world of international artstar excess. coming home to gigs lined up in melb, syd and workshop in adelaide, then concentrating on writing surround sound symphony, book and film script.
but today I am in berlin, it's sunny (interittently) and I have to get further afield than this little square on the map I've become very familiar with. Still it's great to have a neighbourhood again, really missed that in helsinki. and the fuzzy puffball blossoms are in the air again - when I was here 3 years ago in may, they floated through görlitzer park filling the air. the renovation program is far advanced since then too, almost all the apts in prenzlauer berg seem to have been facelifted, mostly painted bright colours but some unfortunate shades of apricot also.
ok, time to contact people and get out into the city.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

2:15 PM
Posted by jodi rose

just when I was getting used to the upside down french keyboard, with the a in place of the q and m and w all over the shop, the numbers in CAPS and full stop mixed with semi colon, arrive in berlin and have to start all over again with a strangely placed z instead of y and all kinds of other vagaries.
having been swept into a state of constant disorientation, I can#t quite imagine getting stuck in a rut everz again at this point. but no doubt it will happen, eventuallz.
fragments of paris,
group of men plazing boule in the üpark outside my apartment every sunny afternoon
never ending traipse thru the metro - next time will have a bicycle
didn#t quite make it to the pompidou or louvre, too busy recording bridges and talking about concrete... but they will also be there next time.
now, about that tv synopsis... apparently there is a moment. things are shifting in french tv culture.
lucky as I only work with video artists and don#t think they have a really strong commercial sensibility... well, if they did they wouldn#t be working with me.
leaving all the mistakes in mz keyboard tzping todaz, gives a much more accurate sense of where mz head is at. now its't the time to be cleaning things up and trying to make them perfect and smooth, it is time to be raw and messy and honest.
doesn't go down too well in academia though, let me tell you. but there is a whole world out here, and slowly but surelz I am building lasting connectinos with people and places and feel that it is really starting to lead somewhere. guess I have such high expectations of myself too, sometimes forget to simply be a human being in the world. still kicking myself for being off duty last week, all kinds of contacts I didn't follow thru and have the sense that my radio work is the poorer for it. now need to try and repatch those momentary links, which gets far trikier when the moment has past.
watching people walk by on kastanienallee, just round the corner from frank's place on oderberger straße where I stayed 3 years ago, the first time I came to berlin. seamus tells me it's even more trendy here now, more fashion shops, more cafes, more bars....
have been working on the theory that no matter where you go in the world, everywhere was better 10 years ago.. but am disturbed to find now that it was also better even 3 years ago. unless you like increased rent and more trendy shops...

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

3:30 PM
Posted by jodi rose

on the pont des arts, the moment I finally understood paris. people sitting around drinking in the sunset; now, althouth the initial charm wore off quickly, I feel that I know the city a little.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

3:29 PM
Posted by jodi rose

finally coming to understand paris a little, the day I leave.
had wild adventure afternoon yesterday running around with ben and yasmin, met producer of french tv program at holiday inn republique to discuss ideas - now have to write synopsis; first thing tomorrow in berlin - then off to radio france for interview with M. Christian Zanesi. wonderful building; completely circular, and M Zanesi extremely charming and philosophical - ben did an amazing job of simultaneous translation; speaking french english and concrete!
then listened to the pont des arts; as it's yasmin's favourite bridge, had a lovely burbling sound reminded me of brooklyn bridge. ben says this is like submarine specialists, who spend all day listening and can tell the different subs apart, russian; french; usa; new torpedoes or propellor system. side trip to the bridge where last tango in paris was filmed... not much to hear sadly. but the pont diena and desalma both lovely, diena in front of the eiffel tower is a true radio bridge; pîcking up radio signal through the metal. crazy.
wandered up to cite des arts and visited shu lea; tales of the true digital nomad, she was my model for this lifestyle many years ago, on that garlic farm; and is a veteran.
this morning woke to a lively market on my doorstep, wandered about buying olives and tapenade and giving them away, first to ben who met for coffee; then helen and heiko, when finally visited their fab new gallery space in simplon. altho have to catch a plane very soon; so no time to help with renovation.

Monday, May 9, 2005

12:45 AM
Posted by jodi rose

at yasmins
had a fabulous reading and simple delicious dinner
listening to multidimensional music
http://www.multidimensionalmusic.com/music.html
looking at snowflakes
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/eprofile.html
walking to pont des arts soon

Sunday, May 8, 2005

4:02 PM
Posted by jodi rose

sunday morning, spent the day reading in bed.
journey by moonlight, anton szerb.
gorgeous, philosphical, melancholy, desire, yearning.
perfect.
p118.
'what you do doesn't matter. do whatever you feel like. above all, do nothing. trust yourself to chance. surrender yourself completely, don't plan things.'
indeed that's easy at this point.
greatly recovered equilibrium and ability to be in the world in my own skin. a momentary lapse of concentration. early night, strange dreams, morning flights of fancy.
p142.
'and again he had the feelin that the really important things were happening elsewhere, where he was not; tha the had missed the secret signal. his road led absolutely nowhere, and his nostalgia would gnaw him eventually, remain enternally unquenched, until he too departed.'
ahh existential melancholy in paris. brought on yesterday by my hour long traipse through the metro, following the 5 changes advised by a friendly guard when the station i needed was closed. too tired to imagine an alternative, walked endless tiled corridors, found myself waiting for another train. reminds me of the scene in matrix 2 when hugo weaving is banished to a spotless metro station, seeing all the people waiting as the train rounds the corner.
in the hammam the other day, the gommage women all round and full physical presence, when it was my turn to be scrubbed, a few of them came over and laughed together, not unkindly - i imagine they were saying I could be doing the scrubbing - and then my gommagier started singing a gorgeous arabic song, totally transformed the experience.
what now, ah yes, wandering along the seine listening to some of the many bridges. after all, that's what I'm here for.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

5:54 PM
Posted by jodi rose

anyway the building is amazing, some of the art ok too. the panacotta in the cafe was sublime.
walking around on my own again not so much fun.
having trouble de-flocking after pixelache, I used to be such an independent person. all gone haywire.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

5:52 PM
Posted by jodi rose

www.palaisdetokyo.com

tried to visit hehe and help with sanding the floor, but they seem to have gone underground.
eventually found my way to the temporary musee de art moderne, fantastic building; a palace under renovation. couldn't find it at first, watched groups of kids skating on the steps, then after walking alone along the seine for a while checked the map and realised had to go round the other side.
first glimpse of eiffel tower, much smaller than I imagined, and far prefer the steel single arch bridge in front of it. hqve to come back and record there.
had a moment thinking about jumping into the seine, not that I'm suicidally depressed, just deeply melancholy. oh and hungover, which never helps.
creating art here in the palais, making myself part of the installation.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

2:33 PM
Posted by jodi rose

head like glue
performance last night at project 101
very underground intimate space, extremely cool crowd ;) drank too much, had fun playing compositions against remixes
chatted to a few people about art
went on an adventure with juha, marnie and god I can't remember her name, sorry - to find le triptych club, got there and decided to go home and sleep.
musing on pyschoanalysis with ben, the desire to record bridges some kind of impulse to find a way to be between places, and stay in the tension of that moment. like philippa with vertigo, she wants to drive off the edge to make the feeling stop, i want to walk away if there is an awkward moment. learning to stay in the conversation.
next palais de tokyo, radio museum, reading with yasmin sunday night, shu lea back from tokyo monday. then berlin.

Saturday, May 7, 2005

2:28 PM
Posted by jodi rose

finding my way around paris, part two
biches der beres, rambuteau
walking downhill from anvers, marked corners to turn on the map, left at the pompidou
getting from there to glassbox, heiko drew an arc between oberkampf and rue st maur, said you go past an old famous bar, then the building is suddenly modern, down some stairs and there you are. amazingly managed to find it, pitch black staircase and all.
met juha at st paul metro by the carousel, walked to a place with good mint tea then visited his studio at cite des arts international. enjoyed the men in bonnets singing across the way.
arranged to meet ben out the front, on rue d l'hotel told him i was wearing red boots, he promised to bring his solar boat, but in the end only solar hat.
walked up to horseshoe bar drank and talked art peace politics, then he showed me his favourite turning bridge over a canal, built by the dutch, it swings over the water to open. ate excellent traditional french fare at a bistro, found my way home.
moved to blvd richard lenoir on friday, today found everything I needed on the boulevard - phone charger (left mine in a hotel room in riga), blue-tack (for contact mikes - nice trick from mark) and la poste, really must send that CD to the person who bought it online.
got completely lost trying to find main d'ouvres, well it was over the peripherique and none of the streets there were on my map. asked a passing tall drunk man with flowers, who told me he gambled everyday and had just had a big win, but he never crossed that line, it was another world. everything boarded up, no idea where I was going, had one of the very rare moments when I admit defeat, went and had dinner alone. really tired of my own company. any diversion welcome. going to help sand a floor now.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

12:40 PM
Posted by jodi rose

enchanted by paris
gig friday at project 101 8pm
arrived yesterday all melancholy and washed out
found my room completely charming with view of sacre couer, about to walk up the hill for breakfast and wander through montmartre
the very fabulous helen invited me to vernissage and performance last night, started at biches der biere for magazine launch - very hip arty crowd and free martinis, and performance artist lying on the couch for the entire evening (now thats my kind of art!) then onto glassbox underground post office crazy performance in motorbike helmets

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

12:38 PM
Posted by jodi rose

brief notes on itinerary and navigation

ferry helsinki - tallinn
caught up on trashy music videos
i do love a trip through the finnish archipelago

bus tallinn - riga
gazed out the window hypnotised by birch forests
woman sweeping leaves from the grass roof
amazingly beautiful architecture, old wooden houses quite lavish, stunning art deco in the centre of town
american man there having dental work gave me directions to the lido for latvian food
along two streets, down to the big park, opp american hotel, there are lots of flowers

and there were, lovely bright colourful stalls lit up against the twisted dark branches

Sunday, May 1, 2005

1:07 AM
Posted by jodi rose

ohmigod the wonders of croatian truffles
if you haven't tried them i strongly suggest a trip to zagreb and you can pick up a tiny jar at the duty free for 8 euro.
heaven in a bottle.. on pasta
they smell like the best armpits ever, said my anonymous companion
reminds me of mark reading the chicken eggs in armpits from finnish folklore, but much much sexier
drinking french rose and eating goat cheese also from paris
mmm now that's what I call vappuu!
watching the very drunk man staggering up the unprounouncable rd
from the window seat, his legs all rubbery tangoing into the wall
everytime he heard a car come, made it up to the traffic lights
then we lost sight of our drunk finnish friend with string legs
ah well, a toast to string legs, we wish him well
now time to write drunk emails to people in paris
bon nuit xxxjr