Victo 2004

[Gordon B]

Did anybody here go to the 2003 festival? The 2004 is from May 20-24. I'll go if we can get a group together.

[Cem]

I'm seriously shooting for it.

[Cem]

i tHink a certain lovAble europeaN drummer will be there...

It would be nice to know this week as I need to bid for my holidays...2 maybe 3 solid shows at least so far, looking very promising!

[Gordon B]

Originally posted by Cem
i tHink a certain lovAble europeaN drummer will be there...

It would be nice to know this week as I need to bid for my holidays...2 maybe 3 solid shows at least so far, looking very promising!

What have you heard? I found nothing indicating 2004 performers on the festival site.

David, I recently heard Eskelin-Parkins-Black in D.C. Marvelous!

[Cem]

Originally posted by Gordon B
What have you heard?

Just what's in my message, Gordon. Rumour & sigh...

[Pete C]

Originally posted by Cem
i tHink a certain lovAble europeaN drummer will be there...

any idea when that'll BE iN iNdelible INK?

[Gary Sisco]

I know Ellery's planning on it, so it must be so. I am going to try like a mofo to get to V-ville, at least on that day, because I've been waiting for years to have a chance to hear Eskelin/Black/Parkins and have never had the chance. V-ville may be the closest they get, for me ('bout three hours).

[Chaz Longue]

A certain loveable european drummer is also scheduled to appear with a certain eccentric electric rake /guitar player in Burlington in June.

Duets, in 150 seat Flynnspace.

[Cem]

Well, I got my holiday time booked May 15-30, one week either side of the Victo weekend. I do have to be back for the 26th for a concert here, though. I gotta find a cat-sitter, who's not afraid of giving insulin shots, beyond that my credit cards runneth... So, who else is going? I'm thinking about a trip to NYC before the fest. How about a hang? Maybe we'll discuss it in 3-4 months. Damn, I'm stoked!! Anyone know the dates for the Vision Festival? David tells me it was after Victo last year. I hope it's before Victo this year.

[Frisco]

Cem, Vision Fest is always after Victo. I haven't heard dates, but it always runs up to or through Memorial Day, as they do a Memorial Day concert for a departed musician. This year is supposed to be tributes to Peter Kowald and Wilber Morris.

[Cem]

Frisco, thanks! Just my luck. Might have to move the show here back a week... we'll see...

So, who else is going? You guys don't need to hear anymore to make the trip worthwhile, do you? The chances are, there'll be some 'iconic folks' to finish up the activities. Braxton?

David sounds like a done deal! Gordon, it's a hop, skip & a jump for you, no? I know, Pete'll go if he isn't working, right? If Gary doesn't show up, I'll drive the 3 hours each way & drag him there! I figure, Sir Olewnick is gonna be in a vulnarable state, not able to make it to Amplify 2004, therefore easy-pickins (or is he a complete eai-head now?)... same might apply to Sergio...

[Cem]

Frisco, are you going to Vision, Victo or both?

[Jazzzoline]

Victoriaville is about 45 minutes by car from where I live. I'm gonna wait to see the program.

[Jon Abbey]

Rowe/Fennesz/Nakamura/Ambarchi are there, the "Four Gentlemen of the Guitar", premiering the week before at my fest in Berlin and moving on to Victo. also, Pita/Tina Frank are there. I feel like I've seen some others along the way, but they're not coming to me.

Michel Levasseur's policy of not announcing the schedule until a couple of months before always bugged the hell out of me as a fan, and that's one reason I try to announce any live shows I'm putting on as far in advance as possible.

[Cem]

Thanks for sharing, Jon! Looks like I can't make Berlin, so at least I'll catch some nuggets from there. Late announcement policy is very irritating, I agree! Of course, he isn't the only one that does this. Events, which draw internationally, ought to announce line-ups sooner.

[Gary Sisco]

I am planning on going for the first day, to hear Ellery's trio, but won't be able to do more than that. Still a plan, though, as anything could happen to make it go awry. I haven't been hearing any live music for a long time so I'm hoping it doesn't fall through, especially because I've been looking forward for years to hearing that trio live. Can't do more than a day, though, as Vision comes up right afterwards, and I'm going to be calling in all of my chips for having worked every day this winter, and covering for caregivers and whatever all year, so that I can make my annual NYC run for three or four days during Vision. Which means other people will be working for me the whole while, 24/7. 'S why I'm hording my chips til May.

Of course, there being a border to cross and cross again, another factor in there is going to be the level of insanity, politically, during the festival. I don't want to call in any chips only to get fucked with trying to get back into the states again the next morning, causing chaos in the household.

[Frisco]

Originally posted by Cem
Frisco, are you going to Vision, Victo or both?

I'm not sure, Cem. Vision is an almost certainty for me. I got the exact dates for Vision Fest. It'll run from Wed. May 26 through Monday May 31 (the Memorial day celebration). I've done both on two occasions and it worked out perfectly, going straight from Victo to NYC. Last year turned out to be a fun ride, driving Peter Brotzmann down. Trying to arrange things around work, I've just been able to catch the last couple days of Victo. I'll have to see a schedule. Yeah, too bad Michael keeps it a secret until the last minute. And, hey, this year there's also the festival in Athens Georgia in April to consider.

[Frisco]

Originally posted by Gary Sisco
Of course, there being a border to cross and cross again, another factor in there is going to be the level of insanity, politically, during the festival. I don't want to call in any chips only to get fucked with trying to get back into the states again the next morning, causing chaos in the household.

Gary, the border crossings were a trip last year. I ended crossing in Detroit/Windsor, then in Fort Erie/Buffalo to stop overnite in Buffalo, then tried to cross up north of Watertown, NY. They kept me for two hours. Kept asking me, "ever been arrested?", "ever had a DUI?", "ever been arrested?", "ever been denied access to Canada?", "ever been arrested?" Then they make me pull over and go in to Immigration. Same questions, tell me to sit while they check me out. An hour later, they tell me to go to Customs. After a half hour there, the girl says, "I'm supposed to search you and look through your car". So she takes me out to the car, looks in it for thirty seconds and says, "just go ahead and go".

So, then I'm in Victo and talk to William Parker and Peter Brotzmann. They tell me that they held the two of them and Hamid for three hours. The next day, Peter asks if he can ride with me to NY, as maybe they won't be so ridiculous at the border. So we go through Vermont, approach the border and the guy doesn't even ask for Peter's passport, asks one question and lets us in. Never can tell what's going to happen.

[Jon Abbey]

Gary, I'm doing a solo/solo/duo Rowe/Fennesz show on May 27th at Tonic, FYI.

[Brian Olewnick]

cem, I'll look forward to seeing you if you make it down this way. I'm off the week of May 25 (whatever the Monday is around then), though I'll be fairly busy with Keith that week, including taking him and Fennesz up to Boston and back. But I'll be willing to stomach a Viz Fest event or two later on. As long as you promise me no Patricia Nicholson or Budbill dance/poetry. A human can only take so much!

[Cem]

Gary & Frisco: Re: Border crossings: The most disturbing border story I've heard, had to do with the guards requiring proof from a prominent bassist, that he was actually a musician... They made him pull out his bass and play!!! He did comply not to hold up the rest of the band. This was a clear case of racism thinly disguised as 'benign' bureaucracy. I forget which side of the border.

Looong boring border anecdote alert------------------------------------------------

I hope, I'm not repeating myself...Once, I was refused entry into the States for being "vocal" (among other things). The guard even reached for his gun!!! & asked me to "get the fuck over there!" They made me miss my bus in the middle of the night. I had to walk back to the Canadian side of the border with 3 weeks worth of camping gear, with real bad hair, Charles Manson facial hair, as one pissed customer. I had to get a fax sent to me from my landlord (I got it from a roommate) to prove that I actually lived, where I said I lived, even though I had a credit card statement and d.l. with my address. They were just fuckin' with me because they could. When I got the fax and hauled all my gear back to the US border, showed them the fax, they didn't even look at it & just waved me through...pricks!!!

So I was one sorry ass, pissed Turk (& Canadian) stuck at midnight on the US side of the border with my thumb out and a deadline to catch a Green Tortoise bus in Seattle in early a.m.. Walked over to one of the guards to ask him to hook me up with a ride. His response: "I can't do that. First, it's against the law. Second, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have even let you through!" I came sooo close to knocking him out! Instead, I turned around and walked away...

10 mins. later a tour bus pulls over to one of the check-points. The guard, with whom I last had the pleasure of chatting, walks over to the bus starts talking to its driver pointing at me, etc. Then he waves me over, asking me to bring my stuff with (??). "You can catch a ride with this guy", winks at me and walks away (the bastard ...he was testing me the whole time!)

Well, it turns out this is Neil Young's (actually, Crazy Horse's) tour bus!! (I had to miss that show that night in Vancouver, in lieu of a Jerry Garcia Band run in San Francisco at the Warfield Theatre.) I was one ecstatic hippy kid! Of course, the band was back in Vancouver and were gonna fly to Vegas, where the driver was to meet them. He was such a nice guy (Dominic, I think?). Told me a bunch of great road stories with many bands he worked. When we got to Seattle, I gave him a "stealie" (a GD pin) as a token of my appreciation. He went in the back, rifled through a bunch of stuff and came back with a bacstage pass!! This was possibly the highlight of my hitch-hiking career!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Now that I'm a "public servant", I get through much easier. I've learned to stay cool and calm and only answer questions, providing no more info than necessary, from some years of practice driving bands through the border...

Brian, I may have to come back here for the 26th. I hope to see you while you're on holidays, but may have to be the week before. Don't PANIC about having to see anything with me... The important thing is to say howdy over a bite or some drinks or both...

[Cem]

Originally posted by Pete C
any idea when that'll BE iN iNdelible INK?

Mr. Oh so frieNDly mAY come here, too.

[Frisco]

Originally posted by Cem
Looong boring border anecdote alert------------------------------------------------

I love long boring border stories, having lived in Michigan and crossing in Windsor and into Northern Ontario in St. Ste. Marie. Once, on a camping trip we were told we had too much alcohol and had to pay a huge tax, which was more than the bottle itself. So we turned back, found three hitchhikers and asked them to say that it was theirs. Little did we know that none of these kids had any ID, so they pulled us all in and totally destroyed my car in a mad search.

Cem, the crossing from Washington to Vancouver has always been easy for me, though I never tried it when I was a grubby(er) kid.

Re: Victo. Is there one border crossing that seems to be kinder than the rest. The one coming down into NY State from Montreal detained me once. No searches, just alot of questions. Is the one in Vermont generally mellow?

[Frisco]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
cem, I'll look forward to seeing you if you make it down this way. I'm off the week of May 25 (whatever the Monday is around then), though I'll be fairly busy with Keith that week, including taking him and Fennesz up to Boston and back. But I'll be willing to stomach a Viz Fest event or two later on. As long as you promise me no Patricia Nicholson or Budbill dance/poetry. A human can only take so much!

The first shots against 2004 Vision Fest have been fired. And we haven't even had a lineup announced yet.
Brian, I hope you'll come and enjoy some of it. I enjoyed meeting you and Pete last year and hope to see you guys again. Perhaps you could carry some Pepto Bismol. It's OK. I've needed No-Doz at a few EAI shows.

[Brian Olewnick]

:-) Pat, if you can guarantee me a set as wonderful as the Fred Anderson/Harrison Bankhead one last year, no prob!

[Uli]

I'd suggest you stick with your idols, Ollie. In the real world, wonders are never guaranteed.

[Brian Olewnick]

Look! It's Uli!

[Uli]

Yep, it seems to be up to Frisco and me to keep track on the snide remarks by the nerdy little pissers.

[Brian Olewnick]

Jeez, I compliment one of your heroes (who provided one of my favorite concerts of last year) and get accused of being snide. I can't win, I tells ya.

[Uli]

What? I have complimented you in the past for enjoying that show.

However, "stomach a viz event " is in your usual line of attacks for that event that somehow does not suit your feelings.

don't despair, you're a big winner among your friends. I think you're practically a guiding light.