Dec. 2.2016 Morning has broken!

Morning frost, on the grass and bushes and trees, oh my; a view of side yard; of the cherry tree and wind chimes; view from terrace toward the Jura mountains; and "the artist as an [old doug]"... [danke, james joyce]

und....the tools of the trade- lol

uber zurich- hotel restaurant UTO KULM

[c] 2009 doug duffey

December 2, 2016 Switzerland

I’m up at the cusp of the crack of dawn. Woke @ 5A.M.-ish today. Was so worn out from my first week back, which has been a VERY busy one, that despite sleeping till 4PM yesterday, I ended up hitting the sack at just before midnight. As much as I try to change ‘my’ body clock, it ain’t happening yet; it usually takes 2 weeks for me to adjust. maybe this is the beginning. I’d hoped to sleep until maybe 10am… but noooooooo. 
So… a new day dawns; Day 2 of December, the end of 2016 imminent. I am now looking forward to 2017.

I feel like I am having a time warp, delayed reaction, Thanksgiving moment [or is is just a ’senior’ one’?] - a spasm of gratitude... boomerang brain. [or 'monkey brain', as my therapist calls it]

It has been a great year +plus for me, and for the band. I am so grateful for all the wonderful musicians/artists in the group; their friendship, camaraderie, amazing talent and spirit, and the music we have been and are creating together. We are a family. It is truly a gift. Thanks to Dan for all he has done to bring this about, and to keep it going.

I am also eternally thankful for Jacqueline, my European agent and dear dear friend of 24 years for ‘takin' care of business’[and me] and being my partner and ally in this life.
As we discussed last night, after having some ‘memory lane’ moments, “we’ve had some great times together”- not just with all the music business success, but we have also traveled all over Europe, from the top- Denmark to Greece, and all points in between- from Czech Republic to Egypt- from New York to Mexico- and again all points in between.  Also much love to her children and grandchildren for all these many years.

And thanks for the International Soul band: Kelvin Bullen, Hani Ali, and Christian Sphani; which I have worked with, in various configurations, for around 14+ years. We've had a great run... and I expect even more.

I thank God for my precious sister, Sue, whose been with me all 66 years of my life. She is having some serious health issues, right now; I ask all people of faith to pray for her healing.

Speaking of faith, I thank my spiritual father, Fr. Eudokimous, my Godfather, Walt Garlington, and my church family @ St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church [Monroe, Louisiana] , who along with my doctors Alley, Cavell, Kervin and therapist Ledford, have pulled me from the black hole, the deepest abyss, I spiraled into upon an avalanche of death: losing my beloved parents, precious family members, and very close and dear friends..
I am truly blessed to still have great life long AND long term friends, new true ones, and my remaining family members. I am grateful to God for ALL things.

A spirit or angel must have [as the protestants say] “laid that on my heart” this morning….
now I need coffee and lots of it. got a full day of work: a rehearsal this afternoon, with a new bassist, Roland Sumi-Mestre, for Silvester [New Year's Eve] show ; then tomorrow to Zurich, Sunday to Bern, and… oh hell, I can’t think past that. As Mose Allison would say [paraphrased] "[my] mind is on vacation and my [fingers] is workin' overtime"
[c]2016 doug duffey

November 22, 2016 Switzerland

Rather than posting every blurb and foto to facebook, I've decided to reopen my old travel blog, which I haven't used since 2011[the beginning of my 5 year devastating depression] and do most of my ranting and travel photos etc. here. This blog has always been spotty; I never really kept up with it. 

November 22,2016- MLU-ATL-JFK-ZRH
Many thanks to Dan Sumner for getting me to the airport.I left my primary home, la belle Louisiane- for my secondary home, la belle Suisse. The trip went smoothly, without major horrors, except in Atlanta which is always a frigging horror. I hate that airport... the 'service'[not] is always 'merde'- slow, lazy ass people 'supposed' to be working [I guess if you're breathing you can get a job there] ...and it was uber crowded.

the Monroe airport was ok. no major hassles checking in- except I think they screwed me, making me pay $100 for an extra suitcase [normally 2 are allowed for international] -and again, one was overweight and i had to take out 2 big jars of Jif EXTRA crunchy- and 2 jars of coconut oil- and move them to the other bag. Thank God they didn't weigh my carry on, which had 2 laptops, iPad, and 8 external hard drives, 3 microphones, tascam digital recorder- and my bags of bling.  

2 of my St.Constantine and Helen church family were there- Linda and Dean Macheras- so we visited until flight time. The plane to ATL was not only full, but i had a seat by a real "Chatty Cathy" and finally, after sticking earplugs in, and pulling on my O.J. wool hat, said "honey, I'm tired" and then pulled the wool over my eyes, so to speak, and conked out until we landed...

I cannot walk those airports anymore- I did it religiously, yearly if not 2+ times a year, schlepping unbelievable amounts of 'stuff', for over 20 something years. When my arthritis got painful, a few years back, I started using a wheelchair or cart. Anyway, it was clearly written on my ticket that i needed assistance, as did a lot of other folks, and not one assistant came to the plane when we landed in ATL.! Typical. I eventually had to schlep my stuff up the ramp to the building, THEN a few assistants with chairs came, except for me; I let the older ladies have them, and go before me, and finally started waving through the door with my cane! lol. I was stressing because I had 10 minutes to get to my connecting flight to JFK. I finally flagged down a 'pusher' and told her "I have 10 minutes; I cannot miss this connecting flight..." so she FINALLY got me in a chair and to my gate [which mercifully was a mile down, on the same concourse...

JFK was NO problem; had an assistant at the plane who helped me through the airport, the masses, down and onto the shuttle, and then back up and through the masses, and to my gate... An angel! JFK got it gwine on, now.


the flight from monroe to atlanta and from atlanta to jfk were packed! even so, I slept all the way on both; the flight from jfk to zrh was not full, so i had the seats to myself and slept yet again. the flight time was much shorter- only 7+ hours from NYC to Zurich. Unlike going from atlanta to paris [9+ hours] and then to zurich- God and price willing, this is my new flight path.

In Zurich, wisely I had my wheelchair lady call and arrange a porter for my luggage, to schlep it from baggage claim to and onto the train; but because we had missed the 10:13AM, I'd have to wait for the 11:13- so he said he had to leave, i flipped out, saying "I cannot do this by myself!"- so he called his boss, then said he'd be back, so I sat outside Cafe Spettacolo and had coffee/croissant and e-cig. Mercifully he came back, as he said he would, at 11AM. and hauled everything down and onto the train.

Normally there is wifi on the trains and in the airport/train station- but for some reason I could not connect, so despite sending txts Jackie got none of them; so, she had no idea what time I would get in. when I got to Grenchen Sud, i had to schlep the bags off the train by myself- [and yes I always carry too much]- There was nobody there, so I had to haul [to down and up ramps] 2 HUGE suitcases, my heavy carry on and a bag with my pillows and black bag in it- to elevator- and my cane... which fell, and the work Michael had done to repair it [handle area] was ruined. a big chunk fell out. 
i pulled everything to a bench and sat down, then said [in my brain] 'what the hell' -and walked over to the taxi stand, and came home. I knew the guy from various time; he mercifully, got all my junk in and out of the car.

it was great to see Jacqueline- we sat and had coffee and talked forever; later had rosti and salad, then when my eyes started shutting, i went down to my bedroom, and to sleep. woke in the middle of the night, so took something, and slept until 7:30AM ish. Decided to get up, so went up and made coffee, and began this my 'real' first day back.

Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of my Chrismation [like confirmation] 2 years of officially being Orthodox. That is what I am MOST thankful for this Thanksgiving; that God led me to THE One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic [Orthodox] Church. "The Eastern Orthodox Church, regards itself as the historical and organic continuation of the original Church founded by Christ and his apostles."

 [c]2016-2017 DOUG DUFFEY

voyage du jour -december 8, 2011

preface: below are the color photos from our day trip- i have not posted the more arty 'sepia' ones here- i might do a 2nd "photo only" entry of them.

DD & JT- @ BIELER SEE

HOTEL JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

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ah bon... yesterday was sunny & bright, so Jackie and i decided to day trip around the Bieler See [Lac Biel/Lake Biel] and enjoy the sunlight, blue skies, water and fresh air.

We 1st drove through Biel [no fotos in this entry] drove to La Neuveville & stopped at the Hotel Jean-Jacques Rousseau- and sat on a bench watching the sun set. JJR lived on St Peter's Insel/Isle St. Pierre [island]
which is in the 'see'. J&I went there years ago with musicians i was working with @ the time- very interesting place.  

i really wanted to get to Le Landeron before sunset - it's such a beautiful sweet small walled ancient village- with allee of chestnut trees in the center. it was totally deserted, except for a very few people. they were decorating for Christmas, which for some reason felt more like Christmas to me- [unlike all the US commercial Christmas crap]- very French- more traditional- simple folk type, natural [green] ornaments etc.

LE LANDERON:

 

 

 

 

i think Le Landeron would be a wonderful place to have a small atelier/studio/apartment. a place to draw, paint, do collage, write, do photography. have the absolute bare necessities- just a bed, chair and table- coffee machine- very basic cooking junk- my Hermes manual typewriter & Moleskine journals. no tv, internet or phone [other than my cell, for emergencies] - just room enough to work, create, make a big artistic mess; be the hermit monk in absolute solitude & silence- eat, drink in small local cafes, et souvien Francais, apron encore; mais, un beau reve... mais possible? pas maintenant

after, stopping and making a few fotos, as i have done there before, we headed back, stopping along the way in Erlach [below] at a cafe for coffee and 'sweeties' 

i had apfel strudel w/vanilla sauce- jackie had some maroni stuff w/schlag rahm-  also saw more Christmas decorating 'ideas' 

  

and landscapes -showing snow on the Jura- on the way back around the lake en route to Biel and onward to home.

it did me a world of good to get out- and go around- and remember where i am- considering i have not gone out at ALL except for my concerts, and the occasional accompanying of jacqueline to do errands or shopping. 

it's amazing that only 15 minutes from here -[which is primarily German speaking, and w/more modern architecture & buildings mixed with the old]= are tres vieux villages like La Neuveville & Le Landeron [both tres Francais] and like going back in time: OLD historical, funky & beautiful. getting out [especially on such a beautiful day, like yesterday] is something i absolutely need to do more of. 

i  have been obsessively/incessantly working on [writing/recording] music from the time i was here in august, all the while i was home, and ever since i came back on November 14th to the point that i have reached burn out. So i am stopping for a while; reading a lot; writing in my journal; and plan to begin art work [since writing/art/photography is just as necessary to my 'uber alles' well being/my life as music is] - even so, i have got to stop, take breaks, get out [especially with winter here] and see and do- instead of "staying on that damned computer" as my mama always said.

[c]2011 DOUG DUFFEY

FACEBOOK, SWITZERLAND - ITALY AUGUST 2010

Ever since i got on facebook i have almost ceased blogging, or even writing in my journal, which is a drag; but everything seems so time consuming. there seems to be so many projects, so little time. Fb seems to be the fastest & easiest way to communicate.

i just got back from several weeks touring with the band in switzerland, and a short vacation with jackie to the condo in italy, mid tour. of course i carried cameras to europe with me, and shot a lot of film; took my old workhorse the Canon AE1, and Canonet QL17 GIII as well as my casio exilim [digital snapshots] w/which are immediate to upload. i have to hand processed the true black and white film- but the 'color process' B&W can be done anywhere. i used both, with various cameras: my betters slrs, rangefinders, & cheapo plastic cameras. i like the results of film in a plastic camera. i also bought a canon eos 650 [film] the 1st day i arrived, at a brockenstube [thrift store] - which i left in Switzerland so i dont have to wag more cameras back when i go: i already have an arsenal there, too. the less i take, the more i can bring back, whats with all the new luggage restrictions.

at the moment the only fotos i have online of the trip are the digital snapshots are on FB ... and a few in my "foto mondo" blog which i shot with my favorite vivitar plastic fixed focus panorama 'toy' camera.

i realize that the only way i am going to be able to keep up this blog is to do it daily when i am traveling- and not succumb to the convenience of FB- voila

[c] 2010 doug duffey

entrance ticket stubs- Egypt & Rome

above: luxor, egypt 2000 below: the vatican museum rome 2002

[c] 2009 doug duffey

buren on the aare, switzerland 4.9.2009

some shots made this afternoon- after shopping- in Buren by the Aare- a small beautiful village nearby. i also made some very short video clips of the moving water to possibly make a music video w/ solo piano accompaniment.

it's been very cold the past few days- but today felt like spring- and spring in switzerland is absolutely glorious! one of the most beautiful countries on the planet... and my 2nd home

all photos [c]2009 doug duffey
[c] 2009 doug duffey