fasnacht - store windows

shots from downtown grenchen- getting ready for fasnacht [mardi gras]
[c] 2008 doug duffey

mardi gras -fasnacht

i found this mardi gras -fasnacht- drag backstage at a gig and made a polaroid self portrait.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

back to life... finally!

i haven't been blogging much this trip. after a few weeks with "la grippe suisse" [the swiss flu] -which hit me like a ton of bricks after zermatt-[from about jan.13th until now!] i am finally beginning to feel like i'm getting back to normal. it was rough! one of the worst flu[s] i've ever had.

i'd planned to do so many things while here; i brought cameras & film, art supplies, music/lyric files, etc. to work on- but like the old saying goes... "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry..." amen. the big plan was to go in the studio and do some recordings... and it might happen yet ...

luckily, we recorded live at the blue note last week- and got some great recordings. we will record tonight and tomorrow nights gigs- and next week in luzern, where we'll be 3 nights for fasnacht [mardi gras] - and possibly pull enough material from all the sessions for a 'live' cd. it's time we made a cd that sounds exactly like we sound live.

[c] 2008 doug duffey/ switerland 01.25.2008

a room with a view

shots from my room- which has 2 balconies. [hotel post- zermatt, switzerland]
it's been snowing, which keeps me indoors; i'm always afraid i'll catch cold or flu and not get through the gig... and we have 3 more nights here. it snowed a lot yesterday- just as i was thinking of finally going out of the hotel- and it's snowing again today- so, that ends that idea. i don't give good snow.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

Drei Konige Tage

today was Drei Konige Tage [3 Kings Day- as in the 3 wise men; also the origin of "king cakes"]- however, there were no king cakes... just "rhythm & business" as usual.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

fasnacht in zermatt- gugge band

outside, this evening, the swiss Mardi Gras [Fasnacht] was going on... each region in switzerland has it's own specific date for carnival. a gugge band [carnival marching band] was playing in the street. seems they go from bar to bar, play some, drink some, play some more, then go on to the next bar-from one end of town to the other. the bands used to be very thrown together- unrehearsed and musically ragged- more fun- now they're much more polished.

the tuba player was dancing and spinning

below: parts of the drum section


[c] 2008 doug duffey

en route to zermatt... and there

waiting between trains- hauptbahnhof- bern; to get to the gig in zermatt entailed changing trains 4 times, with luggage- on in grenchen, off and on in biel, off and on in bern, off and on in visp, then off in zermatt, and to the hotel.

a shot from the train between Visp and Zermatt; i've shot this scenery many times over the years w/different cameras, but only took a few digital shots w/my casio exilim this trip.

hani and sebi at soundcheck- the pink- hotel post- zermatt; the hotel has been renovated. 'the pink' which was an institution... is now purple & black... very Prince.
[c] 2008 doug duffey

some shots from the trip

above: a sign for the stax museum in the memphis airport. it says "hip long before hop was added" -AMEN! memphis soul music is still my favorite- Stax and HI records rule!
above: i finally found a use for the cup in my carry on [when the handle is up]- it's a perfect fit for a corky's bar-b-que pork sandwich, which i got & rolled through the memphis airport to the plane.
it was a good thing i had it, because for some odd reason my in flight 'meal' got messed up and i got a bad/bland vegetarian one.

above: schiphol airport, amsterdam, where i sat and smoked and drank coffee for 4 hours... thinking everything was cool- that my flight would be stress free.... and almost missed my connecting flight because the monitor ONLY showed 1 flight to zurich @ 3pm- which happened to be the wrong one!
i was at what i thought was the right gate to board; but, as i handed my boarding pass to the guy, he said "you have a KLM ticket; this is Swiss air" -so i had to literally RUN to the other end of the airport; my flight was for 3:15! i got to the gate i thought he'd said -D6- but he'd said D56- so i had to run another 50 gates- another mile! i thought i'd have a heart attack, and miss the flight... or both. BUT i managed to get to the gate just at the last second, and luckily just made the flight. i'd had to take out my laptop from it's bag 3x- at security checks- and finally just threw it in my carry on!

above: engelberg, switzerland-where we played new years eve- the 1st gig of the tour. the view is from my hotel room.
[c] 2008 doug duffey