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Part V: Food, Broken Hard Drives, Paris, Alex Gopher, Kitsune, Marais
I got back to Paris a week ago after CMJ and my body was pretty fed up with all this intercontinental crisscrossing. I was feeling the rigors of incessant pond-hopping so I canceled a few gigs and made a focused effort to rest up, for realz. If you read the previous blogs you'll know that I was having some serious computer problems. Well, last week is also when shit hit the proverbial fan. Basically I got some major help and got my computer fixed on Monday, got it back on Tuesday and the same thing happened again except worse. Then I figured out that all along I had this evil rabid hard drive that was killing everything it touched. You can read the whole epic tale in this post on the Fool's Gold blog.
Wednesday evening as I was trying to get my mind off this crap I decided it was time to throw away all my old socks. I went to this fancy-shmancy department store and spend an obscene amount of money on all Ralph Lauren underwear.
Now that this computer junk is over I should get a dry-erase board and write "4 days since the last crash".
On Thursday I went to visit Alex Gopher at his studio. He and I became friends in the last couple months (might I add, MySpace top friends... har har) but never actually met until last week. He's got this crazy ill studio that he shares with Etienne De Crecy with all the vintage analog gear you can dream of. I love these European studios where they still run Pro Tools on OS 9. I want those drum machines though. When I get back to New York I'm gonna buy a couple. Anyway, later that night there was a release party for the Kitsune Maison 6 compilation (which features my song "Say Whoa") and I did a little DJ set. That's the only show I didn't cancel since it didn't involve any traveling. In Flagranti also played, along with label honchos Gildas & Masaya and a live performance by David E. Sugar.
My girl came to visit and I did tried my darndest to be a semi-competent tour guide in a city that I barely know. On Friday we visited the Marais (the old Jewish ghetto that's now a posh shopping area) and then I had a meeting with my homie who runs Sixpack, another French friend whom I had never actually met in person.
During the weekend I basically ate a lot, slept a lot and worked on some music. This morning I had to go to the Russian consulate to apply for a visa for an upcoming trip. The consulate is all the way on the other side of town and they close at noon. When I got there I found out that it's a national holiday in Russia today and tomorrow so the consulate is closed. It's scary what you can come up with when you combine French and Russian bureaucracy.