Fiddlin' on a dock

gigs, recording and canoeing through swamps

Such great experiences I've had here in Charleston, South Carolina. My first gig with the Steady Hand String band was a bit nerve racking since I knew barely any of the songs, but it ended up being a casual restaurant gig that was a lot of fun. We then headed over to an art gallery immediately after and played a super rowdy, close and personal gig for an appreciative audience. The next day, while we were jamming in the backyard on Friday, a neighbor who happens to own a bar down town asked us to come play a half hour gig at his bar on Sunday for a christmas party. $75 each for half an hour! The next evening we played at a beautiful wedding ceremony. The family was so happy they gave us a hefty tip afterwards and personally thanked us. It was a great time up on stage singing old country songs with such talented musicians. The next morning we played at the Farmer's Market for three hours and ended the day with the half hour set at the bar down town. We couldn't even hear Luke's loud old time voice and Matt hitting his guitar over the drunken noise there, but it was a fun, easy way to get a nice band fund to live off of for the next few days. Especially since we spent the next two days recording nonstop for the Steady Hand String Band album. It was almost completely stress free. We recorded almost every song all together instead of recording each part separately, which makes the whole album sound much more spontaneous and exciting, which is what old time and bluegrass is all about. All the songs have such a good feel to them because we were all happy while we were recording, which is usually not the case when recording an album. Luke, the studio manager and mixer was amazed by how smoothly everything went. Both him and his studio partner, Kevin, had a great time and told us we should come back and record any time. Luke told me he really wanted me to come back with my originals and record them as soon as possible. I will hopefully find the time to take him up on that. Matt's friends are all so nice and welcoming, and keep telling me I need to stick around and go to College of Charleston instead, which I really can't help but seriously consider as an option. Now we are in Conway, South Carolina which is where Luke and Gloria are from. They own a quaint little cabin on a pond in a swamp which we have been jamming at and taking potential album cover photos. Today we're going to canoe into town, buy some oysters and have a yummy dinner tonight.

Here is a picture from recording at the studio:

Charleston, South Carolina

I made it to Charleston, South Carolina yesterday morning around 6am. It was a very quick, easy ride with a guy from Wells, Maine who was traveling down for work in Florida. Definitely lucked out with Craig's List this time. He happily drove the whole way in his new saab he just bought last week. I had a nice day touring around Charleston on the bike Matt found for me, and a lovely dinner with Corey and his girlfriend, Grace. I'm still getting used to everyone speaking english around me. I keep wanting to say to them, Oh you're from the U.S. too! Music shenanigans starts tomorrow evening...

European adventures come to an end

On my last night in Croatia, Maris and I made some special Hot Chocolate!

Very yummy. Then I left for Belgrade, Serbia and stayed in a hostel in Belgrade for a night. Had a nice time at a bar down the street. Wish I could have stayed longer, but departed the next morning for Skopje, Macedonia. I caught the train by about 30 seconds.. Had a nice time in Skopje for a few days and then took the bus to Sofia for Adelaide's birthday. My last week was relaxing and pleasant spending time with family. Nicholas and his youngest daughter, Paula, who I hadn't met yet, were both around, so it was great hanging out with them. I busked with Adelaide's friend, who she met at Bonaroo and who happens to be in Sofia now teaching music lessons to little Jewish kids. Got on the plane on Thursday morning and made it back in time for thanksgiving dinner in Bethel, Maine. Ahh how lovely to be home. I think I might be leaving for Charleston on Sunday, though, depending on the Craigslist ride share I'm trying to get.. Much too soon. Now I am sitting at home basking in my banjo. Here are some more pictures of the place I volunteered at in Croatia.

In the crazy garden collecting herbs

baby

Rocket stove makes very nice sleeping benches

Exciting toilet experiences

Arien

Mud walls, wooden floors

Yoga

Morning dew

Happy family

Getting yelled at by small children who don't speak english

Hello!

Lovely group of people to go walking with

little bear

painting mud

Preparing lunch

Once again, change of plans. Decided I couldn't leave quite yet after Dan, Quiggy and Maris convinced me I should stay. Lots of wasted money on a plane ticket but I'm so happy I'm not on my way to a plane ride right now.!

Arien is happy

So is Dan!! 

Nika seems a bit confused about it..

Oriovcic

Very sad to be leaving the lovely village of Oriovcic tomorrow morning. This family has grown on me in just a few days.

Gert

Nika

  

Today we all finished laying down bricks in the front of the house.!

Manly men

Now I shall try to catch a plane to Macedonia in the morning.

Slovonski Brod

Yesterday I said goodbye to Hannah and vidhe and set off for slovonski Brod, about 200 km east of Zagreb. Marko, our host in Zagreb, made me a nice little cardboard sign saying SB and gave me a bunch of fruit for the road. Such a lovely person. Vidhe and Hannah set off for Ljubljana and Venice and I was left all alone.! Got a ride all the way to slovonski Brod by three nice old men who gave me a sandwich and an orange. Dropped me at the toll where I got yelled at by the guy in the booth to get away.. A nice guy picked me up and brought me to the bus station where I got a taxi. I arrived here and no one was around so I just roamed around the beautiful yard. The house is made of mud and straw and the garden is a crazy jumble. The family got home a bit later and it turns out there are five other volunteers here too. Also five kids. Very, very loud kids... Fun fun. Today we painted and then went for a frolick in the woods. Found a pretty salamander and played with leaves.

The house!

zagreb

Marco brought home this homeless Mexican traveler musician man the other night. He was carrying with him a guitar, drum, a fiddle he didn't know how to play and a harmonica. I got to jam with him in the morning and then see him and his two other crazy Mexican friends busk in the street.

Had some indian food for lunch with the whole bunch. Missing Marco unfortunately.

More pictures from Zagreb

Zagreb city view

Pretty trees from apartment window

cool car

Marco, our lovely host

The mexican homeless musician traveler (can't remember his name) let me borrow his fiddle that he didn't know how to play.

awwww

Croatiaaaa

We ended up being lazy and staying an extra day on the yacht. I also wasn't ready to say goodbye to Omri. He is so so so cool and I will hopefully visit him in Israel some day. On Friday morning we hitch hiked out of tibat and found a ride at the boarder all the way to Split, Croatia in a tiny little car. Our host greeted us well and him and his girlfriend took us out to see the old Town. I was so tired I almost fell asleep at the bar. The next day we walked around the old Town, which is the best old town I've been in yet. There is also a protected forest on the edge of Split that boarders the coast line, so we ventured through there. That night Hannah and I were feeling adventurous so we stayed out much after vidhe and Ivan went back to the apartment. We went to a few bars, a really crappy night club and were planning on going to bed, but we walked by a small club and asked the guy at the door what was going on. He said it was a really quiet night but we could go and hang out if we wanted. So we went in, met the bar tender and just hung out with the staff all night. It was their last night for the season so it was sort of a goodbye party. We stayed there until about 6am with everone and then we went to an after gathering at their house. It was all so much fun, and we even went swimming in the ocean that morning because the sun was so warm, but vidhe wasn't too happy when we got back at 2 pm from our night out. Sometimes it really feels like we have an embarrassing, annoying dad with us.. We thought we should just stick around for another night, but vidhe insisted we go. So we headed out to try to catch a ride to Zagreb. Stood on the highway for 2 hours and only 2 cars stopped and neither were going our way. We knew it was useless. Stranded on a highway in the dark running off of zero hours of sleep is no fun.. So we walked to the nearest gas station, got a ride back to Split and took a bus that got into Zagreb at 4 am. Stumbled to our next couch surfers apartment and were pleasantly greeted by Marco and Katerina. Today we've had a lazy day, but Zagreb is a good city. I started writing a song the other night. Also lost my camera in Split and I'm very sad about it. So many good pictures lost.

couch surfing on a yacht??

We found a couch surf host that is a captain for a huge yacht in Tibat, Montenegro. The owner isn't around so he got pretty lonely and decided to secretly start hosting poor travelers on the nicest boat most normal people have ever been on. This is the fastest boat in the Montenegro port, and so fancy! What a cool guy too. 28 years old getting paid to live on a yacht. Also a mechanic and a crazy good photographer. So we have had all our laundry washed and dried, taken showers, slept wonderfully on $8,000 mattresses and got a ride around the harbor in the dingy. Went swimming as well. So we have had a nice break from traveling while we are traveling. Here is the view from the upper deck this evening :

The lovely mattress

We want to stay here forever. Also picked up an Australian girl in the last hostel. We are now a pleasant group of three.