Last Friday 'I took a trip on a train and I thought about you' - it was for a nice gig to say the least, so I tried to document it....
We were booked to play a duo gig (me singing and Chris Berry aka CJ on guitar) at a cocktail reception on the deck of a boat on the Seine for, The Korean Royal Family amongst other VVIP guests. The do was a welcome dinner for a hospitality weekend at Le Mans [a Korean company has signed a deal with the Ferrari team to make the tyres for their race cars] and we kicked off the celebrations of this union.
Below is a run down of our wacky whistle stop tour:
We had an early start and took the Eurostar from swanky St Pancras, only slight downside was our train was just after a Disney Land one so the departure lounge had a mildly irritating trad jazz ensemble blasting out tuba and trumpet heavy versions of when you wish upon a star etc. Anyway, when we arrived we were really happy with our hotel '
Luticia' - seen behind me here swinging
It reminded us slightly of the Shining with all its deco details but we didn't see any ghosts
there was loads of surreal art and statues in there which we loved too. The French seem to have a way of appreciating the now - creating mind expanding art - no practical purpose, only pleasure - they take time to just sit in parks and appreciate the surroundings - a slow paced and contemplative existence - CJ and I felt inspired.
This is the park opposite the hotel where we ate salad and took a leaf out of the locals' book. "Slow down, ya goin too fast - ya got to make the moment last..."
Then we went to our rooms and got organised. This is my bedroom:
and my ensuite
it was a fine set up - I stupidly drank a bottle of water from the mini bar but quickly went to the shop with the empty bottle to replace it when Chris pointed out it cost 7 Euros!!
We got dolled up and met in the foyer where a car was laid on to pick us up for technical rehearsals at 6pm, then we were on the boat
The sound system was all sorted by a technical team - 4 massive speakers on each corner of the boat, mic and stand for me and fender twin for CJ, we were spoiled :) There was a professional photographer who took a bunch of pics of us playing - I'll try to get hold of them... we played for an hour from 8-9pm and then grooved about on the deck as the guests had gone inside for dinner, here's some of our tom foolery
we saw all the sights - had a guided tour and a 3 course meal just like the guests, We ate way too much.
We went past the Eiffel tower at 10pm when they turn on these mad twinkley strobe lights all over it which was a shock- that lasted for 5 mins.
We were back on land at about 11pm and back to the hotel by midnight, we hunted for a bar to get a glass of wine but no luck as the cafe's only served you if you had a meal as well and NO WAY could we eat any more... Also Chris was frustrated as all the shops had run out of cigarettes - it seems friday night is the night people clean out le tabac's. I got a can of Leffe and we sat opposite the hotel smoking my Vogue menthol. By about 1 we were knackered and went to bed.
The next morning we had the gormet breakfast all laid on (what a waste - we were still full!) but I had a little egg, bacon and mushrooms and an earl grey tea. Chris had a whole pot of coffee and tried to have cereal but made a milk error and unwittingly chose sheep's milk so that went to waste. He went for the safe option of bread and cheese instead mmmm.
We checked out and funnily they tried to charge me for the bottle of water I replaced (turns out the mini bar has magnetic sensors in it! Crazy huh, like something out of the Thomas Crown Affair) I wriggled out of it luckily and we got a taxi back to the Gare du Nord at about half 10. We flew past some more sights including the hugely opulent Academy of music -
it seems to reinforce just how much respect they have for musicians, we were treated so well it was quite jarring; shames some of the UK venues where you have to practically beg for a glass of water or a bowl of chips to keep you going.
And so we sped our way home...
back on the train - top speed
A final glimpse of france
It was a lovely trip and a taste of the high life, CJ wants to move there, it is vibrant and places real value on creativity; where as there might be a pre-conditioned assupmtion that musicians in Britain are somehow considered underlings (unless they are famous or a 'celebrity') it was refreshing to feel that jazzers can be VVIP's too.