The next day I wondered along our street, to a swanky video editing suite, where Christian and his partner Mikael were working. They are in the moving image business. Later that evening we walked a little further along Le Rue De Petites Ecuries to Les Follies Berger. No, we weren’t there for the cabaret or the Can Can. There was a kind of link though. A gypsy guitarist who went by the unlikely name of Titi Robin, took us through the entire history of gypsy guitar, from it’s Indian roots through Flamenco to 30’s style gypsy jazz. It was an education.
Naturally, we ate well in Paris and the next morning we visited a cool art gallery, Le Musée du Luxembourg, with a complete overview of modern art from the 20th century. The exhibit was called called De Miro a Warhol. In the afternoon we hooked with Stéfane Mellino formerly from Les Négrésses Vertes. A Manouche gypsy himself, he got me going in another swanky recording studio, and together we put down a track – Wishbone goes gyspy. You never know, it may surface at some time in the future. It was a fun session helped along by some excellent champagne. This all passes as work in Paris. Not too shabby.
The very next day we headed south to St. Etienne and played a great show at Le Forge, a big old stone and wood venue with roots in the 1800’s. Daniel Vetter, in his former life as a promoter, had put on a show with us there some 10 years ago. In fact, that’s how we became aquainted.
Then it was a long haul down to Monaco on truck free highways. The Côtes D’Azure cannot fail to raise spirits and we stopped at a roadside place for lunch. Later, we headed down to Monaco and were presented with breathless views of snowcapped mountains and a deep blue Mediterranean.
This place, Monaco, is wacky. Within 5 minutes we’d counted 10 Feraris. Euro Trash cometh! The GPS took us straight to the Casino. I thought it was the palace! Bob Skeat regaled us with James Bond - like tales of his time in Princess Stephanie’s ‘band’ during her year long attempt to become a Euro pop star. I don’t believe he played an actual note, being required to mime his way through various French TV shows and so forth. Funny, surreal stuff. The Monte Carlo Bay hotel was 5 star and more. Two nights in this place was going to be fun. The venue was super high tech and, even though I say so, we did ourselves proud, playing two varied sets on separate nights. The sound in the place was superb – Daniel worked his magic.
We met a photographer and did a pretty interesting photo session in amongst the palm trees and rococo architecture. You never really know what to expect in this life since the previous night’s hotel had been a dump – to put it kindly. So Monaco was a fitting end to great years worth of gigs. Thank you to one and all and now……in the new year, Belgium,, Holland, Germany, Norway and Sweden beckon.
~ A.P.
