blogging – Joe & Linda

House Concert in Schmallenberg

The last stop on our mini-tour last weekend was the beautiful town Schmallenberg, in the High Sauerland District. It was our first concert booked through SofaConcerts and apparently the very first house concert for our hosts Bettina and Dietmar. Therefore, it was extra important for us that they have a nice experience.

As soon as we pulled into their driveway Bettina came out to our car and greeted us. She said she was looking forward to our performance all week, which was very flattering to be so highly awaited. Bettina and Dietmar were such amazing hosts and are marvelous people!

We brought our new PA System because we knew that we would play in their garden. Since we only bought it the week before we were really excited for the opportunity to test it. Even though it was raining a bit on our drive from Leipzig the weather in Schmallenberg was warm and sunny and so was the mood. While setting up and sound checking we noticed one of Bettina’s friends (who arrived early) had tears of joy in her eyes. It’s those small signs of appreciation that make the whole performing/touring experience so fulfilling. Driving from one town to another, connecting with kind, generous, interesting people, sharing our music with them, and leaving with a sense of mutual gratitude. What more could a touring musician wish for?

After our very successful concert (which included several encores) we enjoyed a delicious barbecue (with exquisite vegetarian options) and had great conversations with all the guests. It really was a splendid day. As we left, Bettina and Dietmar even gave us a plate of left-overs to take home.

Thank you Bettina and Dietmar! You’ve been excellent hosts and we’re absolutely looking forward to seeing you and your friends again!

– L

Music

House Concert in Leipzig

The idea for our mini-tour last weekend (Erfurt – Leipzig – Schmallenberg) began when Wohnzimmerkonzerte Leipzig booked us to play on Saturday 15th. We discovered them through Facebook, and to make the travel more worthwhile, it only made sense to book a couple shows before/after theirs. Both of us have never been to Leipzig and were thrilled to drive there and get to know the city and the people that live there.

Our hosts were Anja and Maik. Both love to travel – like us – and get to know new people and their music. They host concerts regularly and listen to the music of their former guest musicians whenever possible.

When we arrived, Maik had just come back from the big garden they rent not too far from their home. He brought bags of cherries that he picked from their cherry trees. I’ve only seen that many cherries in a super market!

While we were setting up, Anja and Maik prepared lunch for us and soon the guests started to arrive (and they continued to arrive all throughout the evening 😀 ). Before the concert, we had the opportunity to relax on their beautiful terrace, eat a bit, and get acquainted with several of their guests.

The concert was a huge success! The crowd requested a couple encores which really set a fun vibe for the rest of the evening. At one point Anja and Maik presented their vinyl/record collection which provided the music for the rest of the evening. From Metallica, to Queen, to Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush. I got to taste the local Leipzig beer Sternburg Export, and of course, lots and lots of cherries. Somebody asked us if we’re “planning on doing this professionally,” which made us laugh a bit because we actually ARE doing this professionally. People often assume we have “a real job” and that music is our hobby. It’s fun to break it to those people that a life as a full-time musician is actually possible, and for us, the best thing ever. We’re living our dream 🙂

The next morning we had breakfast with Anja and Maik (while listening to music from their former house concert artists) and learned a bit more about the amenities of Leipzig. It seems to become more and more attractive to young, creative people that appreciate a little more green in a city. Unfortunately, we didn’t have more time to really see Leipzig since we needed to leave for our next concert. So we said goodbye to Anja and Maik and left their place, but not without a big container of cherries!

Thank you Anja & Maik for your time, hospitality, and your cherries. Hope to see you again soon! 🙂

– L

Music

House Concert in Erfurt

Last Friday we performed in Erfurt-Germany for our hosts Tanja and Tony. They welcomed us into their beautiful home that they share with their cute tortoise, Egon 🙂

Right when we arrived they greeted us with such kindness and we knew it would be an awesome experience. While setting up our instruments and eating some of their delicious appetizers, we were able to get properly acquainted with Tanja and Tony.

Their guests were very friendly and attentive. One of the guests brought her very cute dog, Alma, who checked on me while I was playing the Cajon, because she didn’t recognize this unusual sound.

What made the occasion extra special, was that we not only shared our music, but also got to make music with them. After the concert, we taught Tanja and her friend how to play some chords on the ukulele and the Blues-scale on the piano. We also had great conversation and got to know a bunch of wonderful people.

The next morning Tanja gave us an excellent tour through Erfurt. We were lucky because during that weekend they celebrated the Krämerbrückenfest. The whole city was filled with good food, medieval dressed actors, and music. Tanja showed us the best ice cream in town and they even had some vegan options which I loved! It was so nice to spend extra time with Tanja and look around Erfurt. In addition she was helpful with suggesting other local venues we could perform at. She would make a great booking-agent! 😉

Thank you Tanja and Tony for this amazing experience! We look forward to seeing you again 🙂

– L

Music

House Concert in Rotterdam

We just had another wonderful house concert in Rotterdam!

Daniël and Oliver, whom Joe met in 2016 through Couchsurfing, organized a wonderful evening in their beautiful home.

We arrived one day early to spend some time with them, since they became our dear friends in the past three years. Oliver, who loves food and has his own food-blog, made an amazing dinner (vegetarian, just for me 🙂 )!

Roasted Cauliflower, Koussa Moutabbai (pan-roasted zucchini in tahini), a yoghurt-rice dish based on a recipe called Chick Barak, and a vegetable omelet. Super tasty!

Plus the best dessert Joe ever had 🙂

The next day – concert day – Oliver and Daniël needed to work in the morning and we had time to set up our instruments and sound check. It’s always exciting to wait for the audience and set up the room so that everyone will be able to see us and have the most pleasant experience.

Finally more and more people arrived. Daniël even posted the event on Couchsurfing, which is why a group of young travelers attended as well. By show time, the living room was packed.

We played two 40 minute sets consisting of our original songs and some covers. Everyone was attentive and engaged and we all had a blast!

You could really tell that our music touched the audience, which lead to super nice conversations about our songwriting and lyrics afterwards. Even the idea of writing our own musical came up.

Thank you Oliver and Daniël for your hospitality and for organizing this fun event! We had a wonderful time at your place and feel grateful to have you as friends!

Here’s a little clip of our experience:

– L

Travel

Traveling the World

We finished the movie “Expedition Happiness” yesterday. It was nice. We liked it. But it was different than we expected.

We started watching it because we hoped to get inspiration on how we can travel Europe and maintain ourselves at the same time. When you think about traveling the world it’s easy to think of destinations. The hard part is to figure out how to pay for food and gas and how to get from one place to the other. Our plan is basically to buy a van (hopefully a good deal with a LPG tank) and then to couchsurf or sleep in the van, give house concerts, write a travel/inspirational blog (welcome to this first entry), and also to figure out a lot on the road as we go. But a huge part would also be videos and eventually a movie about the whole experience.

When we watched the first 10 minutes of “Expedition Happiness” I thought we would be ending up copying this couple. Living in a van, driving through amazing landscapes, getting inspiration on the way. But after watching the whole movie, Joe and I agreed that our movie would be different. Our goals are different. Of course we want to show our travels and the people we meet, but we also want to change the viewer.

We want to share our thoughts, inspire people to think differently, interview locals, and talk about the fears/frustrations that everyone in this world has. The mission is to connect people, to make them understand others but even more themselves and therefore changing the world.

This is a big claim and we don’t know what we will find during our journey. Maybe our final movie will have a completely different message than we first expected. We only know that it will change us and everyone who shares this journey with us. We don’t want to show how we travel the world, we want to document what this experience does to us; what we learn, think, and feel on the way. About ourselves and humankind.

– L

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