david and i drove out of praha, into the south bohemian countryside under a beautiful hot spring sun, relaxed and on course for the city of tábor, a site with great biblical connotations, david's hometown and for some unknown subconscious reason the seemingly most symbolic stop of the tour for me. as we left praha we stopped at a gas station to pick up david's friend václav who was hitching a ride with us and also planning on making it to the show later. we listened to cassettes on the tape deck and talked long on a variety of subjects, including that of the facts in the case of václav's position of monitoring the power-plants of central eastern europe, a job with some resonsibility for sure. václav jumped out just outside of tábor whilst david and i continued on to his family home for a spot of tea and cake and a catch-up with his very cool young terrier by the name of terrence, who graciously kept us entertained whilst we took a little late afternoon air in the garden. still, time was a little short and the light was beginning to fail as we had an appointment to meet veronika and her younger brother jan to be photographed by the young man in question with his grandfathers vintage camera from the 1950's in the old town. david and i met them both on the street and how jan quickly guided us to his prefered spot outside tábor-budova zemědělské školy and with such charismatic professionalism made a series of three shots of the three of us, working quickly to capture us before we lost the light completely. i must say that it was such an honour and a privilege to get to me jan and to be photographed by him. a quite exceptional individual indeed, and one i cannot help but think the world will here a great deal more from in the future. with the photography in hand a spot of dinner was in order. david, veronika and i stopped out at a rather nice spot for a very civilised meal, replete with much jovial banter before it was quickly time to head to the orion music club for the show.
the orion music club is a very cool spot for sure. a basement club sunken low in the old town, heavy stone corridors, and a sequence of steps leading down to a large main room with arched ceiling, bar and stage; a wonderfully hospitable owner, cheery staff and, as i discovered later in the evening, the teenage haunt of david and veronika and their circle of tábor friends. vložte kočku, the outstanding support act for the evening were already sound-checking their near-incomprehesibly complex setup, a staggering mix of live drums, piano, electronics, electric bass, modulated violin and twin-vocals. i snuck into the booth behind the sound-man's spot and set up my merch, pooled over some of the recent photographs i had taken and generally took my enviroment whilst david and veronika were reduced to busying themselves with organisational components of the night. still vložte kočku were soon through with soundchecking and almost directly undertaking their performance. gladly, within their first couple of songs the friday night crowds began to arrive in their droves, easily the most audience members on the tour and a really splendid bunch indeed. vložte kočku played exceptional well indeed, still how tough it would be for me to describe their sound in terms of genres, i would recommend first-hand investigation above all else. by the time i took to the stage i was in great spirits and very keen to perform and how it was another great show. the sound was absolutely sublime and how i had all the time in the world to play my set to an attentive audience as well as a friday night crowd propping up the bar at the far end of the room. 'insect forms' was once again a real treat to perform, as was 'subduing demons in the old world', another song rapidly becomming a live favourite.
too soon the show was already over, but how i was almost directly thrown into a series of wonderful interesting conversations back at the merch table. a number of really kind words from folk purchasing themselves some treats as well as a great conversation with veronika's very awesome mother zuzana, who very kindly offered up the information on a czech writer by the name of bohumil hrabal who she thought i might be interested in, subsequent to her witnessing my own humble performance on stage. i was most deeply honoured indeed. and how, in learning that she is an english teacher, i then found myself having the pleasure of a protracted conversation with two of her former students; the very lovely markéta and marie, who were keen to have me learn how much they enjoyed the show, but also keen to practice their english too. such wonderfully nice people indeed. still, the hour grew later and a lot of fond farewells were said before our number was reduced to the key core of david, veronika, myself and the very exceptional bára, a school-friend of david and veronika who was gladly introduced to me as the music crowd began to depart. the four of us stayed longer into the night, just talking jovially, larking about and enjoying the night. still, as always the hour pressed on and, despite managing to protract our evening with an excursion to the newly-established turkish kebab shop, our places of slumber were calling. we bid the awesome bára farewell at the taxi rank and jumped in a taxi back to david's home. a spot of tea in the kitchen with young terrance for company and it was time to fall into a peaceful slumber after such an enjoyable evening.
our alarms awoke us at the decadent hour of a quarter past eleven. still, david had to shake me to be sure i would arise, we must not have drifted away til a little after four o'clock the previous night. a wonderful breakfast in the form of a full traditional czech family dinner with his parents was in order, a most sure way to fuel the furnace indeed. the glorious weather was still upon us, perhaps even warmer than the day before. i took a tea out on the balcony and basked in the sunlight awhile before david came to join me. we just sat in the warmth for a little while, reflecting on the past week and thinking about gathering ourselves to meet veronika in the old town for a little afternoon stroll together before i would have to head to the train station. we made our way to the old town, through the narrow, cobbled streets to žižka's square and the foot of the kostel proměnění páně na hoře tábor, the church of our lord's transiguration, a beautiful gothic-style church with a baroque spire, which i took the opportunity to steal inside to capture an ambient field recording. veronika soon arrived and the three of us took a stroll through the narrow streets under the hot sun, winding our way off the hillside to the banks of lake jordan, set below the old town, and currently being drained in an effort to clean the site, possibly with the risk of unearthing unexploded ordinances from the war and strains of the black plague from the middle ages. time will tell indeed. still, the immediate time was calling me towards the trainline to plzeň. david and veronika kindly escorted me to the platform and we bid each other all fond farewells in the bright sunlight. it had been such a wonderful adventure with them, and how i was saddened to say farewell, but with gladness also, to think that our paths may well cross again soon. i found myself a seat as the train pulled out of the station, north-west to plzeň, to the last show of the tour and first thoughts of the slow journey home.
so, might i take the opportunity to thank everyone who made my visit to tábor so special indeed, david and veronika, zuzana, jan, bára, markéta, marie, koniatko, marek leka, vložte kočku, all the folks who made it out to the show, all who blessed me with such kind compliments and all those whose names i did not get to learn... til next time indeed!
next report : within the strange dream
jamesreindeer
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