Valentines Weekend

I´m writing this blog from a Starbucks cafè in King City, CA. They have internet here, but I would either have to be an AT&A customer or buy a starbucks card. This would have to be activated etc etc etc. Not easy. Another thing I´ve been noticing: if you stay at a low budget motel, you would probably get free WiFi. But if you choose a classy, expensive hotel, you would probably have to spend alot of money buying access. Ok, I might be exaggerating a little bit... but still, there´s something to it. 

I´m on my way to San Luis Obispo now. Everybody says that it´s a gorgeous town on the coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I´ll meet my hosts there and get some sight-seeing! Stay tuned for a report in the next blog! I´ve had some nice but stormy days in the Bay Area. I haven´t used any motorized transportation during my stay. I´ve been walking. I actually feel that I´ve seen quite a lot of the town now. Especially after my crazy 3,5 hour walk. I walked in a decent tempo. And I realized afterwards that I hadn´t been stopping a single time. I walked down the entire Van Ness to Market Street. Then left to the Castro area. I saw the movie Milk before leaving for the States - the movie about the beginning of the famous gay community in San Francisco and the first ever openly gay politician in the States, Harvey Milk. They "conquered" the Castro area and the place still "belongs" to the gay community in the town. And after walking that far, I wasn´t far from 22nd street either. And that´s supposedly the steepest hill in San Francisco. So I walked there as well. It was indeed steep... instead of ordinary sidewalks, they had stairs. And then I walked back again. I don´t recommend anyone walking 3.5 hours with flat, soft shoes on asfalt and concrete without any breaks. I still have a limp on my left foot. But I´m proud of any sports injury, so that´s just wonderful. I changed my hotel the day after this and stayed on 4th street for one night. That was in the middle of downtown surrounded by all the tall buildings. Lotsa people and good atmosphere!

After 4 days without playing concerts, it was nice to finally get started again. I´m always like that when I´m on tour.. It´s nice with days off, but after a couple of days I almost get restless from it. After all, I´m "at work." My mind is also focused on being on the road, so it will get boring to stay in one place for too long. But still, two concerts in one day is pretty heavy! My program including the intermission takes 2 hours after all. And I´m running the show alone with talking and performing 23 piano pieces without sheet music. It demands focus and intense presence! But it went well and I actually enjoyed it. Each time I do a concert, I kind of get a confirmation that this is what I´m supposed to be doing with my life. Each concert is also like a spiritual practice. I work on staying "in the now" without letting my thoughts wander off. At one point in the Saratoga performance yesterday, I started pondering if I should have wine or beer for my dinner afterwards. Then I thought: hmm, I´m sitting here playing a concert, and I´m thinking about that. So I became conscious that I was NOT conscious about the thing I should have been conscious of. Haha. And at that moment, I kinda lost it a little bit. Good experience. 

But anyway, the first concert yesterday was held at the Nowegian Seamen´s Churhc in San Francisco. Wonderful location in a steep hill on Hyde Street with view straight at Alcatraz and with the Golden Gate in the corner of your eye. This became a nice and cosy concert with the people from the church, a couple of Norwegians and a few Americans that dropped in from the street. Great experience. Then I hit the road and drove for an hour or so to Saratoga just north of San Jose. My concert there started at 5pm and I had 50 minutes from I parked the car until the concert started. But I didn´t have to warm up to put it that way.. after having done the entire program once already. I had a wonderful experience there as well in a beautiful church called Immanuel Lutheran Church. The instruments were also a bit of a contrast. The Seamen´s Church has a bit of an older Bechstein Grand Piano with an "old" sound to it. Lots of sound in a tiny room. Saratoga had a Kawai Grand with very bright tone and a distinct touch. Typical Kawai I guess... Actually, I appreciate the unpredictability, because my own listening experience becomes different from concert to concert. And I´m automatically "on alert" because I always have to adjust to the instrument and bring out the best of it. 

But this blog is getting very long now, and I´m getting nervous about translating all this to English. So I´ll stop right here.