I played my first festival in Europe in a town in central Norway called Rjukan, famous for its sun mirror. I had 3 shows: in the tent, in the pub and on a historic ship! I was stoked to be able to share my original tunes to a new audience.
Getting to the festival was a bit of a trek from Oslo: 1 train and 2 buses and a heck of a lot of money -- public transport fares aren't cheap. When I got off the train to find the bus, I had just missed it and the next one was over 3 hours away! Rather than waste time, I decided (with the suggestion of the gas station attendant) to hitchhike. Not only did I get picked up only after a few minutes of holding up my hand-written sign, I had a ride with a lovely retiree all the way to the front door of the pub. Troubadour indeed! It's been over a year since I have written. Well, moving to Europe was a big deal and it took me awhile to settle in and make connections. I'm happy to say I've made some great friends and had many new experiences along the way: I helped renovate and set up an apartment in Athens, Greece (which I no longer live in, but that's another story), I auditioned for a cruise ship in Bulgaria (which I wasn't successful for, but that's ok too), I traveled in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Iran and briefly visited Rome and Berlin, and spent a week lazying about in Paris with a friend. I started hosting themed vegan dinner events & recently catered for a charity event where I launched my vegan catering business 'Veganopoleio'. Last year, I performed in some pubs in Denmark, Norway and Greece, and this year, I have gigs booked around Europe. I'm not playing my own music, but it's nice getting paid and traveling to new cities and towns, and hopefully, I'll get back on the songwriting wagon & start playing original shows again.
It's almost Christmas & I've been back in Australia 7 weeks now catching up with family, doing some substitute teaching & recovering from an awful flu that knocked me out for well over a week. Musically, I played a couple of shows & I'm gearing up for a little busking this weekend. Other than that, I've been laying low but have some exciting new: I'm moving to Europe! Time to finally use my dual citizenship.
Airplane horror stories involving musical instruments... Be VERY WEARY of Air Asia. They are in no way helpful & destroy instruments in hard flight cases. My guitar got cracked and my flight case was mangled traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. Below is my new case. I am happy with the amount of decoration it has received from donated stickers!
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AuthorLisa Spykers is a singer, songwriter, piano player, acoustic guitarist, instrumental and primary school teacher, porridge chef, vegan caterer, author, nomad, and unstoppable force of nature. Archives
January 2019
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