Porvoo
in AA. I played last night in a very old fishing village 50 minutes East of Helsinki. It was virtually empty but they paid me anyway. I stayed with Davie the box, a Glaswegian accordian player who's lived in Scandinavia for the last 16 years.  Stockholm
this all the time but it's not a patch on CSing. At least I have nice roommates. Three Japanese travellers and their monopoly set. But there are no windows and it's getting steamy already.  Gothenburg
students from all four corners.  Cologne - festival
I hosted Steini's festival, Stereo Summerland in Gebaude 9, playing After three days here with Steini I need a rest. I don't know how he  Cologne
promote his festival which I'm MCing tomorrow. Tonight I played the Couchsurfing meetup in the Todtalbar. About 40 Apart from that I've played golf with Steini and cleaned his apartment  The night train
took the night train rather than lose a day. I slept with four Swedish girls, though not in the Biblical sense.  Aalborg
a friendly group who braved the rain to come to the house of Michael, a student activist and Cartographer, on a Monday night.  Copenhagen
9 hours, 4 trains and a ferry to get to the Copenhagen songwriters  Kiel
Another nice house concert. A much older crowd so it was a quieter I stayed on an extra day because I didn't have a show and I had a nice  Hamburg
Reeperbahn. There were over 40 people in a tiny living room, and spilled into the hall and onto the balcony, with a view high up over the harbour lit up. Afterwards we went on mass to the Hasenschaukel, where I'm playing at the Reeperbahn festival next month.  €1200 so far
The fire sale is going well. It feels great to be free of everything,
but bad to see 10 years or purchases go for a fraction of what I paid for it. On the brightside, I'm cured of every buying anything non- essential again. I'm now officially a tight-wad.  Amsterdam
beach in the back garden). Great to be back with the Amsterdam crowd. Nothing much has changed.  Yard sale
I'm selling the rest of my stuff. Come down for a beer and a chit-chat even if you don't want my clutter.
What? - Lots of English books - CDs and vinyl - Clothes - Assorted items When? This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (13th-15th Aug) - from 1pm until 7pm daily. Where? In the shop, Vijzelstraat 67, Amsterdam.  Europe part 1
off again. Scandinavia and Eastern Europe first.
I'm delighted to have so many house concerts (the best shows by far) and want to thank all the couchsurfing people who are hosting (almost all of) them. What an amazing group of people. Learn more and join atwww.couchsurfing.org If I was planning the tour again I'd take a year to do the same route. It's going to be too fast. But booking is such a difficult task that I stuck to the capital cities to make it easier. I only thought of the CSing concerts to fill in the gaps later once I'd already nailed down the route. Nevermind. It will be a whirlwind trip. I think this will be the last time I book like this though: nailing everything down months in advance takes a lot of the fun and freedom out of it. Some places you want to stay longer and some you can't wait to leave. As well as booking, I've been busy writing and memorising new songs (the latter takes 10 times longer than the former) and have a whole new set of songs so I can put to bed all the songs I've recorded so far and play fresh ones. It takes a month of playing a song live before it's polished enough to record. So once I have a new batch perfected I'll find a studio for an afternoon and record another album of acoustic tracks. The route:  SCHEDULE: Date, City, Country, Venue 15-8-2010, Amsterdam, NL, Bos&LommerBeach 19-8-2010, Hamburg, DE, House Concert 20-8-2010, Kiel, DE, House Concert 21-8-2010, Copenhagen, DK 22-8-2010, Copenhagen, DK, Songwriter Festival, Raahuset, Stuen Feature Stage 23-8-2010, Aalborg, DK, House Concert 24-8-2010, Vejle, DK, House Concert 25-8-2010, Cologne, DE 26-8-2010, Cologne, DE, Todtalbar 27-8-2010, Cologne, DE, Stereowonderland festival - Gebaude 9 28-8-2010, [Train] 29-8-2010, Gothenburg, SE, House Concert 30-8-2010, Stockholm, SE 31-8-2010, Stockholm, SE, House Concert 1-9-2010, [Boat], FI 2-9-2010, Finland, FI, Old Town Pub 3-9-2010, Nokia, FI 4-9-2010, Helsinki, FI 5-9-2010, Helsinki, FI, Bar Llamas 6-9-2010, Tallinn, EO 7-9-2010, Tallinn, EO, House concert 8-9-2010, Tallinn, EO 9-9-2010, Riga, LA 10-9-2010, Riga, LA, House concert 11-9-2010, Kaunus, LT 12-9-2010, Vilnius, LT, House concert 13-9-2010, Vilnius, LT 14-9-2010, Warsaw, PL, House concert 15-9-2010, Warsaw, PL 16-9-2010, Krakow, PL 17-9-2010, Prague, CZ, House concert 18-9-2010, Berlin, BE, House concert 19-9-2010, Berlin, BE, House concert 20-9-2010, Berlin, BE 21-9-2010, Berlin, BE 22-9-2010, Berlin, DE, Ä 23-9-2010, Hamburg, DE, House Concert 24-9-2010, Hamburg, DE, Reeperbahn festival 25-9-2010, Unna, DE, Spatz and Wal If you would like to attend a house concert please email me for the address.  Tour de France time
sorted for the next three weeks. To fully appreciate the 'Grande Boucle', the world's greatest sporting event, requires complete concentration.  European conquest
It's going well with planning the next tour (all 50 European countries in 4 months starting in August). I've been posting on community pages and emailing friends of friends to get Living Room concerts so I can be sure of an audience and I'm getting a lot of interest.
The biggest headache is the logistics. How long it takes to get from Minsk to Vilnius and back to Riga and whether to do Latvia before St. Petersburg or come back to Kaunas after Kiev and whether I need a Visa for Belarus and if I have to get an overnight train from Moscow or the day train arrives in time to do an evening show and come back to Moldova after Romania or whether I should just take some sedatives and sit in a very dark room for a month.  Noorderlicht after show bonfire Last gig and now I rest for a month. Man I'm beat.  13 Only 13 people downloaded my new album. 13! It took a good two weeks to make, cost around $2000, I'm giving it away free and I emailed it out to 6301 'fans' of which 1134 opened the email and yet only 13 downloaded it. 13! How disappointing. I mean.... 13. That's very low. Just 13. Jeez. 13? Do I need to write better music or better emails? Be the 14th.... http://thejackstaffordfoundation.com/fr_music.cfm  Homecoming
people there. Tomorrow I'm in Cafe Noorderlicht in the North of Amsterdam. An  (Sort of) home Good to be back in the Dam. I play at De Nieuwe Anita tonight which is always a great show.  That was Iceland
Svavar Knutur was a fantastic performer. The best I've seen. He showed me around his homeland with such enthusiasm. It ended on a sad note with a visit to his village and I saw where his father died in an avalanche. I got a real insight into a truly genuine guy.  
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Upcoming shows: A 4 month tour of (almost) all European countries. Dates are still available if you would like to host a House Concert in your living room.
8/15/2010, Amsterdam, NL Vlaam 8/19/2010, Hamburg, DE House Concert 8/20/2010, Kiel, DE House Concert 8/21/2010, Copenhagen, DK 8/22/2010, Copenhagen, DK Songwriter Festival, Raahuset, Stuen Feature Stage 8/23/2010, Aalborg, DK House Concert 8/24/2010, Vejle, DK House Concert 8/25/2010, Kiel/Hamburg, DK 8/26/2010, Cologne, DE 8/27/2010, Cologne, DE Stereowonderland festival - Gebaude 9 8/28/2010, [Train], - 8/29/2010, Gothenburg, SE 8/30/2010, Norway, NO 8/31/2010, Stockholm, SE 9-1-2010, [Boat], FI 9-2-2010, Finland, FI Old Town Pub 9-3-2010, Nokia, FI 9-4-2010, Helsinki, FI 9-5-2010, Helsinki, FI 9-6-2010, Tallinn, EO 9-7-2010, Tallinn, EO 9-8-2010, Tallinn, EO 9-9-2010, Riga, LA 9-10-2010, Riga, LA 9-11-2010, Kaunus, LT 9-12-2010, Vilnius, LT 9/13/2010, Vilnius, LT 9/14/2010, Warsaw, PL 9/15/2010, Warsaw, PL 9/16/2010, Krakow, PL 9/17/2010, Prague, CZ 9/18/2010, Berlin, BE 9/19/2010, Berlin, BE 9/20/2010, Berlin, BE 9/21/2010, Berlin, BE 9/22/2010, Berlin, DE Ä 9/23/2010, Hamburg, DE House Concert 9/24/2010, Hamburg, DE Reeperbahn festival 9/25/2010, Unna, DE Spatz and Wal 9/26/2010, Amsterdam, NL 9/27/2010, Amsterdam, NL 9/28/2010, Amsterdam, NL 9/29/2010, Amsterdam, NL 9/30/2010, Amsterdam, NL House Concert - Vijzelstraat 10-1-2010, Amsterdam, NL House Concert 10-2-2010, Gent, BE Fabula Rosa 10-3-2010, Antwerp, BE 10-4-2010, Zurich, CH Bosch Bar 10-5-2010, Zurich, CH Kafi fur Dich 10-6-2010, Zurich, CH 10-7-2010, Zurich, CH 10-8-2010, Zurich, CH 10-9-2010, Munich, DE Rational Theater 10-10-2010, Prague, CZ 10-11-2010, Austria, AU 10-12-2010, Austria, AU 10/13/2010, Austria, AU 10/14/2010, Vienna, AU Verein08 10/15/2010, Bratislava, SK 10/16/2010, Budapest, HU 10/17/2010, Austria, AU 10/18/2010, Austria, AU 10/19/2010, Austria, AU 10/20/2010, Austria, AU 10/21/2010, Cesena, IT Lego Cafe 10/22/2010, Rome, IT Contestaccio 10/23/2010, Rome, IT 10/24/2010, Pescara , IT 10/25/2010, Florence, IT 10/26/2010, Masone, IT 10/27/2010, Bergamo, IT 10/28/2010, Vicenza, IT Julien Cafè 10/29/2010, Ljubljana, Slovenia 10/30/2010, Ljubljana, Slovenia 10/31/2010, Zagreb, Croatia 11-1-2010, Zagreb, Croatia 11-2-2010, Sarajevo, Bosnia 11-3-2010, Sarajevo, Bosnia 11-4-2010, Novi Sad, Serbia 11-5-2010, Indjija, Serbia 11-6-2010, Sofia, Bulgaria 11-7-2010, Sofia, Bulgaria 11-8-2010, Thessaloniki, Greece 11-9-2010, Thessaloniki, Greece 11-10-2010, Sindos, Greece 11-11-2010, Athens, Greece 11-12-2010, Athens, Greece 11/13/2010, Athens, Greece 11/14/2010, Italy, IT 11/15/2010, Italy, IT 11/16/2010, Italy, IT 11/17/2010, Italy, IT 11/18/2010, Italy, IT 11/19/2010, Italy, IT 11/20/2010, Italy, IT 11/21/2010, Italy, IT 11/22/2010, Barcelona, SP Sala Monasterio 11/23/2010, Barcelona, SP 11/24/2010, Valencia, SP 11/25/2010, Madrid, SP Wurlitzer Ballroom 11/26/2010, Seville, SP House Concert 11/27/2010, Lisbon, PO House Concert 11/28/2010, Aveiro, PO House Concert 11/29/2010, France, FR 11/30/2010, France, FR 12-1-2010, France, FR 12-2-2010, France, FR 12-3-2010, Paris, FR House Concert 12-4-2010, France, FR 12-5-2010, France, FR 12-6-2010, France, FR 12-7-2010, France, FR 12-8-2010, France, FR 12-9-2010, Aarau, CH Kiff 12-10-2010, Zurich, CH House Concert 12-11-2010, Brussels, BE 12-12-2010, Brussels, BE 12/13/2010, Amsterdam, NL Recording 12/14/2010, Amsterdam, NL Recording 12/15/2010, Amsterdam, NL Recording 12/16/2010, Bonn, DE Quiet Man 12/17/2010, Rupelmonde, BE ‘t Gildenhuis 12/18/2010, Almelo, NL Paco Plumtrek 12/19/2010, Maastricht, NL 12/20/2010, Grongingen, NL 12/21/2010, Osnabrück, DE Cafe Mojo 12/22/2010, Utrecht, NL 12/23/2010, Haarlem, NL Cafe Briljant  View The Jack Stafford Foundation's EPK |
