2010 Tour Road Report

Pic by Theo Koppen

Greetings! Just a few quick notes from the road.

There was about an inch of snow on the tarmac at Flagstaff airport.

Considering the storms that had been coming in we were lucky to have such a clear day. We had to fly out a day early so we didn’t have time to get everything done we needed for the tour. It was frustrating especially since we’re in the midst of moving Taala Hooghan infoshop into a new space and our Churro sheep stared lambing!

We ended up spending about 3 hours on the runway waiting for the plane to get de-iced twice in Philadelphia but ultimately the plane got clearance and we were on our way.

We played our first date on the tour in Paris at Cite de la Musique with an awesome Aboriginal group from Austraila called Narbalek. The night before our show we got to reconnect with our friends in the Tamashek groups from Mali, Africa. Tinariwen and Tartit reminded us why we need to go back to the Sahara.

In the French Alps at St. Martin en Vecors we joined our friend Loran and his crew from our last tour with Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs for a benefit concert for the freedom of political prisoner Leonard Peltier.

We also played with a rocking group called Les Iguanes.

Then it was off to an acoustic show at a cozy spot way off the beaten path in Saint Sylvestre, France. The two hour show was recorded live for radio so we’ll try to post some tracks on the site later on. We had a hard time leaving the location because we started talking about uranium issues. It turns out that for decades the community had resisted uranium mining, the groundwater was contaminated, the schools were built out of tailings. Ultimately the community was able to shut down the mining operation (sound familiar?). Our host had even written some books on the issue.

Throughout the tour we’ve been trying to educate folks about the renewed uranium threats in Northern Arizona and the connections to France with their nuclear energy program. With thousands of new applications for uranium mines around the Grand Canyon its a very serious issue (look for an article by yours truly soon).

Last night was a show near Nante at an awesome squat that we keep coming back to. The shows are in the swimming pool (sans water of course)! We played with some great groups including: Trouz an Noz and Haymarket with our friend Vincent. It was cold but the crowd definitely wasn’t. We hope to keep returning!

Check out these pics. More to be posted soon with some video as well!

Peace,

Klee

(Live Blackfire shots by Theo Koppen)

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