or
four years we have been lucky enough to travel around europe with some
of the most inspiring people in the world. we are currently taking an
indefinite break from booking tours in order to concentrate on cafe
kino, the record label and give some priority to other things and people
in our lives.
we are in it for the kicks, sure, but the motivation behind every tour,
gig, record or festival we have ever organised has been to try and help
develop a strong network of diy/feminist/queer/punk kids, and to create
safe, fun and open spaces for this community to thrive. and we have
seen first-hand how this community continues to grow, and we're proud
to be a small part of it.
in many ways, the way we have been living and working has not been sustainable.
we've experienced periods of extreme burn-out and poverty, and we want
to thank our friends who have helped us pay bills and who have bought
us food and who have picked us up and encouraged us.
we've met a lot of really great people on our travels. thank you to
everyone who has put on shows, been to shows, danced with us and given
us a place to lay our sleepy heads.
on the right is a list of the tours we organised/ promoted/drove and
some links to more details, which we're going to leave up as a sort
of archive. if you have any photos or video from any of our tours or
gigs, we'd love to see them - we werea bit busy, and forgot to take
any ourselves!
b e s s i e r . i . p .
nother
reason why we we're not on tour is because our 'trusty' red van that
took us all over europe (from ireland to italy; paris to prague; stockholm
to bristol...) is no longer with us!
bessie was named after bessie smith by kate wright from movietone when
they took her across europe. she couldn't believe that we hadn't already
named her.
it was during that tour, bessie's first outside of england, that her
front axle snaped in two and she was abandoned in the south of france,
until we staged a 'saving private ryan' style rescue mission.
but her problems finally got too expensive to repair anymore, so we
gave her to some kids who planned to drive her out of the country, and
as far across the continent as she would go........
but even though that pesky van was so much trouble (the day we bought
her, she broke down within an hour - before we could even get her home!);
and even though we're still paying off the debt she got us in, we had
such adventures, and so many stories that we can tell them forever!
and so we think about her sometimes, and we wonder where she ended up.
if you ever see a beat up old ldv postal van on the side of the road
with the number r199 wob, please give her little pat on the bonnet for
us!
love, rosie and michal xxx
