Note: In Sept/Oct of 2005 I traveled and played shows in Europe with my friend and vocalist Laurie Amat. The following are excerpts from my journal.
10.13.05
Reykjavik, Iceland
When we landed in Keflavik on a direct flight from San Francisco, the temperature was 33 degrees and a light snow was falling. Just a dusting, but an extreme contrast to the jagged and dark, volcanic landscape – barren, stark and filled with spirits, like the desert.
We boarded a bus which took us to the Blue Lagoon, (a natural, hot saltwater spa) just as twilight turned the sky ‘all halloween orange and chimney red’ (to quote Frank’s Wild Years by Tom Waits). After an amazing soak, it was off to Reykjavik.
Charming and incredibly clean with a quaint downtown, Reykjavik comes complete with naturally heated sidewalks and icelandic supermodels serving perfectly brewed espressos at cafes that are rumored to never close. This a good thing since we are to be here for only 14 hours, most of them night and our best option to make the 5am flight to Stockholm is to stay up all night.
After a bit of wandering around, we picked the Cafe Rosenburg to pass the evening. It was packed when we stepped inside, with banks of smoke and 1/2 liters of icelandic beer freely moving around the room. A great jazz/blues combo was playing featuring a female chanteuse and two especially good guitarists. One of guitarists, Guðmundur Pétursson – or ‘Gummi P’ as he is known – is a local child prodigy/legend that international stardom somehow passed by. A young fan and student of his told me that and he rearely leaves the island and instead mostly teaches, does studio sessions and sporadic gigs. Gummi had a detached ‘whatever’ air when he played that came off slightly arrogant and intimidating. Later on when I complemented him on his great playing, he just stared at me until I sort of shrugged (thinking dude, I’ve heard plenty of great guitarists). He snapped out of it and mumbled thanks which seemed to break the ice. Some things you put up with when done by greats…
As the night wore on it got crazier and crazier and the next thing you know it’s 2am and it turns out the cafe’s don’t actually stay open all night during the week. The room is being cleared, but the owner, seeing my guitar and finding out Laurie and I were touring musicians, invited us up to jam and hang out after hours (the band actually never stopped while they were clearing the house). We tore into a lowdown blues number and everyone in the room joined in, banging on instruments, tables, the out of tune piano in the corner and Gummi P shouting out strange blues lyrics in English. Of course, after that it was drinks and smokes all ’round…now to make that 5am flight…
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