Leipzig, Germany
May 29th - June 12th | please excuse the large gap since our last update. we have tons of photos on the harddrive, but no time to get around to an upload.... this has been an extremely busy half year at sasha's house.... on may 27th, sasha and folks moved to their new house in windsor terrace, brooklyn. the house wasn't done, but no time for that. sam and lisa had to rehearse and then get on a plane for their first ever performance in germany at the wave-gothik-treffen held yearly in leipzig, (formerly east-) germany. [the treffen is a four day festival with over 180 bands at 8 venues. about 19,000 goth and dark-music fans were in town for the event. sasha's parents were fortunate enough to be invited to perform on the large stage at a prime time. more on that, soon.]

there's no way they could leave little sasha behind (well, he's not so little anymore!).... so sasha got his passport in order, and headed over with them....

still a bit jet-lagged, on thursday night we ate at the avocado, the only vegetarian restaurant listed in the leipzig phone book. the dinner was organzied by our friends shea + ian (who moderate the american's in leipzig list), as a welcome for americans in town for the treffen....

dinner was always a relaxing and lengthy affair... the beer was only 1.6 euro for a half liter, people drunk it as if it was water! naturally, we walked or took the tram everywhere. at this site you can hear what the announcements on the tram sound like. this photo is in augustplatz in the center of leipzig, right by our hotel and where many nice outdoor restaurants were located. we were amazed that the sun didn't set 'til around 10pm, why go to sleep. still so much time!!!

back in the hotel room, sasha assists with sorting the merchadise

sasha meets "uncle sebastian" of audioglobe, projekt distributor in italy. sebastian is from zurich (just like sasha's grandma, hanni) so of course they hit it off fabulously...

sebastian's girlfriend joy picked out this yellow cutie for sasha.... i emailed sebastian later, in search of a name for our ducky friend. sebastian replied "ducky in german would be 'entchen', in italian 'paperino' - funny, there's actually a small village around 5 miles from my house called 'paperino'.... simply call it paperino, as - according to the sales-person who sold it to joy - it's a typical italian animal (?!). paperino sounds nice, no??"

we arrived in germany days in advance of our show, so that we could rehearse with bret,who was flying in from phoenix (really, it wasn't to get extra days in europe!!!). unfortunately, there were flight delays (including lufthansa losing bret's luggage - later found - thus the complimentary white tshirt!), but we got it all together and rehearsed in the hotel room .

rock star time. black tape for a blue girl is whisked to the cinestar to sign autographs. it's hard to see, but sasha is wearing a david bowie tshirt!!! the next evening black tape performed for around 3000 people at the agra; the view from the stage photographed from sam's vantage. i wanted to bring sasha out for the mic-check (he loves hearing his voice in the speakers) but it was too chaotic. he watched the show from the audience, in the arms of shea + ian (thanks!).



where are the pictures of sam? : (

some italian fans who stopped us on the street the next day....

back in the hotel room.....

visiting with harald (from the heavenly voices band chandeen), antje (former vocalist of the neo-classical band stoa) and their 16 month old son, gabriel.

antje reads the boys some stories....

though not documented in photos, we bumped into shea + ian repeatedly all around leipzig. here we meet again, at the airport... at 5 am on thursday morning. you can see from sasha's eyes that he only got an hour of sleep! : )

Singapore airlines was so nice. friendly flight attendants, great food,
and by chance a bulkhead seat where you could attach a baby bed.

cab ride from jfk to home....

you can read more of sam's thoughts on this trip on the projekt email list: through the eye of a needle

sasha hit new milestones in europe. he perfected his "crawling like a commando," appearing to be swimming on the floor, throwing in a few "crawling the normal way" when he feels like it. he pulls himself to standing and likes to look in the mirror. at the chandeen show, he started clapping, which he now uses regularly to express himself. he also has been making this extremely silly gasping noise... gasping in excitement. lots of "mamamamama" and "dadadadadada," too. he was an extremely good traveller, and aside from wanting to nurse more than usual, a dream. because of the time change - and his desire to live life to the fullest - his bedtime rituals were extremely irregular. the night of our show, he was up 'til almost 3 am. but there were so many things to do and so many people to meet. sasha loves to flirt with the girls, too! he's an extremely happy little guy. he never is unhappy or cranky for long.... what a sweetie.
what a fun time we have with him.... : )

jeeper's creepers, where'd you get that stove!?!?!
the family returned to a house filled with needs. more on that story, soonish....