Annie Fain » Annie Fain

Donkey Walk

Annie Fain — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:22:45 +0000

I try to take a walk everyday. This particular day, as you can see, was a beautifully clear, blue sky, sort of day. Perfect for taking out my sketchbook and mini-watercolor set.

Here are our neighbor’s houses and our neighbor donkey:

Doesn’t he have a such a beautifully shaped head and ears? Pretty darned cute,
I have to say (and he’s not shy either).

Many folks around here grow apricot, cherry, pear and apple trees either as serious farmers or to supplement their incomes. I’m looking forward to spring when all the hillsides are in full, fruit tree, bloom.

My sketch of the day:

Recording a CD

Annie Fain — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:38:00 +0000

It’s kind of a long story, but I ended up staying another week with Polo and Nadine after the Old-Time Weekend in Bécours. Their band, Ida Red, invited me to record about 6 tunes with them on their new CD. Of course, I was honored. All three of them are grand musicians and it was the perfect chance for me to sit down and really learn some of Polo’s crazy, very-old-sounding fiddle tunes.

(For those of you Asheville, Old-Time Music folks out there, Ida Red also included their dear friends Meredith McIntosh and John Herrmann when they were passing through France.)

So, we packed it up and drove back to Ardèche. It was good to be back.

We practiced…

And practiced…And busked at the market on Saturday morning…I think we made about 12 Euros each…

Then, we drove to the middle of no where (a beautiful place)…

and we recorded…

Into the Alpes: Grenoble

Annie Fain — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:48:28 +0000

If you have been following my trip right along, you already know that I have been incredibly lucky in my search for musicians, artists, dancers and creative-livers to visit. I was lucky, once again, when I met Phillipe and his family at the festival Boulegan l’Ostal.

He joined one of our jam sessions with his 5-string banjo and we ended up talking about how he found old-time music in France (through Irish music and meeting Polo) and the time that he came to the United States to Mount Airy, a fiddler’s convention I go to every year. His invitation to visit them in Grenoble was perfectly timed. I honestly wasn’t sure were I was going to go after my visit with Polo and Nadine.

This is his daughter, Eva, and their cat, Plume.

Eva and I made fast friends. She was not shy to correct my French and she played her flute for me. I showed her the drawings in my sketchbook and taught her how to thumb wrestle (a very important thing to know in life).

One morning, I suggested that we draw a picture of each other and label each body part, her in English and me in French. We spent hours trading the names for body parts, correcting each other’s pronunciation, adding color with my mini-watercolor set, and pointing out details (like eye-lashes, for example) that the other had forgotten. I enjoyed her company immensely.

I stayed for 3 days. Each morning I had breakfast with Eva and Phillipe’s wife, Danuta (we spoke only in French) and then I would pack a bag for the day. Basically, I just wandered the streets until dinner-time. I looked and walked and looked…and sketched some too.

I liked Grenoble alot. I liked that you could see giant, snow capped mountains from every direction beyond the city’s skyline. I liked the snazzy, white/lime green/turquoise, above ground trolley cars that were so easy to jump onto. I liked seeing paintings on the cement walls of walking tunnels. I liked people watching at the large market in the center of town. I liked the spaceship-like, public toilets with automatic doors that cost .20 and would pop up right when I needed to pee (it is sooo frustrating to need to pee and not be able to find a place!).

However, I did NOT like that a cup of green tea cost almost $4.00!

My most favorite spot of all was Le Jardin de Ville, the city’s central park. Spring was in the air and all ages came out to enjoy it.

Festival #2: La Motte en Provence

Annie Fain — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:01:34 +0000

The weekend after the festival, Boulegan l’Ostal, we packed it up again and drove south to La Motte en Provence. This exact dance weekend had been recommended to me before I even set foot in France. However, between not having a car and the cost of entry I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off. It was a wonderful coincidence (my whole trip has been built on such coincidences) that Polo and Nadine’s band, Ida Red, had been hired to perform. Luckily, they needed a banjo player and I happened to know one…tee hee.

First, we played for a daytime “American Dance Workshop,” a.k.a. contra and square dance. A wonderful woman named Cathi taught and called the dances. It was funny to hear dance calls, something so familiar to me, said in French rather than English.

When Cathi learned that I clog and have taught clogging she asked if she could incorporate me into the workshop. I said, “Sure!”

The evening dances went until 4am in the morning with a variety of bands playing for tango, Cajun, contra and traditional bal folk danse.

Here is a short video of Ida Red playing the last waltz of the evening set. I love how Polo and Nadine are standing side by side in their matching overalls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWVWGaJlgWg

I have to mention this tidbit before I leave you because I thought it was funny.

Below is a picture of our accommodations for Night #1: a gym floor.

Then, here is Night #2…

…which included a swimming pool (though we weren’t there long enough to take a swim) and a lovely breakfast.

French Food Intermission!

Annie Fain — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:13:12 +0000

Howdy there! I think it’s time for a short intermission to continue to honor the crazy-good food here. Festival #2 will be next time.

NOTE: If you receive these entries via email and you were unable to view the videos in the last post you can go to this link: http://afainbooks.com/blog/2010/05/15/boulegan-lostal/ to see it directly on my website. The post is named “Boulegan l’Ostal.”

Now for some food!

Festival #1: Boulegan l’Ostal

Annie Fain — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:23:56 +0000

The “fun” that “began,” referred to in the last post was not a hot Frenchman (or whatever else might have passed through your mind…and I’m sure that was one of the strongest possibilities…but hey, it is still very likely to happen!), but two weekends with festivals back to back. The first was called Boulegan l’Ostal and was in the town St. Jean du Gare in the southeastern region of France.

Polo and Nadine are very used to packing, unpacking and repacking for festivals. (Their level of efficiency is impressive.) We picked up their friend Valerie (an American who has live in France for over 20 years and has a wonderful puppet/performance company called La Cie du Beau Sauvage in which Polo performs as well) and her son’s girlfriend, who was as sweet as pie, and went on our way.

After braving the up-high, narrow, on-the-very-edge-of-the-edge-curvy roads typical to Ardeche we stopped to take a break (faire une pause) and have lunch: bread made by Nadine, avocado, soy-cheese spread, various regular cheeses and green tea.

We arrived in St. Jean du Gare, squeezed into a parking spot and with instruments in hand started to wander the streets which had been taken over by musicians and dancers alike.

Polo and Nadine had put me on the list as a performing musician which meant that I had a tag that hung around my neck that allowed me food and drink for the weekend (a wonderful surprise for a budget traveler like myself). They had been hired to create jam sessions in the cafes and restaurants wherever and whenever they wanted. We played for hours and hours. (This is also when I really started to get the hang of Polo’s crazy tunes.)

Though there is obviously lots of music and dance at Boulegan l’Ostal it is especially known for being a gathering of luthiers (instrument makers). There was a big room packed with booths of instruments as well as people trying instruments. And I tell you what, when those instruments happen to be hurdy gurdies, accordions and the French version of bag-pipes being played all at once, you kind of wish you had earplugs.

Here is a short video of some young guys playing pipes together:

That night, everyone migrated to a big, beautiful building that used to be a school. It is now the perfect head quarters for the night time jamming and dancing for the festival. As you can see in the picture below, it was just a little bit crowded.

This is an Irish jam…

It’s a little hard to tell, but everyone in this picture is dancing. They are linked elbow to elbow in long caterpillar lines doing a simple (and therefore meditative) dance that comes from Brittany. It’s beautiful to watch all the kabillions of caterpillars slowly working their way around each other.

Needless to say, after such a long day we crashed around 2am. Here is breakfast time (bread, confiture, tea and chocolate!):

More dancing…

A few more tunes and we headed back home…

Happy Birthday to Me: Part 2

Annie Fain — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:55:38 +0000

And then guess what happened? That curly-haired girl went to Nice for a birthday treat to herself. Just you wait and see what she saw. It’s true: Nice is nice.

(O.K. I’m gonna stop with the 3rd person now.)

This is the youth hostel I chose from the list in my guide book, affordable and in disguise as a fancy, smancy 300 year old house.

I think my favorite part of Nice was the colors, both of Vieux (Old) Nice and the bright turquoise of the water. It’s a particular Mediterranean-Southern France-Italy-is-near-by color palette. It made me want to paint, real bad.

Look at that water! I just couldn’t get over it. It was like fake-too-perfect-to-exist-in-real-life water. (Sadly, still way too cold to swim). The picture below shows the Promenade des Anglais, a wide walk-way that follows the coast line. It’s line of palm trees brought Hollywood to mind and there were lots of people, even considering being the off season. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be here in June.

As I sat down for a rest from walking and walking and walking some more, an accordion player busking nearby broke into a waltz from the film Amelie. It’s a really beautiful waltz, one that I’ve been known to put on repeat on my CD player. Even though it was so typical touristy France I couldn’t help, but have a teary-eyed moment of, “I can’t believe I’m really here and I can’t believe I’m hearing this tune right here, right now.”

While I was eating this tarte de citron as luxuriously as possible, an older woman plopped herself in front of me and started chatting up a storm. She was oh-so-talkative that I hardly had a chance to let her know, “Ah! I’m a beginner in French.” I eventually told her so (one thing I do know how to say in French) and we commenced a very sweet and exiting (for me at least) conversation in which she spoke more slowly and I understood soooo much more than I thought I would! Joelle’s daily lessons had really paid off. After a weekend of solo wandering and art seeing (did I mention a guy who worked at the contemporary art museum asked me for coffee?) I was thankful for her company.

O.K. I know all of this looks pretty darned perfect, but keep in mind that travel is incredibly tiring-confusing-sometimes lonely, etc. And yes, Saturday was gorgeous, but Sunday was rainy and cold. I only say this to keep your feet on the ground in the case that these blog entries are making you want to give up your life and run away…But, hey, I’d be the last to judge if you did!

Happy Birthday to Me: Part 1

Annie Fain — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:01:42 +0000

As some of you know, and some of you don’t, I had my 30th birthday last week. I received many a “Happy Birthday” email, which tickled me pink. These next couple of blog entries are in response to the frequent requests to know “What did you do for your birthday in France? Tell me all about it.”

Well…Once upon a time, there was this girl named Annie Fain. She had two wonderful hosts who serenaded her in both English and French on the morning of her birthday.

…and took her out for a birthday lunch at one of their favorite restaurants called Frenchy-Wok Grill.

It was there that she experienced her first glass of kir (Champagne with a little bit of black currant liquor) and a French-Chinese Buffet. What a combination eh?

…then to an island on a boat. It was pretty cold and windy so they had the entire island to themselves.

After wandering for a while they needed a break, but not just any break; a chocolate break!

Then home for a nap and Crepes (imagine an accent mark over the first “e” of “crepe”). Joelle and Daniel showed Annie Fain the tastiest way to eat a crepe: smear it with fromage blanc, sprinkle it with sugar and then squeeze fresh lemon juice on top. Mmm…

The day ended with a Bal Folk dance in town. Since it was Annie Fain’s 4th time going to the dance association with Joelle and Daniel she felt really comfortable finding a dance partner, jumping into dances she didn’t know, attempting to speak French (by now they all knew her as “the American girl” and were very, very friendly and patient about speaking with her) and playing my banjo with Lou Strings. A very nice day indeed!

Stay Tuned for Part 2: A Weekend in Nice

*NOTE: For those of you who receive these entries via email and were confused by the blank spaces in the last post, those spaces were where I had included video clips. If you are interested in checking out those videos go to: http://afainbooks.com/blog/ and got to the previous post called “Bal Folk.”