Bush & Neil Young...

I wrote my song, "Dear Mr. President" while touring through Texas - on the George W. Bush expressway outside of Dallas, Texas - the day the war officially started. When they announced it on NPR, I pulled over and wrote this song.

I just found it somehow, someway ended up on Neil Young's site at at 200 on the "Living with War" charts (out of 3,000+ I think) so that's pretty neat. Although I admit the live recording of it doesn't exactly translate well - i.e the sound quality is terrible!

Nonetheless...cooooool. I love you Neil.
Here is the link:
http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html

love,
Chris
p.s While googling myself tonight, I came my song (a live version) being played during this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ShBiyhxWsk

lattes & garbage...

After a long beautiful day bobsledding with wonderful friends - I sit here at my computer trying to prioritize my life - my expat group, dibby out my career tasks - booking, publicity etc...

And whatta' ya' know - I come aross this - an article from a freelance writer in Austin, Texas I did side work for while I was living in Austin. Ahhhh side work. Sounds kind of naughty doesn't it?

As you my friends know, I have done everything from raising huskies in Alaska, fueling airplanes in Arizona to other goofy jobs like being a clown and having a dog-walking business.
So I guess this article is probably no surprise at all to you. But for me - to come across it while living in Europe, doing my music for a living and thinkin about "delegating" things in my life to make it easier - it was quite a hoot to find on google.

This appeared in American Airlines magazines. You know, those annoying magazines in the seat in front of you - you resort to reading because you didn't want to spend $5 on one in the shop.
Yes I know, my life is very glamarous. lol.
Although I have to say, getting a call from a best friend from my past that has since re-connected us - saying she read about me on the plane and was floored, was a nice little "side" effect.

Read down for the grub:

http://www.americanwaymag.com/aw/Lifestyle/feature.asp?archive_date=4/1/2006
Happy holidays from Christene & Helli... -

Thanksgiving...

Here I am, yet again - abroad and far from America on Thanksgiving. *sigh*

I can't say I am terribly homesick for it but that is only because I have grown accustomed to Thanksgiving and every other holiday (except Christmas) away from my family for many years
now.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving touring England - and before my show that night, had a chicken wrap from KFC. Exciting I know. :)

In any case, next year I will be hosting a big, fat Thanksgiving to introduce my Tyrolean and International friends that don't celebrate, to the food portion of the tradition.

But this year - this year is going to spent with friends, tonight - in a matter of minutes actually, down at the Christkindmarkts...i.e Christmas Markets.

Helli and I went down last night for the first time and were completely blown away how much further they went with it this year. It seems this awesome tradition only gets better, more organized and more spectacular as each year passes. yay!



Here is a link if you'd like to see what it's like and looks like here in Innsbruck during my absolute favorite time of year here. Honestly, when winter comes and we browse the markets, drinking Glühwein and eating roasted chestnuts, I have not one ounce of homesickness or regreat for living here. :) I hope someday you my friends, will be able to join us in December for this magical time.

http://www.christkindlmarkt.cc/

In the spirit of feasting everywhere - Happy Turkey Day my beautiful friends. I love you.

love,
Chris

p.s On that note, tomorrow - I am hosting a big South Tyrolean traditional dinner called Törggelen! I have invited good friends and new friends (some becoming good:) from my Innsbruck Expats group I started. It's a full house and should be great. It will replace my Thanksgiving as the feast is just as large, if not larger! :) Here is link to the restaurant where you can find the link to see the crazy menu & also a link about what exactly Törggelen is.

Restaurant: http://www.buzihuette.at

What is Törggelen?: http://www.suedtirolerland.it/suedtirol/siteSLenSLe2wSLarticle.phpQMQidEQQ4787NNDcategory_idEQQ138.html

"Arnold" the Incomparable- written Nov. 20, 2007

Ok - this is just too funny! While shopping at our local supermarket a few month back, we saw this. We passed on buying it - figuring a euro was too much. Boy was I wrong! The fun factor alone is worth the box. Ah well. Danke to our Oregon and Italian friends David and Ilenia (by way of Oregon, Padova, Italy and now here in Innsbruck) for buying it and posting this photo and text... Enjoy!

Apparently, someone has decided to use Arnold Schwarzeneggers's image to sell Austrian apples for a Euro a piece. On the side, they write:

Healthy and Strong

"Arnold" the Incomparable

This apple grows and ripens at the foot of the Austrian Alps in Styria with the fertile soil and unique microclimate of warm days and cool nights. Lovingly tended by skilled and dedicated fruit growers in their small and medium sized orchards it is a rich natural source of health, strength and flavor.

Ramblings ... Written Nov. 16, 2007

Hallo!

Greetings from snowy but lovely Innsbruck, Austria!

I just wanted to update everyone...
I know it's been sometime. Danke for being so patient and sending such sweet emails. It means so much to me. <3

The new CD is FINALLY (I swear, you can mark my word!:-) coming in the New Year - along with "Tumbleweed... the live album" and a live DVD of a sold-out Theatre show in Scotland in Nov. 2006!

I will at some point before my touring madness begins, be launching a new web site - as well as new merchandise; pins, t-shirts, you name it. :)

Life is beginning to make sense again for me - after quite some time of unfortunate and always unexpected health issues.

I apologize deeply for the continuous cancelations of shows this past summer/fall - and promise to make it up to you with both new songs and stories and CD's you will hopefully keep on repeat!

Life in Austria is amazing and slowly, I am beginning to acclimate and adjust.
I am in German school now and can have a reasonably good converstion which definitely helps in making this home! :)

I don't know if you know - but I actually got married this past April. <3
It's pretty common here to have 2 weddings though - so the BIG official wedding isn't taking place until July 5, 2008!

Between that, new touring schedules, CD's and merchandise, web sites, family - holidays, travels, home remodeling and my Innsbruck Expats group, I am keeping well and happily busy!

While going through my mac and deleting old emails, answering the backed up email (sorry) waiting forever etc.. I came across so many journals I never posted. I thought about saving them to include in my book but instead, I will begin to post a select few of them in the next few days.
It was intersting, sometimes bittersweet, to read some - dated back over a year ago before Helli (my husband) even entered the picture. Wow, life sure moves fast.

I hope you are keeping well and loving life & those close to you. It's so precious & beautiful.

with so much gratitude and love,
Chris

sausage, mustard, sauerkraut, beer, fall, people & *ehem* people magazine

So you might be wondering - what the heck kind of title is that?

Well - I haven't been able to do my usual storytelling, online journaling, rambling, lately - as I have admittedly been completely and utterlly wrapped up in the pyschi of some certain people *ehem* gone from my life.

I don't know if I told you - but I started, designed and run a group and website called http://www.InnsbruckExpats.com

I started it back in March on meetup.com and from there, it just kind of took on a life of it's own - and has since moved into it's own space on the web and continues to attract members and grow in activities I organize etc...

What started out as a way to make friends in a town I was otherwise feeling a stranger in (unless you count the family of my husband - which are WONDERFUL - but not the same) has now become an outlet for others doing the same, socially-challenged people, people not challenged at all that are just looking for another social outlet etc...

Now it sounds fine & dandy and for the most part - being the spazz I am online with websites, graphics, networking etc... and offline organizing events and bringing people together, it really is.

But *ehem* I can't say doing something like this, in Europe, with people that are not in their element, does come with a very hefty price & not without it's list of problems.

Granted, I started this to make friends - but since, funny enough, have made my best ones off the group.

So this brings me smack dab into what is going on.

A certain member - when I said I was going to begin implementing new policies to my group - took what I wrote (which was not personal) very, very personal and has begun what seemed to be an attempt at destroying a group and website that had since, really been continuing on for people LIKE HIM. Because he socially could not mingle well, was not an easy person to get along with - but seemed like he had a good heart and just needed a push.

He has spent the better part of this week, behind the keys - like some kind of evil mastermind - threatening to send out personal chats and emails I had with him to each member seperately. Posting long rants against me about what a bad person I am and "bitchy dictator." According to him, I was/am trying to dictate and control the group and it's members from a queens chair. *ehem*
Well ok, if the shoe fits - kidding, kidding.

But seriously.
You can stop reading here if you'd like.
Really this is just me getting out what was one of the heaviest weeks yet in my personal relations with people here in Innsbruck.

This said person I might add, is an American - raised in America but has an Austrian mom.

I don't want to pick any fights here but it seems each time I get a new problem or get harassed by someone here, it's an American male or sometimes in general, expat.
I promise I am not judging and pointing fingers - but I really am beginning to wonder and worry here. I don't have anything like this with my Austrian comrades.

Because of the evil doings of this man, my already in a sad state gut, digestion & colon (sorry) have been on overdrive and rendered me almost useless to attend german, train to teach english, write new songs, plot my next tour and trip to Austin to finish the record... Really, I have been a non-stop emailing, website private-making, deleting, defending pro.
How sad is that?
Pretty sad I know.

So after I finally stopped reeling and steaming from all of this, I took a good look at my personal myspace page - and realized there was a certain person lurking around, that I had let back in my life from long ago.
I was so revved up from this American boy that I just went and deleted her. And as of today, after receiving HER rant, I guess that deletion didn't go without some more ranting and emailing and deleting... *sigh* man, I'm tired.

Really - weeding them out, although as painful or even more so as say - a kidney stone(?) was necessary, I am now sitting here wondering what the hell is going on that these people have managed to distract my otherwise happy disposition and replace it with stress that has literally given me two new big fat lines between my eyebrows.

So last night when my husband declared Octerfest eating officially beginning - and suggested we get traditional Octoberfest white sausages, spicey mustard, warm pretzels and schnapps - although I knew my gut would literally be in shock and possibly shut down because of it - I felt god dammit, I at least earned that, right?

We filled up our cart, threw in some beer for good measure - because I don't get that anymore either - and as real treat, to remind myself I am not as bad off as some - I picked up what is one of the very few imported American magazines around - People. At €5.30 I am going to go on a limb and say it was worth every penny - all in US dollars $7.50 worth.

And believe it or not, catching up on Britney's lastest custody battle, Angelina's rumored split from Brad, the woes of Hollywood's anorexic and the passing of Merv Griffin - I felt a strange but beautiful sense of peace.

For all the antagonistic f*****s out there - waiting to twist someones colon into a tight rope, tonight I can rest easy.

Tonight, I can bury my taste buds in sauerkraut and render my brain useless of all of 20 minutes while I leave no stone unturned, reading the magazine back to back - page to page, eye and ponder every nook and cranny - missing nothing.

Tonight I can celebrate the passing of these toxic souls in and out of my life. Octoberfest and Fall in Austria.
And yes, really celebrate at least I didn't freak out enough to shave my head or lose 50 kilos.

Not yet anyway.

Ich heiße Christene

Hallo, guten abend!

Ich heiße Christene.
Ich komme aus America und arbeite in Europa.
Ich wohne in Austria.
This is obviously the easy stuff - so I'll stop there on that.

But let me rant - just a bit (bitte?) about the feminine/masculine/neutral
aspects of the language... *cough, cough*

You probably know - but just in case, let me have some fun here...

I found out the other day, that banana is feminine... can I be very obvious
here? Shouldn't this be masculine?



And who exactly decided that the kuche & waschmaschene were going to be
feminine? My mann does the cooking by the way, not the Frau
as this might suggest. OK - I do the laundry but come on.

And why is the fernseher (tv) neutral? Shouldn't that at least be masculine?
I mean - wouldn't we all agree here?

I started a class last month - quickly figured out it was NOT working when my
teacher asked me during a break if I found jesus yet.
When I told her I was Buddhist, I was informed I would forever be unlucky as
a Buddhist and life would not be good until I found him - jesus I mean.

So that took care of that.
And really, as much as I liked my Turkish comrade, speaking after him was never a
fun task as he spoke with very low, closed lips, blurred all his speech turkish or
german and seemed to be in some kind of competition for teacher attention.

When I found out Ulrika, a Romanian nun I figured out was largely keeping me there,
was being advanced to the next class,
I left defeated and wondering if I would ever care to learn the language of my
mann, my new home and a place I am coming to leibe.

Then as luck would have it, this week I began a new course with Isabella and one
other student, Shane from Australia.
One would think all this english-speaking would stunt my german language studies
but it's fortunately, been the exact opposite.

Only 4 lessons - going on 5 by Friday - and Isabella has caught us both up to the
intermediate class.
We'll be joining the new group starting Monday - and sadly, saying goodbye to our
spunky Italian/Austrian and British teacher.

I've been able to have a good laugh with both Shane and Isabella about all this
masculine/feminine stuff and most of the time, we break out into speaking german
on our own accord.
I finally stopped mixing english, spanish and german and actually think by the
wedding, I'll be able to really communicate with everyone - without asking for helfen
or cringing as they quickly revert to english to save me embarassment.

I'm having fun building sentences and speaking any chance I get - ordering, shopping,
asking and sharing whatever german I can. Really, most of the time I think I come
across OK and actually say or ask what I mean... but sometimes, I am guessing
I am telling them their hair looks like shit, their sister is a prostitute and I never
want to talk to them again.

booooogers

Credit my good friend and fellow Innsbruck Expat
David Welton for this one;


What can I say... I never new such groundbreaking research was going
on right here in Innsbruck:

http://in.news.yahoo.com/040411/139/2ci0w.html

David & Jean...

And I thought I "lived" in hotels... geesh;



A British couple have shacked up in a budget roadside motel for more than 20 years because they love never having to do the laundry or cooking, they said Tuesday.

David Davidson, 79, and his wife, Jean, 70, first tried out a Travelodge hotel while visiting a sick aunt in 1985 -- and were instantly hooked.

Their room -- near Grantham, east central England off the A1 trunk road from London to Edinburgh -- overlooks a car park, but is also within sight of a slip road that trucks rumble down day and night, jazzing up the view.

"We get great rates because we book well in advance and we even have our own personal housekeeper. All our bed linen is laundered, too. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?" said former Royal Navy sailor David Davidson.

The couple have spent around 100,000 pounds (200,000 dollars, 150,000 euros) renting rooms which cost them as little as 15 pounds (30 dollars, 22 euros) a night.

The motel is renaming their room The Davidsons' Suite and mounting a plaque in the reception to mark their 10-year anniversary.

The couple, who initially lived in a Travelodge in nearby Newark before moving in 1997, have kept their old flat in Sheffield, northern England, and return every fortnight to collect the post.

The Davidsons exchange Christmas presents with the staff, dine out at a roadside eaterie across the car park and watch the traffic go by.

"There is always something outside our window. Our room looks out to the car park and a busy slip road where lorries pass through the night," David Davidson said.

"We do have to be a bit choosy about what we keep in our room as it can fill up easily."

His wife added: "We don't get hit with huge heating bills over the winter and its safer than a lot of places these days."

The couple do go for trips abroad -- but stay in a Travelodge.

"Some will think David and Jean Davidson bonkers to have spent the last 22 years living in a hotel," said the Daily Express in its editorial.

But their room rates are "not more than many people's mortgage payments, the housework is done for them and they do not pay utility bills. What's not to like?"

And you can even book a room at their hotel. Perhaps on my next tour I'll do this just for the heck of it - and then I will take photo's and send you journals. Ooh, exciting. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-392599-travelodge-i

the Q gene

Don’t get me wrong - I love the cold. I mean, really love the cold.

But loving the cold and longing for the cold - well, are two very different things. At least in August.

Waking up to see snow capped alps outside my window - while beautiful, is not exactly what you are hoping for at the end of August.
I realize the Fall isn’t all that far away - but if it’s one thing I clearly remember about life in San Francisco, it was the warm and sometimes hot Septembers.

Ok - I know. I can’t even begin to compare the two.

But when you are living life against everything you know, you are searching - however small and meaningless - for the slightest similarity. Nostalgia is the strongest tool in the fight against homesickness.
Sometimes, all it takes is a trip down memory lane by way of a smell or sight, a word someone spoke, to snap me out of it and get on with life in another country. It’s really hard sometimes.
And let’s face it, snow capped alps don’t exactly cut the mustard in the way of similarities to California.



They say familiarity breeds contempt. Probably.
Ok - yeah. When you’re living in it, it’s an entirely different beast. Yet another kind - unlike the homesickness one - to contend with.

When I lived at the Grand Canyon - I kid you not when I tell you I used to call it “the pit.” Seriously.
I know, sad huh?
Seeing it everyday, after a while, was like second nature - so to speak... i.e not so exciting after seeing it the hundreth time.
Luckily, I hiked to the bottom, camped and came back up - at least once, before leaving the pit.

Perhaps that is the secret - or more like drive - to the eternal wanderer, journey-seeking, modern day hobo, globe-trotting, itchy-footed traveler. Familiarity I mean.

Perhaps we are trying not to be full of contempt.

Although, admittedly I am not sure why exploring your surroundings is breeding contempt.
I suppose it’s like a lover you never expect to leave - you just get used to it after awhile - it’s familiar.

Maybe that is why I have never been one to stay long, bury my feet and plant myself.

Really?
I have absolutely no idea what is in my blood and my fellow tumbling comrades that keeps us on the road, on the trails and running like hell down paths we aren’t even sure why we took in the first place.
And even when we do stop - we are plotting, planning, skeeming and scheduling our next take-off.

Someone told me last year in England, after a show, he had heard that morning on BBC there was a study that said they found a gene “travelerers”universally possess.
I’m not so sure how they discovered this one or exactly who got tested (where do I apply? Does it include a round trip ticket?) but it sounds good to me.

I think it was called, the Q gene. Or something.

Anyway, what began as a gripe about the weather then a foray into homesickness - has ended up, as usual - nowhere.

But one thing is for sure - I aint’ stickin’ around to find out what will come out next.
My Q gene, or something, tells me it’s time to get moving before this cold paralyzes me and keeps me glued to this computer forever.