hello from germany!

ok, im at womex on the free email machines and the german keyboards dont have an apostrophe in the right place so im just ignoring them. bear with me.
womex is crazy. i havent stopped going since i got to essen on wed eve. tired legs and a tired mind. but good for business.
lots of new records for the site, some new partnerships, and deepening of our existing ones.
and, before i forget - GO RED SOX!!!!
(and someone tell curt shilling that hes got to go since he endorsed bush. thanks for the championship now get the hell out of town)

also, continue to hold my grandmother in your prayers. she has aggressive cancer in a couple lymph nodes. thank you. boppee - i love you!

more later.
e

send thoughts and prayers to buffalo

and to make this trip all the more interesting, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer last thursday. meaning she's going to have a masectomy this thursday. nothing like finding this stuff out and having your life change in a second. i'm not sure if that's good to have a week to think about a life and body altering surgery or just having it happen right away.
anyway, my sister is going to see my grandmother. i wish i could be there and will be sending my thought and prayers to my grandmother. please send yours as well!
she is an amazing woman, an amazing inspiration and great guide in life. i have faith that she'll make it through this, but it is a very scary proposition nonetheless.
couple sites:
commercial looking foundation
another non-profit

getting ready to go!

fedex finally delivered my plane ticket for my flight tomorrow. i found a door tag today and had to go over to fedex to pick up my ticket. what a pain. but at least i don't have to deal with affidavit's of non-receipt at the airport. that sounds like a total hassle.
in 24 hours i'll be in the air headed to amsterdam. then a train to essen. then the conference. then off to greifswald to visit the kirsch family. then back to boston for a quick stop.
i'm still not packed at all, and have some other stuff to do. it's going to be a long night. good thing terry is around to share late night order in food with.
crazyness abounding. so much to do, it'll be a relief to finally get on the plane.

what am i doing?

no, this is not a post to examine the existential questions about my life. i sent out an email to a bunch of people about this blog, and a couple people asked me what i was going to be doing on my travels. so, here is a quick overview.
i leave soon for my first trip. this one is to germany for WOMEX, a conference for world music folks. this is for Calabash.
then i'm home for about 10 days. (just time to host a party for those of you in boston)
then off to fiji to record this South Pacific World Music Festival. we're going to license and record all the music that gets played there, and check out what other opportunities exist there on those islands for music to distribute.
then pretty much straight to Mali. i'm going for a few reasons. first, to help these guys record a new film. if you haven't seen 1 Giant Leap, you need to.
then i'm going to try and hook up some deals for Calabash and see my friends in Mali and take some dance lessons and remind myself of the rest of the world that is out there beyond our borders.
it should all be lots of fun and new experiences. needless to say, i'm pretty excited about the whole thing. i should be back in the states in january.

fiji baby!

so this is what we're going to record in fiji. can't wait - get that sunscreen ready!
now we just have to get our site back up and running after a server flameout this weekend. not a good thing to have happen right now.

lazy sunday

t minus 9 days! off to germany for WOMEX soon soon. my plane ticket is still not here cause they had my old address in the system when i booked my frequent flyer ticket. but apparently i can still get a ticket if i fill out an affidavit at the airport. we'll see.
and i have to get my passport back from the malian embassy before i get on any plane. hopefully that comes back early this week so i have one less thing to worry about.
basically, i think it's a question now of packing the right bags and making sure i have all the presents i need for people. my folks are being very good about making sure i'm remembering all those details.
that and trying to not think about the red sox and our position in the alcs. not pretty. and no less painful than last year. damn those mfys.

testing comments

so anyone is supposed to be able to comment on my blog now. but this is still in the testing phase. this is supposed to be so that when i'm away and post something, anyone can comment or reply to my post. but we'll see what actually happens. last trip i was going to use my yahoo account, but found out it took forever to actually load yahoo in Mali, but that hotmail worked quickly. so we'll see if blogger is even an option in germany, fiji and mali. it would be fun . . . .

getting ready to go!

i'm getting all ready to go. sent in my visa application for mali today. buying voltage converters and thinking about what else i need to get before i leave. all very exciting! and a bit nerve wracking as well.

So this space will soon be occupied by my travel journal . . .
I'm going to try getting on this site from foreign lands and updating my family and friends with this site, rather than the emails I sent last time via my father (bless him for his work!).
Also, this should be a fun, interactive way to share the travel with a whole group of friends. Gave the 2 week notice today, going to Germany in 21 days, Fiji in 44 days, and Mali in 60 (inshallah). Got to get the visa machine crankin'
to bed to bed now.