You Got Mail You Got Mail You Got Mail

Hi Jacob, Johannes and Lilli,

I hope you’re all doing well and stayed healthy, and that no one slept badly, or ate badly, or had a bad dream, or missed a train, or stepped in a puddle, or on a snail.

On the train back and my batteries are dead, my hotspot doesn’t work, WIFIONICE is useless anyway and my Safari suddenly looks like it’s from 2006. Also, it seems the only way I can actually use my laptop without internet is to write an email. So: plan change. My last text isn’t a transcribed recording but simply this email…

Since I wrote those first three sentences in the ICE coming back from Switzerland, three days have gone by. But now I’ve got the same problem again on my way to Düsseldorf. I’ve already made myself noticeable in the train wagon. I’ve got this giant sack of coins in my suitcase, which tipped over noisily while I was putting it on the luggage rack. The chaos of underwear and one-euro coins is something I’ll have to fix later. I’m sitting backwards, facing against the direction of travel, and I feel a little sick. This ICE is one of the old models, the kind where you can still rest your feet on those metal bars under the seats.

Last Sunday at ÜbenÜbenÜben we had to admit that all this collective practicing is actually quite a lot of effort. Totally worth it, but well yeah it comes with some work also. A light slump on plastic chairs, bouncing, listening to Franconian-tinged cabaret. The breaking-up of language through stuttering, underscored by accordion and double bass. Humor in minor key. I wonder if they can actually make a living from this, or maybe only one of them? Or none.
Of course on that last day I also thought back over the whole week, and I guess it’s time for a big and very sincere thank-you to everyone who was there, organized, and enriched the week. The routine of performance during the week in Basel was unexpectedly exhausting but also instructive, and I really did manage to practice a new way of writing, thanks for that!

At the beginning I looked at all those knight drawings and they felt like this giant armada. But after a week it felt like we’d met them all, they were all somehow present. Some more obvious, others more hidden. Beautiful and exhausting probably for most of us. Funny that now I can’t really think of much more to say, which is odd, because actually we experienced so much. We all passed, which made me happy — the teachers probably had some quota to fill or something.

I still don’t really like practicing in general, but in late summer in Basel, in that specific moment, I really did enjoy it. Maybe also because you all were there and read me trying, and now and then I even got some praise.

And to all the performing artists: I wish you all the best! If you ever need a practiced text, check out www.kurtcassady.com.

Best,
Pauli