Kickstarter

I saw.  I adventured.  I quested.  Against all odds, I returned home mostly in one piece.

I have now been at home in Alaska for all of three days after an incredible European Adventure Quest that was completely and totally the real thing.  I want to tell you all about it, EVERYTHING about it, because it was incredible -- and it was only the first time, Europe, I can promise you that.  People keep asking how my trip was, and I don't even know how to reply. I feel like Merry or Pippin back home in the Shire. How do you begin to describe a whirlwind trip so big and so fast?

But at the moment I have tons of rewards to fulfill, an album and several songs to produce, and a Questlog full of adventure stories to create.  Today is not the day for reflection.  So here are some updates and news items!  A progress report, with some very important details:

• The tour was incredibly successful. Concert attendance was higher than I estimated in almost every single city. **I am already planning to come back to Europe ASAP** to solidify what we started, and to catch those of you that I tragically missed. Let's make touring abroad a normal event that doesn't require a massive fundraiser. If you are in Europe and want to know when I'll come back, be sure you are on the Europe mailing list -- http://mariancall.fanbridge.com, and check "I'm in Europe!" You will only be e-mailed when I am returning to see you, or when I release a whole new album.

• I went to Europe to make you guys the Marian Call Live In Europe Album.  We recorded four shows and all the recordings came out so so so so great.  The music is already being mixed and mastered, I'm choosing tracks for the record, and you should have a digital copy before Christmas!

• I go into the recording studio next week in Anchorage to start work on your original commissioned songs as well as the cover songs.  You guys have no idea how awesome they will sound -- I will be releasing cover songs on a rolling basis, a few per month, for the next several months as time allows. And I have some amazing guest musicians lining up, here in Alaska and around the world.  I am very excited to make you more new music!

• My laptop was stolen at a gig in Europe, grr, but then it was replaced by incredible fans, yaaaaay!  When I came home to Juneau I started work on a brand new laptop, which is great, except that I lost several months of email, plus several months of work on your Kickstarter Rewards.  That will teach me to back up better even when I'm traveling.  Thankfully the Universal Serial Tome of All Knowledge was not stolen, but I lost the writing and track indexing I had done, so that must be started again.  I lost my original song final drafts too -- thankfully I have original drafts in my journal (yay pen and paper!).  At any rate, apologies.  I will get all things to you as swiftly as possible.  Though I also need to allow myself time now and again to just sleep off the exhaustion of eight months of hard travel.

• I lost many of my 2012 photos when my laptop was stolen, but we are RECOVERING THEM!  This is a group effort!  If you have photos from the European Adventure Quest, from any city or any concert, add them to this Flickr pool, the MCEAQ 2012 Photo Recovery Act!  If you have photos from other concerts anywhere in the U.S. or Canada (or Caribbean), especially goofing off and fun group photos -- add them to this Flickr pool, the Marian Call Concert Photos group!  Losing pictures is the saddest thing, but I think you guys may have much of what I lost.

• One of our stretch goals was to make a music video & film some concerts.  We have shot footage for the most fantastic music video. You will be amazed and astounded.  We shot at CERN in Geneva and at SpaceExpo in Noordwijk, and we also took sort of informal documentary footage of the tour.  We shot some great concerts.  I'm excited, because this is one of the best ways we can share what this amazing experience was like.  And we lost no footage when the laptop left us.  So, success on that front!

Here is a photo of me and Zippy from our video shooting day:

(Photo courtesy of Arjan Kroonen. Thanks Arjan!)

I am prepping many more photos and sketches to share with you guys via the QuestLog. But first: finishing up the Live Album process and the USB sticks, getting into the recording studio, and getting everything in the mail to you!

You guys made an amazing trip happen -- the whole thing was bigger and crazier than I thought possible.  I can't wait to share the music and the madness.  With many thanks and very good wishes for December,

Marian

P.S. If you need an extra holiday present for someone -- I bet Something Fierce might be your loved ones' new favorite record. You can order the pretty double CD at Bandcamp for quick delivery -- also at Amazon and stuff, though Bandcamp is best. But whatever you buy this December, buy direct from creators and small businesses!

P.P.S. I'm back home in Anchorage next week for holiday concerts on Dec. 7th and 8th at Out North! Some of the bestest concerts of the year. Tickets are available now at http://outnorth.org.  See you in the North!

I get on an airplane in a few hours.  Somehow this is all real!  Europe guys, Europe!

We stop over in Iceland and arrive in Amsterdam tomorrow. In the future! It's time travel.

My heart is full of hopes that customs will be fine, that they'll let us into every country without a hitch (they ought to), that we'll stay healthy and catch all our trains, and that I can play for as many of you as possible.  Our schedule is packed, we only have 5 days off!  And we'll film and record All The Things.  My web access will be on and off, I'm sure, but I'll be busily documenting the trip for the European Adventure QuestLog.

The complete show list is below; we've added Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, an extra Amsterdam show, and an extra Dublin engagement.  I am doing my best to play near you!  And I hope you'll tell someone.  May this be the first of many trips.

We have a version of my web page up now in German and in Dutch, by the way, and I hope you'll share those around the parts of the internet that might enjoy that!

Before I fly away, by way of a thoughtful thank you note, you guys have been on my mind -- this whole project has -- an awful lot.  At 5am when I probably should have been sleeping, I wrote this: It Isn't D.I.Y. http://mariancall.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/it-isnt-diy/

I'll see you across the Atlantic, or else I'll see you all over the Internet for NOVEMBER 13TH 2012!*

Marian

*I hope you remember that's the date that Something Fierce drops again!

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Concert schedule: most shows are free or very cheap, concerts with stars* require a quick RSVP by email. Complete details at http://mariancall.com, (http://mariancall.com/de for German, http://mariancall.com/nl for Dutch)

• 17 Oct - Haarlem NL / house concert*
• 18 Oct - Mannheim DE / Jugendzentrum Friedrich Dürr
• 19 Oct - Zurich SW / Google Zurich*
• 20 Oct - Geneva SW / CERN*
• 23 Oct - Munich DE / house concert*
• 24 Oct - Vienna, AT / Replugged Vienna
• 25-27 Oct - Prague, CZ / FanCity Convention
• 29 Oct - Milton Keynes, UK / house concert*
• 30 Oct - Trowbridge, UK / house concert*
• 31 Oct - Sheffield, UK / hotel lobby concert*
• 1 Nov - Manchester, UK / Nexus Art Cafe
• 2 Nov - Stockport, UK / house concert*
• 3 Nov - Birmingham, UK / brunch concert at Urban Coffee (on Church St.)
• 3 Nov - Edinburgh, UK / evening concert at The Forest
• 4 Nov - London, UK / White Lion Public House (37 Central Street)
• 5 Nov - London, UK / Mad Hatter (Waterloo East)
• 6 Nov - London, UK / house concert*
• 7 Nov - Berlin, DE / El Serrano
• 8 Nov - Hamburg, DE / house concert*
• 9 Nov - Osnabrück, DE / MOJO Soulfood Cafe
• 10 Nov - Cologne, DE / brunch concert at cafe, RSVP for info*
• 10 Nov - Frankfurt, DE / house concert* limited space, RSVP soon
• 11 Nov - Amsterdam, NL / Muziek Cafe (17:00 show)
• 12 Nov - Noordwijk, NL / Space Expo Lunch Concert* limited space, RSVP soon
• 13 NOVEMBER 2012 SOMETHING FIERCE RELEASE WORLD PARTY
• 16 Nov - Dublin, IE / The Loft at the Twisted Pepper
• 17 Nov - Dublin, IE / House Concert

[Marian goes home and collapses after Thanksgiving, mixes & masters the Live Album, produces the QuestLog, plays some shows in Anchorage in December, records a zillion cover songs, sleeps for months]

Share the concert dates with friends!  Please!  Many of them are Facebook events.