Ascending in Bright Lights Tour Merch Available!

Hey,

I hope you’re doing great…! I’m currently sitting on the balcony of my Bavarian hotel room in Spitzingsee. The view of the lake reflecting the mountains in the background is simply stunning, especially with the thick fog that seems to be moving so fast, hiding the mountain tops and adding some sadness to this beautiful view. The air is crisp and fresh. What a great way to get the day started!

I decided to get my headphones and bring Tortoise’s The Catastrophist to the mix! I would like for this moment to simply go on forever...! Truly blessed and fortunate to have incredible friends who invited us here for the second time. As you know, Alex and I value friendships and relationships and find real beauty in the stories of people who decided to create something above and beyond themselves, who decided to believe in what seemed impossible and crazy at some point but navigated through those waters to give life to something inspiring, beautiful, soulful. This is a place where every little piece of decoration and every little corner speaks volumes about who they are and what they decided to become as human beings! A real inspiration on every possible level!

Our friend, let’s call her Lucy for the sake of our conversation, was born and raised in what was called Transylvania in the USSR days and became a poster lady for BMW. For so many people, she was living the dream, having access to a high-end society. But the price to pay to solely being beautiful and not saying a word was pretty steep, especially when your opinion doesn’t go along quite well with the party in place, and even worse, the powerful status quo of a men-driven club where, for decades, the slight idea of a small change was not even something you would allow yourself to dream of. In the eyes of so many, our friend Lucy had it all, but for her own self, she was so miserable, even though she would spend her life in front of the camera flashes, wearing the most beautiful dresses, and getting VIP access to the most amazing parties in town. All she wanted was to leave…!

She finally decided to do so and traded her high-end lifestyle in exchange for cleaning rooms in hotels in south Germany, a country she didn’t speak the language of, didn’t know much about the culture, where she had no friends, and of course, couldn’t go back to where she came from, since she had left too much behind. As she told us very bluntly as we were having dinner last night: “The smell of freedom, even if it’s cleaning products, smelled better than any of the champagne glasses I could have enjoyed in my previous life, being a prisoner of an ideology I rebuked since day 1 but walked through to survive and share with my family and loved ones. They never forgave me for leaving, but at some point, I wanted to live my life the way I wanted it.” Those words truly resonated with everyone at the table, and I immediately wanted to share this story with you, as I’m still in a reflective state of mind this morning around such a beautifully sad scenery.

Lucy met Martin (let’s call him this way), who was already a great chef from Austria and had traveled the world learning to become the best cook on the planet. He told us he cooked for the British Royal family in the 1990s, worked in Spain, on cruise ships navigating around the globe, and so on! When Lucy, who was a room cleaner, and Martin, who was a globetrotter never wanting to drop an anchor somewhere, fell in love, they decided they wanted to start their own thing based on their passion, their vision, and their love for people, culture, moments, and, of course, great local traditional food, wines, and so on...! They gave birth to not only a dream place but to a soulful and indestructible unit, giving all they had to a common dream that has inspired us so much and gave us wings to establish ourselves in Tangier…!

A few years ago, we met Lucy and Martin at the lovely vacation spot we go to every year to relax and plan the year ahead, and following an unforgettable dinner with them, our friendship grew stronger and stronger over the years! We don’t have many close friends, but the ones we have are so meaningful. There’s nothing like simply sitting down and celebrating this powerful bond that we all barely understand but highly enjoy and are thankful for daily! Friends are what matters the most to me, since no matter what curve ball life can throw at you, you’ll have a place of your own, transforming the worst of all storms into the most beautiful rainbow there is...! Those past few days literally gave us wings to fly higher than we ever believed we could!

Life is so rich!!!!! No matter how huge or crazy your dreams seem to be, it’s never too late to simply get started! 

On another note! So many of you mailed me asking if it would be possible to put your hands on the tour merch before the end of the tour! When Alex heard about it, it took him only a split second to say: “Yes, let’s do this!” So, as we know that not everyone has access to the tour merch during the shows this summer, we thought it was a brilliant idea to share it exclusively with you before the tour ends, and we’ll make it available to everyone a little later!

We will ship it to you from Germany unless it’s too expensive, long, crazy, or makes absolutely no sense to do so. We’ll then do it once we’re back in Montreal, in early August!

We will be back on the road this weekend, headed to Lublin, Poland! Truly can’t wait! 

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your Host and Friend, 
Jeff