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I "invade" Paris!
My first encounter with the invaders.This city is continually surprising me, just today, while walking around St. Michel, I noticed a crowd gathered in front of Shakespeare and Co. watching as a man scaled the facade of the building and into an open window on the 3rd floor (4th floor if you count the American way). From the Graffiti in inexplicable places, the street performers and the space invaders, to the tucked away cafes and specialty shops, there is always something new to discover in this city.
One thing I love about Paris is the music, everywhere. From the jazz manuche bands that play in the cafe's, to the musicians playing in the metro, you don't need an ipod for your ears to sample the sounds of this city. One of my personal favorite places is the "fleche d'or" (the golden arrow), a bar/club that features live music of every genre almost every night of the week. I saw a folk/rock concert there and it felt like home, low-tech, just a girl and her guitar singing to the audience, followed by a small band experimenting with different objects to create the background for their music. And this club offers everything, from brit pop to heavy
Sticker art
These guys are up everywhere, always something different and bizarre. metal, to electro dance parties late at night, it's definitely on the "must-see" list of any hipster heading to Paris. But you don't have to pay an entrance fee to hear music, there's always people in the metros playing away for change, not always good, but it's there none the less. I remember the first time I saw the classical orchestra at Charles de Gaulle, they were actually quiet impressive, and it's just fun to hear the music echoing through the tunnels and then turn a corner to see a full 16-20 piece orchestra set up underground for anyone who passes by to enjoy. For me, that is the real spirit of music, people who play anywhere for anyone and add that element of enjoyment to otherwise mundane situations. There's also a gypsy-jazz band that plays Eastern European classics that's quiet fun, I see them when changing at Franklin Roosevelt from time to time. Of course there's the terrible ones as well, the "singers" who turn on their pre-recorded 80's karaoke music and wail away on the metro, or the old man with the violin who occasionally plays on my line. I think he lost his hearing long ago, but
Scaling the wall
City climbing? Whatever floats your boat, climber guy. he continues to screech away on his battered old fiddle, I'm pretty sure people give him money so that he will stop. On Guillaume's birthday we walked down by the seine on Isle Saint Luois (the smaller of the 2 main islands in the middle of Paris) and there was a man playing his alto sax, alone on a bench, making the perfect background ambiance for our picnic on the river. Of course, June 21st Paris hosts it's annual "Fete de la Musique", where musicians come from all over and anyone is allowed to play anywhere and the city rings with music from every street corner, sidewalk, metro tunnel and cafe. I'm looking forward to it, and as anyone can play without needing a permit (as usually to play in public you need to acquire a permit from the mairie, where you audition to earn a spot to play in Paris) so I might just break out my fiddle and play a tune or two just to say I did.
The metro isn't the only place to see or hear unexpected things (just the other day a man set up a curtain between the poles and put on a
puppet show on line 9!), but also by just keeping your eyes open and off the ground, you never know what you might see. There are tons of graffiti artists in Paris, many of which have gone on to gain recognition and show legally in galleries as well as illegally on the streets. The whole city is a gallery of their contraband art work that most people don't even realize is there. Some of my favorites include the invaders, little mosaics in the form of 1980's/early 90's video game characters, the original ones being from the game "space invaders". Their pixellated forms make them perfect for the bright mosaic tiles the artists use. There are over 700 invaders around Paris, I've found about 6 so far since I started looking last week. Other artists include the stencil musicians of Jeff Aerosol, the FKDL dancers, and the poetic women of Misstic. For more information on these artists you can check out
Paris Street Art . As my university is still on strike and I haven't had any classes, I've been taking walks around the city to see what I stumble upon, you can see the results in the pictures that accompany this blog. And
Super Obama!
They love him here too. as class was cancelled again today, I think I'm going to head out and about and see what I see toady!
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