Finishing Exit/No Exit, I didn’t take a lot of photos. Partially because Jade’s friend Caleb arrived with major photographic expertise, and partially because I was mad stressed out about Amsterdam, and also account issues with both of my banks, PayPal, and my phone. It seemed like coincidental misfortune at every turn was the name of the game, until we arrived in Dijon, France. There, we met two ebullient young ladies from the French poetry scene who took us in, took us around the city, cooked us some delicious food, and laughed with us as we shot paper airplanes over the language barrier. Walking in the mist of Dijon with a friend that morning was nothing short of magical.

The next day, in Reims, we stayed with an amazing French family who literally laid out a damn banquet for us before our show. Then, the show. Holy shit. Reims, like Barcelona, hosted us in an intimate space (a pate and fromagerie, no bigger than 25×25 feet)
crowded with 30 or so incredible listeners. Jade and I both got a chance to connect with our audience on an almost one on one basis as the crowd stayed quiet and leaned in to our poems and the windows of the shop fogged up with body heat against the cold of January outside. After the venue had closed, we stayed in to smoke cigarettes and drink champagne which the venue provided us. If you’re ever in France, I really recommend you track down Slam Tribu, it was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on tour, and the last chance Jade and I had to read poems together in Europe, at least for now.

In Reims, we visited the cathedral where Joan D’Arc allegedly convinced the King to go to war. There were some pretty crazy
statues in that place–my favorite was one of John the Baptist, with a[broken] depiction of Salome holding a plate sculpted where his now severed head would have been. Very meta.

Our last show together was in Paris, at the Downtown Café, where we played our songs and later jammed with the house band (consisting of talented percussionists, guitar players, and a ssssssssmoking hot teenage sax player).

The Exit/No Exit tour was a major success, I believe, one with too many stories and jokes to share here—but let me say that Jade Sylvan is an amazing tour partner and friend, and her Madame Psychosis game is not to be trifled with. For reals.

Also, imagine that this creepy angel is watching over you at night.