First time in Genova, and WOW! What a great – I mean GREAT place – and so many cool people! Boy did we have a night! I was getting ready for the Italian leg of my Psychedelic Secession Tour, and Massimo Perasso contacted me on Facebook to do a show at Taxi Driver Record Store in Genova. Then Sara Twinn jumped into action and wrote me another, longer mail. Y’know, I had never been there before – what was I missing? So I booked the show, wondering what would happen.

I was met at the train and immediately taken to the cool as hell Taxi Driver and there was a square filled with tents and set about hanging posters, while the great hosts at Taxi Driver brought out some really yummy focaccia – a specialty of Liguria. I’d lived in a small town on the shoreside of Liguria for 7 months (as if anywhere in Liguria is NOT on the shore), and it was a mystery, this Capitol of the Ligurian province, Genova. What met me was the friendliest welcome you can possibly imagine!

As the show wound to a close, we went in a group of 12 or 13 to dinner, through the incredible maze of streets of Genova. I had dinner with Sara who runs Taxi Driver, with poster artist Kabuto and all the members of Gandhi’s Gunn, Massimo’s band, and assembled friends and artists. I decided then and there that I’d return in October for a print demonstration – as much to spread the word about silkscreen printing as much as to hang out with all these cool people again! We took a walk down to the harbor, and I saw the amazing lighthouse of the port. We topped off the night at Giovanni Chirico’s Checkmate – hauling the festivities kicking and screaming into the dawn – and early morning munchies. Along the way Gio kept offering me the very very best Trappist Brews – saying, “This beer, of which there are only 8 bottles in Italy, is very nice … try” or “This one I am taking for you from my private stash…”

I made Sara and Massimo a drawing and left my mark on Checkmate’s wall – a reminder of the incredible spirit of Freedom demonstrated by the folks of Genova during the struggle over global capitalism during the riots of the G8.