Devin the Dude and MattSoReal are currently in Bergen bout to go to London and well here's pics of Munster!

Man for real I am sitting in my room at the Hotel Terminus in Bergen, Norway, I guess called that cuz it's just behind the train station, watching BBC news talm bout the tea parties in America and anti-Obama sentiment. Also swine flu. I haven't had any Alex Jones in my life since I left Austin last week, which I suppose is good to an extent, but I am having my own thoughts listening to the news and shit over here about this swine flu shit and something tells me there is something big and horrible on the horizon. Not a pandemic, but like America swooping down and seizing Mexico, I don't know. This at times is what I dream about, and these are not good dreams.

But I mean, I could be wrong. Really what I am doing is sitting here hoping I don't get swine flu, and enjoying the fact that I don't have to be anywhere for 3 hours. This whole trip has been amazing, each show special, and generally crowded, and as I said below what's really making this trip for me is all the amazing people we have met along the way. Friends and biz associates both new and old, I mean seriously. I'ma attempt to recant some things. But first here's some flicks from Munster.


Yarah Bravo opened up the show and then later in the night rapped throughout DJ Vadim's set and killed it with her insane energy. What a fun performer and a great gal. Seriously, that whole crew, her, Vadim, That Fucking Sarah, Karen... hold up I am getting ahead of myself.


Devin WRECKED Munster. The crowd was so enthusiastic (Yeah, um Devin, PUT A FUCKING ENCORE SONG ON THE CD PLEASE BEFORE WE GET BEAT DOWN BY ANGRY VIKINGS!) and it seemed like everyone in the house knew every word. It was like that in Berlin as well. Just great energy from all sides.

And a side note, I think I mentioned this on the blog before, but one of my biggest, most positive life changing experiences was when I was 15 years old. It was 1987, the summer between my 10th and 11th grade years. I was able to be a part of a student exchange with Immanuel Kant School in Munster and spent 3 weeks there, and one week in Berlin. Being 1987, the Berlin Wall was still standing and communism was in full effect in the east. On that trip, like this one, I met some amazing people who really touched my life and made me realize just how big this world is and how nothing is really ever impossible. Richard Henry may try to dispute that fact by saying something like, "Well you know Matt you can't fly like a hummingbird simply by flapping your arms. THAT's IMPOSSIBLE." Yeah dude, you know what I mean. It's a complicated statement, I know, similar to turning on a TV in a Hotel Room in Europe (why do you people make so many simple things so hard?). Seriously, it takes me 10 minutes to get the TV on in almost any hotel room.

So as a young teenager, walking through East Berlin seeing really how the other half lives (and yeah, there's many halves, I know, but if you would have seen this grey place back then...) and then sitting on a train with brilliant German kids who spoke 8 languages and shit, had a huge effect on me. So I guess what I am saying is it was great to get back to Munster and Berlin. We even stayed in the East and when I walked to the Alexanderplatz I freaked out cuz like THAT WAS THE SPOT! It's alot more colorful and happy now though. But that big scary TV Tower still stands, and I guess is now a restaurant. Why I am rambling about this, I am not entirely sure.

Anyway.


This is Karen from Subotage Entertainment in Berlin. A STAR AMONGST STARS! Seriously, she hooked up Germany for us along with our brothers Fred and Ricky at Tornado Booking in Norway and treated us famously. Thank you so much for giving us our first German shows ma'am! We will be back, and lets not forget Invincible in July!

Devin got a lot of press in Germany. Like 7-10 interviews per city it seems. Ha. Shit was so dope. After the show we headed upstairs with a lil crew of drunken Devin fans, like this dude...


And kicked it till he got done. Drinking Corona's and such. In fact, that's my only complaint so far. How you gone give Texans some Mexican beer in the Beer Capital of the universe. Hahaha. Naw, I am certainly not trippinG. In fact, our bartender in Kaiserslautern told me that she PREFER'S Corona over most German beers. I was like, "Man naw, you PREFER sipping a Corona on the beach. It is not possible that you would prefer..." Anyway that ended up in a whole debate and then she said she was just in Mexico so I ran like hell!

Naw, I really ain't trippin' off that shit. I'm trippin' off much deeper shit in relation to that shit.


So yeah, here's one of the interviews. Dude's brought a gang of German beers and liquors for Devin to try.


These dudes read this blog so that's automatic points for them! Thanks bro's!


This is my new lil homey for life THAT FUCKING SARA! What a star this one is as well and I am not even tripping. She's good friends with my homegirl Eyeris, and so we kicked it the whole time talking about music and shit. She's a really dope DJ who can mix and scratch like hell, and well, you should know more about her.

And you know, extreme sexism in hip-hop and life in general has been on my mind a lot lately. Which is why we are starting the Female MC series in Texas and really trying to rep for the ladies who are really doing it. Rapping and DJing and Producing and KILLING THESE FUCKING FOOLS, and all but being ignored. We gotta get That Fucking Sara to Texas.

And oh yeah, I stupidly unloaded the pics from Ladies Night in Austin last week to my home computer and did not put them up in time before we left for Europe. I then put the files on a flashdrive for this laptop and lost the flash drive, probably in my car. So yeah, brilliant. I'll get 'em up asap though.

I'm sure my boy OG at Luxury Mindz will have his up soon anyway. He's 10 times the photographer I am.


Me and DJ Vadim. People also may be sleeping on RUSSIANS!


Keyza Sosa is THE MAN in Germany to me. He's down with the SPC to the extent that he even produced a song with K-Rino and Chalie Boy! Man, I'm telling you, don't sleep on my dude Keyza. He also came with us to Munster to kind of help out and such and he was a major asset out here on this road! So thanks bro.


And then of course DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo!



And then of course B-Girls in fool effect. Do we forget the B-Girls too? Yes we do.

Anyway, so the battery in my camera is rapidly dying and I cannot find a charger for it. (LONDON! Got a D70 charger? Meet me at the Hotel Black Lion in Kilburn tonight. HA! Also bring hash...) So I have not been taking as many photos as I should. The trip has been hectic. Sleep 3-4 hours, get up, drive, fly, wait, soundcheck, wait, hope to eat, drink too much. Etc.

Oh yeah, shit, here's a lil side note. After the show in Munster as we were leaving the venue, the Skaters Palace which is a chaotic warehouse that is just amazing, I twisted my ankle. At the moment I thought maybe I sprained it as it swelled like hell immediately and all I could think was, "oh Lord this is the second show, what am I gonna do if I can't walk?" And for 2 days I was limping like hell. Word to Yarah for giving and damn and such. Also, yeah thanks Yarah for giving me a Jager shot while I was drinking Havana Club rum. But I had to have the Jager cuz over here it supposedly has opiates up in it and well, I don't mind opiates. But that may have had something to do with it.

But said opiates probably had more to do with what happened later in the night. I got to the hotel, and got a bag of ice. Went to my room, took off my pants, laid down with ice on my ankle and went to sleep. Then all of a sudden, I woke up, in my skivvies, in the lobby, SLEEPWALKING! Like yeah, luckily we wear big T-Shirts and shit, cuz I was barefoot, and just like in the lobby walking. And of course did not have my key so had to ask the dude at the desk to let me into my room. He rode the elevator up with me and everything. Holy scheisser. No more Jager pon di road. I generally do not sleep walk, I am not sure what the fuck happened. But it did, or maybe I dreamed it.

Anyway, the next day we hit the Autobahn to Kaiserslautern. I love that shit, no speed limit so I was doing 100-115 the whole time, except when we were stopped in traffic. Both days drives were to be 3 hours and they turned into 5 1/2 hours because of traffic but whatever. I didn't take photos but it was a real cool event. Sucks too cuz my great friend Kersten Ganzemueller even came to the show. She interned with us for SXSW this year and was just such a bright light up in that corner of the office. So that was really nice and such.

BUT ALAS we are now being kicked out of the hotel because Devin is smoking and I have no idea what the fine will be and scheisser this SUCKS. OK More soon.

LONDON MONDAY NIGHT! AT LUMINAIRE!

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OK well that was uncomfortable. I can't believe I posted that load of gibberish up there without even reading it. Read it over at the Bergen airport and felt as though, whatever shall be, shall be, know'm talm bout? There is no editing on this blog. Hence the um, well yeah, I doubt 90% of you have made it this far anyway. If you have, leave a comment. Yeah. Follow me on Tweeter, all that.

Yeah so sorry about that. I thought I had another hour and a half to really chill up in the hotel, but uh yeah, the four guys who showed up with blunts to Devin's room kind of killed that.

A very stern and firm Norwegian woman came to his door and told him he had to go, and then of course she called me and I did as well. Soooo yeah, another $200 bites the dust in the name of non smoking rooms. Man, every hotel needs a smoking floor. Fuck that, that's all I'm saying.

So yeah I mean lemme see where I left off cuz man, there's some great stories to be told. If I were less brain dead I'd like to assume they'd be even better, but um yeah, oh yeah also I'm on the plane right now. This is the first time I've ever used a laptop on a plane, my others never had working batteries and weighed 95 pounds. So I am making a virtual DJ mix of hipster shit to listen to later and writing this thang. And yeah, drinking my last Ringnes beer for a week. I love Norwegian beers.

So lets see, Kaiserslautern was cool. We thought it would be huge cuz there's huge US Military bases in the area. And we did get some of those cats, but realy since it was May 1st, May Day, the day for the workers, everyone in Germany had off work, and it was one of the only weekends that the cats on base could travel. So a lot of folks were out of town and it wasn't as big as anyone thought. But my man Filthy, at Filthy Promotions DID HIS THING. Took care of us. Had a Thai buffet at the soundcheck just waiting for us, and that meant a lot. Cuz I mean, I love Bratwurst and potatoes, but after like 3 days of that, almost exclusively, save for a Chicken Donner, I was ready for some spicy veggies, and my man made it happen. He also put us up in the Hotel Barbarosa, just outside the city in the middle of the woods. It was a truly old building and surrounded by trees, and man, that's one of the things that makes me love this job so much. Not only being in different cities but totally different atmospheres. It was a good escape.

And like I said, my great friend Kersten showed up immediately upon arrival and hung with us for the whole show. It was her first rap show ever. And a Devin show in Kaiserslautern is a good place to start. Thanks for your help GANZEMUELLER. Stupidly I took no photos in K-Town. But trust me it went down.

So after the show, we went back to the hotel. I called home and talked to my family for a bit and checked out our navigation system. Google said the trip to Frankfurt would be 90 minutes and the Navi said 50 mins, so I went with the navi, and it was totally on point. Slept 5 1/2 hours and woke up feeling fresh for the first time in a week.

Hit the car and rolled to Frankfurt airport, listening to Invincible's Shapeshifters album, as well, it was the only CD on us, and it's totally my favorite shit right now. Devin was feeling her too. He kept making comments like "ooooh this girl is not even trippin'." And "Ooooh man, she is flowing, you cannot fuck with that." It's a great record to jam while driving 115 mph on the Autobahn for real. Gets me hype. Hoping my next trip to Europe will be in July with her and Finale. So far every promoter I've put n to her is with it. Seriously, go get Shapeshifters and tell me who is rapping as hard as Invincible. No one is right now. I'm serious. And hip-hop is getting good again. Tons of great shit at the moment, but they ain't touching this girls skills. Yeah, seriously. Talent wise she is at the very top of the game right now. Go get that album tonight. Like now. Itunes, whatever.

So we fly to Bergen and man, I have to say, Bergen may be my favorite city on the planet. I haven't been everywhere, but I personally have never seen a more beautiful city. Great people in a pretty city, surrounded by mountains and water. Old buildings all different colors dot the curvy streets that make no sense but somehow flow into some sort of coherent end. OH SHIT! Just looked out the window at a ship in the north sea! We are going much faster than said ship.

(Side note - The north sea is the first place I ever saw naked titties on a beach. Like, that's how they do it in Europe. But I will NEVER forget the time I went to the beach outside of Amsterdam with my friend Flavia and a few of her friends and as soon as we got a spot and put down our blanket out came all their titties, and my 24 year old ass was like, trippinG. I have to admit it, I was about to go Dirty American on fools out there. But I held it together and realized that in the end, this is really how it is supposed to be. Word to the north sea.)

Pretty sure this was Devin's 4th show in Bergen. Everytime its a winner, for real. This time around it was a last minute booking as we had something fall thru and our people came through and made it happen. Club was probably 200 capacity and I am telling you we had 350 people in there with 200 outside in the street watching the whole show. Not bad for like 2 weeks notice.

So, I "DJ" for Devin on the road outside the US. Basically I just control the levels and watch for different cues from the dude. So I go to the turntables and the host introduces Devin and the show starts and there's this redhead girl standing at the front of the stage and when I looked at her she smiled at me so big. Like she was bout to light up the room with her teeth or some shit. And I was back there high as hell like, um uh wow who is that, this is weird. And then she goes "Hi Matt," and turns out it was Deborah Brown from Two Star Symphony from Houston! A good friend who I see like once or twice a year in the weirdest places. Like, she used to live downstairs from my wife and I back when our first baby, Eva of course was born, and then when I went to get my wife some diamond earrings she was working for this crazy diamond dealer whose husband was killed in Belgium in the midst of the diamond trade in some capacity I don't totally remember, and she was working with her. Then there was some other weird place where she was working and I remember totally not recognizing her cuz I had no idea she would be there. Like last night.

So basically they are on the road backing up some vocalist, and it's a pretty budget tour, and like us they have been eating cheap Kebabs and sausages, not drinking much unless someone is providing it, etc. Just traveling the way how it goes. So after the show, my man Lars is like, "Do you want to come to my cafe, we can eat something and have a couple beers?" I said sure of course, lets do this and brought Deborah and her partners in Two Star Symphony to Cafe Italia in Bergen's Center. Man the place was of course closed, it was like 2 am and my man Lars went ahead and busted out the bacon, started frying it in a big pot, added some onions, a whole bunch of shit and like 45 minutes later we had a huge salad, huge Hansa beer's and this incredible pasta with said bacon, veggies, cheese... dude, I'm serious, Lar's has a bit of a record, but we gotta fix that cuz one day I need my dude to come to Texas so I can cook for him too. Dude just made a party for 6 people (also he played UGK thru the soundsystem the whole time) and we all just kicked it and it was pretty freaking fun. Like, I should have been asleep, but this was better.

We all said our goodbyes, and I stumbled back to the hotel as the sun started peaking out from beind the mountains, and am very happy to report that I didn't end up in the lobby in my underwear again. This flight is almost up and battery gone die and etc etc etc. So yeah more later.