Arrived in sleepy Sierre where there is no wifi and no starbucks I am happy to report.It is assuredly a city in transition from the past into the future. We arrived at the club and it seemed to us to be the secret cool place in this town. Graffitti covered the walls on the outside but there was no sign to indicate it was the Hacienda Sonic. We felt very safe to leave our stuff in theclub and explore the city centre. Nearby was a winery which shocked us all, we had never heard of swiss wine. The downtown was in the middle of transition and we found some very interesting niches and some older shops and buildings that had been closed - maybe for renovation. To our western sensability there was a cool mix of the past and the present; and H&M store right down the street from a wooden moveable cart selling traditional cheeses and salted meat legs. Most kind was the promoter, Greg, who put us up in the dance studio/backstage area and also Jules let me use his drum set; and it was a great turnout for a tuesday night as I was reminded by the locals. They do not have regular shows at Haciend Sonic, only for special occasions. Apparently if they keep a low profile and stop the show early they are not troubled by authority or legal issues. They are not supported by the municipality like other arts and performance spaces either, but it seems to work out for the best. The show was spacerock sonic and quite energetic, perhaps it was the altitude or the delicious locally produced beverages and plants but we 3 felt as though we had our sense elevated to the highest order. There was also a great lightshow provided quite spontaneously but went with the music perfectly; another of the talented musicians from Sierre volunteered for this idea. There were only 2 or 3 people we met that spoke more than stuttered english, and we only spoke very broken french so it was somewhat difficult to discuss any topic. After the show ended we sat in the backstage and using our hands and gestures we managed to speak of everything from how they saw their country changing in response to globalization, the fact that the swiss still have a national currency alone among the states of the EU - to the cool bands that have toured through Sierre recently. Finally Greg helped us send the last of the local friends home and we said good night. There were spontaneous bro-hugs all around which made our hosts giggle a bit, and then we expressed our sincere thanks to Greg who then locked up the club and left us in the backstage.
Within seconds it was dead silent, I mean perfectly quiet. No cars driving on the road outside, no planes or trains in the night, not even the sound of sirens in the distance. The sky seemed 4 dimensional in the display of stars and we ventured out into the night. There was a graveyard nearby which we explored with our camera lights, and when we got back to the backstage dance studio I used the air mattress to body surf the floor for awhile. I got bored of that and passed out. We walked up the street 300 yards the next moring and introduced ourselves to the fine people at the cultural center so we could use the bathrooms there. They were so kind and bought us delicious coffee from the machine on site. We packed our bags and plotted our route to Mozzate.
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