May 5th 2006

We are back in Europe and preparing for the summer-tour. As a matter of fact Soluna, being a big and rather independent young lady, has been back since February. Not only does she prepare for the upcoming tour but also for various music classes and her final school exams.

Upon our return to Guatemala, we were happy to see our house and garden untouched by the mudslide brought on by hurricane Stan, and it looked like most people just got on with their lives as if nothing had happened. Unless of course they were directly affected by the mudslides. By the time we arrived the lake looked as gorgeous as always. And in the three months we were there we had a wonderful time. It started right after our arrival with a big New Year Party in our house, and we kept the Saturday Evening Jamsessions up until we left by the end of March. We had great live music on our porch in front of our garden next to a weekly bon-fire and every week wonderful and interesting guest musicians. There was James Harris from Colorado, who got his first experiences in front of a live audience and progressed from week to week. (And with him my back-up as a dobro player.) Then Jeff Lang from Upstate New Yorkcame down. He is a carpenter and a fine banjo player and fiddler. When he wasn't working as a volunteer to help rebuilt the "hospitalito", the hospital that got covered by the mudslide and rebuilt on our side of town, he came over to jam with us and turned us on to many great "oldtime and bluegrass songs" that are now in our new repertoire.

As a very special guest we had Pete Sears over for one night. He is an incredible piano player and bass player, who not only played on the first three albums of Rod Stewart, but also with other legendary bands, like Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Grateful Dead, Little Feat ect. And yet, he is the sweetest and most humble guy you can ever meet. I felt very honored to have him back up my songs that evening.His brother-in-law, David is not only the owner of the hotel "Posada de Santiago, but also a good slide guitar player and always good for a classic american song I haven't heard before. And so is Rick from Texas with his beautiful country ballads.

Another evening we had the "Kossoff Sisters from Boston over. Just like last year, they sang some of their beautiful folk songs, like "I'll fly away" which you might know from the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou," where they sang this song as part of the sound track. Another great musician who showed up several times this season was Joe from Colorado. Only 20 years old but very talented with lots of stage charisma.

Our Guatemalan friend Denise Ordonez came also over for a few session and gave me a chance to accompany her beautiful bossa novas with my charango. Shy Almagor our Israeli Comedian friend came for a few weeks to help out on snare drum and other deeds, There where friends from Denmark and many of the nice volunteer workers who helped the people here after the catasrophe. They came from all over and worked hard. I was very happy to give them the opportunity to come out and socialize on Saturday night and support them with a bit of good entertainment and relaxation of which there ain't too much in this town.

On the last evening we had a memorable appearence of Paul Dube and his band from Maine. Together with some of our loyal local percussion talents, like Thijs, Vincent, Angelika, or Pablo and Georgia our 70 year old neighbours, who even quit their habit of going to bed by 8 o'clock, just so they could participate actively in the jam sessions on wash tub bass and drums. Pablo also did his Pizzas for a few evenings and our happening became very popular.

But alas every good thing comes to an end and now I look just as much forward to be out on the road this summer.

I will start with a tour in Germany in late May. First is the "Breminale" a cultural event in the city of Bremen, then will check put some of the cities where the football world cup is held, like Berlin, Leipzig, N?rnberg,Stuttgart, Cologne.... Let's see if it's true that Germany will present a "friendly face" to the world just like they advertised it in their publicity campagnes, and let me play with my amplifier in front of all those international visitors.

Hasta la vista, Gee Gee Kettel, your One Man Band.

Dec 24-2005

Ahhh, it's over. Thanks to all of you who not only put up with my hoarse voice but also supported me generously in this last week of 5 long cold weeks. Leipzig was good as always and this time even the "ordnungsamt" was nowhere to be seen...On the 24th I was in Stuttgart, playing at almost the exact spot where I started almost 30 years. Mild weather, no police ( only on the 24th I guess ) and a very warm and enthusiatic audience just like in the old days... You made my day.A very nice finish.Thank you
As always after Christmas we are off to warmer regions. Happy new year to all our fans outhere and hopefully see you in 2006 somewhere.We keep you posted.
Good Luck, Gee Gee Kettel



Yes!!! The new CD is out and ready to be ordered. It contains 16 tracks of acoustic Blues , Swing and Country Songs. On the "Music" Section you can listen to some samples in the "music" section.

I play my One Man Band (guitar, drums and harmonica) and sing, Soluna plays her new double bass on half of the tracks, bass guitar and sings as well. It is definately the best stuff we have done so far. Check it out !



Dec 10

Update from the cold road.Played a few days W?rzburg, then Bamberg and N?rnberg. After that Erfurt and on to Weimar, which was the best town so far. Friendly people and no problems. For the last week before Christmas I will try Leipzig.Let's hope it will be easy. I know quite a few people are waiting for me to play there. So look out!



November 27th 2005

On the road in Germany. Started out in L?beck. Easy going. Several people asked for the young Lady Singer, who played bass last time we passed through. She is going to school. It's too cold for her anyway. My daughter prefers to play in summer. Who can blame her.
After L?beck straight down to Giessen to visit Mark Gillespie, who helped out to get the new CD ready. I hope I'll have it for the 2nd week of December.
On the first "langer Samstag" I played in Wiesbaden. Haven't been there in years. It was cold but dry. Nice people and even more important no problems with police or Ordnungsamt. I was lucky enough to have made it at all. On the night before Friday I got stuck in a snowstorm on the Autobahn. Barely made it to a parking spot. But there at least I could put the heat on and make a nice cup of tea and wait until the the next morning until the situation finally got better.
Played again in Giessen today. Verkaufsoffener Sonntag. Lot's of people in town and lot's of snow falling as well. Almost romantic...
I'll try Aschaffenburg and W?rzburg, maybe also Schweinfurt and Bamberg in the next couple of days and then we'll see what happens....wish me luck, GG

October 27th, 2005

Hello Hello

In case you wondered what has happened to us since the last update...

Ferrara Busker Festival was as crazy as always, lot's of people, too many acts, too loud, some heavy downpours but never the less also lot's of fun. An old friend, Mark Gillespie was there, a great singer and a very charismatic busker and some of the people who come almost every year like Jim And Melissa of the Australian Band Laliya, who are always great fun to hang out with.

On the way north we stopped in a few German cities to busk. And in one of them Soluna decided to by a standup bass (Kontrabass) What a great instrument. And, talented as she is, she immidiately produced some pretty good sounds on it. And the two of them look fantastic together. (There will be some new photos of this year soon and I will include one of her with the big bass) I don't know how we are going to travel around with that monster in the camper but we will. As a matter of fact I 'm so exited about it, that I can hardly wait until next summer.

So it's perfect timing that we are recording a new CD, featuring some of our best Blues & Country material. And the fantastic double bass sound will be on some of them.It should be ready for the Christmas tour.

I also just finished recording a new CD for Jennifer Calviac a wonderful singer from England and daughter of One Man Band Lawrence Glaister a long time friend from Oslo. Our Comedian friend Shy Almagor from Israel was also visiting, and joining one of our jam sessions he discovered his talent for the jazz brushes on the snare drum..We all agreed to meet again next year next year for further exploration on this matter.

I will be out on tour in December, let's see where the cold wind blows me....

After Christmas we will be as always in Guatemala. You have probably heard of the tragic events that took place just on the other side of the town Santiago Atitlan near where we live there. Over a 1000 people got buried under a mudslide as a result of hurricane Stan. All of our foreigner friends and their houses are ok but some Indian families we know personally died.

For inquiries and help go to the website www.puebloapueblo.org a great organization who run a non govermental hospital there. On www.atitlan.com you can see some of the damage done by the river coming into Panajachel the tourist town on the other side of the lake with the same name, but also you will see that there is no reason to change your plans in case you planned a trip to Guatemala. There is still a lot of beautiful places left and things are improving slowly but surely.

We love this place and look forward to be back...

All the best, Gee Gee



August 18th

Some news from on the road: Notodden was a success, but on Saturday it rained all day, good that I had a tent under which we huddled together with Dr. Harmonica. After a few days in Oslo, where people seemed to be pretty burned out on street music, we travelled up to the small mountain resort of Beitostolen, for the annual Troubadur Festival.It was good to see all our old Busker friends again. A few days ago we started south, passing through Danmark and now Germany.We probably will play in Ulm Friday or Saturday. From Monday 22nd to Saturday 28th we will be in Ferrara, Italy. After that we will go back to Danmark quickly. Hasta la vista.

July 16th

We have been in Bergen for 9 days now. Playing was good when the weather was good. But from really sunny and hot it went to rainy and cold very fast. Suddenly we had to dig out our warmest clothes.But people were happy to see us again. (see guest-book). Shy Almagor, the israeli comedian and Max Normal the british juggler are also here, as well as some russian musicians. We all take turns at Torgallmennigen, the central square . Me and Soluna leave for Molde Jazzfestival tomorrow. Then probably back to Bergen for a few more days before going to Notodden Blues Festival, first week-end of August.

End of June

Helsinki was difficult during the week, but great on the weekend. We stayed only a short time. Stockholm was surprisingly good, but after one week we look forward to be in Oslo now. We will be here at least one week.If the weather get's too hot we will hang out by the lake up in Songsvann during the day and only work in the evenings. After Oslo we will go on to Bergen.


June 2005

Gee Gee & Soluna will play at the annual Ferrara Buskers Festival in Italy, August 22nd until August 28th, 2005

Chi vediamo



May 2005Hello everybody.It?s about time for a short update. The biggest news is that the Gee Gee & Soluna DVD ?heading north?, which features many of our favourite songs performed live in Norway and other countries between 1994 and 2004, is finally finished and ready to be ordered. If you are interested, go to the ?Video/DVD? section, click on ?new DVD? and choose either "Flashplayer" or "Quicktime Player" to watch and hear "Get Rhythm". Remember that the quality of this sample is of course not as good as on the DVD, due to its compressed size.By the way the sequence "Hit the road Jack" is part of a bonus track that is also included on the DVD.Other songs featured are for example Route 66, I got my mojo working, Jambalaya, Black Velvet, Last Dance with Mary Jane, Come together and many more.I will be ?heading north? again soon. This time I want to check out something new and travel up to Helsinki / Finland. Depending on how it goes for my One Man Band, Soluna will join me either there, Stockholm or Oslo by the end of June.
We will then tour around Norway for most of the summer, play and of course promote the new DVD.
We will be in Oslo, Bergen and of course the usual Festivals like Molde and Notodden and some others.
So far we have no plans of going south, but some gigs in Italy, Austria or Germany are still a possibility, especially in August.
If I don?t get to update this page until then, have a look in the guest-book at the end of July. I will leave a message there in case of new developments. All the best, GG

November 2004 Dear friends and fans

A little update from your favourite One Man Band and bass player girl. Another exiting summer has passed and we did more driving than ever.From our European home in Danmark we first drove down to Italy where we were reinvited to Novara Street Festival. Thank god it was not as hot as last year and so it was actually possible to finish a song without having to beat on a mosquito in the middle. It was fun to meet up with some great performers and musicians like Carlos Vamos, Laliya, The Cloghoppers or the Cosmic Sausages who regularly do the Italian Festival Circuit.On the way north we stopped over to see an old friend with whom I used to play in Guatemala almost 20 years ago: Moreno Fontana, a great musician with a fantastic self built house up in the mountains of Ticino. He is very well known there and we spend a remarkable night in a "taverna" of a little mountain village jamming and entertaining the locals for hours.In Germany we happened to arrive in Ulm at the same time as the International Catholics Day. The city was packed with people, mostly of religious nature I guess but they were delighted to see us. And when we played "Gloria" by Van Morrison, a rather sexual song, we saw several nuns dancing ecstatically. I guess they didn't understand too much English...We also tried the Kieler Woche on the way to the Skagen Folk Festival but at least during the day it was worse than on a normal day in Kiel. There is just too much happening there.Skagen was also quite crowded with buskers this year. Not just the regular one or two South American bands, who all dress up as mystical North American Indians. What a farce! But they sure know how to sell those CDs no matter how bad and generic their playback is...Beside Gee Gee & Soluna there were also our busking buddies like Moti the Israeli One Man Band, Leo Gillespie, Lawrence Glaister who we normally meet up in Norway and Shy Almagor (Sykoo Pykoo) our good Comedian and juggler friend. With him we traveled up to Oslo and Kristiansand. Especially in Kristiansand the local police seems to come up with new rules and regulations every year that we finally decided not to bother with this town anymore. It was time for something new and we went north and I mean north. 2000 km all the way up to Troms?. We stopped over at the Molde Jazz Festival that also was a bit of a downer, not because it rained sometimes but mostly because of the owners of the R?d Hotel in front of which we usually play there. He called the police several times to get rid of us, insisting that the hotel guests didn't like our songs. What a frustrated character... Once a year we play there and make obviously a lot of people happy including some of their guests but they still complain instead of being thankful.Well it was different up north. Troms? is a magical town on a beautiful island. Of course there the crowds are not as big as further south but people are appreciative and even in small places like Harstad, where there was absolutely nobody at 11 o'clock on a Saturday morning filled up as soon as we started playing making it some of the best paid 1 and a half hours (it does not last long) of the whole summer.The best of the magical sceneries were undoubtedly the Lofoten islands. This place ranks among the most beautiful places I have seen in the whole world and we took off a whole precious week to enjoy it.It took us a few days of constant driving to get to the Notodden Blues Festival, still the most wild and alcohol-ridden festivals of all but for us always the most profitable of the whole summer. Not everybody does well here but they have seen Soluna ever since she started to play with me since she was 5 years old and like to see her growing up and returning with me every year. The same goes for Dr. Harmonica who meets up with us and share the spot with us. Together we always hang out by the river and usually hot weather to camp out for a few days before we head out to the Haugesund Jazz Festival together.Bergen was our next stop.Like every year we play here with great success. This time we recorded as much as possible on video. We plan to bring out a self produced DVD for next summer and with the old material that we have from playing on the same spot every summer for the last nine years I will be able to cut a very nice documentation of me and Soluna growing up traveling and playing with me. It will also include some songs that were new in our repertoire this year as well as some of our standards and favourites.On the way back to Danmark we did the T?nder Folk Festival, another place where a lot of people remembered the days when Soluna was still on the drums but I had contracted a vicious flu a week earlier and almost lost all my hearing for a few weeks until I slowly recovered. So it was time to head to the island....I have been busy editing video tapes for the last 2 months and now slowly but surely will get prepared to do my annual German Xmas Tour. Some people from the N?rnberg area have been asking in the guest book when we will get there but due to ever changing regulations and situations I simply cannot say when I will be where. Soluna will probably join me for a couple of days before and after Christmas but I don't know whether it will be in Leipzig, where she played one day with me last year or N?rnberg or Ulm or....Since it's complicated to update regularly from on the road i will try to send a message to the guest-book when I know more or less where I will drive next.But even that is not always for sure as it sometimes takes only one nasty cop to make me change my plans. On the other hand after 20 years doing what I'm doing I have grown quite some "thick skin" and I'm not that easily impressed by some sour looking "Ordnungsh?ter."In winter we will be as always at home at lake Atitlan in Guatemala, just outside of Santiago. Ask for Casa Soluna if your in the neighborhood and say hello.For next year we will try some new festivals and territory. Look out for an update in late spring/early summer.luy ya, Gee Gee and Soluna

Hello everybodyYes its about time for another update. The December Tour was successful especially in the city of Leipzig, where I seem to have my most enthusiastic fans these days. Unfortunately the management of ?Kaufhof? didn?t think so as well and tried very hard to get rid of me as I was sitting and playing in front of their decorated windows. Why don?t they understand that street culture is actually good for their business?After our winter stay in sunny Guatemala, Soluna and I did just a little tour on the way up to Danmark. We stopped in Ulm, M?nchen, N?rnberg, Bielefeld, Hannover, Kiel and Travem?nde, all in the week just before and on Easter.Tour plans for this year look similar to last year. We will start on June 11, 12 and 13 with the Street Festival in the City of Novara, west of Milano in Italy. Hopefully with less moscitos than last year when it was 36 Celsius even at night and felt like playing in the Amazon.After this we will drive up north again to do a few days in Kiel, at the Kieler Woche Festival.After that as always to the Skagen Folk Festival in Danmark on June 24th ? 27^th And also just like every year on to the Quart Festival in Kristiansand, Norway. 5^th - 10^th of July. Middle of July you will find us on our yearly stop at the Molde Jazz Festival, and after that we will see if we feel like driving all the way up north to Tromso or down to Bergen as we usually do. There is also a chance that we finish the season in Tonder, Danmark at the annual Folk Festival on the last week of August. We haven?t been there in 2 years and it could be fun to go back there again.The only other gig that seems to be confirmed right now is a One Man Band Festival in Marl, Germany that a college with the name Dr.Musikus is arranging. This will happen on September 4^th & 5^th A good summer to you and us, Gee Gee & SolunaP.S. In case of any new developments have a look in the guestbook. I will try to put little updates there as well since it?s easy to do it from almost everywhere? November 2003Dear Friends and FansWe had another fantastic summer and we played on all the festivals shown below. In Notodden,Norway and at the annual Beitostolen Troubadur Festival, where we meet most of the Buskers that are travelling and playing in Norway in the summer, we were filmed by a Norwegian film crew, who is putting an interesting documentary called ?Feel Free? together. There you can see not only Gee Gee & Soluna but also a lot of other interesting characters and legendary buskers like Don Partridge, Leo Gillespie, Phil Free, Jugglin? John ,Des Baader, Lawrence Glaister, Moti , Shy and many others. The film not only covers the music but also the life styles of them. It should be out by next summer. Either as a TV documentary or, if there is enough funding, as a cinema movie.

In October I was out doing my Solo One Man Band Show in Germany for 3 weeks. Rostock, L?beck, Kiel, L?neburg, Hannover, Braunschweig Hildesheim and Wolfsburg.