Want some chocolate?

The golosatour!

It is a misconception that the golosatour was a solitary hunter. New evidence shows that the golosatour hunted in packs, subsisting on crunchy harmonies and bitters.

Back home...

Boo real life...

Backstage at Club Passim!!

Backstage at Club Passim with our faithful cameraman/costumeperson/ merchseller...

Amazing

Amazing.

Tonight we had dinner at Tammy's house. The spread was... amazing!

Cyrano De Bergerac joined the choir for our performance.

Walking around Yale

Yale is so beautiful. Exhibit A: Raia looking through a gateway. Exhibit B: The rare books library... possibly the coolest building I've ever seen. Love.

The venue in Harlem.

Backrub train... you know, like choirs do.

Tuesday night at Shrine

Black United Fun (P)laza


The Shrine World Music Venue in Harlem may not be much to look at from the somewhat dilapidated outside, but inside it is a nice intimate venue with a great staff.

"Goin' down the Colorado RI-VER!!"

The lineup was perhaps uniquely New York in its diversity: before our set came a tight British jazz combo  and some kind of Native American free jazz act with an M. Qaddafi lookalike that involved a lot of intense hollering (but then, that's probably what they think about us). We had to improvise to start, since there was no green room, sound check, or virtually any direction about staging or logistics. We just hopped onto the stage and went for it.



Oh yeah, and no green room = no warm-up space. But we've always wanted to sing on the street outside a public elementary school, so it worked out.

Props to the many friends and relatives who came out, including my aunt and uncle, who seem to have captured the whole thing on film several times over. The room and the tip jar were full for our set, and we have it from several authorities that we rocked. Another act was scheduled to follow us but didn't go on until nearly an hour later, so it felt a bit like we had stopped the evening with our show. The booking manager, for one, was really happy with us and invited us back whenever we want.

Golosa goes to the Cloisters

We were a little cramped for sleeping space. So we improvised.

Like iin the song...

We took the A train to Harlem.

Pasta Afternoon at Karl's

This is the glorious Bari Giardinera that must be used for all Golosa pasta events.

And this is what happens when you touch your eye after touching the giardinera oil.

A Traditional Native Meal of the Golosá Tribe

Pasta, then cheese, then pine nuts, then giardiniera. Careful with the spicy!!

A Visit with the Yale Women's Slavic Choir

Some songs by the wonderful Slavs of Yale :>

Bagels

During our downtime in NYC, we decided to try some famous new york
bagels!

Golosa heads to NYC

NYC wall art

The Slavs = Golosá

Well apart from the fact that Golosá has some boys involved. Last night we met some of our slavic singing counterparts in New Haven! They were super cool, and they sang some really amazing Russian, Hungarian, and especially Bulgarian songs.
We did a very fun and informal gig on the second floor of one of the slavs' houses. We met two Slavs who had the same names as Golosniki, and an amazing Russian woman who not only knew the words to some of our songs, but was also the acrobatic champion of the Soviet Union one year!
In the hours that followed, we traded songs back and forth, sharing our respective singing traditions. It was so much fun! I thinly you'll definitely see some songs from the Yale Slavic Chorus in Golosa's future...

Slavs!

The Yale Slavic Choir was kind enough to put a few of us up at their dorm.

Rehearsing the new golosa musical

First Meal in New Have

We had a delicious lunch at Frank Pepe's Pizzeria

Connecticut is lovely!!

As we make the drive from Boston to New Haven, the rain turns to sleet turns to snow turns back to sleet turns to...

Spring snow

I fell asleep in the van in Massachusetts and woke up in Connecticut to this.

Makin' punch at the Makholms'

This house is so magical, there are no seeds in the lemons.

WALK SIGN. LAKE PARK.

Just playin' chopsticks on a harpsichord. No biggie.

Golosa (well, some of us) enjoyed the delicacies of Boston...

Haters gonna hate...

Thanks again to the Old South Church in Boston for letting us perform
in their beautiful chapel!

Goloteleos

Across a suffocatingly packed T car tonight,* Anna apparently spotted an old friend: after letting out an alarming OH MY GOD! she managed to streak through the somewhat concerned crowd to reach her friend and explain what she was doing in Boston.

How do you say in a few sentences why we are here? I try to do so on our program fliers and press releases, but without telling the whole story -- and that means going back three and a half centuries, as well as delving into our personal narratives -- it feels like we cannot fully express our purpose. Is it possible to create, in 30 or 60 or 80 minutes, the same intimate connection with audiences that we have with each other, particularly in an unfamiliar setting? Should we try?

We didn't perform today, but the time has seemed purposeful: we got our bearings and helped set the tone for the next week, including developing some all-important running gags. Tomorrow morning we will explore performing for a new audience.

*I feel compelled to note that Bostonians are grossly more obnoxious in this situation than Chicagoans. I will gladly move out of your way if you just ask me nicely, you pushy jerks.

Noel got really excited about his lobster.

After waking up early, after finally making it through security, after getting our waters without nasty plane ice, after getting to Boston and somehow navigating the T, after eating a lot with mom and neo, after unloading sleeping bags, after navigating faneuil hall, eight golosniki find themselves staring at eight double (triple?) shots of whiskey. What shall happen next? Only time will tell.

Seeing all the sights in Boston!

Can a mice eat a snake?

Brunch conversation leads to challenging questions.

Sent from my iPhone

We were greeted by a small feast at Lauren's house :D

We've arrived in boston!

Day 0

I guess it falls to me to inaugurate this thing.

Golosa is the title of a Russian-language textbook series that, until somewhat recently, was the prominent return on Google alerts for the name. In a veritable blitz over the past year, the choir has come from behind to tie with erotic Mediterranean videos for the top honors. Nevertheless, we share a lexicographical berth.

The first foreign language I studied formally was French, and our textbook, back in eighth grade, was called On y Va!, "Let's Go!" So in my mental book registry, I have a weird neurological connection between "Golosa" and the phrase "Let's go," one that I feel can only prove fruitful.

Raia and I have drunk a bottle of wine between us this evening, and it is resolved that (a) we are the best, man, and (b) this is the right moment for us to be traveling with our music, and I hope the rest of us will find ourselves in that frame of mind even as we wake up before dawn tomorrow, because life and the Internet are in our favor.

Let's go.