29th September 2025. The search for a session home continues. If we don’t find anything suitable by the end of the year, I will admit defeat. Although we had a very enjoyable session last Sunday at my place, I don’t think a house session is a sustainable option in the 21st century. We need a pub. A house session might have been a necessity in pre-1960s Ireland, and it’s fine for the occasional get-together, but not as a permanent solution. Rotation would also be a problem as I can only see two – possibly three – homes opening their doors. That should not be interpreted as a comment on people’s lack of hospitality. Most city people live in flats, and Greeks are not always the most tolerant of neighbours.
With the national insurance/tax situation for paid gigs still up in the air, I see little prospect of us performing as a band soon. In a nutshell, the bar has to pay national insurance for each player which, I believe, is quite a substantial contribution, and each musician has to pay tax. As we are lucky if we get €40 each, the €8 tax is not going to save the country, but it makes life bureaucratically complicated for both the proprietor and the musicians.
Leaving these issues aside, none of the band members has been harassing me to organise a practice. For that reason as well as other issues, I feel that we all might need a rest. Practice has been a huge logistical issue. If we practice in Thessaloniki, we cannot park near the practice venue. If the out-of-towners drive to IKEA and take the bus to the city, it becomes an hour’s journey each way. If the city dwellers come to Perea or further out, parking is easy, but on returning to Thessaloniki their parking space has gone.
2nd October, I am going to pay a visit to a bar called Αρχέγονο (Archetype) this evening. They seem to be positive with one massive negative – an intolerant neighbour.
On Sunday (11th), we had our second house session. This also went well. The big surprise – and a pleasant one – is that an accordionist turned up. And a button accordionist to boot. I have been communicating with him on and off since 2021. After four years he yielded to the temptation.
14th October. Our visit to Αρχέγονο seems to have gone well. We have one bureaucratic hurdle to clear and, fingers crossed, we’ll be playing there on 9th November.
22nd October. yesterday we got the go-ahead. We’re on for the 9th November.
I prepared the music last weekend. In a bold experiment and with some intrepidation, I have created a link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AR6rru7H7xz7m_22ul88yArlKxPR2WiL/view?usp=drive_link