IMPRESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN TRAVELOR TO FRANCE 2006

 
Departing JFK I never realized that there would me such a difference in cultures with only one airplane ride. The service on the flight going over was immaculate. I was offered everything but sex on the plane. Comfort in business class is a must with high tech reclining seats that approximate a sleeping position, and that have a built in television screen showing not only 8 channels of video, but 9 games, 12 channels of radio, and a service map showing the planes relative speed, height and location. You can also buy duty free from your seat.

Departing JFK I never realized that there would me such a difference in cultures with only one airplane ride. The service on the flight going over was immaculate. I was offered everything but sex on the plane. Comfort in business class is a must with high tech reclining seats that approximate a sleeping position, and that have a built in television screen showing not only 8 channels of video, but 9 games, 12 channels of radio, and a service map showing the planes relative speed, height and location. You can also buy duty free from your seat.

I just don't sleep well on an airplane so I managed to watch TV, read and absorb the music that I am carrying to the conference.

One hour before landing hot towels were offered and a breakfast menu was served of coffee, juice and a breakfast quesadilla filled with herbed scrambled eggs, and pepper jack cheese, accompanied by turkey Canadian bacon.

The landing was smooth and the approach into Nice was one of the most magnificent sites I have ever seen, especially noting that the French Alps come completely down to the Mediterranean ocean.

French customs was non-existent with only a nod of the head and a perfunctory glance at my passport. As in ALL airports the luggage was slow coming out and showed signs of mistreatment and abuse. Upon exiting the airport things changed drastically. I stood by myself and watched 3 taxi drivers look me over and turn their backs, ALL opting for white female fares over me. The driver I did get was basically a nice guy, soft spoken, polite but he did over charge me for the ride. After arriving at the hotel I found out that the fare from the airport was normally 36 euros, while I had been charged 65 euros. This is a huge difference, especially when you know that 1-euro is worth $1.25 US dollars.

My hotel room is small, with an extremely low bed; the view from my room is nice looking out over the Mediterranean ocean, especially if you hang over the small balcony and look around the building. Most of all I miss the ability to use a high-speed Internet line. That is completely missing from my room, what looks like a high-speed port is in reality a telephone modem and it isn't working tonight.

Having unpacked and taken a much-needed shower I started making plans to attend the Midem opening events and retrieve my credentials. Once again French arrogance hit me squarely in the face. This year I have credentials from New On The Charts and hold the position of Director Sales & Marketing, so I obtained my credentials from the Press office. Well my credentials read participant and not press, so my access is limited, upon requesting to have my credentials changed I was told by the press co-coordinator that I was not a journalist, but instead JUST a sales and marketing person. One thing I can say is that when the French decide that they know something there is NO AMOUNT of talking that will change their mind. I fully understand that a Black American male cannot sell and market a product AND be a journalist also. In France it just cannot happen.

Here are a few observations of France and in particular Cannes. Dogs are everywhere, on the street, in the stores, on the train even sitting in a chair at the restaurant. Of course with dogs comes dog poop and it is everywhere also. Navigating down the sidewalk can be treacherous, it is much easier to walk in the street, and at least here it is clean.

Graffiti is on almost every wall in some form or fashion. While riding on the train, I had to stop using taxis; every wall I saw had some type of writing or picture painted upon it. Love is definitely in the air in France, because kissing is being done indoors and outdoors. In the stores, on the train, at the hotel, in the restaurant even just on the street people are kissing one another. Romance comes in all sizes and shapes in this city and after a while I even got jealous of not having someone to share the moment with.

The color of the French is BLACK, and almost every person I have seen has some type of black clothing on. Maybe this is just a fad for this year, but MAN am I ever tired of seeing black clothing. I wonder what a really colorful person does here.

French cuisine is every thing that it has been reported about, but what one normally doesn't hear is the French dinner ritual. Midem is situated at the beach front in Cannes and there are numerous restaurants within a 3 - 10 minute walk. Almost every restaurant has a specialty of the house and seafood abounds in this town. I have had several eating experiences here in France however my most memorable one was the dinner I shared with Eric de Fontenay from Music Dish in New York. He along with 3 female associates from New York, Sweden and Germany and me started out at 6:00 pm for dinner. The restaurant that Eric suggested did not open until 7:00 pm so we opted to stop for beer at a local tavern.

This tavern had the usual after work French men sitting around drinking coffee and discussing whatever French men discuss at the end of the day. The beers were from Belgium and had a nut like taste extremely pleasant and satisfying. Oh and did I mention that these beers were potent to no end. One beer had my ears warm, my nose running and my speech impaired. We left the tavern around 7:10 pm and went across a small street to the restaurant. Here we ordered French personal pizzas, mine had ham, mushrooms, cheese and artichoke hearts. Unusual but delicious, breadsticks were presented to us as we waited for our meal to be prepared and I watched the French take their breadstick and swirl it in their ever-present glass of wine before eating it.

We left the restaurant around 10:30pm happy, well fed and of course tipsy, French wine is lethal if taken in mass quantities. Everyone but me went to a disco to dance the night To the French dinner is a meal that must be taken slow and with a lot of conversation. away. I returned to my hotel room to recuperate from the mass ingestion of beer and wine.

The second most memorable event was the SOCAN luncheon. This luncheon of Canadian writers, publishers and record labels was an executive studded affair and offered me a chance to hobnob with some of the biggest executives at Midem this year. Midway through the luncheon I stood up and took photos of the room and realized that I was the only male of color in the entire building (I have an entire article coming on this). This luncheon featured Duck Foies Gras as an appetizer followed by medallions of lamb, string beans and potatoes au gratin. Dessert was offered as a complete buffet menu with dozens of new and different French pastry's available.

The French frown upon panhandlers but there are plenty of sidewalk musicians, dancers, puppeteers and clowns available to take your money. I did place money in 2 different musicians bags, one was a guitarist that played lovely flamingo guitar the other was an accomplished accordion player. Both never asked for money, they just played their music and kept a smile upon their faces.

My last day in France was a trip within itself, I of course, was expected to have gifts for every one of my relatives, but by now you realize that I just don't follow tradition well. I decided to only buy some food products for myself and a gift for my sister's upcoming birthday. Upon arriving at the airport I was subjected to close scrutiny by the ticket taker, then given a complete physical search by the French authorities at the security checkpoint. I assume at this point that this only occurred because I am an American Black male with dreadlocks. Upon entering the plane I was physically searched again by another French policeman but I kept my head and a smile and things went well. My flight back was in first class so there was absolutely no complaints. Then came American customs and surprise it went without a hitch. Having traveled abroad before I knew to get a skycap to assist me with my luggage and this proved to be the perfect thing to do. I was ushered ahead of the all to familiar lines directly through security; my luggage was cleared and sent on its way while I was easily able to stroll to my gate. I happily tipped the skycap $20 and knew it was worth every dollar.