Izlet (Излет, Macedonian) defined as: picnic, outing, trip, foray, sortie, pleasure trip. Whatever you call it, it is a beautiful escape of sorts, and also the name of one of my new favorite cafes in Skopje, just a two minute walk from my apartment.

My good friend Georgi Sareski and I played a really relaxed gig there this past Sunday night with inspiring New York percussionist Mathias Kunzli, performing some of Georgi's compositions along with some spontaneously composed music. Some powerful moments transpired and I'm really hoping to do it again. The music, the atmosphere, and the company were all magical, or as the Macedonians say: "volshebno" (волшебно).

Here are some kind of fuzzy pictures of us playing that night--hopefully you get the idea of what Izlet is all about. I'm going to miss that place.

Special thanks to my brother from another mother Simon Stojanovski for teaching me the word "volshebno," even if it did take me a month to learn it!