In a November 2022 Pitchfork video, guitarist of the French indie band Phoenix Chris Mazzalai shared the band’s top five favorite locations to visit near the Louvre, where Alpha Zulu, Phoenix’s seventh album, was recorded. The clip showed him (and occasionally bassist Deck D’Arcy) visiting the following places: a sake shop, an Italian restaurant, a bookstore, a park, and a museum. After watching it, I told myself that if ever I’d get the chance to revisit France, I would go and check out those places myself.
Luck was on my side as five months later, I did get the opportunity to have a short European holiday, with France being one of the countries in the list. And just like what I had previously told myself, I did look for those locations in the video. It became my goal to visit them not only because I was a tourist who wanted to see more of the capital city but also have my own version of a Phoenix experience. You see, I didn’t attend their third Manila show last March 5th, so visiting those five spots was sort of my way of making up for what I had missed. It was also my way to see if maybe–just maybe–I’d get really lucky enough to even see them there.
Unfortunately, there was no sighting of the band in any of those places. Well, if I had visited sooner, perhaps my chances of seeing them in the flesh could have been higher (more about that later). I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. At any rate, I’m quite certain that Phoenix would still come back to the Philippines for another concert once they release their eighth album, and hopefully, I can catch them then. Yes, it’s going to take a long while, but at least I know that I’m not waiting in vain. So, for now I’ll just have to be content with being in those locations they frequent.
I went to these places on different days in April. Some were easy to find; others took a bit more effort.
Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD)
107 rue de Rivoli
Located in the Marsan Pavilion of the Louvre, MAD boasts of a vast collection of works that showcase the country’s culture, history, and art. On display are various furniture and decor, ceramic and glassware, fashion and jewelry pieces, posters, comic books, appliances, and so much more.
Aside from it being home to countless art pieces, it is also special to Phoenix because it became their recording studio for Alpha Zulu when it was closed to the public due to COVID-19. MAD was also the location of their Amazon Music live stream performance in November of last year, which I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to catch either because it was aired at 03:30 in the morning in Manila. I’m not absolutely certain if this area right here was indeed the exact venue of the gig as I only saw a short clip of them setting up the space before the show in one of their social media accounts, but I think it is!
The stairs opposite the ones in the first couple of photos above led to an exhibit called Des cheveux et des poils, which actually was the starting point of my visit in the museum. The exhibit showed the social significance of hair & body hair in the Western world; however, it went beyond merely showing different hairstyles though, as it also related them to concepts of beauty, identity, and status.
When I entered the hall, I immediately heard faint parts of a familiar song–it was After Midnight! I got a bit excited because I was there because of Phoenix, and then I could hear the song I looked forward to watching live the most being played there no less! It was as though they were welcoming me on my first day of discovering their favorite hang out spaces. At first, I thought it was only piped-in music, but as I walked a bit further, I realized that it was coming from a video showing this hairstylist recreating some of Europe’s extravagant hairstyles of the past. As the video played on I heard Lisztomania next.
‘Hearing Phoenix songs used in the film was a really wonderful surprise! I never saw Phoenix mention the film in their socials, or read something about it elsewhere, so it was great that I was able to watch it.
Librairie Galignani
224 rue de Rivoli
This bookstore is just along the same street as MAD, so finding it was easy. Said to be the first English bookstore in Europe since 1801, the shop has a wide selection of French and English titles. If there’s a book that you want but is unavailable, the staff can order it for you just as one offered to do so for me when I inquired about a particular title.
There was an interesting thing that happened while I was browsing, by the way, and that is seeing The Virgin Suicides. Someone must have checked it out and didn’t bother to put it back properly on the shelf and so it was just out there, all exposed. In case you don’t know why this is interesting for me, it’s because this book is connected to Phoenix as well.
This Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 novel was turned into a movie in 1999, with director Sofia Coppola at its helm. Sofia is the daughter of renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and the wife of Thomas Mars, the vocalist of Phoenix. Together with fellow French group Air, Mars (Gordon Tracks) contributed to the movie’s soundtrack with the song Playground Love, which Phoenix themselves even occasionally cover during their live performances.
I swear having this book out in the open wasn’t staged at all!
Racines
8 Passage des Panoramas
Passage des Panoramas is one of the many covered passages in Paris, lined with different kinds of small restaurants, cafes, and shops that sell vintage items such as postcards and stamps. It is also where you can find Racines, a 16-year old restaurant that combines Italian cuisine with Parisian flair. Unfortunately, I got to see it only from the outside as it was closed when I got there, so there isn’t much for me to share here. I ended up eating in one of Vietnamese restaurants there instead where I even met a group of fellow Filipinos. Yes, I was in Paris… eating Asian food. Lol
Workshop ISSÉ
11 rue Saint Agustin
Phoenix have a love affair with sake (well, Japan in general) and about a decade ago, tried their hand in making sake with Tatenokawa Brewery. Since then, they have been producing a limited number of sake; Workshop ISSÉ is where you can buy one.
I had a bit of difficulty finding this place (Racines too), but it was alright because I got to buy some Japanese snacks and chat with the nice lady running the place at that time and meet her friendly yet moody dog. I didn’t buy Phoenix’s sake, however, mainly because it was way too expensive for my budget–it costs almost 200 euros!
Phoenix’s book, Phoenix: Liberté, Égalite, Phoenix! and a Ti Amo CD were on their shelf too, but only as displays. The woman must have inferred that I was a fan because I seemed more interested in Phoenix products than their other items, so she confirmed if I was one. Of course I said yes. And then I asked her if the guys drop by the place often and she answered affirmatively. In fact, they (I assumed that it was just some of the members and not all of them) were just there some four days prior. Sayang!
Jardin du Palais Royal
rue de Montpensier
Originally, I was supposed to go to Avalon because it was April 22nd that day. What’s the significance of the date? April 22 is significant to Phoenix; in what way, I don’t know because they have never explained it. But it has been mentioned in their song Rally and referenced in their video Long Distance Call. It was also within the week of April 22 that Bankrupt! was released a decade ago. Going back to Rally, there is a line there that goes:
Remember the time we talked about everlastings?
Don’t you know we’ll both fall to pieces too?
April 22nd at the Avalon, you teased me
Hook up with me, meet at the rally
… hence my interest in going to Avalon. The problem was that I was (still am) absolutely clueless as to what “Avalon” is exactly. Before going to France, I found a certain Hotel Avalon, somewhere near Gare du Nord. Was it that or were Phoenix referring to another thing? Perhaps Avalon may even be a metaphor for something and not a real place! It could also be just this random thing that they just casually threw in their lyrics or videos to make them seem mysterious for all I know! So I decided to ditch my plan and went to the final stop of their top five instead: the Royal Garden.
It was like the other gardens I’ve been to in the area albeit relatively smaller. The trees were also trimmed and shaped to have cube-ish tops. The fountain wasn’t running at that time though, but many people still surrounded it, sitting on its edge or on the ground, chatting with friends, or sharing some light snack. Not many people were there when I visited the place, which was nice because it wasn’t noisy. Nearby a covered path were a couple having their wedding photos taken.
A couple more Phoenix related things happened during my trip in France by the way.
1) I heard Artefact being played at a Carrefour store. I didn’t immediately recognize it; I just thought that the tune sounded familiar at first. When I realized that it was indeed Artefact, I could not help smiling. Apart from After Midnight and Winter Solstice, Artefact was another song from Alpha Zulu that I hoped to experience live during their Manila show, but since I wasn’t there that night, some cosmic DJ let me listen to it in Strasbourg instead!
2) I finally got to see Motorbass Studios! Owned by the late Philip Zdar (aka Philippe Cerboneschi), half of Cassius and a dear friend and producer of Phoenix, Motorbass is where Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was recorded. I actually tried to locate it the first time I went to France almost ten years ago, but I wasn’t able to. It really wasn’t my plan to go and find it again this time around, but since there were some places that my companion and I wanted to see in Montmarte, I figured I should just try to find it one more time. And I finally did find it… I think. I’m not entirely sure if it was indeed Motorbass because it looked just like a nondescript apartment building; it didn’t have any signage either. Both the number and the street were correct though.
Five places, three separate days. If I had had more time and money, I would have actually gone to more Phoenix-related locations because there are still a lot (I was in their home country after all) but that just wouldn’t have been feasible or right–I was on vacation, not a pilgrimage! However, it did seem a bit like one now that I’ve recounted my experiences, though: I traveled to a foreign land and searched for sites that have some value to me. And while I cannot say that I have undergone a deep personal transformation or gained a deeper understanding of life by visiting those spots, I was able to expand my knowledge of the world. Or at the very least of Paris.
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