Dear Friends  ,

We put on this new web link just for our tour to Argentina  www.myspace.com/rikandchuck, when you have time drop in and say hello.

It is exciting to think that in just a few weeks our tour in Argentina will begin. We will try to keep this BLOG filled with stories and photos from the tour so we can all stay in touch. So you may be asking , well what is the ³Friends Across The Boarders Tour² ? And how did this idea come to be ?  The answer will take us all back to my ( Rik Palieri) involvement with an internet group of International Artists working for Peace called TAP.

The group leader at that time was Olivier Urbain a professor at a Japanese University near Tokyo. Olivier asked me to get involved in a book with other Tap members called ³Music For Conflict Transformation.  While working on this project I met with many of the co authors during a trip to Madrid Spain. One of the people also involved  in the book was  Maria Elena Vinader  a woman who works as a musical therapist in Argentina.  While working on the book Maria Elena and  I traded many e-mails and  later she invited me to her call in radio show ³ Peace Is Possible².

  It was during this time that we thought of the idea ,that it would be fun if at some point we could organize a tour in Argentina and introduce both our new  book  and also some of my music.

For a long while it was just a dream but soon things developed and the idea was catching more energy and begin to take shape.

Once I  saw that it was a possibility then I asked a musical buddy Chuck G if he wanted to get involved. Chuck and I had already played music together on a few musical  boat trips  and also worked together in  a few song writing workshops, so it did not take Chuck long to say YES!

Even though Rik and Maria Elena have been working on this for over a year , things are still coming together as I write this note

. Maria Elena has explained to me that ³things move much slower here in Argentina and you will find even more performances may come together at the last minute.²

So as of this writing on August 11th we have the following;

 Arrival in Buenos Aries on August 26th, A performance in an High School English class on August 27th

 August 28th , Chuck & Rik will attend a performance of Opera Pampa, a fantastic almost ³Buffalo Bill style presentation of Argentina history and lifestyle of the Gauchos.

August 29th ,  Chuck and Rik will drive up to meet Maria Elena and be interviewed by the local Press
August 30 ­31  Weekend with Maria Elena and her friends  drinking mate
September 1-2 trip to visit Iguazu waterfalls
September 5th Concert for the Human train Peace Manifesto in Posadas
September 6th- 8th   Go to visit The Festival Of The Emigrant
September 9th  Appear ³Live² as a guest on Maria Elena¹s Radio Show
September 14 ³Asado² BBQ  40 miles out side of Buenos Aries
September 15th  Humanitarian  Peace manifesto Concert in Buenos Aires
September 16th  Fly back to the USA

Also being planned are, A concert at a prison, more school shows, a  taping of Rik's TV show The Song Writer¹s Notebook , riding with Gauchos and drinking more Mate .

Well, friends  that is what is planned so far . I hope that you will visit the www.myspace.com/rikandchuck and cyber travel along with us.