Newcastle upon Tyne

It snowed on the way to Newcastle from Liverpool.  Not much, but enough to stick to the grass.  The journey across Britain's heartland took about 3 hours.  We were alll quite pleased to check into our styly Hotel located right downtown !  Newcastle, home to a university, is a happening little town.  we were fortunate to spend a day off there, taking in the sights and digging the vibe.  Its full name, Newcastle upon Tyne, indicates its positon along the banks of the river Tyne, which links it to the North Sea.  One of the central features is a castle which has been defended for centuries. The city was once surrounded by a wall with the castle at its center.  The castle dates back t the 12th century during the reign of Henry II.  Before that, there is evidence of a Roman settlement there around the time of Hadrian.  No shortage of history here.

The show was a success.  The venue was called City Hall.  About 700 people attended.  We signed cd's and met the folks.  The accent gets thicker as you move north.  after the gig, explored the  nightlife around the hotel.  There were many bars and nightclubs frequented by the local "hipster" types.  There was live music as well as DJ's.  The next night we spent at a pub across the street listening to a trio of bass, guitar and vocals.  The played some standards, bossa nova and Blues.  The singer's name was Sarah.  She is from Ireland and sang beautifully.  Surprisingly, we didn't find Newcastle Brown ale on tap, so we opted for Duvel, a Belgian beer with quite a kick.  Good fun.  Nothing that a bowl of porridge and an Earl Grey tea couldn't fix the next day!   

The castle offered a good perspective on the town and its surroundings and history.


Some chaps were playing funky jazz in this outdoor mall.  Brrrrr!

Liverpool

I took a few things away from my experience in Liverpool.  One, is that Blues music speaks universally across a wide social strata.  Secondly, it occurred to me that  idolatry has its seamy underside.  And lastly,  that the music you want to write is  all around you.  

Blues music makes people feel good.  It's direct.  It's naked.   It doesn't aspire to be intellectual, yet is wise.  It's relevant to peoples lives and that is the real reason that it is considered by some to be America's original art form.  "Keep it Greasy, Baby!" 

       Lenny, Bill and I took a Fab Four taxi around Liverpool.  It cost 45 pounds total and took about 2.5 hrs.  Terry took us in his little black taxi to a the birthplaces of the Beatles, the home of Brian Epstein, the church where John and Pal met, The barber shop on Penny Lane...it was classic!  We listened to the songs as we saw the sights which inspired them.  

http://www.ajdale.com/TAXIROOT/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

However, 

It reminded me of a poem by Jack Kerouac:

I’d rather be thin than famous,
I don’t wanna be fat.
And a woman throws me outta bed, callin me Gordo,
and every time I bend to pickup my suspenders from the davenport floor
I explode loud, huge grunt-o and disgust everyone in the familio.
I’d rather be thin than famous,
but I’m fat.
Paste that in your Broadway show.

Jack Kerouac

    At the end of the day, we're all the same.  Regrettable that fame becomes a self-imposed prison for some. Assured that someone will be there to capitalize.  That's the business. And so it goes. 

Keep it Greasy, Lads!"

Frosty in the UK

Frosty morning in the UK.  At last a day of rest.  While the others went off to see Stonehenge, an ancient pile of rocks, I opted for a quiet day of blogging and jogging.  As I made my way through the English countryside, I had visions of men on horseback, knights and knaves, all that Robin Hood imagery.  As a young lad, I had been drawn to the works of Sir Walter Scott; fuel for the imagination.  I also took care to watch for traffic coming at me "from the right."  From what I can gather, the English way of driving stems from those days on horseback.  When one encounters a foe on the road, it is to one's advantage to be on the left as they approach so as to engage the enemy wth the sword in the right hand.  Thus, it was explained to me that the circular stairways always descend counter clockwise in order that one may defend his castle.  Doesn't say much for the Lefties. (myself included).  As I jogged along, I came upon a small herd of deer, some rabbits, and a random dog.  No jousting required!!!                                            

My comrades found what  they had sought, but I was content to remain out of the van for a moment.  Off to Liverpool!!

No Pressure

      Canterbury, the destination of millions of pilgrims for centuries on end.  This place has so much history it's mind-numbing.  Our visit coincided with an October festival, per usual.  We played at the Marlowe theater to a full house which included the lovely Christine McVie. (No pressure).  She sat behind the sound board and coaxed Dennis for "more piano." We keyboardists have to stick together. I met her briefly backstage.  Very charming. Peter Green was due to attend, but had family matters.. Hope to see him on this tour. After all, we are honoring his music. (no pressure).  We had some time to kill before sound check so we set out to discover this town located in the "Garden of England," County Kent.  There was a film crew at the gig (no pressure). I hope to have a copy soon.  Here's some photos. There's the Cathedral.  On my way in, the wind blew my hat off as if to say, "Please take your hat off, Sir."

                                                                                                 

                                                                                          Looking up @ the Cathedral
Our tour manager Bill Pie' @ the "Pie" House

 After each gig, we have a meet and greet autographing session.  Our new cd is called "Blue Again."  As of this post, we are #45 ON THE UK CHARTS!!!!!!

The fact that I am sharing the stage, the cd, and signing autographs alongside such a wonderful group of musicians, Mick, Rick, and Lenny, fills me with tremendous gratitiude. Thanks to Blaine, Dennis, Frank,  Fraggle, Kris, Bill, Adam, Matt, for making my life easy...you rock!!!!!

6 more to go!!!

Rockin' the UK

Our merry travelers arrive in the UK.   After locating our ground transport, we set off in a van (r.h. drive) toward the town of Peterborough, a few hours north of London.  On the way in, I managed to snap off a photo of the Thames river and London Bridge from the plane.  I prefer window seats for that reason.  Plus, when I get situated on a plane, I don't like to move for anything.  I'm like a rock.  It bewilders people that I can hang for an eight-hour flight and barely leave my seat.   


Here we are, cruising down the "wrong side" of the highway, it's getting dark and we are all hungry.  Many people have said that the UK is best noted for bad food, but I am here to refute that claim.  With the help of Bill's (tour manager) Iphone and google, we happen upon this old inn just off the highway caaled the White Hart.  Built sometime in the 1700's perhaps, this place turns out to be one of the highlights of the entire trip.  More serendipity.  This place was like a portal...a nexus.  An oasis for the weary traveler.  I ordered the "pie of the day" which was steak and potato shepherds pie and it was delicious!  The caesar salad was top notch..lots of parmesan and real anchovies.  The wine we ordered was an Australian merlot/cab called "Blue Cutting Road." For dessert an Apple Crumble with ice cream and custard.  It was so good I had to take a photo.  The house music was playing old Beatles tunes. How apropo!  As we dined we talked about the upcoming shows and what to expect.  Mick mentions that his friend and bandmate Christine McVie will be attending the Canterbury show and I kid you not, as soon as her name is mentioned, the song "You Make Loving Fun" comes on the radio.  A moment of disbelief and then we acknowledge that we are in the "zone."  We finish our meal, take photos with our lovely waitresses, Ela and Natalie (they were starstruck) and on the way out, this gentlemen at the bar stops Mick and they embark on a conversation which reveals that he knows Mick's sister, brings up the topic of Colin Blunstone (the Zombies) and this really trips us out.  We had just been talking about this stuff! Weird.  I can't even describe fully how synchronous all this was.  Right place, right time.  Maybe just dumb luck, nonetheless, worthy of acknowledgement.

Mick reminisces with the fellow at the bar......

!

A few more miles down the road and we arrive at our hotel.  Chat it up in the lobby lounge. And retire for the night.  The gig in Petersborough was at The Broadway Theater. A venue which holds 1200.  We only had bout half that, but the crowd was responsive and the acoustics superb.  The theater had a

We are happy to welcome our caterer, Hano, to this leg of the tour. He's from Germany and is a great chef.  We can always look forward to a good hot meal before sound check. Cheers Hano!

cool retro 70's decor.  

Light Reading for the Road

Two nights in Denmark, now back to Germany for two more shows.  We gathered up what was left of our brain cells and headed south.  Our first destination is the Park Hotel in Bremen.  On my way out the door on Maui I randomly grabbed some reading material for the flight. Honestly, I really didn't remember what this novel was about, I simply remembered that I wanted to check out Kurt Vonnegut.  He passed recently.  At any rate, for those who aren't familiar, the book speaks about the atrocities of war, mankind's worst manifestation, and namely the fire-bombing of Dresden toward the and of WWII.  "nice light-reading for the road"

I thought the book was well-written. A mixture of prose and historical fact.  His dark humor provides a sound vehicle for what is a pretty heavy topic. And so it goes.....

The park hotel was just outside the center of Bremen, so I decided to hire a Bicycle for and hour (4 euros) and set out on my own adventure into another unfamiliar city.  In typical fashion, I immmediately headed in the wrong direction, asked a nice fellow, got set straight and hit the town.  There was an October celebration going on (per usual) and there were folks out enoying this brisk fall day.  Biking is the way to go.  Just follow someone who seems to know where they are going and pay attention to the seperate bike traffic lights.  People are really aware (at least in this town) of where the bikers are. Perhaps I stood out a bit with my Hawaii sweatshirt and ski cap.  I parked old #13 near the center, walked around for a bit, ate a bratwurst, drank a Beck's and headed back to the hotel (w/directions!) and made it to the awaiting van and my comrades.

The cathedral in Bremen.

Notes on Copenhagen

It was a 5 or 6 hr journey from Krefeld to Copenhagen, which includes  45 min ferry ride.  We arrived at the hotel in Greve only to find that the rooms, although quaint, were closet-sized.  Certainly not large enough for the "big man."  I had started to unpack, took my usual photo of the uke on the hotel bed, when a knock came on the door.  I struggled for a moment to get it open.  "Mark, ve are not staying, do't unpack!"  Ok, it's been a long day, but I'm going with the flow.  We proceeded to soundcheck at Portalen.  A really cool venue.  The title translates as "portal."  They had a great caterer and spacious dressing rooms.  Even a super deluxe iron made by Bosch.  It was the Mercedes of irons.

      Copenhagen....land of Tuborg Classic, and Elephant beer (we used to consume in college due to its high alc. content).  Land of blond hotties on bicycles.  Walk in the bike lane and you are sure to get regulated.  Our first excursion took us across the river to Christianson (sp).  It's the more liberal side of town where hashish is sold openly on the street. We did our best to keep together, but got separated, as Sammy went back to retrieve his hat.  We waited and waited.  Finally Sammy appeared sans hat.  So easy to get lost in an unfamiliar place.  

      We made it back to town and ran into Mick, who was browsing the shops.  We sat down at a grooovy outdoor cafe and had fish and chips all the way around .  Perfect.  Thanks Mick!!

        Back at the hotel, Blaine and I decided to go for a little walk.  Actually ended up being about 5 miles.  I think we covered most of the city.  We were like pebbles in a stream of enless hot-looking girls on bikes....

       Later on that night, after we celebrated Rick's birthday at an Indian place, Blaine and I sought out to find some nightlife. We ended up at this local joint where we spent the rest of our Kroners on Mowgli's and beer.  Mowgli's are made with vodka and bailey's.   We talked to some of the local folk who informed us that our hotel was haunted and that there are some places in the city where locals won't go.  

   Copenhagen takes the prize thus far.  We were fortunate to have a night off.  The hotel Phoenix was right in the center of town.  Glad we checked out of the fleabag closet the day before.  Good move!!

    I could definitely spend some more time there....next time rent a bicycle!

Krefeld

Herr Johnstone here... Back to Germany.  3 countries in three days.  The video crew showed up and made a killer video of the show with 12 cameras.  Definitely feeling like a rock star.  I'll have a link to it soon.  The Venue was called KUFA.  It used to be meat packing facility.   It's a non-profit as far as I know.  The catering was outstanding.  As usual, there were autograph seekers awaiting the bus.  Some of them are so sincere.  Some of them just want to cash in buy selling the stuff on ebay.

The Hague (Den Hague)

The Netherlands..at last.  Never thought I would ever see this place.  Since Amsterdam was a solid hour away, Lenny and I decided to go on an adventure to Den Haag.  The train was right near the hotel and I followed some vague directions which I got from the bartender the night before.

The train system was a bit confusing.  There were devices on the train which dispensed tickets, but of course you first have to know where you're going!!















Which brings me to the most important lesson for the traveller:Rule#1  If you don't know where you are JUST ASK!  People are happy to help out....So, we figured out where we we were headed and tried to buy tickets from the train to no avail...this round trip is on the Dutch.   We ended up at the North Sea.  It reminded me of the Atlantic.  There were people out and about enjoying this brisk autumn day, and even a surfer.  The way back to the hotel was a bit interesting.  We made it to the train station, but what train??  Lo and behold there's there BARTENDER from last night.  How fortunate!  "you don't want this train, he said.  "you want the one downstairs"...but wait, I thought those don't look like they're going the right way...At first it seemed like serendipity running into a semi-familiar face in a large train station.  On second thought, his advice proved WRONG. We followed our instincts.  Got on the "wrong" train and made it back to the hotel(about 40min).  It was a bit harrowing, however, as neither Lenny nor I recognized the landscape going the other way.  So, I asked this girl who confirmed hat we were right.  I asked her if she wanted to go to the show, but she never showed.  We made it back to the hotel well before sound check and celebrated with a really tasty Heineken on tap.  Rule#2.  Don't believe all of the info that you get from people.  Sometimes it's wrong.

The show was at a facility called Boedirij.  There was a "special" coffee shop downstairs. That might explain why the people of Holland were so very warm and appreciative.  Most spoke English.  They were definitely "hand-shakers." So far, the only place we've been offered beans for breakfast.  Good power foon.  Not so good for your van-mates!!!