1.
FOURTEEN ON FIRE CONTINUES….
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| Beautiful and clean Oslo, Norway |
The rehearsals began for me on 20. I got the
feeling that the guys were glad to see me, and I was certainly glad to see all
of them and to get back on track after our unexpected interruption of the tour.
Mick was in a good mood.
Over the coming days we went through the usual
practice routine…me making up a list of songs to do, presenting them to Mick
and making any changes he wanted, and getting down to business. The hours were
quite reasonable…from about 2pm until 8. I came in early some days to get
personal practice in. We were done most every day in time for Rosie and I to
have dinner together, and we explored several restaurants around the hotel we
were in…the Continental. The band and staff were spread out over three
different hotels due to the high traffic in Oslo…they had conventions going on,
a national holiday and some other events that had about all the hotels filled
up. Some of the band was at the Grand Hotel, where we have stayed before…some
of us at the Continental, some at a place called The Thief.
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| Unni with Rose Lane and Chuck |
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| Elizabeth and Rose Lane with her menagerie |
The rehearsals in general went quite well…I tried to include as many different tunes as I could and we covered a lot of territory. Still, I knew that Mick would want to keep to a fairly “safe” set. He told me in an email a few days before we started that he had “…had quite enough of funerals lately, so probably no ‘Paint It Black’ for a while”. Which of course I could completely understand. We wound up the rehearsals on the 24th and had the 25th off.
5/25
First show of the tour was at the Telenor
Arena, which I believe held about 30K folks. It was sold out. The gig was ok, if not great…there were a
couple of little hiccups….nothing too devastating, just little bumps. But it
felt great to be back on the stage again.
The Telenor was oddly a hot room in
temperature…strange given the coolness of the outside…but I guess being a
relatively cold place, they don’t have air conditioning, so it was quite toasty
inside. So maybe not a fantastic start, but a decent one and one to grow on.
5/26-28
OSLO TO LISBON
Time to get the show on the road. Travel to
Lisbon. Our usual schedule is luggage picked up around 11:30am and lobby
call about 2:45. In the bus, off to the
airport, on to the plane and wait for the principals to arrive, then wheels up
at 4. That was the routine for today, and off we were for a four hour flight to
Lisbon. We lost an hour in the transfer, so arrived quite late to the Four
Seasons hotel, around 10:30. We went to the bar, had a drink and ordered some
food there, went to bed.
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| Jacaranda Trees |
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| The Beautiful Four Seasons Lisbon |
5/29
ROCK IN RIO (in Lisbon)
So Rock In Rio is a big festival that is
sometimes held as a satellite festival from the one in Rio that takes place in
Lisbon. It’s a big deal….and the attendance would run over eighty thousand. But
before going to the show, we wanted to get a “tube” to keep our posters in….the
strong kind of cardboard cylinders. The concierge told us of a big department
store not far away where we could get one, and after lunch at the hotel we
headed out to find it. On the way, just a couple of blocks before we got there,
the rain came. I suppose we were pretty lucky, as while we did get wet, we
weren’t exactly soaked, which could have been the case if we were 5 minutes
later.
It took us a while to find the right department
in the huge store, but we did….and given the language challenge, while we were
able to find something that worked, we didn’t quite realize that what we bought
were not just tubes (two small ones that we would have to put together end to
end to make them long enough), but they actually were little posters inside…of
a tree, which I guess for us, was appropriate!
We milled around the store for a good hour and
a half, and I wound up buying a few tee shirts. It was really quite a diverse
store, even with a full sporting goods section on the top floor. It kept us
entertained for a while, and then we took a cab back to the Four Seasons.
Rosie and I went on the early van to the
show….for her to start her backstage duties and for me to arrange the set list
and just have a change of scenery. Word had gone around that Bruce Springsteen
would be sitting in with us. When we did the Dr. John show a few weeks earlier,
we had chatted with his wife, Patti….and she told us that they would be in
Europe the same time we would…but not to tour musically. Their daughter is an
expert equestrian and would be competing during the summer in several events
all over Europe. So as it turned out, they were in Portugal the same time we
were and Bruce graciously agreed to come sit in on “Tumbling Dice”….which he
had done with us earlier in the year in the New York area. Also, Gary Clark,
Jr. would be opening up for us and we invited him to sit in as well. He would
do “Respectable” with us. So we arranged a little backstage rehearsal to go
over the tunes…and also to rehearse the choir for “You Can’t Always Get….”.
That took place around 5pm, and it was great fun….we were in a tiny tent area
just outside our Makeup room. Very close quarters and so cool to run through
the songs so intimately. All that went well and we had some down time before
the show began.
Boom! What a great gig it turned out to
be….Bruce came on on the 4th song spot and just killed it. The fans went
absolutely nuts as they had no idea that he was even in the country. Gary
rocked it on his spot and the band just shined all night. Very special gig,
making for a wonderful memory for all of us.
5/30-6/1 LISBON TO ZURICHEveryone boarded the plane in a great mood, talking about what an incredible gig Lisbon was, and ready to move on to Zurich, our next stop. We were to stay at the Dolder Grand Hotel there….where we stayed back in 2002? when we did the Forty Licks tour. The Dolder is some 15 or so miles outside of Zurich, up on a nice size hill surrounded by lots of forestland on three sides and a golf course on the opposite side of the road. It was there that we did the last date of the European tour of Forty Licks, and was where we received our two Border Collie pups that Charlie Watts had gotten for us from nearby his horse farm near Wales. The pups actually came from Wales. They had been driven from there to London, put on a plane to Zurich where we picked them up at the airport, and we kept them at the Dolder for some 3 or 4 days before we flew them back home with us from Zurich to Atlanta. So it holds a special place in our hearts.
We arrived in the late afternoon…the hotel had
been changed some….there had been a modern addition to it, which while fairly
nice, seemed a little out of place to us from the original part of the hotel
where we had stayed before, which is more like a large country chalet. We were
put in the new part….but it was ok….especially since it had a nice little
balcony. After settling in our surroundings for a minute, we headed to the bar
for a drink and to decide about dinner. The bar was also very modern….trendy.
We relaxed with our cocktails for a bit and then went to dinner in a restaurant
in the hotel downstairs. Jane Rose joined us, and we enjoyed a nice meal
together. As we were about to finish up, Darryl Jones and Lisa Fischer came in
and were seated at a table next to us. We didn’t really get to interact with
them much as we were about done, but it was good to see them for a bit.
5/31
My mom’s birthday….happy birthday, Mom! She
would have been 97 (born 1917). It was also the day before Ronnie Wood’s 67th
birthday, and there would be a party for him that night in the bar. After the
morning (or more accurately, mid morning) routine of coffee, emails, watching
the news, etc., I went to the gym. Great gym there….lots of good quality
machines, plenty of room, good free weights. Had a good workout and then
ordered our free breakfast that sometimes comes with our accommodations. That
is a good thing, because Europe is SOOOO EXPENSIVE this time around. Not just
due to the strength of the Euro….or other currency (in this case, the Swiss
Franc…in Oslo, their Krone) but just…BECAUSE. Our dinners for just the two of
us have been running around $225 Euros or so…close to $300 . That’s not
counting lunch or drinks. Ouch. I guess it is
costing us on average $250 a day…. But what are we to do? We don’t want to live on McDonalds and Burger
King, and besides, the time we have on these dinners are for the most part the
highlight of the day. Gives us a chance to relax, talk and most of the time
enjoy good quality food. So those occasional
free breakfasts or other allowances we get like free Internet are very welcome.
After breakfast we just hung out in the room. I
sunned a bit on the balcony, we watched tv, fooled around with the computers,
etc. Later I went for a walk in the woods surrounding the hotel. Really nice
trails, and beautiful forests. I believe it was mostly beech, but there were
some oak and some evergreens scattered in. They had recently done some
harvesting, as there were a few piles of logs that were cut to length and marked
for pickup. It reminded me of when we received Mollie and Maggie, our sister
Border Collies back in ‘02? and I took them for walks on those trails.
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| Happy Birthday to Ronnie Wood |
Sherry Daly and Jenny Taylor (his manager and personal assistant, respectively) had made the arrangements and asked me if I would play Happy Birthday at the appropriate time with Lisa Fischer singing. Of course I accepted. So we all filtered in to the bar that evening…and had a wonderful time together. They had arranged some good food in a buffet presentation, and drinks were flowing freely. It made for a great sort of family time for all of us and the mood was high. Lisa and I did the Happy Birthday thing with her doing it “Marilyn Monroe” style and then me kicking it into a boogie version, everyone joining in. Great fun.
6/1
Show day in Zurich, and Ronnie’s real birthday.
After a gym hit and some breakfast, we headed to the Letzigrund Stadium to get
things going. Beautiful day, and it would be another sold out crowd. Went
through the sound check, set list routine and killed time in catering and
practicing some in our dressing room. We had a couple of folks coming to
VIP….our friend Stefan Eberhard ( a sort of keyboard protege of mine) and his
girlfriend Jessica…and Christian Jank and his daughter. Christian is married to
Albrecht Oettingen’s sister, Angela (I think that’s right!?). I went to see
them an hour or so before the gig, and enjoyed spending time with them.
Show was good, and afterwards Christian and his
daughter came to our hotel and we spent more time socializing in the bar. The
bar was quite a scene….lots of fans there, and some of us in the band. I found
out the next day that the bill for the bar got screwed up and that there was
about $1100 in drinks that went unpaid. Our accountant, Coach, said as best he
could tell, one of the fans had agreed to pay the bill, but then walked out on
it. He said the hotel should have followed up more closely on what was
happening, and put the onus on them to pay it.
6/2-4
ZURICH to TEL AVIV
Upcoming days were to be very special. My good
friend and partner in MNN, Joel Babbit, would be coming to Israel and we would
be spending some very special time together. Through Joel’s connections and
because MNN has done so well, we have taken on a website called ReThink Israel
(http://rethinkisrael.org). The name will be changing soon to The
Grapevine. It is a non-political site mainly involved in promoting travel and
business for the country. Some of the main figures involved would be there with
Joel, and Rose Lane and I really looked forward to meeting them. They had
arranged a tour of Jerusalem for us on the off day…
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| Gil, Chuck, David, Joel and Jon Leven |
We arrived in the late afternoon in Tel Aviv
and were bussed to our hotel, The Dan. It was right on the Mediterranean
Sea….separated only by the main street between them. It was exciting to be in a
place we have never been before, and we were pleased that we had a nice terrace
connected to our room that allowed us to enjoy being outdoors and giving us a
fantastic view of the Med.
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| Tel Aviv and The Mediterrancean Sea |
Rosie and I ate in the hotel restaurant….it was
quite late by the time we got there, settled in an were ready for dinner, so it
was around 10pm when we finally had the opportunity. We were pretty beat
afterwards and turned in, wanting to be as fresh as possible for our experience
the next day.
Joel’s friend, and the CEO of ReThink Israel,
Jon Leven, called me around 10am to let us know he was there. Joel had
forgotten some medication he needed and was at the hospital to get it. So we
met Jon downstairs in short order and we headed out to meet Joel. Our driver
and guide was a nice fellow named Gil that another principal of “ReThink”,Gerry
Ostrov, had arranged for us. We found Joel with no trouble outside the hospital
and headed to Jerusalem.
The drive on the way was interesting….it was
pointed out that prior to the 1940s there was little or no trees in the
country….they started planting trees around that time, and now have established
a good many forests, some of which we viewed along the way, and had become
quite mature and beautiful. The drive was fairly easy….and took about 45
minutes.
Gil had some concern about getting to the Western Wall by a certain
time, but we made it with no trouble. The tour given us was quite
amazing….another young fellow, I believe named David, took over and gave us the
complete history of the Temple Mount.
Then he took us on a walk through the
bowels of the structure…where we viewed the ancient stones that were put into
place back during Herod’s time, around 19 BC. when he expanded the Temple
Mount. But there are also some remnants that go back even further. It was truly
an amazing experience to walk through the underground part, sort of
catacomb-like halls and tunnels…and to view all the different periods of
construction.After that tour, we went to the Western Wall
where I met with some Rabbis and was given some note paper to write a prayer on
to put into the Wall itself.
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| Rose Lane and Chuck with Rabbi Jeff Seidel |
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| The Passage where Jesus carried the cross |
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| Men to the Left at the Wailing Wall |
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| Women to the Right |
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| The marble pallette where they laid Jesus |
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| The Station of The Cross |
Gil took us to lunch at a Lebanese restaurant
called ??. Great food, and too much of it. But we did a fair job of “governing”
ourselves, leaving a good bit on the table.
From there we drove up to the site
on top of the hill where Pontios Pilot first viewed the city he was to rule
under the Romans. We also went to an area called ?? where the Ultra Orthodox
Jews occupy. Apparently they spend most of their lives “studying” the Tora and
don’t engage in any particular occupations….dedicating their lives to the
ancient ways. From there, we went to another viewing point that looked down
over a huge graveyard. It was interesting to see all of this in a city with so
many different religions and cultures…and while yes, some of them are at odds
with each other, the all live together in this most Holy of cities.
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| Mount Olive overlooking Palestine |
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| Waiting On A Friend |
That completed our Jerusalem tour and we headed
back to Tel Aviv. We had a little bit of down time before we met back up with
Joel and Jon to have dinner at the Manta Rey restaurant, located on the edge of
the Mediterranian. Nice meal, although we were still feeling the food we had at
lunch.
Jon and Joel gave us a ride back to the Dan and
we bit them goodnight and called it a day….a very interesting and stimulating
day, indeed!
6/4
Show day for Tel Aviv. I went to the stadium
early as Joel and Jon wanted to get a short interview with me for the
ReThinkIsrael site. A note on the site: As we take it over, the name will
change to “From The Grapevine”…and the link is now: http://www.fromthegrapevine.com
. After some logistics difficulty getting them in with their car, we finally
got it done and they were happy with the results. It was really hot, so the
band decided not to do a sound check on stage, but to do a run through in one
of the backstage tents that was set up. That all went fine, and just before the
show I had a chance to go to VIP and meet Joel, Jon, Gerry and some of the
others to say hi. Then it was time to get in the groove….
Another great show…band in good form, fans
truly excited to have The Rolling Stones in their city and their country for
the first time.
June 5-7
VALKENBURG AAN DE GEUL and PINKPOP IN LANGRAAF
On 6/5 we boarded up in Tel Aviv and flew to
Maastricht in The Netherlands. From there we were bussed outside the city to a
resort hotel called HOTEL CHÂTEAU ST. GERLACH. It was an absolutely
beautiful property out in the country….several old buildings made up the complex in the center of peaceful surroundings. We were surprised to be greeted in such a remote place by a goodly number of fans. I hustled my way in a van that drove me around to the building where our room was. In the confusion, Rose Lane went into the main part of the hotel lobby…so for a while, she was “missing”. I called our advance travel person, Courtney Rousso, to ask her if she had seen her…eventually she showed up safe and sound, but it took a good 20 minutes or so for her to get to our building.
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| Tiopiary Garden on entrance |
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| Topiary Gardens and walkway |
beautiful property out in the country….several old buildings made up the complex in the center of peaceful surroundings. We were surprised to be greeted in such a remote place by a goodly number of fans. I hustled my way in a van that drove me around to the building where our room was. In the confusion, Rose Lane went into the main part of the hotel lobby…so for a while, she was “missing”. I called our advance travel person, Courtney Rousso, to ask her if she had seen her…eventually she showed up safe and sound, but it took a good 20 minutes or so for her to get to our building.
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| Orchard and Vineyard |
Next day, the 6th, was off. There was no gym in
the facility, but they did have a spa. So after coffee, I decided to take a
long walk….first around the orchard….beautifully laid out, I’d say about 4 or 5
acres with a variety of apples, cherries, pear, figs and other fruit trees and
a small vineyard in one section. Then I found my way to the pasture where there
were several nice trails to walk on. I found the cows and horses after a time,
walked through them to another area close to the forest, finally making my way
back. A really nice 45 minute walk in a relaxing and picturesque setting. I decided
to go for a massage and arranged that for later in the day, around 4pm. As the
weather was warm and clear, I also took some time in the orchard to sun myself.
Caroline Clements had agreed to give me a little hair trim, and we did that out
in the orchard as well.
The massage was ok…not great, though. And the
woman that performed it had a head cold, which was disconcerting and a bit
uncomfortable. Still, it wasn’t horrible, and it did help to relax me. That
evening we dined in the main restaurant, which was quite upscale and very good.
Beautiful room, great service. In the same room dining at the same time was
Paul Gongaware, Joyce Smyth and her husband Michael and a couple of other folks
I didn’t know. We finished up just after them and went to our room to call it a
day.
6/7
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| Rose Lane working backstage at Pink Pop |
PinkPop is a long running festival in the
Netherlands that is quite popular. Also on the bill was my pal John Mayer. He
had initially agreed to sit in with us and we had made plans for that…but in
the afternoon we found out that he couldn’t do it because he had a charter
flight after his set to get to London, and he would have to leave right after
to make it. So I arranged the set list when I got to the gig…walked around to
find John and his band. I found Ken Helie, his tour manager, first and had a
nice chat with him. Then found the band guys…Sean Hurley (bass), Aaron Sterling
(drums), Doug Pettibone (guitar, steel guitar) and his keyboard player Andy
Burton. Tim Ries and I had recommended Andy to John when it turned out that I
couldn’t do his tour…but I had never met him. We all had fun catching up for a
bit…then I went back to our area to do a little rehearsal in a tent they had
arranged for us. Went through that and had a bit of down time before the show.
I went back to find John, who had just arrived. Had a short but nice reunion
with him just before his set was to start. I went up to hear part of the set,
which I thought was quite good.
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| Our huge audience |
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| Lisa Fischer |
Ours was as well…and with some 60-70K fans in
attendance, it was full of energy and lots of fun.
Back in the room we relaxed with a few glasses
of wine before retiring for the night.
ON TO BERLIN….JUNE 8-10
I had just enough time for another walkabout at
ST. GERLACH. and to catch a bit of sun before we had to load up for the travel
to Berlin. A relatively short flight of 1:45, we arrived at the Adlon Kempenski
around 6pm. This is one of the oldest hotels in that part of the world, and the
one where Michael Jackson famously dangled his infant son out the window to the
crowd below.
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| The Brandenburg Gate outside our hotel window |
We had dinner in a cafe restaurant in the
hotel. Nothing to write home about, but was convenient. Made a short night of
it and closed out the day. The next day, June 9, I had arranged to do an
interview with a fellow from Bloomberg Media named David Rocks. I had met him a
time or two in NY before, and Dan Beeson had been wooing him to do something on
me for a couple of years. David had moved from NY to Berlin a couple of years
back….his wife had died of cancer and he took his two children to live in
Berlin for a while. But before that, I hit the gym hard as it had been 3 days
since I’d had a good workout. David and I met in the lobby and walked through
the TeirGarden, a huge park near the hotel, to talk. We found our way into a
Beer Garden in the park and sat there for a while continuing our conversation.
After that we caught a taxi back and Rosie and I went out walking for a while.
It was Sunday and everything was Monday, but a Bank Holiday, so all the shops
were closed and it was just window shopping. I had also found time to take our
laundry to a place….which would prove to be a mistake as they were terrible. I
had asked for a “wash, dry and fold”…but when I retrieved it the next day, they
had barely washed them, barely dried them and just stuffed them into bags
willy-nilly, all wrinkled up. Ah, well…
After our walk we looked into dinner options
and decided to try an asian place located in the hotel. It turned out to be a
very good decision….great food, a quiet atmosphere and good service. Happy with
that, we closed up for the night.
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| Before the concert |
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| Full Concert |
I had some guests coming to VIP, including
David Rocks. The VIP area was a very long way away, and I had to be driven
there in a van. It was quite a nice place…in sort of a house with a large
lawn…so folks were scattered inside and out. I looked as hard as I could for
David and the other folks I had coming, but didn’t see any of them…so I made my
way back down to the backstage area to get ready for the show.
What can I say? Another really great gig….we
have really hit a standard of excellence and consistency at this point, and
every show has come of not just well, but tremendously successful for both band
and audience. Great fun.
Today happened to be the day before Patrick
Woodroffe’s 60th birthday. He had told us a few weeks back that this would be
the case, and he would be coming to Berlin to see us and be with the “Stones
Family”. So after the show, the band had arranged a party in his honor at the
asian restaurant in the hotel. Of course that didn’t start until after midnight
due to the show. Patrick was the only one that didn’t get the “memo” about the
party….I think he was intentionally left out so it could be somewhat of a
surprise. He was told that there might be a few folks for a drink or two there.
But just about everyone showed up and it turned out to be quite a celebration.
Mick called everyone to order at one point, saying a few words of appreciation
about him…and Keith put in a holler for him as did all of us. Patrick is good
people, and he was quite surprised and happy that all this went down. Another
great memory...
JUNE 11-13
BACK TO PARIS
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| Rose Lane's Eiffel Tower Painting |
Bags at 11, lobby call at 2. On the plane and
on to Paris. Ronnie’s wife, Sally, is a Backgammon player and lover of the
game…and she has initiated a tournament with anyone in our entourage that plays
and is interested. A nice thing to do to get some interaction going amongst us.
Rosie and I are not really players, so we haven’t participated, but have
enjoyed watching some of the games and appreciate her putting this all
together. Some games we played during the flight.
We made it to the Bristol hotel by 7 or so.
Rose Lane and I much prefer the George V hotel over the Bristol…for a number of
reasons…but mainly because the rooms are much better and functional for us. We
were put in the same room we’ve stayed when there…518. Not that it’s bad
there…it is all quite elegant and upscale, but the room has no division between
the bedroom and the sitting room, and there is precious little space for
luggage that is strangely put right near the entrance of the room in a small
closet. Anyway, we’re here and all good. We had been excited about dinner, as
we loved the Indian restaurant we’ve frequented many times that is an easy walk
from the hotel, Indra. So we made our way there only to find out that it had
closed down. Dang, what a hang. There is another restaurant right across the
street that we’ve tried before, a small bistro called Misia. After quickly
weighing options, we decided to make it easy and go there. Cocktails and a
decent meal down, we walked back to the Bristol to finish out the evening in
our room with a bottle of wine and some TV.
June 12….off in Paris. While Rose Lane slept, I
sneaked out to go to Starbucks, which was about 4 blocks away. Ordered a Venti
Latte for her and a Venti coffee for me and headed back. Spent the morning as
usual…tapping on computers, watching the news, sipping on the coffee. We had
been without our “Slingbox” for a while….the device that lets our computers
stream our TV system back home, allowing us to view local programming wherever
we are….but my friend, Mike Filion, who is a technician for DirecTV, was kind
enough to fix the problem back home, and it was restored to us….so we enjoyed
watching the local early morning Macon, Ga news and weather (with the 6 hour
difference, when we are up at around 11am Europe time, that is early morning
back home).
We talked about what we wanted to do….and while
there is always the option of museums and sight-seeing….we’ve pretty much done
all that in most all of these European cities in the past, so we thought we’d
just take a walk down Rue St. Honre towards the WH Smith book store. I wanted
to get some English/American magazines there. About halfway there, Rosie felt a
bit ill and decided to go back to the hotel. I made my way on to Smith’s and
picked us up some reading material and slow-walked my way back. She was feeling
better by then….so we read the magazines for a bit and took another walk later
in the afternoon. For dinner, we decided on Santoor, the Indian restaurant we
frequented when staying at the George V. It was ok, but not as good as we
wanted, and not as good as Indra was when it was open. Still, we enjoyed having
some spicy food. Back at the Bristol, we closed out the day
June 13….Our daughter Amy’s birthday…and of
course, show day for us. Back to Starbucks for the coffee, morning routine
done…Chuck to gym. Rose Lane would leave on the 2pm van to the Stade de France
and I would make my way there later on the 3pm. We’ve played this stadium quite
a lot through the years….I’d have to look it up, but would think we’ve done it
8-10 times. Paris was excited about us being there and the show had sold out a
while back. The usual routine of set list, sound check, catering for a bite to
eat, etc….and another stellar show, all sold out. Fans happy, band happy.
Called Amy afterwards and had a nice talk to wish her happy birthday. She has
recently told us that they want to downsize their house/mortgage to reduce
their stress both on the size of the mortgage and the cost of maintenance.
Unfortunately, they bought their house at the top of the market before the
crash of the housing market and recession of ‘08. It is probably a good move,
but only if they can find a good house at a good price…and if they can get a
good price for their house. It will be interesting to see.
JUNE 14-16 AUSTRIA
Checked in to the beautiful Imperial Hotel in
Vienna. Our friend, Dr. Herbert (Doc)
Weltner, had come back on board to perform Dr. duties for a few days. As he is
Austrian, Dr. Connor (head Dr.) had put him in the slot from our last day in
Paris on through Vienna and to Dusseldorf. It was good to see him, and we got
to hang out a bit over the days he would be with us. We got to Vienna at the
usual time after a flight…late afternoon about 6:30. Dined at an Italian place not far from the
hotel after taking a little walk. Not really great, but nice to get out of the
hotel for a bit. We met up with Doc back at the hotel cafe…he was there with
several others….Matt Clifford, Torje Eike, Isobel Work and a couple others.
Hung with them and chatted for a while and then turned in.
Next day was off…gym, another walkabout to the
park which was not far away, then walked the main shopping street…although
being Sunday, they were all closed, so it was just window shopping. Had a
capuchin at a Starbucks….had a Father’s Day call from Ashley and caught up with
here for a while. Great to hear her voice, and now that she is fully graduated
and a licensed Endodontist, she is ready to leave the University of Florida and
move in with Peter Tziros. But before she does that, she is going to drive to
Charlane and spend a day or so there…then go see Amy and family for a day. Big
changes for her, and she is very excited about it.
Back at the hotel, a fairly large crowd of fans
had gathered and were waiting outside. Nice folks…I signed a few autographs and
took a few pictures. Rest of the day was spent in our room…watching some of the
World Cup matches and taking a nap. Dined in the hotel restaurant, which made
things easy and called it a day
Show day for Vienna. Playing the Ernst Happel
Stadium for the ?? time. Beautiful day, great weather, which set the stage for
a special night. I went to the gig early out of boredom. At least there I can
get something to eat in catering, work on my computer some doing set list and
emails and get in a bit of practice on the Yamaha CP 300 in our dressing room.
Sound check went fine, then some down time
before the show. Charlie had arranged for passes for our friends Axel and Eva
Zwingenberger, and he had them escorted back to our dressing room. We had a
great time catching up with them….and Axel had also brought Lila Ammons
(granddaughter of the famous boogie-woogie piano player, Albert Ammons, long
deceased). Axel is truly one of the greats in the boogie genre, and Charlie
sometimes plays with him when the Stones are not working. Axel and I played a
little jam, then he and Lila did a little duet with her singing….something
called “Breakfast Boogie”, I think….fun and humorous.
The show was another winner…great audience,
very responsive and fun to play to. Back at the hotel we turned in my stage
clothes and decided to go down and check out the bar. As expected, it was full
of fans….very crowded and loud. We didn’t really want to get in the middle of
that…and I happened to catch one of the hotel managers walking around….and
asked him if it might be possible for us to have a quiet drink or two in the
cafe, which was closed. He kindly accommodated us and we were able to wind down
nicely with some light snacks and drinks. Thank you, Sir! That concluded
another day on the ‘ol road.
JUNE 17-19
DUSSELDORF
 |
| Fans Patiently waiting |
Bags collected, hotel bill paid and a short
trip to the gym….then onto the bus to the plane and wheels up for Dusseldorf.
This would prove to be a fun and interesting stay. Still early rounds of the
World Cup, the band had decided to rent an extra room for those of us that wanted
to watch some of the matches. The nice folks at the Breidenbacher Hof
accommodated and we had a nice setup. We got checked in and settled in our room
and decided to go out for dinner. The concierge had suggested a place called
the Fischhous (Fish House), which we found after a bit of walking and
exploring. Had quite a nice meal there and made our way back after. We went to
the “Football Room” where there were quite a lot of our group watching a
match…including all of the principals. That made for a nice bit of comradeship,
and we all enjoyed the hang. Afterwards we made our way to bed to close out the
day.
June 18 Meeting Mr. Bagel
Today would be special for us. Some 3 or 4
years ago, a piece of property next door to Charlane on the north side sold to
a German individual from Dusseldorf. It took me about a year to find out his
name, Peter Bagel. I was told by the company that was managing the 730 acres
for him that he bought it only for long term forestry, which was a relief. I
inquired about leasing the property from him for the hunting rights, and he
agreed to do so. Eventually we made direct contact through email. When the
European tour was confirmed and I saw that we were going to play Dusseldorf, I
contacted him to see if he might want to meet and have dinner. He agreed, and I
called my friends Christian and Andrea Raupach (from the Frankfurt area) to see
if they might want to join us. The accepted, and Peter agreed to make the plans
and let us know that his wife, Doris, would also join us.
We spent the first part of the day walking
around again…first to a big park that was not so far away.
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