Bulgaria Trip Diary
"Yummee... A Purple One!"
Day 5
Day five!
I have been here for the best part of five days and I have played live for a
total of about 55 minutes!! And that total will not be added to today
because the gig in Bourgas has been moved to tomorrow!! So now we are on
our way to Varna to add our incredible skills to the cover version of July
Morning that Yasen is doing with George and his band mates… more soon, gotta
go!
Varna is the
second or third largest city in Bulgaria and after spending a few days in the
relative peace and calm of Kavarna, it was a bit of a "jolt" when we got there.
More noise, more cars, more women with extremely long legs, more loose animals
and, I suspect, more money.
We met George
on the road into Varna, had a quick beer and headed to the studio which they had
commendably put together through the fruits of their considerable labour.
Everywhere we
went in Bulgaria we met a lot of people. It was never just the one or two we
were supposed to meet but many more…. Lots of "friends", family, press and
cameramen but generally just lots of people who all wanted a picture and a
signature and some of whom even wanted to chat!! This was not always
possible of course but my most vivid memory of Bulgaria so far is the people,
who are extremely warm and friendly, very hospitable and kind. They are
people who are slowly emerging from years of communist oppression into the
repression of the grand world of capitalist deomocracy and I wish them the best.
If the way we, the "best of the west" are diligently destroying social, moral
and cultural values is anything to go by, they will need it. And these are
proud people who deserve respect. A people who have yet to taste the joys of
full blown political and free-market corruption yet still have a chance to slow
its progress, a people who, if you look behind their eyes, are really "dancing
through their tears"! Their best opportunity lies in the fact that their
love for one another seems particularly strong and I pray that this will
continue to pass through generations!
The recording
went well and we had an extremely pleasant coffee chat with all concerned before
continuing our journey to Bourgas, the second biggest city in Bulgaria.
We were
running a bit late because we had a special dinner scheduled with the mayor of
Bourgas and it was worth the rush too, because the location was nice and the
evening was very pleasant. The mayor was cool and so was everyone we met,
officially or unofficially so, by the time we got to the hotel, we were pretty
beat!
Another day,
another mayor…. Just a routine day in the life of a rock star!
At least in the former Soviet states and Eastern Europe in general……..
