ZDF television has been very generous and put us in a genuine 5-star hotel
tonight and the boys are really happy…. that makes me happy too! In my
former life I used to demand and expect this kind of luxury but, having now been
“bumped back to reality”, I accept what I am given and that makes it easier to
enjoy rare moments like this.
I like my new life….
At 1pm the driver picked us up and took us
the the studio for rehearsals. We had to mime to the original version of
Lady In Black so we had been studying it on the bus for a couple of days…. it is
VERY different from our new live version!!
All of the people at the studio made us feel
very welcome. Some of them had grown up with Heep and bands of that era so
we had a sort of common bond immediately. We ran through the song twice
and that was it.
I was scheduled to do a short interview with
Andrea after our performance so I met with Harald, the translator and we had
everything planned. I spent quite a bit of time with Harald because, as a
fellow linguist, albeit not as qualified as him, I am fascinated by the ability
to translate simultaneously. People with this ability (which Harald says
is down to intense study) are hired for everything from business presentations
to UN Security Council meetings so they are highly valued…. and paid!!
Back to the hotel (you know the routine by
now) and our turn came at around 10:30, by which time the band had been at the
studio for 8 hours straight without a single complaint! They called us for
make-up… I asked for a miracle worker… and we bluffed our way through the song!
I Hate lip-sync!
Then I went to “the couch” and did the
interview which enabled me to expose the B.O.T.H. CD and book to about 2 million
people!!
Andrea invited me to perform at the ZDF TV
Garden show in May and of course I accepted…. I like doing this stuff and the
exposure is great.
All in all it was pretty easy and quite
enjoyable. The guys packed the bus and prepared for the overnight ride to
Bonn. I went back to the hotel to enjoy some “liquid moments” with the TV
people and back to my room to pack for my flight to Bonn tomorrow.
It had been
a long day/night but it was a really good one.
