Ken Hensley

After a good sleep I felt much better.

My voice is getting stronger all the time and I have to be careful in this very dry air to get as much rest as possible.

Slept past the breakfast deadline so I trotted down for lunch, looking forward to a giant cheeseburger and fries! Ooops, the kitchen was “broken” (their word) so change of plan.

Left for the venue at around 3 and everything seemed to be progressing well. Recording and filming live is always a bit complicated but the trucks and crew had been in place for a while and they seemed to have everything under control.

This should be a good DVD (double DVD actually) because we have a lot of footage from Gresvik earlier this year and we’ll have lots of stuff to put into the product. Documentary and interview stuff as well as this live show, clips from the Summer Party and some film from one of the solo shows in Skien this week.

Before sound check I went to the local hairdresser (Finn, a friend of Magne’s actually) and I had another first! A live radio interview from the barber’s chair!! HA! This history book gets wierder all the time.

Backstage I met Edit, a lifetime fan who had won a local contest or something and she was accompanied by the local newspaper who covered this encounter as I signed the records etc. It’s always really cool to hear stories of how the music has impacted people’s lives and it’s also a humbling reminder of the “responsibility” about which I knew so little way back then. But if it makes a positive difference then it’s a great thing and I am thankful for it.

And my new friend Oivin Fjeld came by with a G-Sharp guitar. I’m sending Rod a picture of it and you can also check out the web site (www.g-sharpguitar.com) . This is not a toy and it’s not an attempt to miniaturise a normal instrument. It’s a real guitar that plays really well and amplifies well too. For me at least it will be a great writing tool!! Oivin is a luthier and teacher but he’s also more than that! He can fix just about anything and I am glad he was around to fix a broken wire in my Leslie cabinet!! CheerZ Oivin!!

The show was excellent… not “perfect” but excellent!! And the audience was great! There were lots of camera people scrambling around but they never got in the way and, after the show, Magne reported that he was really happy with the results. We’ll have a look at the rough cuts tomorrow after he has “digitized” it all.

Some of the guys split back to Oslo (I’ll see them on Friday) so Willy and I ran to find the Chinese restaurant, the same one that fed me after the first solo show. It was great. Time to relax, exchange some war stories, eat some excellent food and share a glass of wine.

Then it was back to the hotel, quite early actually, and time to get some rest.

Tomorrow’s a travel day for me but I want to rest as much as possible anyway. All in all a really good day.