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JULY 4TH
Today I can reflect on my own, new-found
"independence". Not that I feel it's cause to celebrate
but it is something that I must come to terms with. Something that
I will come to terms with eventually.
The ferry ride was uneventful. We found the only place on the boat
where smoking was allowed, had a glass of wine and prepared to get
back on the bus, to watch the end of the movie ("Dogma")
and get some sleep. "Dogma" is actiually a great movie
but I still can't figure out why the writers feel it necessary/essential
to use so much foul language. This is just a personal comment of
course and it does come from a totally "non-movie" person
but there has to be a another way to make a point in my opinion.
Maybe I should try it?…… Nah, the book comes first!
Woke up at 10:40 on the Dutch border where we had stopped for Bob
to get some sleep. I am sure you know that long-distance drivers
have strict rules that they must follow concerning the hours they
can drive in each day and this has to be calculated into each trip
plan.
We have been told not to arrive in Zaandam too early as it's a small
town and there is little room for our bus at the gig, so we arrived
at a little after 4pm and it was time for a shower and to really
start the day!
It was wonderful to be greeted by so many friends. Henk and Janice
had aseembled quite a group and they all pitched in and helped the
crew to load in to De Kade. The club has a large dressing room and
they had set it up with loads of goodies so we made ourselves at
home (as we do) and prepared for sound check. My cold has become
quite a lot worse but if I can talk then I will try to sing!! Seems
like only I could get a cold in the middle of Summer… a summer
bummer… but part of life on the road.
Sound check was difficult and we had lots of little niggly problems
which were elusive and hard to solve actually. But, from experience,
I know that sometimes bad sound checks can lead to good shows so
I wasn't too bothered by it. Because of the length of sound check
we were a little rushed but we seemed ready and we went for it!
My voice was a bit rough tonight but the band played well and the
crowd were fantastic of course! Louis and Diane had joined us and
little Cristoffer was singing along with everyone else. They loved
the show and had many positive comments to make but for us it had
been one of the most difficult shows so far. Aaron (our stand-in
sound engineer) had done some research and discovered the cause
of all of our technical problems had been that the equipment was
only seeing about 208-212 volts instead of 220 and this had a really
bad effect, especially as all of our amps, the Hammond & Leslie
etc. are tube (valve) operated. The tone generators in the Hammond
are entirely voltage dependent and sensitive so this explained pretty
much everything. But, that's rock & roll and we get to come
back another day, better prepared!
After the show we had a little party in the dressing room and Louis
and I did a short interview for Paperlate Radio which will be "netcast"
on Monday and then we got down to the serious business of eating!!
After saying good-bye to everyone we got into the Indian food we
had ordered before the show and it was delicious! (probably because
we were all so hungry!) Then it was time to get on the bus and head
for Belgium. Sure we are still navigating the "bumps in the
road" but in general I would have to say that life is good!
Next day...
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