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THE BIRTHDAY
What a great way to spend a birthday…
headlining a festival, having "happy birthday" sung to
me by 7000 people, meeting some more great people and doing the
thing I like to do best!! It was great to see the band again after
our short break and, as usual the festival atmosphere made it all
the more exciting!!
I have to say a huge "thank you" to Lars Ratz of Monster
Productions (and "Metalium" by the way!) who not only
booked and organised this show but along with his wife, Stephanie,
was there to meet us at the hotel with champagne (which I don't
like much by the way) and small gifts to kick things off. (I like
birthdays!!)
"Rolling Wheels" is a German motor cycle club and the
organisation was excellent… from the time they picked us up
at Tegel Airport (which is listed as Berlin but which seems like
it's a long way from everywhere!) to the transportation, the food
and, well, everything!
The whole festival site was like a giant Harley-Davidson car park
with a few BMW's, Buells and even an ancient "Indian"
thrown in and it's easy to spend hours just looking at these machines.
The "colour du jour" was of course black and the "material
du jour" was, naturally, leather. Even the weather co-operated
and contributed to the whole vibe.
Fehrberlin, where the festival site is located, is actually in what
used to be east Germany and the town itself is tiny. The Hotel Am
Rhin was comfortable if a little "basic" (the bar closed
at 20:00!!) but I didn't hear one complaint from anyone. In fact,
now I come to think of it I rarely do!
At the end of the day it was probably the best "Free Spirit"
show ever (so far)… the band really rocked and we celebrated
my birthday in style afterwards with a whole bunch of lovely people,
including two people from Togliatti in Russia who presented me with
some nice gifts and the "official" invitation for the
events in September!! I like birthdays!!! (or did I already mention
that??)
One way or another, the whole event, along with the passing of another
year of my life, made me reflect on just how lucky I am and have
been throughout my life. I have always been a positive thinker,
preferring to count my blessings instead of my troubles and that
attitude has served me well during the last four years which have
been some of the most challenging of my life. I have so much to
be thankful for and I wouldn't mind betting that most of us do…
if we cared to be honest!
"Make every moment count" seems to be the best approach
and my glass always looks half full… never half empty!!
Now it's off to finish writing the new CD, "Opramenko",
before we go to Russia, Switzerland and Spain for the last few shows
of this year. the last quarter of 2002 will be spent in the studio
in Spain so we can launch all kinds of new stuff in 2003!!
Bye for now!!
Ken Hensley
Berlin, August 2002
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