Feb
/ March 2005
Germany,
Luxembourg, France & Switzerland
|
Mike
Katz, your intrepid
correspondent, is 'away'.
Filling his slingbacks this
week will be:
Ms
Meek Katz
Your Insipid Attendant |
| Friday
25th February
Friday
morning and off to France for lunch before our
concert in Cernay near Mullhouse. Cernay is
famous for the eighty storks who reside here.
Normally migratory, these animals have opted
to stay here all year round such is their fondness
for the town. We have had a number of great
gigs in this part of France in recent years
thanks to our pal Jean Heuber. His sons have
a great band with whom we played some years
ago. The boss at the Espace Grun is Jacques
Boura A great guy from Normandy and after the
show we have cous cous with he and his team
amid much great banter and hilarity as Pat is
a fluent francophone and Alan is pretty good
too.
|
Gimmie
the cash man, this banana's loaded... |
Saturday
26th February An
international day today we have our breakfast
in France, Drive to Dachau near Munich to play
a concert before driving to Salzburg in Austria
in order to fly home tomorrow for two days recording.
The drive through the snow covered Black Forest
is very impressive and as it is Saturday, the
locals are out in force skiing. This show in
the Leierkasten is to commemorate their twenty-fifth
anniversary and there is a nice crowd.
Some years ago (1998 I believe) we played a
festival in Dachau which was a great night altogether
but I remember in particular driving away from
a petrol station and accidentally leaving Rob
there. Well this time we have institutionalised
the event by leaving Rob in Salzburg for three
days to peruse the local hardware stores while
we return to Edinburgh.
|
"Who
knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
The Shadow knows!" |
| Sunday
27th February
We are using the budget airlines
to make our way home feasibly though this is
sometimes fraught with surprises.. well not
so much surprises as w***kers. For some reason
all of the aforementioned “surprises”
tend to reside in the Peoples Republic of Stanstead.
Of all of the countries we have visited this
week, this one is definitely the most backward.
I was lucky enough to deal with one “Trystan”
or “Sebastian” was his name. He
must have been fairly important in this principality
as he charged me 32 quid and wouldn’t
allow me to take my pipes on as hand-luggage
as it was a “security issue.” Being
charged the money is ok as it is part of the
deal but the zeal with which the news is delivered
is unique in this place. “Do you accept
credit cards” I enquire. “Oh Yes”
was the reply – with glee. Unfortunately
our flight coincides with the England v. Ireland
rugby match so we were unable to watch it, but
by all accounts it was a fine match and ultimately
we make it home.
After a day recording it is time to make our
way back to Salzburg. Pat, Alasdair, and myself
are scheduled to return to Stanstonia however
they have delayed the flight by five hours so
we have no hope of making the connection to
Salzburg so we take the only action to which
we have any recourse – The Airport shuttle
to the Roseburn Bar in Edinburgh for a couple
of pints. Fortified with pints of heavy, we
return to face our overnight stay in limbo before
we get the 6:45 a.m. flight to Salzburg tomorrow.
Upon arrival in Stanstead, we escape the “Ville
des Hotel” and eventually procure a taxi
to Bishop Stortford and what turns out to be
an excellent curry – not the usual fare
in the middle of a German tour. After three
hours sleep we get our flight to Salzburg and
drive to Waldkraiberg where the courteous and
helpful hotel staff at the City Hotel furnish
us with our rooms at midday so as we can get
some sleep before tonight’s show.
|
I say
Watson, to my trained eye this appears to be a
certain Mr Le Bon's cheek indentation... |
Wednesday
2nd March
Hans-Jorg Malonek runs the Haus der Kultur
in Waldkraiberg – a modern town northwest
of Munich. Many years ago Hans-Jorg ran a club
in Villingen-Schwenningen and as such he is
an old pal of Alan and Pat’s. We decide
to forgo our tea after the concert in order
to have a couple of pints with Hans-Jorg.
Thursday
3rd March
This
afternoon we have another press engagement with
Frank Medwedeff in Munich. Frank writes for
Musikwoche magazine so he interviews us and
takes our photo on the famous couch, which has
seen many a celebrity’s arse. We asked
him if he could identify the actual cheeks by
the imprints but we all need glasses and it
just became a case of the blind leading the
blind and it was lunchtime anyway.
After a hearty Bavarian lunch we make our way
to Dehnberg near Lauf and the Dehnberger Hoftheatre.
This is a beautiful theatre in the country and
they have sold so many tickets that Rob has
been banished from the room so he will have
to do the sound from the pub next door. This
is no great hardship for Rob as he is well adept
at drinking beer and mixing sound.
|
| Friday
4th March
No
tour in Germany is complete without a gig in
a slaughter house so it is with baited breath
that we venture off to Geislingen near Stuttgart
to play in the Ratsche in the Schlachthof. This
was for me the most enjoyable gig of the tour:
The crowd was up for it, We played a storming
set, Alan had a nice piano, And the apre ski
was great. Joachim and his cronies are socialists
and real music mavens: Not just diddly music
but also Jazz, Blues, and all kinds of obscure
alternative forms of rock and pop music. Sometime
after 3:00 a.m. the ice hostesses skated back
to their hotel.
|
Saturday
5th March
Battair
skites to the former East for our last
concert of this international tour. Tonight
we are in the Wernesgruner Brauerei not
far from the Czech border. We have played
here before as part of the Scottish Folk
festival tour and I remember both the
hall and Thomas, the boss. At this gig
there is a font backstage from which the
artists help themselves to beer. The hall
is a massive old wooden barn that has
been beautifully restored: It could probably
hold 800 cattle. Tonight we are sharing
the bill with the Aberlour’s –
A folk-rock band from Halle – and
Pipeline from Munich. Pipeline consists
of the multi-talented Tome Hake - a mean
guitar/bazouki player as well as a singer,
piper, harp and whistle player - and my
old chum Dermot Hyde from Edinburgh who
is a great piper, singer, and whistle
player. It is always a pleasure to meet
pals on the road and this is a great end
to a tour. The hilarity continued back
at the hotel playing tunes until 4:30
in the morning with Tom and Dermot.
|
Battair
in full flight |
Sunday
6th March
After
a six- hour drive we make our way home via a
top secret airport, allegedly near Dusseldorf
though it is not on any map. Vive l’Europe.
|
|
Photies
were taken by various people, one of whom may, or may not,
have been Rob Van Sante.
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