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White
Van Sante: Gravel Hauliers to the stars
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The
Start:
A comparatively short and leisurely affair,
our 2006 tour of Germany starts with a
night off by the Rhine just south of Cologne,
Eating pigs in cream; drinking lovely
great flagons of Pils of which Mr. Whippy
himself would have been proud; and musing
on the possible paths our lives might
have taken had we not all ended up in
Battlefield Band. Yes, Alasdair has always
wanted to be a barge captain on the Rhine
and in some ways Rob still is.
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Thursday 19th January
Our
first concert is in Bad Homberg at the
Englische Kirche. This is not only a great
gig but notably it is one which the band
has not before played. This is quite a
feat as since 1975, Alan has played for
nearly every German citizen at every venue
from the largest opera halls through the
most beer-stained rock clubs and even
most people’s living rooms. Indeed,
Alan was only narrowly defeated (twice)
in his attempt to become Chancellor during
the mid-1980’s.
The
Batties will get you wherever you are
like …junk mail… Kitchens
Direct…. Malaria!. You cannae hide
from the Batties. At any rate, our concert
in Bad Homeboy was a fine start to our
tour so Kebabs for everybody.
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Germany's
loss was the Batties gain.
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| Friday
20th January
Hans
Mohr is a great musician who plays accordion,
guitar, and sings as well as running this
gig in his pub in Kirchheimbolanden. The
concert is great but more importantly
we have a big tune afterwards downstairs
in the bar and Hans’s fine collection
of single malt whiskies gets an airing.
This is Pfalz, which is Germany’s
wine region but one must adhere to one’s
cultural stereotype as to not disappoint
the locals so whisky it is.
As well as the tunes, Hans and a couple
of locals regale us with songs in the
Pfalz dialect. I do not understand the
libretto but the tunes are great.
Saturday
21st January
It
has been many years since Battlefield
Band has performed in Backnang-Steinbach
but this turns out to be a nice gig. The
venue is called Club Junges Europa and
has these three initials emblazoned upon
the wall outside: CJE. Just as well the
club doesn’t carry the moniker Club
Junges Deutchland.
After
the concert we head off for a late night
bite at a grill. The Grill television
is on showing Rambo dubbed into German
with Greek Subtitles. Where normally Stallone
provides a fruitsome cocktail of stuff
and nonsense on our screens, somehow with
this oddly enforced polygluttony, Rambo
makes some kind of sense: maybe it is
just the pils. |
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Sunday
22nd January
Today
we play at an Irish bar in Speyer. This
is a Cathedral town, which attracts
many tourists and the Cathedral is indeed
impressive. The pub is quite close to
the Cathedral but closer still to an
aeroplane museum so immediately next
to the boozer is a 747 and a Concorde,
suspended model-like in mid-air. And
if suspenders are your thing, there
is even a bordello upstairs: Good clean
highland fun for the whole family. This
turns out to be a top class night: A
right Spanish karaoke indeed! The venue
is full and the organizer, Hans, is
a good guy. He runs two pubs in Speyer
as well as a Scottish/Irish import shop
along with some very plush holiday apartments
so when taking your holidays in Speyer,
just phone Hans
Liebers and his amazing Zimmervermietung
at number 2 Karl-Leiling-Allee in Speyer.
Tel: 0232 74061
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Please
Note: As of today the tour diaries will
no longer be an independent, non-commercial
journal,
In
order to continue pursuing the highest
standards of journalistic integrity and
buy tickets for Hibernian Football Club,
we have been forced to run a classified
adverts section and accept sponsorship
from various sources. All free stuff,
cash, cheques, match tickets, pies, hair
products and sunglasses will be gratefully
accepted and exchanged for shameless plugs
and product endorsement. |
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