woke up as we clamored off the ferry .. on our way to amsterdam

looks like another sunny day with billowy clouds out there

onward .. .

sleep some more then up again jet lag early
had some breakfast on the bus .. remembering how nice it feels to have the lower lounge to yourself while everyone still sleeps .. like a yacht .. one by one stragglers come on down the bus steps .. when too many stumble down, its time for another nap

arrive about 2:00 .. head over to coffee with carice and do some laundry already .. then back in time for sound check which lasts all day as we rehearse a ton of songs .. jb shows up and sits in ..

by the time we are done enjoying rehearsal, we had a few minutes before the doors open .. and then brian opens the night with his set borrowing most of the band

we start up at about 8:00 and this time do most of the album in order of the songs on it .. at some point we deviate and play skeeter davis’ “the end of the world” featuring lonna singing … right before “not the end of the world” .. and lonna sounding great and jon’s trumpet ruling the house

i think we played the entire album tonight .. .

got tired about half way through and just sat back a bit to let the big band carry on through one jam .. then i pick up the guitar like a baton and wham some chords to bring it to an end

the crowd filled up pretty good for a late date addition to the tour .. and they were all so damn sweet

the next day will yield a 4 outa 5 star review in the daily paper
.. they begin the article by their own astonishment of our string section parents performing with their baby rosa on their back and protective ear muffs on during the entire set .. and end it by suggesting my “sweet revenge” over losing my previous band to what became calexico in some slant of “betrayal”, then compares both bands and cites our sound as having more depth and excitement then their camp .. its a funny thing to see what people must think of an elongated history and how its played itself out .. who knows what anyone thinks until way after it doesn’t matter any more ?

after the show .. sweaty and happy .. and o so tired … i stayed back in amsterdam over night to fly to vienna next morning in hopes of making a tv appearance on time instead of the late bus, long ride gamble

side notes:
• brian’s set sounded so fine .. provided a wonderful conjure for our set
• some south african fans after the show again .. very sweet
• serbian woman who’s a big fan and works as a flight attendant for emerites airline .. the airline with a spa up front
• my old whammy pedal was brought out and sounded awful great with the new gretsch plank guitar . . ..
• next thing i gotta do is set up a pedal plank too ..

a quiet beer with carice and jb after it all .. then some needed sleep … we are like the 3 musketeers .. a tight triangle .. a love

meanwhile .. the bus began to pull out .. slowly at first .. and opening the side door without stopping so miguel could close the venue gate and just quickly hop in without causing a traffic problem … but at the exact moment the side door popped open .. it slammed into an approaching biker and knocked her to the pavement .. fortunately only minor wounds .. but still .. freaky

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