Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The sun is starting to be a more regular traveling companion with us here in north central Europe. Most of the stuff we've driven through so far feels like a less-barren Wisconsin. Spring's just coming to the land of the German-speaking, so everything's a timid green. Some hills on the horizon but mostly fields and fields. In Germany, this includes those War of the Worlds windmills I mentioned.
Yesterday was the day in the vans. We left about 10AM and didn't really get to the hotel until after 8PM. In the middle was what I feared most of this trip would be - riding, riding. I was in van A,
The cultural highlight of the day was a screening of "Saw 2", a real dire waste of money that included 6 violent deaths, 4 - 5 graphic non-fatal mutilations and one New Kid on the Block. I cannot say it was unmitigated trash as Thad and Jeff claim that "Saw 3" was somehow even worse. But give me a break. I can appreciate that the movie was a barely patched together series of ketchup squirting vignettes, but the forced narrative twists were what made us gag. Here's the patented AP Haiku Review:
Evil puppet movie drags on
Butchering actors and plot
After a while the TV faded off and the day was taken over by a droning, dark rain. Everyone in the van drifted to sleep or stasis as light drained away from the cloudy sky. The hours just shifted into one another. We crossed from Germany to Austria and slipped along the highway in a gray rain.
We quietly pulled into our weird hotel - a mix between a public storage facility and a brand new cell block. And where to find dinner for 15 spaced out rock types with various dietary needs? Well thank god for the entrepreneurial spirit that magically fuels the Chinese to open up a greasy Asian buffet in every populated corner of the world because that's what fed us. Then it was back to Hotel Ikea-stan to revel in our night off. Cliff, Thad and I watched baseball via the wonderful Internet for a while before I drifted down to where the Kiwis were drinking (the center of any party). Talked some bullshit with them and a couple of the Isis types before heading back to bed. (Sorry Eugene, that's about all you're going to get.)
Today the roller coaster begins - 5 countries, 6 nights, 6 shows. I've been anticipating this. We're loading in early to make sure all is set for the biggest venue we'll be playing - a capacity of nearly 1000 people. Madness, I tell you. Given the current Euro conversion rate, that translates to nearly 5200 people in the US! Screw you Twin Tone records for saying we'd never be a success.
Listening to -
Whatever weird stuff Cliff puts on in the van
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