Melanie Dekker Europe 2009

 

April 23 to 28

Landed in Hamburg from YVR and drove for a few hours North to get to Denmark in our little black Mercedes Benz. Too sleepy to think it through but it would have been wise to load up on amenities and junk food of any kind as everything costs a little more in Denmark. Spring has arrived and so have spring showers, cherry blossom trees, pink & purple tulips and thousands of singing birds. Our first hotel was a bed and breakfast, without the breakfast but complete with a bathtub made for three and a trampoline. The circus is coming to Denmark and if need be I found out that Jason could impress and join the circus folks with his fabulous and breathtaking full back and front flips! Me? I liked bouncing up and down. Our first concert was a nice full house and we had good friends & musicians Dorthe and Svende in the audience. Danish pork and potatoes were our first meal. Technical challenge #1: Jason's trying a new guitar and it gave out on him on his first improv (always done on the 2nd set) while he knocked it to create a drum/guitar loop beat...some girls just don't like to be playfully hit that way!...so he will have to be more gentle or hit her in a new spot. We revealed a few personal breakthroughs to our audience and laughed at each other and ourselves. Laugh more-lesson of the day! My phone doesn't accept phone cards here, unless I work out a way to get it unlocked; Technical challenge #2.

Our next concert was a 'long way' in Denmark-about 2.5 hours drive (ha-ha!) and that meant going to the middle island where we cross the glorious Lillebaelt Bridge, the bridge connecting Funen and Jutland (two of the larger islands of Denmark). A group of bikers stopped at the same gas station (Gas costs twice as much here as in BC btw!) where we got a close look at the Danish Nimbus fatboy-like bikes. Oddly we later shared a parking lot with a Miata or MX5 club of drivers too (on any other day I would have been in my own!). We had a little party after our concert in Soro, that included three vivacious characters who spoke of Danish History, Language and Vikings. Liver Pate, cheese and cucumber was part of this midnight snack. Especially memorable was the dancing father and son team behind the sound board and the moment when Jason ordered a shot of whiskey at the bar, and the bartender handed him the bottle..."here, pour your own". "Uhmmm, okay:)"... Now that alcohol is the leading topic for the moment, I must mention that it goes 'on sale' here. Various products, just like North American groceries, are 50% off, or 2 for 1. Sweet! Our concert in Aarup was in a movie theater (no movie shown). Now why doesn't somebody take on that idea back home? Brilliant. Luckily most people speak a little bit of English as the language has vowels that are very tricky to pronounce and many consonants written are silent Then there are Danish words that look like English, but are not. Such as the Lingerie store called TITTIT, and the shaving cream called Mr.Barberskum. The music we hear on the radio is 90% English. Though the man on the 100 DKK bill, Mr. Carl Nielsen, is the composer whose chorals works are cranked in our car at the moment!  Odense is a great city for our days off! We've both worked out at FitnessDK where the machines are killer...and now we feel like killer machines; indeed some temporary muscle damage was done. Loved it! I have loved my long runs here too, and swallowing many new Danish bugs along the way, is well worth the flowering country-side.

          

 

April 29 to May 5

Strawberries are in season! I am taking full advantage! Denmark is “fresh”.

We learned in Svendborg that in smaller restaurant type venues that you can still smoke. Sometimes smoking looks like so much fun, but it’s not for me.  That is one destructive behavior that we seem to share a species…odd. The Danish are an honest hardworking culture with little to no stress. We haven’t seen or heard a stressed person! We understand that people live longer here than anywhere in the world! We had policemen on a fancy motorbike pull us over on the highway. That is he drove beside us and just about tapped on the driver’s window and then he lead the way to the nearest pull off.  He warned us to slow down and then he instructed us to make a U turn back onto the highway.

We made a stop in Viborg, looking for my friend Matt Vrba. Who is on tour as well, though without a phone or computer…we knocked on his B & B door, which Jason found like a homing pigeon as we had been there last year…but we’d missed him by an hour. To feel good again we bought our tour mascot, Herman the succulent. His rough scaly leaves are like an alligator and he lives between the seats.
Fermaten in Herning has best sound and light tech so far. A link to some concert shots here:

Fermaten - Herning
http://www.flemmingscully.dk/thumbnails.php?album=187 

Bakkehuset - Ikast
http://www.flemmingscully.dk/thumbnails.php?album=185

Electronic posters and ads there are displayed on huge TV screens; no messy posters on the walls. And these TV’s don’t play the sports channels. Our driver that day took us to a huge black ‘sculpture’ which is an art piece like a giant black dome, which shoots a randomly fired flame through the middle. Though unknown, it is guessed that it is symbolizing an upside-down cow?!  The country side here is full of yellow tall flowers (yet to be named), cows, and sheep and we make our way North on this day to Skovsgaard. One might call this a one horse town, surrounded by fjords on one side and open ocean the other. The beaches looked like those in Holland with a few old bunkers for added character. We saw 2 people and one dog.

A marathon was making its way through the almost always smooth moving traffic circle while we were minutes from catching our Samsø ferry ! Made it..barely! Be there 15 min prior to your reservation or you are not going. The Brundby Rock Hotel likes you to bring your own mics. We always travel with them, but don’t always use them because often the venues are using state of the art newer better ones (Danish venues have particularly good hi-tech gear.  A kitten came in through the window of our back room. Jason named him Lickem. This cat licked more that most dogs do! Samsø could be the most peaceful and electrified place on earth…the northern tip of the 15 km long island is all beach and sand dunes. I took off my boots to feel the white soft sand & gorgeous blue green ocean under my feet. The shells and stones are pastel in color. We saw 4 people.

There is a cancellation in Maanen. That never feels good, but there is no sense stressing over something you can do nothing about and this town is trendy and fun…though as all places in Denmark; deserted on a Sunday. A few very windy glorious days off are spent in a B&B above a bakery in RIBE, the oldest city in Denmark. Our hosts leave us baked fluffy chocolate treats at night. Isn’t it amazing how good a surprise like that feels?! The town has their 1200 year anniversary this year. Amber jewelry and Mead (Drink from the horns of your cap when possible!) is popular here. Jason goes to the church to write some there are so many glorious churches complete with fancy pipe organs and angelic stained glass. I am sensing some big changes. The wind is strong;almost always…which also explains why the Dutch and Danish girls historically wore braids!

             

May 6 - 11

Mel wins a bet! And Jason usually wins those as it is beer that is granted to the winner. There were pheasants on Samsø island, NOT turkeys. There have been some tour casualties which include: Jason's left arm burning as he is driving most of the time, Mel's lost pajamas, many lost picks (plectrum), a speeding ticket where we were forced to pay cash, 1/2 a dozen felt markers used for signing CDs and posters have 'disappeared', the phone card bought in Denmark does not work in Germany, Mel's been stabbed by the safety pins she uses to tie her shirts to her bra strap in the middle of a concert, internet is costly in Germany and mostly free in Denmark so we don’t write home as much, Mel has fallen off her bed while trying to jump into it (the stronger Germany beer partly at fault) and sustained a few bruises, one night while singing the inside of Mel's cheek/mouth got so swollen her speech changed (no explanation, and it was gone in the morning!), most of Jason's clothes have turned blue as he mixed whites with leaking colors at an automated laundry place (tell him he looks good in blue!), Jason’s thumbs have developed calluses that ache from gripping the steering wheel while on the autobahn, the guitar cases are taking on serious wear and tear and Mel's favorite stickers are peeling off, and Mel’s camera died suddenly (fans SEND in your photos!). Truly though, everything is fantastic!

We visited a true Viking area just outside Ribe where tourists are more than welcome to check out the Vikings ways of thinking and doing things. Fables and beliefs had much to do with fate and destiny back then and most of their ways were guided by hunting, carving, and sitting together on sheep skins in a large log homes or white tents. We practiced our archery technique and Jason kicked ass.

Our next stop, Aalborg, was the place to have one big party. Not only was our concert well received and our opener a killer Danish rock songwriter (Chris Hayes) but THE STREET -otherwise called Jomfru- takes no prisoners. Free beer is offered at the doors of each pub or club and live music of all kinds is everywhere. We hung out with Chris and his groupies and learned that tipping is not done in bars and clubs & most walk or take their bicycles.The Kulturhus in Ebeltoft greeted us with an alarm sounding as we walked up to the stage. One of those loud ones that would make a dog cry. oops! Our hearts pumped all night and the buzz of the place & the people had us unwinding for a long time with 4 of the most intriguing, funny and fascinating Danish folks we now know & love! We learned that Christmas in DK is celebrated on Christmas eve and food focus is around a meat roast & a dessert with berries and flod (whipping cream). Actually, the sound of Danish always seems to amuse foreigners, including me, which gives the language a certain entertainment value. Many people say that Danes speak like they have a hot potato in their mouth. Of course, the Danes themselves find their language both charming and pretty though they are aware of the fact that Danish can be difficult to learn for people from other countries. Because of that, most Danes find it amusing to test foreigners with the sentence Rødgrød med fløde (A Danish dessert), because they know that foreigners are unable to pronounce it (Jason proudly is pretty good at this). "ø " is best learned with ones tongue sticking out & curled up slightly, or so it seems as this was clearly demonstrated all at once by an entire table of fans in Thisted at our following concert. The drive to Thisted (Northern Denmark) was one of the most beautiful so far; with its marshland & rolling hills & 100's of white swans. Up until this part of our tour Danish people who had seen the tour booklet raised their eyebrow when they saw Thisted on our tour schedule. Perhaps because it is remote or something else... We didn't sense anything odd. Just wonderful enthusiasm, charisma, vibrancy,  hippy-like characters & YES! a standing ovation. I'd go back in heartbeat! And so would Jason!

                     

May 12 to 17, 2009

My agent Kevin called this the yo-yo part of the tour…back and forth between Denmark and Germany a few times. These countries have very special and unique differences. Noticed immediately as we cross a border-less ‘border’ is  the German’s use the Euro, the Danes use their own currency still (the Danish Kroner), most things are cheaper in Germany and the autobahn is speedlimitless!

We have started shopping and supported the local economies in Bad Neustadt, DE & Fredrecia, DK with new jeans, shirts and shoes (white clogs for me & rocker slick shoes for Jason). After living out of a suitcase for a while, it’s easier to crave new clothes. The ‘need’ becomes stronger somehow…and we look better and thus feel better now! DK is very environmentally conscious and one example of this is it’s expected you have your own shopping bag (it’s either not available at all or otherwise you can pay for one). Another example is that the Danes pay good money to return bottles of any kind via a fancy machine which takes in the bottle one by one, measuring them for intake and disposal accuracy and then spits out a receipt to be cashed at the grocery cashier or deposited into a ‘donation jar’ to help needy children.

Bad Neustadt is pretty and quaint, and we got to know it well on foot as the info center gave us terrible & incorrect directions, so it took over an hour to find an internet café (which was really a very smoky slot machine games place with one computer). The hotel was regal with a 5 ft in width wooden door to my room and Mr. Beidermann’s  40th birthday party was a hit; though for us, it was the toughest concert so far on the tour. The upside was that my favorite German guitarist and friend, Stefan Rapp (& his new love), joined us for 4 songs. That was a-dream-come true for me.  Fabulous, smooth & tasty Stefan with the clever, articulate & virtuosic Jason performing my songs! (Also, Thanks for the lovely tribal like shell bracelet from Mrs. Beidermann).  Bad Driburg, DE was our next stop and we were greeted by old friends and a full house, and consumed our first taste of nice cold and herbal Jagermiester. We picked up picks (plectrums!), a guitar stand (Mel has gone far too long without one), & some l.e.d. lights at the Music shop Saake. (Especially noted: Special German made guitar plectrums are triangular and have three different thickness points, Mel is craving some guitar effects now & Jason knows how to rock out hard on an electric drum kit.)  We were gifted flowers, red wine (by the way: incredibly priced in Germany-1/4 of what we pay in Canada) & two irresistible jars of chocolate spread –made in Madagascar by the Dutch- for future not so healthy but extra LECKER/LEKKER sandwiches (Mel grew up on this stuff!)It was exciting then to hit the big city of Hamburg, where we played in the red light district. This cozy concert was entirely unplugged. As the enthusiastic bunch of fans cheered, curious very well-dressed transvestites looked into the window of the venue and then passed by.  Our hotel was called Hostel Hotel. Don’t judge a book by its cover. This place was trendy and Ikea-like! We made a tourist stop to St. Michael’s cathedral (mixture of Baroque & gothic style) which has a tower that looks over most of the harbor and the city. Stellar & breathtaking!

Friday night at the Ungdommenshus in Fredrecia DK, was a place that had rooms for musicians and walls dedicated for fantastic displays of graffiti. Our stage usually hosts Metal bands. The concert was a little quieter than we had hoped, though they did an incredible amount of promotion, it didn’t stick or pull ‘em in. We ate delicious fresh meal complete with gorgeous fresh bread (we haven’t gone without fresh bread since we’ve been on this tour) and made new friends including a rap star who’s won the “Denmark’s Idol.” Saturday we played Ishoj, DK on a huge outdoor stage just outside a mall where fans braved the windy rain by sharing umbrellas and cuddling beneath them with cigarettes and beers in hand; reminding us of the warm, relaxed, and liberal & community-feel atmosphere in Denmark.  Two quotes have helped keep my spirits in check this tour:

"There's only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give everything." - Vince Lombardi

“If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.” -Otis Broadwater

    

                       

May 18 to May 24

I took to running on the beach on our day off in beautiful Kirtiminde. The first attempt was so windy that I couldn't hear myself even think. The 2nd time there was glorious sunshine, & I ran staring at the great bridge in Denmark. Neither day, did I see a single soul!  We made a quick trip into Copenhagen; a crazy place for a Saturday night. By chance we parked next to an American muscle car show off scene in a parking lot. There were loads of spinning tires and I wanted to name this one silver truck "mine" (see photo). We met a bass German bass player who had three gigs in Copenhagen Denmark in one night, as a hired gun.. he didn't know even the bands he was playing in! Next we excitedly visited Egskov Castle. This castle is like a fairytale, with its columns & draw bridges and its 20 meter deep moat. We did some tree climbing and then hit the outdoor maze. It was so hard that I escaped out of it & helped Jason guide to the finish (the center!). Norderstadt, DE show, where the front door of the club was tucked behind a bakery, was professionally filmed (soon available for viewing) and we played to a standing room only crowd who were music fanatics mostly and then we ate late night Turkish food. A fan, Dirk, greeted us early at our concert in Kiel, gosh, there isn't enough time to play both tourist and pop-rock star!  So much to see and fee and experience and so little time! Kiel is super cool & so is Hansa 48! Jason and I hung out at the haupbahnhof where we gazed and massive cruise ships that take people to Sweden & Norway.  I had wonderful minutes in the sun reading a book that makes me laugh and cry out loud called "water for elephants". It was the first "skirt" day this year and the sun burnt my right thigh. I lost my sunglasses in the mall while buying a new camera. It made me so mad at myself! AAH! Our stage show was firey & full of surprises. Jason's guitar got funky and "dead" with battery troubles and I sang songs solo while it was sorted out .. as Jason got back on stage he remarked .. nothing a little toilet paper won't fix...! To get contact between the battery and the guitar he used toilet paper?

We had to make a big drive down to Bavaria to play our next two concerts. Coberg is home to the oldest known fast food in the world. Bratwurst. I indulged in the long piece of perfected pork gripped by a small white crusty on the outside bun. We also toured around the largest castle in Germany over looking Coberg! It is so majestic. I was surprised by a fantastic mixture of my greatest fans and friends at the show. The HiFi Garber shop guys, Thomas Bauer, Hans Kraus & Thomas Pf. Sometimes having people you know in the audience can make it harder to truly focus on the music ... something different about it. None of the stage lights worked but there were so many camera flashes going all night that we were well lit up most of the time! I felt lonely today, though also full of gratitude. Also had a flood of mixed emotions that come with living out of a suitcase and Bamberg makes a special smoked beer; that was lunch today ... The tourists flooded Bamberg and I am glad that I have seen it in quieter times of year. It took 1.5 hours to get served dinner. We played in what I could call a 6 star in Neuruppin. A spa-resort hotel. Bomi, a tour hand, greeted us at the door in a white robe and before you knew it we were all naked and floating in a warm salt bath & then catching up in a sauna overlooking a serene lake. I had a naked lady ask naked little me for an autograph ...No, I don't know where she found the pen and paper!? We laughed alot on stage mused that most our audience we had seen naked already during the day. The concert was everything but typical. The lobby, with its mostly glass design, was turned into a gorgeous & pro concert scene; proudly we received a standing ovation!

                                         

May 25 to May 29

I have been able to write a little and read a lot on this tour. The packing and unpacking and checking in daily and then the drives combined with soundchecks and then arrival times at the venues through to the concert and the packup (5:30 to 1am), leave us little time to do much else. However…we both still try to compose or see something new or taste something local in the few moments we have. In the last few days we have squeezed in house visits to friends that live close to the route we must take for the next show. That included a surprise Tent concert for a cool kid named Lukas and hanging with my lyric translator Trouble Angie. (Angie & Thomas PF We love you-they may be our drivers/tour hands next tour!). Visiting Marburg was a familiar scene to me as I think this is my 5th visit! This time, there was no climb up to the castle, rather we rented a paddle boat & floated around while ducks floated eagerly beside us with their soft fluffy ducklings hoping to score some of the fresh pretzels we were eating. We stayed in a spectacular old house belonging to a sax player & dentist who is called “Z” (like Zee, not Zed). It overlooked the gorgeous town of Marburg (almost untouched during the war), and its castle.

Every now and then there are ‘party’ venues. You can’t guess it ahead of time…Obermarchtal was this for us. It was a wild, loose and sweaty show, with the spectators standing only. Some fans were new as they had heard us on the radio that day. (We did a show at Radio Free in Ulm). The town, though you wouldn’t know by the crowd, is so small that a 4 minute drive to the hotel has us in another town! It’s not common to have dark curtains to keep the morning light from one’s eyes in the hotel rooms so often we are up earlier than maybe we would like and this time we use the time to explore Leipheim and I do a long run along the River Danube & the dreamy woods. Then we both take a short tourist trek to the historic and colorful Gunzberg, and then to Ulm to visit Thomas at Fortune records, indulge at Einstein’s Restaurant and make flyers for Jason-as his CDs are sold out. We could see the concert advertisements everywhere we turned (thank you to Bomi for this!). Leipheim offered us a fabulous stage & extra pro hostessing. This castles headquarters (Zehntstadel) was full and even the balcony was used. Andreas, a Jazz drummer joined us for a few songs. Jason and I have played together now for more than 20 concerts this tour & it’s tricky to add a third whom we hadn’t rehearsed with or performed with before, but he was awesome (a myspace connection!). Now a drive up to Reichenbach…ummm there are more than 25 of them in Germany! Know your postal codes! We were close to Stuttgart and Die Halle lay in the woods. Our crew was like buddies and there was a Joan Armatrading poster on the wall (Mel, smiling…). This night was full of wonderful surprises, and we even had a drummers side wash speaker on stage (making us feel bigger! Ha-ha) It was a big CD sales night, and a lovely man gave Mel a Cd of photos from last tour…perhaps there is magic in these woods close to Stuttgart.

May 30 – June 2

It’s getting close the end, and there is a sadness here in my heart. Tours can be tough. There’s a lot of movement and people. It’s an upper. Coming down off a tour is something that I can’t equate to anything else…and as much as I feel fantastic I know there are melancholy, reflective days ahead. May 30^th I was back at the ABC Keller, it had been almost three years I think! We were both stressed and though everything lined up and the music glowed, it felt as though something were missing tonight. The Rock times didn’t seem to notice and that might mean that we can be good even when we don’t feel 110%. In another breath, this too is something to be proud of: http://www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/d/melanie_dekker/abc09.html

The following day we made a detour to my cousins houses in Holland. WHAT A THRILL!! We knocked on the door and surprised them! (good thing someone was home!).  Jason mangled his leg on a trampoline…by not landing on it in mid back flip and I ate Dutch chocolate sandwiches. Now back to Germany…in time for sundown, just. June 1^st, my birthday…and the most wonderful party ever! The audience sang happy birthday and there were so many flowers and a gift from the hi-fi Garber shop! A Michael Jackson record (wow! And yes, I am a fan...). Thank you for the tears of joy and laughter you all shared with me on this day!...on this tour and journey. Thank you for the privilege of sharing my work, my passions, and music, with you! I hope you’ll join me again.

Some videos of our final performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNP85m2m20o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24QADLRrrHg