New energy source that helped make this tour possible
Stage clothes for this Acoustic Ride III tour provided by Bellissima Fashions
Week Six
Week Five
Now we are headed back through Germany (where the tour started). The Czech Republic's cheap beer, liquor, gas and food will be missed. As we travel to Straubing, we notice that Bavarian people smile more than most! It's almost like they know something that we don't (wink wink). I love it that way. I also love their Riesling! In Straubing, we also have the best rock star parking I have ever experienced. On the train platform! Where our trusted wheels stayed all night long! In Karlruhe we meet up with Thomas Pf, Hans and Bomi (photographers and tour help). This leads to a surprise appearance by yours truly at a local Irish pub, following our show with Blue Rose record's Leeroy Stagger band (also hailing from Vancouver BC!). What a blast. Though I am especially tired now. To keep my voice, I am now eating fisherman's friends, drinking Ginger tea, keeping more quiet during the days and trying to nap a little before the shows. I drop the key to some songs and pull others out of the set completely as everything feels challenging. Late nights, long drives and an electric guitar player who likes to play loud...all add to the inevitable fatigue.
It is snowing in the Munich airport, but our 5star has a God-sent steam that I soak in for a very long time. We have all read Eric Clapton's biography on this trip and I highly recommend it. You will laugh out loud and be amazed throughout. It's a must read! Rodgau was fun. Einsteins in Ulm is one of our favorite nights, with Thomas Bauer having us do a late night concert, he always has something up his sleeve.
At the end of the week, a friend from Vancouver (Ryan) surprises me at a concert! What a thrill ( I love surprises!). We hang out with the large crew in Rodgau and I, for the first time EVER, try to speak many German sentences in a row...I had a German speaking Dutchman fill in the blanks for me. I felt a true sense of accomplishment. Our last show in Germany is close to Koln; what a fabulous artsy and exciting city. It's a Sunday & we have a rather low turnout; but we will be back in Koningswinter next year on a Saturday to kick-ass. btw: Upcoming concerts: www.myspace.com/melaniedekkermusic. David goes back to Paris, France and Stef to Fulda, Germany, and I'm on my way (solo) to the UK.
Week Four
In three days we go from Öslo (NO) to Goteborg, Malmo (DK), Copenhagen, Berlin, Dresden (DE) and Turnov (CZ!). We pick up Angie and Stef along the way and find a place in Berlin to meet musicians joining for the spring 2010 tour, Mike & Elyse, at an all-the-wine-you-can-drink for 2€ place. Though German and English are spoken by some, Angie does most of the communication with her beginner Czech. We all blush and raise our eyebrows a lot. Stef, in particular, when he tried to ask what sort of chicken he was ordering. In order to give him clarification the waitress grabs and lifts her ‘breast’. Yup, that’s pretty clear!... In CZ Angie hunts with joy for cheap DVDs and David, who doesn’t eat pork, seems to inadvertently always end up with it anyway. We walk and say WOW many times throughout our days there. Turnov has a fabulous concert hall. Seemed brand new…especially next to all the old colourful beat-up over time homes next to it. Karlovy Vary is the most stunning city. We drink the mineral water bubbling up in fountains from the depths of the earth and all turn 10 years younger, and incredibly wise like Yoda. At the show, a butterfly lands on my forehead while I begin my solo encore. I cant contain myself, and almost laugh so hard there are tears. Somebody please send photos! The Jazz Club in Teplice was one of our favourite rooms. It’s got a killer reputation and we had a group of VIP DK fans show up! In Tabor we remarked that for one reason or another all of us had been yelled at separately and at different times throughout our visit in CZ, and are a little baffled about that as Kadan is a perfect example of one of the kindest feeling places in the world. A bar was opened for us, long after closing. We learned words such as Kamarad (friend), Kvetiny (flowers), andele (angels) & Dobrou Noc ( good night) and each of us had a large sip of Becherovka for the health of our tummies ofcourse. (Stef now has 3 bottles in the tour vehicle for ‘souvenirs’.) The Kastan club in Prague was a 5 min walk from the hotel or a 20 minute drive. hmm? David chose this night to dance the night away. We asked him later where he went, and he replied “Je ne sais pas”! In Kadan we have a special opening-act who uses a loop petal and plays long pieces of music…then does our sound and basically also runs the place. Angie and I take our turn at hanging with the locals and rockin the night away. Ok, maybe not so wild, but imagine going to a bar that is up two floors, has no signage and the front door looks like you are entering someone’s house…We were given a formula by a chemist who explained the poisonous qualities of preservatives; without any English: The table of Elements is universal and so is the result of mixing O2 and sulphates.
Potential disasters on tour? Well, in a very narrow construction zone on the autobahn a double axel lorry that had live and angry livestock on board almost knocked us into the meridian. We are skinnier than we thought (EEEK!) and lucky. Then there was Brian’s closing of the car door that almost took off three of Vicky’s fingers. Later, I was eating a not so good tuna sandwich and kept looking at it every time I took a bit, trying to figure out its not so good taste. It was a good thing I was looking at every bite, as a wasp had nestling itself inside. Do we have 9 lives as a band? Next, Angie, our essential tour-helper’s Mom has gone into the hospital, so for a few moments, she may have had to go home! Also, my laptop is dead with a sudden crash and the electronics in my guitar are wacked, so I am using Stef’s on stage. My voice is in good shape, probably due to enough solid sleep, water (which is usually served with gas and causing me to burp while singing) and I am practicing in my head while we travel. There are moments of tension between us all this week, fatigue is a factor. We haven’t stopped moving.
Week Three
The band is getting closer to each other. We know that David needs a laundromat because he has no clean underwear. We know that Melanie only gets BO under her right armpit. We know that both Melanie and Vicky have shared that they both get diarrea if they are nervous...which they havent been yet on this tour. Mel and Vicky switched bras one night because Vicky was kind enough to part with hers as it was more suitable to Mels dress... and Brian, after being teased by my band, now opens his eyes when he sings. Radio shows in Drammen and Halden in Norway were extra cool because in Norway the 2nd language is Swedish, and they are also pretty good with English, and with Vicky speaking Swedish, the DJ speaking Norwegian and me speaking English...the interviews had extra color! though sometimes waving ones hands like an Italian might be more useful than grasping for words and meanings in languages you dont know. In Nottoroy we had to ask for directions to the venue. Equiped with German, English, Swedish, Dutch and French we were unable to make sense of the help we were given. We get along, so such situations are laced with laughter. Nottoroys back stage was equipped with Hammocks and a message chair. Everywhere in Norway there are large houses made of wood outside the main center=sentrum, and within the centers tend to be brick. The town of Halden had epic views of the ships and surrounding views, from the top of an old castle. At our concert in Moss, we were told there is a white albino moose in Moss...we didnt see any moose...let alone a white one. Norways air and water =drinking water too, are fresh and crisp. We were recommended by the audience in Oslo to go swimming. ummmm. no.
Week Two
The city of Copenhagen (Kobenhavn) has so much to offer that one night just wasn't enough! The BuddyScene had us do three sets, and for the only time on tour we were doing three sets and tonight one time only, with all four of us. Vicky jumped off the plane from Vancouver, and onto the stage. On the drive back to the hotel while stopped at a red light...jetlagged Vicky sleepily asked "What's wrong?"...not realizing why we had stopped for a moment. Ha! We've been playing on the phrase ever since. Stef flew back to Germany to play in other bands for a 10 days-he seemed like he was ready for a break... In the meanwhile I'm lucky to have Vicky Sjohall (Canadian of Swedish decent) on stage, who sings, plays percussion and laughs along with us. I lost my burgundy hat in Svendborg, Vicky's straightener melted when she plugged it in (wrong voltage!), Stef's acoustic is just barely hanging on and one of David's tuning pegs broke off. We are still in tact though. We played a show on a blue boat in Sweden and Vicky charmed the audience with her Swedish and we got a first taste of Swedish Whiskey! That's one way to feel 'on fire'! I loved the performance at the Portalen and it's so far my favorite stage because it is classy and warm. I look forward to more of Denmark in 2010.
Wild-life. That's what you would call untamed animals running freely across the land. Perhaps that's what we mistrals could been referred to as well. Wildlife.What have we bumped into? Well, there were gigantic river rats as big as a basketball just outside Halle, Germany, and now we are seeing 100's of warning MOOSE signs on the highway...I am hoping to see one or two! We understand that early mornings are best for that & a lady from the Norwegian audience yelled out that hunting season starts in two weeks. No warnings signs for foxes...we've seen poor dead furry ones along the hwy on our way to Norway. Norway looks a little like Northern BC. I had a low day...and Vicky sang in the room that we shared. She sang my song "Flowers" and it was better than a lullaby. The fact is you can't always be up, it sure is nice to have a friend for comfort though. The road can feel oddly lonely sometimes.
Brian Chartrand, from Arizona USA, joined us in Oslo. He is opening for me for one week. He sounds a little like James Taylor, John Denver and John Mayer all rolled up in one. We have managed to SQUEEZE one more into the road wagon, and nobody has to sit on anyone's lap, just yet. Olso, is kind of rough. I can see why alot of Metal and hard house music comes from here. We play in a cool bluesy music club though and our audience was singing along to KISSED YOU YET and had me sing it twice.
Week One
The GPS could use an update, we realized on our first drive in the dark in jet-lag mode ....we ended up on a closed route too tight for the car on the edge of a green grape wine field just outside Dresden ...with the polite English GPS voice telling us that we had reached our destination. Not! The first concert was shortly after a rehearsal together, as David Marion and I met with German guitarist Stefan Rapp. We played the hottest concert of my life. As in, I think it was 40 degrees on stage at the Blue Note. It was packed though and for a little place the sound was great. Our favorite concert of the week was the 2nd show in Halle at Object 5, perhaps because we were greeted with fresh bread and cheese and meat and by two great photographer friends, Hans Kraus & Thomas PF, and perhaps because the monitor sound was clear, crisp, and somehow full and exciting. It's good to feel BIG. And we did. The show at the house concert - Woodstore followed and this was humbling and like entering a friendly home where there was a cool hippy vibe. What a treat. Part of the family for 20 hours. We didn't sleep much as the vibe leaned a little into an all-nighter. I showered at 4am. Didn't want to sleep 'smokey'. It seems there are still more smokers than non smokers here.
Next ... What made Oldenburg special was Charly, who runs Charly's. He is very Zen and a karate Master, who looks half is age and has a slim Nordic tall blond, blue eye look. We wish we had more time to look around in Oldenburg. Everything on tour goes by too fast. Though I did manage to run into a drugstore where I could pick up Euro toothpaste, euro hair products and euro eye cleaner. I look forward to the different scents and styles of even these little things! By Krefeld we were extra smooth as a band with the right winks and nods happening on stage.
American fans came to the show that had heard by concert in Nashville only a few weeks ago (wild!!) and our tour helper and friend, Angie, who is on board with us for the Czech part of this tour also surprised us in Krefeld. We noticed that this venue Kulturrampe looked much better than it did on line. Love it when that happens. Also, some fans were waving a Canadian flag. Who were / are you?! Our first day off followed, but it was a quiet Sunday, like in most of Europe. We drove a long way to the border of Denmark...we needed more room in our wagon and stopped in Hamburg to rent a dachbox that fastens and locks to the roof top. Brilliant.