Dido Corp.

I just spent the weekend hanging out with my dear friend, who happens to be FoH for Dido the last 4-5 years. In fact he got involved with her, while he was doing FoH second stage for Lilith Fair. Anyway that is besides the point, what I was getting at was to see how the "other half lives". In comparison to our little "tour that could", she has a whole universe behind her.
Lets start with the Buses, and yes that is plural. 4 double decker top-of-the-line European Tour Buses, 4 huge trucks full of gear (but not as huge as the Stones or equal, but big enough). Granted they haul there own PA, video and everything else along with them. So you might be asking yourself, how many people does it take to build the nest for the Queen B (or should it be D)? .....at least 50... is that not crazy?
Gear, crew, catering, entourage, band, managers etc etc.. and she is small potatoes compared to some.

Anyway, it was interesting to see the inside of the bus, cause I only ever have seen the two different ones in the US that we had. I was telling my friend about the whole story regarding Buses and mentioned that they had ordered a 14 berth and in LA, the Eagle drove up.. He promptly said, "but I have never heard of an Eagle with more than 12 bunks"... Funny and not wrong!

I have seen Dido this year about 3 times, and you know what? I think she has some talent but not a whole lot of stage presence. She is just not interesting to watch, She had an amazing light show and I think she needs it to distract from the fact she does nothing on stage... I guess it is not fair to judge that way. It is not every person who seems to pour out their souls on stage like h can. So I should just be happy that she allows me to see my friend on a semi regular basis, and that it is nice to also see the lovely crew boys that have been with him for ages on this and the Avril tour of past.

They had a record load out last night, they say thanks to the efficient unionized Dutch crew. And are now counting down to the last 11 dates on their tour, which now includes Belgium and Paris and then a few dates in Australia. I most likely will not see Mark again until sometime next year as he lives in Western Canada and me over here in the low countries. Oh well such is life in the (poverty jet set).

Hard to believe that it has been a week since I came back.. seems almost like so long ago now.. I wonder how everyone is doing, getting on with their jobs and regular lives.

Pattern Recognition: Oct 22. 2004

I mean what is normal? I have been back since Sunday morning and it is now Friday afternoon. The whole week has flown and crawled by, all at the same time...
Monday I had dinner with the "girls" at a very interesting place in the Hague where we sampled items such as kangaroo, crocodile (it does taste a bit like chicken) and gazelle amongst other more normal items from the menu. We were there to say good bye to my dear friend Jen, who will be moving back to Vancouver shortly.. I shall dearly miss her here both at work and at play. Still I know that one day I too shall be returning to Vancouver. It was just so nice to have someone who understands where you come from both physically and mentally.
Tuesday I went to work, still pretty tired and out of sorts.
A while ago I read a book by Canadian author William Gibson called Pattern Recognition where the main character was explaining jetlag; that when she traveled it seemed like her soul took some extra time to catch up to her body. That was exactly how I felt all week. When I arrived at work Tuesday it was all a bit of a blur, but after work I got on my bike in the beautiful autumn sunshine on my way home, but first I needed to go to the supermarket and get some food where minding my own business, I was hit by a car and thrown off my bike.
Lucky for me the driver was not going very fast and that my bike suffered more damage than me, but still a major kink in my plans to relax and just chill-out when I got home.
I hardly remember Wed and Thursday other than I did not sleep very well the night in between and was very thankful for my understanding boss. But I feel great today! Maybe because it is Friday, maybe because my friend Mark is in town tomorrow and Sunday with Dido. So it will be great to hang with him and catch up. The last time I saw him was May and he was getting on a tour bus in Vancouver at the beginning of the Dido North American tour.. it will be great. And to see the crew as well, what a great bunch of guys they are too!

Near Death Experience

My friend's husband went to hospital last week to have a ingrown hair removed from his lower back apparently a very standard procedure, he was given a regional anesthesia like an epidural and died......

I wrote "near death" because I had lunch with him and my friend today and he relayed it to me again from what he remembered.
He said he could feel himself slipping away into nothingness and then all these images started to come at him, at first slowly and then more quickly until he said he thought it was all very strange that he was literally seeing flashes from his past coming back to him like photos or flash cards... Then he said he was aware that it seemed like a strange thing to happen and then thought maybe he should not be going that direction, then he became aware of someone calling him back and recognizing the panic in the voices until he was "back".
This whole episode only lasted about 1 min but must have been a very crazy experience.
I had to put this in a separate blog because it was just to huge to put in the content of my jetlagged blog. He is in good spirits despite everything, and I am really glad that they both seem to be able to take the event in stride. But it makes for a great story, and everyone loves a good story. Oh yeah. Puppies and fluffy clouds.
So hopefully we can all go on with our lives appreciating what we have in front of us, because you never know what might happen around the next corner.
Cheers for letting me publish this story (and you got your very own blog spot!).
I owe you a Guinness when you are up for it!
Sorry for those of your expecting a Marillion story, but I am afraid that those will be few and far between in the next months. So keep tuned if you feel like following my "normal" life until the next Marillion event.

Cafe au Lait: Quebec City October 13, 2004

What can I say a mix of melancholy and relief as I write this during the first set. We woke on the bus in front of the hotel/ theater this morning to a glorious and sunny day. Montreal exhausted me, the fans really are dedicated there. I wandered inside the gig and to our amazement found that it was a beautiful place, with catering already laid out and then the next best thing was that our hotel was attached to this beautiful place. Our only glitch being that our trailer was not tall enough to reach the loading bay, but after we found a ramp, everything was peachy the gear got lifted right up to the stage.
My hotel room is amazing it looks directly onto the St. Jean Gate and wall of the old fortification of the old city of Quebec. Really nice, I must make a point of checking it out tomorrow before heading off to Montreal. Wes was just here and was telling me that there was some crazy stuff going on- on stage during his set… apparently a very typical last night type of antics. I just popped my head in and caught the rocking part of the Party… Mark was hitting the keys so hard that they were nearly tipping over. Fantastic!!! The actual end of the show was great fun, during the 5 min break between Marbles and the old set, Shazbot put on the Star Wars theme and apparently the boys were having a light saber fight on stage. And as I later found out there was a tequila bar on stage for the last night. It was sweet of h to mention me, oh and I later found out that Mark was trying to push his keyboards over during the Party and not just playing them like a mad man, Rock and Roll! After I packed up the boxes to be shipped back I met everyone in the bar, including JF and his friends (Marble eyed guys from Montreal), the other lovely people who happen to be there. I said goodbye to many that night and closed the bar down with some new friends around 4. I was up by 8:30 dealing with last min business, and stayed up to finish packing and to say goodbye to Wes, Jason and Mike who were in the café. I managed to say bye to most of the crew and band on the beautiful morning it was. The others were most likely not looking forward to the hell flight home via NY Newark and JFK. (which I just found out almost all of them got upgraded to Business Class on the way home due to the unfortunate incident on the way to North America, see there is justice in the world!) I have to mention the last nights set list… went something like
YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING THIS SET FOR THE LAST 9 MONTHS YOU SHOULD BLOODY WELL KNOW IT BY NOW.
Brilliant!!! I am at my friend’s place in Montreal now, hanging with my brother Eric which is great, as I rarely see my family. I am back to Holland on Sunday morning. And that makes me somewhat sad and yet happy. I hope that I can continue with further adventures like this. Lucky for me I have known most of them before this tour so I know I will see most of them again. At least by the weekend in March. I will try and keep up with this… and plan on making a new website with concert photos from the Marillion shows in Utrecht and Tilburg as well. But first a reality check with my job and all the other stuff that reality brings. Please keep up the comments (sorry folks that it apparently it is hard to post comments), Adios amigos it has been fun.

FAN TASTIC: Montreal Part 2

Montreal! 12 Oct 2004
What can I say the first half of the set is not even over and I am already writing. Not only was the day amazing, I ran into Yves and Oliver during the day who are old friends from a few years back, but even before the first song was over they had a standing ovation from the crowd. Even as the into music was playing, I was getting goose bumps from the energy AMAZING!! I have head of legends of this place. And thanks to all of you who came and told me that you have been reading my blog.
Jen from Toronto is here, although I have not really gotten a chance to chat with her yet. I am sure there are a few others who I will end up chatting with in the end. (which never happened actually).
I am down to my last small stack of white tour shirts and am sold out of all of the XL and 2XL in both. DVD’s will be gone by today. Sorry Quebec City!
I better get back to work...been slammed at the beginning.
I was told later that there was a bunch of guys in the front row who would hold marbles up to their eyes during the marbles songs in the first set.. must have been a site!

Phwwph! Montreal, Le Spectrum.

Boston Monday the 11th October.
If you are wondering what that word is… it is when you put your lips together and pop them for that popping sound.
In Boston we played at the Paradise, the venue was not the best we have played at, the stage being longer than the hall was wide. Poor Shazbot did not know what to expect from the sound when all those people were in. But there was all sorts of happy faces there so I guess it went alright. I met a guy from Bulgaria, who has never seen them play and was so excited for his first time. Phlame was his name, I hope his wife made it in time for the gig as well.
I also met one of Wes’s old guitar techs from way back CC and her friend Stacy who were both really nice and kept me company for a lot of the time. At the end of the night one of our guys got knocked out by a road case hitting him in the head which was not very nice for him. And has been suffering from a splitting headache the whole day since.
Not much else to say, other than for a lot of the American fans, it was going to be there last gig. And for some Canadian ones it was just the beginning.
My biggest worry the whole night was getting over the border, I have heard sotories of being detained if the customs people feel like it.
I went to bed at about 3 last night, and was woken up by Quinner at 8:30 to go into the Duane/ Customs office, where we were all asked to sit while the paperwork was sorted and our passports were looked over. I was called 2nd, and got up to the booth, where the guy Bon Jour'd me and then asked me to please sign my passport which I had forgotten to do back in May when I got it… hilarious. Everything went tickity-boo and we were off in a record ½ hour on our way to Montreal.
When we got here I informed those of the band who were up what to find in each direction. For example from the Spectrum right down St. Catherine you will find, music, tattoo and piercing shops, behind and down the hill Old Montreal and to the left everything else you could possibly want.
I got off the bus with my suitcase and headed into Old Montreal where my friends Mary and Paul live and met with Mary, dropped off my suitcase and had a shower and came back for load in.
I must say I am missing my Starbucks, unless there is one closer than 5 blocks up St. Catherine that I don’t know about I am stuck with 2nd Cup and other dreadful coffee for the rest of the day.
Now I wait to see what we will have to charge for the shirts and things tonight and wait to set up.
I am anticipating a great show ahead of us. There was already fans out on the street by the time we turned up, I also ran into an old Marillo fan Yves whom I have met several times in the past.
Oh I meant to mention the fall colours in Quebec. Beautiful, really special. Coming from the West Coast of Canada origonally, we mostly get everygreens, but it was a special treat especally with the earely moring light.

Mr.Toads Day Out

New Haven, Connecticut. 09/10/2004

(Appologies, the photo is from the 9:30 club Washington)

A day off… The gig in Philly was great, sold out full of old friends. It was great to meet you Drew, after so many years. And once again packages awry, when we arrived in the morning to the TLA there was one box of shirts that had been delivered and nothing else. When I started calling around they assured me that there was only one box. We were expecting 6-8. Then I called the shipper and he also assured me there was more than one box. Then we called back and I got a great guy who actually was sitting in the customer service office in Philly and phoned the driver and the warehouse. They left the remaining boxes there and I had a runner go and get them for me. When he arrived at the warehouse they brought out only one and he made them go back 4 times to find the rest of them which they finally did. Thank goodness.
Kelly was nice enough to hang out with me all day and run for very-much-necessary coffee. But we had a short but very sweet visit. I even managed to clean up some stuff off the ipod and get some new music from her.
The crowd seemed to be in great spirits despite one person got carried out from fainting. Despite that it seemed to be really great. The band were in high spirits.
We got to New Haven quite early, I had just gone to bed and 3.5 hours later I was up and checking into our hotel. Where in a daze I got showered, dressed and ready and headed into town. It is a sweet place, with Yale of course being the centre of attention and surrounded by a cute little town. The boys were all disappointed that there was no geek stores. But I had a great time shopping and wandering. I met in a pub for a couple of pints of Guinness then some of us wandered off and found a great Japanese place, Samuri. Where we had some great sushi. Later we tried to find another pub and found that it was fruitless. And a few of us headed back to the hotel while the others stayed out and searched longer.
I was back in the hotel packing and sorting out paperwork till about 3am and got up the next morning at 10 to get ready to head to Toads Place. It actually was great, and everyone who is anyone in music has played there, not unlike the Fillmore in San Fran. The crowd was fantastic and was in high spirits. The band even played The Party which was great, I could see Pete jumping higher than the speakers on the side of the stage during the song.
At the end it was quite chaotic loading out, cause of the heaps of people wandering into the venue for autographs and such. But we got out of there and headed off to Boston only a few hours away.

Fluffy

Today we arrived in DC nice and early. I was awoken and asked to search for some CD's. I must have looked a sight in my pj's and fleece out on the street.
As I was making coffee after they all left for the radio station, and trying to figue out my new iPod when I happen to be looking out the window of the bus and I saw Kelly walk by. So I stuck my head out the window and asked if she would like to have a coffee. We sat in the beautiful warm sun and caught up, later loaded in the gear to find out that they had their own Merch seller here. So all I had to do was count in and out with him tonight and the rest of the night was free for hanging. Which was perfect because the venue has the perfect view for taking shots, and Mark has asked me to take some for a tech magazine he is doing an article for in the UK. So Kelly and I wandered up the street for some food and supplies and came back. I went into the venue to meet the merch person... who name incedenally is Fluffy. Trust me when I say he is a perfectly nice and easy person, and not at all a Fluffy, if you get my drift.
I guess it is pretty full out there tonight.

Wes is on stage now, and I have just finished my paperwork and will later go off to take some photos. I am staying with Kelly tonight in Philly, which should be nice to get re-aquainted with her crazy kat, Echo. And of course some nice company before heading off to the gig tomorrow. My mission on my day off is to find a cover for my iPod. If all else fails I know there is a Mac store around the corner from the Spectrum in Montreal.
Oh New York. The gig was sold out, the venue was freezing and many of the people were very strange. Sorry NY but some of you were, most were really nice but there were a few who lived up to the NY attitude that you hear about.
We said goodbye to a couple of friends from the UK and drove off towards DC. I managed to edit almost all the photos from the last bit of the trip but will have to wait a day or two before I post them. Hopefully including tonights as well.

The Big Apple: Oct 5-6th 2004

We finally made it to NY mid day on the 5th. And after some kafuffle about hotel rooms got showered and out the door for some food and retail therapy. I met with Mark and Wes and had breakie, then headed off to Macys, sucking it all up. After a few hours I called my friend Mary in Montreal and gloated a bit, bought a pair of jeans, a belt and a poncho (which everyone is wearing these days). And further down the road found a Sephora and got some treats and then even found some clogs which I would have normally paid 200 euros for, I got them for 50 bucks! Then on my way back to the hotel I stopped and had a pedicure.. lovely.
I then met with Mark and Wes who had also been doing some Apple shopping.. it was a iPod free-for-all yesteterday. Mark bought a bigger one, Wes bought Marks and I got Wes’s. A win-win-win situation.
I am curious about not only the gig but also the merch if it has arrived or not. I think the show tonight is sold out, and tomorrow I get to see Kelly Fox for the first time in years. Can’t wait!

Derridgable: Cleveland Oct 4th.

Oh a shout out to my brother Chris who’s birthday it is today.. who loves you baby!
The big discussion on the bus last night what was the correct name for a zeppelin, blimp or large motorized balloon. And Quinner told me that one of the bands he used to work with would always try and work that word, Derridgable into every interview he ever did just for fun. For the record I have looked it up on my trusty German dictonary website and there is no word that I could find, das Luftschiff or nichtsteifes Luftschiff.
Woke up in Cleveland, and was glad to have a tour guide that knew the way into town. The architecture is fantastic here, but there seems to be not much going on. Of course I have only seen about 6-10 blocks of the city. And it was Monday morning.
Oh and my sincerest apologies about not having my merch again tonight, the shipment got stopped in Kentucky this morning and will not reach us now till NY. I feel terrible cause there is only a few items left and there are quite a few who are making Cleveland there last stop on the tour. There was a poster that was made for the concert, the artist knew old Marillion and had a Gisha on the poster but it was really a great idea, looked beautiful and was very popular. What a great memento. Wes and I ordered out sushi on reccommendation from the Mayor, he was not wrong. Sushi Rox's Rocks!

Man on the Moon: Cincinnati Oct 3rd

Mark told me that he met a couple in the parking lot, they were waiting for some sign of life from the bus. He said that they had met on line in one of the forums and were now married and expecting twins, he said that they were so nervous about meeting him that he couldn’t hold the CD still. How sweet is that?

The venue staff were really nice and helpful. I hardly had any swag because of Chicago but still it went well enough. There was a lot of old tour shirts present, but for the people that were there, including I might add none other than Neil Armstrong and his entire family, they were really into it. Now If I have it right, Rick his son is a huge fan and the whole family has followed suit. It was cute the whole family was there. Including Kaleigh, Rick’s neice, she was really sweet and was all blown away by h. She had this beautiful necklace on made from Agaet and it looked like an island in Greece to h and h told her it looked like a fantastic place! I know that does not really translate but to hear about it from a gushing 16 your old was sweet.
I just ran into Rick again right now on his way to the gig to see them again in Cleveland.

Radio Rob: Oct 2nd Park West Chicago

Like I said Chicago was quite cool, they were nuts for the band and the venue was full to the brim with all sorts of folk. Cheers to the ones who mentioned the blog, And Rob with the accent, there you are mate. It was kind of very busy the whole time, I sold out of Marbles, and X-mas in chapel DVD. And had to run out to the bus for more shirts twice!
I am typing with a band aid on my index finger so sorry if it is a big mess.
We got our new bus and trailer that night as well, so had to move all our gear from one to the next and say good bye to Brad our driver, then make sure to squeeze all the suitcases on with the merch until the packing on the trailer was perfected.
Oh and I have to mention the guy who bought not only my display copy of marbles but also 16 copies of Crash Course! He said something like he was going to make the band famous! I hope you do sir, and the guy who bought the really beat up copy of Christmas in the Chapel. Crazy! We anyway got settled into the bus, got our bunks settled out and had a few drinks on our way to Cincinnati. Ian made a nice analogy that the new bus a bus version of a Marriott. Great, we all even have TVs in our bunks.
Woke up in Cincinnati and started all over again.

Kum & Go

Kum & Go: somewhere between Boulder and Chicago, Sep30-Oct 2.
We left Boulder in the middle of the night and headed into the East. I am not sure exactly what route we took but we ended up driving over a few states to avoid apparent bad weather, so no stop over in Vegas like we would have liked. We ended up in Salt Lake City like I said, then continued the route and drove through the plains into Iowa and stopped for our 8 hour stop over in De Moins (State Capital). “sigh” I am sure there are interesting things to see but our driver brought us out to some place called Adventure Land, Casino and Race Track… as you can imagine it is not at all what we were interested in seeing. I went off to do some laundry and then took a cab to the other side of the city to a mall pass the time and see a movie.
I ran into the boys all there in the mall trying to kill time. After we all ended up at the movies again, 4 of us saw Hero and the other 2 saw Sky Captain etc.. And back to the bus for the few hour drive to Chicago. Where we are now.
Actually a nice nights sleep and woke to a brisk and sunny day.
The venue seems nice enough, seated? I am sure it will all be fine.
Of course I am sitting in Starbucks, doing my books and writing this. Oh and if you are wondering about the title, it is actually the name of a filling station chain in Iowa.. go figure! Needless to say I was not sad to leave De Moins. I can understand why Bill Bryson left when he did as well.
Wes has just joined me in Starbucks and hooked me up with a wireless connection.. it rocks!

the Legendary Fillmore

Fillmore. 28th September.

For those of you who do not know about the Fillmore, shame on you! This is a place that has been going since the early 60’s and just about everyone has played there, Janis, Jimmy, the Doors, Grateful Dead. And the list could fill many many many pages which can be proven by the posters on the wall. The sort of 60’s style concert poster they had made for every band that would play there up until recently when they ran out of wall space, there are two levels, all wood, nice floor, arches and just some particular vibe going on. Great photographs line the wall and it is somewhat like a museum. I spoke to many people there some have worked there for over 30 years. Crazy Man.
We were not allowed in till 12 so found the nearest Starbucks and waited out the time.
I wandered around the neighborhood, went and had a shower and got ready for my day. I spent most of the day trying to figure out what I might need to bring up for selling in the venue and then just before doors I found out it was concession. So again I did not have to work. Strange to wander around. The gig was really good, h was really in his element and seemed to give it all to the crowd. Finch’s lights were great, even though he really did not like the venue for the lights.
One of the photos was taken by Jason from his guitar world, I thought it was really great.
The others I managed in such a dark room were taken from either wandering around the venue or upstairs by the dressing room balcony. I can only imagine what it might have been like to see Jim Morrison climb the balcony’s or Janis screaming it out with Big Brother.
Like I mentioned the staff were really great and friendly. I have the feeling that working there must influence you a little with the history of the place.
After we got ourselves on the bus and headed off towards Boulder. And right now we are headed into Salt Lake City so our bus driver can have his 8 hour break. Not sure what I will do but am sure that it will seem like a long time till we are moving again. The Bus should get us to Boulder sometime tomorrow morning. Hey I am living the lifestyle, obviously I am the newest on the bus so it is all brand and spanky new. The band will have just landed in Boulder and will be able to have a nice restful day.
We have finally arrived in Salt Lake City, and about the only thing I know about this place is that it is full of Mormons and the Canada won gold for ice hockey at the 2002 Olympics.
And after spending 8 hours in a ice hocky parking lot somewhere in Salt Lake City, I can tell you there there is not much of anything going on. We happen to have an giant movie theater accross the road and had dinner in a hockey pub. The best part of there was a hockey jersey in a frame there with the words Candian Mist on it. (I think its a whisky), and Shaz made the joke is that because they always "missed the goals?". The rest of the drive accross Wyoming into Colorado was uneventful and we are now in Boulder waiting for the gig. Seems like a more interesting town than SLC.

LA la land: House of Blues, Los Angels 27th Sep 2004

Leaving Mexico was not exactly without a hitch, torrential downpours on our way to the airport. But the flight was uneventful for me, Wes and Mike. When we arrived in LA and met Jason at LAX.

But we made it to our hotel and met the other guys out at a pub in Sunset. It was a pretty funny night actually. Even met the drummer of NIN.
The next day we got to the House of Blues, and got everything inside. My merch arrived and I got to sort all that out, sat in the Sun for a while and got ready for my first real night of merching. I had the feeling that many of the people who were there did not know of the band but seemed really into it and enjoyed the sets. Wes did really well too. cheers to my fellow Canadians who recognised my Matthew Good shirt. It was all a bit of a blur but fun none the less. When we got on the bus at the end of the night it was parked at such an angle that as you can see from the photos below, it was to funny not to take a photo of... off to San Fran afterwards, where apparently we all slept through a 6.5 earthquake on the way... who knew?

Pepe & Sergio: The Metropolitan Theather Mexico City

The Met Day 2:
Well the Shirts arrived yesterday just as Wes was finishing up, so we managed to set up the stands and get some out for sale. Wes rocked yesterday and came to the Lobby to sign CDs and seemed made quite an impression. The fans are great in Mexico, even if some still wear jester hats and go on about Scotland, I tried to explain the band were not from anywhere near Scotland, and holding a Welsh flag I might add. But enthusiasum won.

After the gig we ended up at the bar at the hotel, It was great to walk into the Lobby and people were applauding! And every time somone walked into the bar, band or crew they clapped for them as well. Great Fun!
I went then to the venue to see if my cd’s had shown up and then back to the hotel. And sure enough the delivery had come as promised before noon… hurrah huge sigh of relief.
After that I was in a much better mood and decided to head off to the silver market. I must say Mexican silver is wonderful and cheap.
Off to watch the second half of the show and get busy with my job of dealing with the merchandise.
Beautiful 26/09/04
Well after some misunderstandings and phone calls, we managed to get the whole lot counted and boxed for the delivery to Chicago.
I met while I was waiting for the guys to finish up with packing all the merchandise I met two wonderful people and perhaps future tour guide the wonderful (handsome and tall, right?) Sergio and his friend Pepe. In fact Pepe has been a fan for almost 20 years of the band and brought his friend Sergio to the concert because his pregnant wife was not up for it. It was the first time that Sergio had seen them, and I can say with a lot of conviction that he is now a fan. He was so moved by how h could show his emotion and connect with everyone in the crowd. He said that it only a pity that you could not always hear what h had to say because the crowd were singing over the PA.
I have to say the sheer emotion that the fans had when they started Beautiful last night was astounding, I almost had tears in my eyes, and just so you know Mexico the band actually dug into their archives and rehearsed it for you, it was not on the set list. Again, it was back to the hotel bar and closing it down with my new friends, Adios Amigos! I have to leave now for the airport and get all checked in. Mexico what a great place, great fans and great hospitality.

Red Light Green Light

The Metropolitan Theater: 24/09/04

So the day began with a nice twist of events. We found out that the shirt shipment was stuck in Mexican Customs awaiting the RED or GREEN light. After hours of phone calls and other such nonsense, we came to the conclusion that nothing could be done other than wait. The best the local guys could do is send someone out there (2 hours outside Mexico City) and wait to see if Customs releases it or not. That was over 4 hours ago and we are still waiting on news what might happen next. IF the Green light happens then we might get the shipment around the time the doors open here 7-8pm. If it is a Red light then who really knows. They keep mentioning Monday, which of course if useless to us as we will be in LA by then. Problem number 2: A shipment was sent to us, and although we were assured that it would be delivered on time, it too was stuck in customs, awaiting of all silly things payment for taxes. After another bought of frustrating telephone calls we came to the conclusion that if by chance we can make a payment for the taxes in a bank in Mexico, they might just might be able to release it and have it to us by tomorrow (Sat) so more waiting to (see what) happen(s). I ran over to the nearest bank and waited in the longest line-up known to man, only to be sent to another desk to try and explain that I need to change the USD I have to pesos to be deposited in the bank of UPS here in Mexico for of all things to then be released to Customs where the whole silly RED light GREEN light happens again….
Tick tock tick tock.
I Thank my lucky stars for ramped commercialism for the STARBUCKS on the corner.