Cat Stevens: 22-23/09/04 Mexico City

Now I said that my flight was without problems.. I can’t say the same for the band. On their way to Washington the pilot announced that they might have to come in on a different runway due to bad weather. And in fact they were diverted to a military base. Where the FBI came on and escorted the famous folk singer, Islam convert and author off the plane. But not after taking everyone else’s luggage off and checking it and them at least 3 times. Several hours later they were allowed to continue to Washington Airport only to find there were no more connecting flights and because of some Smithsonian event also no Hotels available. So the band had to sleep on the floor, in the airport. Our tour manger said that in his 20 years of doing this job, he has never once had to sleep on the floor of an airport. So the next morning their only choice was to fly to Chicago and then catch a connecting flight to Mexico City. I later discovered that they arrived later than both me and the other part of the Crew including Mark who arrived several hours after me. Although apparently it made News in the UK and Internationally as h had spoken to some reporters.
Needless to say they are all pretty wrecked today, and it did not help that our hotel is smack in the middle of a major construction site, and it seemed that everyone but me was awoken by drills and hammers. So many room changes ensued.
This morning, we checked out the venue. A really wonderful old theater, with gold guild, wonderful ornate balcony and sculptures. I’ll post some photos of it later.
The crew boys and I went to the pyramids of the Sun and Moon, Teotihuacan. The place where according to the Aztecs, Gods were made. Amazingly beautiful, and having seen the Pyramids in Cairo not to long ago I am nicely impressed. Rod and I bought hats and then joined the others on the very high climb to the top of the Sun Pyramid, over 200 steps; duly winded we arrived at the top and got to watch some crazy ladies with their crystals getting “the power of the Sun”. It is a beautiful place, and very well preserved.

Later today we were driven to a restaurant and left there by the promoter, but after some very needed beers and food, ordered a bottle of Tequila. And then somehow another arrived and few more beers, John Wesley showed up. And yet some more shots. We dispersed in different groups. And Wes took me and Jason to a Skid Row gig where his best friend was playing drums for the “band” and by this I mean Sebastian Bach. We stayed for a few songs and then decided to head back to the hotel. Seeing that it is our first gig tomorrow and all… so I am off to bed it is 1:30 and I am jetlagged and feeling a little Tequila in my head and wondering when the merch stuff will arrive today.Buenos nachos (sorry if I spelled that wrong to tired to check).
24/09/04
P.S. I just found out that I cannot post photos to Blogger because I don`t have the right software and since I am using the internet serivces at the hotel I won`t be able to do it till I am hooked with my laptop to the internet. sorry kids, more will follow I promise. Now off to run some errands before I have to set up the merch.

The Waiting Game: 22/09/04 Schiphol Airport.

M dropped me off this morning; we had a sad and quick goodbye as he was late for an appointment. I have been so busy the last weeks that I had not thought about not being home for several weeks.
I am checked in, Duty Free shopped and have wandered though the airport several times. Now is the 11+ hours of my flight and the 2 hours till actual boarding to go until I am actually in Mexico. Last night M checked the mailbox and there was my tour itinerary with all the places, times and what and where’s we will be. LOTS of time on the bus head of us.
City Mexico.
Here, finally. The flight was amazingly fast despite the crap in-flight movies. HP3 (saw it just two weeks ago go ahead Michiel; laugh I know you are!), The Day After Tomorrow, total crap when I saw it back in May in Vancouver. Some silly fairy tale about a middle American girl falling for the prince of Denmark, and vice versa. But then again the actual price has recently married a commoner. I had given up on reading the Ann Rice book Freya left me a few weeks ago and glad that I bought the new Harry Potter., managed to put a decent ¼ dent in the book.
Got to the airport, breezed though customs, got my bag, found a taxi and was driven to the hotel in the centre of the city. Lucky me there is a Starbucks next door. I can hear the collective groans, but hear me out my theory is that Starbucks is like McD’s, anywhere in the world if you order a tall non fat (soya) Latte, you get it and it tastes the same everywhere.
Came in, got a bit settled and am going to go out and explore the world outside the hotel. Seems to be a very lovely part of town, according to the map very close to many interesting sites. I know that most of the band are already here, think that Wes, Mark and a couple of others arrive later tonight.
More to Follow tomorrow.

The Bus dilemma

The Bus: I could scarcely believe my ears. It kind of started as a joke a few months back when I told Lucy they should take me on tour as their Merch person, but when the initial email came in last week asking if I was still interested it really hit home that this could ACTUALLY happen! It all came down to the bus, could they find one with 14 berths, because they only could find a 12 berth bus till then. I got the call Monday, they found one with 14, and I was in, part of the crew, going on tour. Can you imagine what it is like to have a dream come true? I have literally always wanted to go "on tour" with a band. To be part of the working mechanics behind what makes a show happen, to get little sleep, have inside jokes and see places from the window of a bus or the people who make the effort to come to the shows. And all the things I can't even begin to imagine.
I've been getting emails all week with little tidbits of my adventure attached. You will fly from this to that place, these are the times and these are the people you will travel with for almost 4 weeks. Exciting. But now I must play the waiting game.

When I first wrote this I had 53 days till the beginning, and my real job, real life and real things that I must do. So enough of this fantasy world, I am sure it would happen sooner than you or I think. Today I have 1 day left, before leaving for Mexico City. What happened to the time?
Last week they played 2 nights at the Vredenburg in Utrecht. I was taking photos and visited with the band and crew..(missed you though Lucy!) they all kept asking... "so are you excited?" what are they kidding? I can hardly imagine what not to be excited about. I got some tips on the bunks from Mark, packing and gear from Erik. And have spent most of yesterday filling my bag to know how much it can take and what I should maybe leave behind. Only tonight to sort out the rest of the gear and make sure there is a little room left over for the shopping I plan to do in Montreal at the end of the tour. I have my Gluecks-Engel to look out for me. I should be set. Check it out if you want to see where in the world I happen to be.....
http://www.marillion.com/tour