So here I am. Kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a bit. England is full of free wireless, but for some reason every time I find a spot the network is inconsistent or my laptop is in the van or I don't figure out the "l" in the password is actually a "1" until it's time to go on stage . . . you get the point. But I'm currently in a nice hotel in Hull, England with a wide open wireless network and some time to kill before going to sleep.

The flight over was a breeze . . . mostly. A certain big-haired band leader who shall remain nameless might have overslept a wee bit and given us all heart attacks, but he did make the flight on time. International flights have so much in-flight entertainment now (movies and TV on demand, various basic video games) that even 5 hours manages to pass reasonably quickly. And, once we got to England, customs didn't even give our HUGE bag of merchandise (cleverly disguised as an ordinary duffel bag) a second look, the guy renting us our van was waiting for us at the exit, said van is the perfect size, and we managed to hook up with all of our equipment in short order. In other words, everything went just about as smoothly as it possibly could have, minus the group heart attack.

Our first show was in London at a place called the Camden Barfly, a reasonably large and well known venue, and conveniently located in an awesome neighborhood. Before the show we managed to make a quick touristy jaunt into the middle of London, to at least catch a quick look at a few of the major London landmarks. As much as I hate being a tourist, it was well worth the trip. The show itself had a somewhat small crowd, but they were very responsive. Our publicist was there and she said that most of the audience was press and industry folks, so that is definitely a good thing. We also sold more merch than we were expecting, so overall a good start to our trip. Yesterday was also the first day I tried a "Traditional English Breakfast" at a pub in Camden, and it was excellent. However, subsequent attempts at said breakfast at other places have been not quite so impressive. We also met up with our German driver Maik ("Mike"), who's basically coming along for a very small amount of money plus free food and lodging. Apparently he just likes hanging around musicians and didn't have anything better to do this month. Works out great for all concerned.

A good bit of time today was spent driving to Hull, a smallish city about 4 hours drive north of London. Apparently, Hull is like the New Jersey of England, or at least thought of as such. When people in London heard our next show was in Hull, there was quite a bit of laughter and quite a few wisecracks ("That's like Detroit!"). Overall, we found it to be a reasonably nice town, and the club was excellent. Not so big, and not a big crowd, but the club owner was very nice. He got us a fantastic meal, and put us up in MUCH nicer accommodations than any of us expected. The crowd was also very attentive, and despite being half the size of the London crowd, actually bought more merch. We hung out for a while afterwards, swapping stories with the club owner and getting the lowdown on a good route to take to our next show that will take us through the moors. I'm very excited, to say the least.

At any rate, I don't know when I'll have internet again, but I'll definitely try to keep everyone updated as often as possible.