And today, a new country - Poland

Internet access has been spotty at best, and I've spent my last 2 days in Berlin - not a place where I tend to spend much time sober. But here I am.

Since my last entry I've played five shows and three countries: Tilburg, NL; Duisburg, Haldern, and Berlin in Germany; and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Of Tilburg there isn't much to be said, except perhaps that the morning before driving there we walked around Gent, and it being All Saints Day, managed to witness part of an old-fashioned Catholic mass in Latin the Cathedral of St. Bavo, with a full choir and everything. What a privilege, to say the least. And of course, bought some Belgian chocolate. After that, we drove to Tilburg, where we were playing in the same venue as Joe Satriani (albeit in a MUCH smaller room). Needless to say, the place was busy, as he had brought two tour buses, but we certainly were not overlooked in the shuffle either (ie we had food and a room and such). Anyways, the sound wasn't great there and we had a small crowd, but still a good time. I mean, it WAS the Netherlands . . .

After Tilburg we drove to Duisburg, not more than 90 minutes away. Duisburg was one of my favorite venues from the last tour; they really treat you right, with good food, excellent beer (it IS a beer garden, afterall), friendly staff, and a top-notch sound guy. This time was no different. After the show, we went and stayed with the same person we had on the last trip, a real character named Christoph. I say he is a character because he can't go more than a week without having guests crashing at his place; apparently he has random people staying with him constantly, from bands to couch surfers. Never charges anyone a thing, just loves people I guess.

Our next show was in Haldern, and was billed to us by our booking agent as our most important show of the tour, despite the fact that it probably paid the least and was in the smallest town. This is because the owner of the venue where we played runs a music festival that is, apparently, one of the most important in Germany (or so we've heard from several sources). Not for its size, or for who it brings, but for the quality of music people have come to expect, and it's also apparently well attended by people from other festivals looking for new bands, as it tends to showcase excellent groups that no one has ever heard of. So apparently playing at his bar is an audition of sorts for his festival. Fortunately, we were up to the challenge, and gave the strongest set of the tour (having a real piano in house instead of our crappy electric keyboard really helped). Not sure if it will lead to anything, but he was clearly quite impressed. One just never knows in such situations.

The next day we made the long drive up the Danish peninsula and across an island to Copenhagen. What we found when we got there was a small club, an impossible parking situation on narrow and crowded streets, a sound system totally unsuited to our type of music, and an audience that seemed by and large not terribly interested in listening to us. It's also the night that our sampler, on its last legs already, was simply not working and finally put out of its misery in a violent fashion by our clearly frustrated drummer (it was his to begin with). RIP.

Copenhagen being a less than happy experience, we were glad to head to Berlin the following day. Then yesterday, after a night of drunken shenanigans, we played at the Deutches Theater, a place that hosts all kinds of different events. It was a good show, with excellent sound, and our hosts were very attentive to our every need, even asking us what drinks we'd like on stage (most opted for a double shot of whiskey on ice). We got to bed at around 5 AM, and here I am, writing before driving off to Poland. I've heard that the Vodka there is some of the best anywhere and cheap as hell. And hey, while I've been availing myself of the cultural vices of all the various countries I've been visiting, may as well tack on one more.