Friday 20 June 2014

Silver Persian Rings in Thuringia and Brandenburg

Monday May 5 Goteborg - Tried to get a mix of 'Fiery Frank' to my liking. Needs more work. Sometimes less is more. In this instance its guitar we need less of.
The post lady brought a biography of A. Crowley written by P.R Stephenson and Israel Regardie. Published during Crowleys life, its a welcome gift from Horslips drummer, poet and journalist Eamonn Carr. Apparently the book comes from the library of Barry Martin who had published the Ogham Stone in the 80's. There may be a copy or three of that gathering unwanted dust on the shelves in the other room.

Gallon Drunk's new album 'The Soul Of The Hour' is great. Instead of the usual mayhem, there are great melodies.....and of course a lot of noise. Worth checking out. And The Ghost Wolves too.

Tuesday 6 May Berlin. - Unusual  to have an evening flight. Its usually up cock-crow and off bleary eyed. At Landvetter airport the Air Berlin staff are helpful and theres no drama over bringing the guitar on the plane. The hostess even helps me find a vacant overhead bin and tells me to sit wherever I want. On arrival, I got lost, the bus not going any further than Allexanderplatz. Tried to get a connectng bus, but all to no avail. Went into the S Bahn station and happened upon the right line that got me to Ostkreutz. Rain came down. Time for a taxi.

Thursday 7 May Berlin - A borrowed apartment courtsey of a friend is HQ for the week. The internet is very slow, the weather is grey and dull, but everything else is good. A ramble through Neukölln and up to Kreutzburg takes up a few hours. Had some Mexican food and returned to Hazzerstrasse and had a lie down.

The nights gig at Tik Nord was blessed with good sound but blasted by a never ending downpour which kept people off the street....and out of the venue. NIce plce, good people and a session afterwards.

Friday 9 May,  Greiz - Down to Hauptbahnhoff and on my merry way, looking for adventure. A train ticket got me to Leipzig, and the rain came down big time as I boarded the slow train to Gera and on to Greiz.

Always good to meet Mathias, who brought along his wife and a few friends. They had dinner and drnks and it was show time. It being a small enough town,  competition with a very well publicized Jazz Festival took its toll on the turn out. Despite it all, we had a good time, CDs were sold, stories were told, photos taken. Always good to play at Peanuts.

Saturday 10 May, Berlin - Up at 10am, breakfast....sort of. The display of meat is of no interest, so its Earl Grey tea, a piece of bread with apricot marmalade.....and thats it. ! Checked out of the hotel, with staff being very helpful with information concerning the times of trains..

Onwards back up north to Berlin. In Hauptbahnhof fish and chips were devoured. Over in Wedding, a part of Berlin I'd never seen before, I played the Tipperary Pub and hung out with heavy metal guys (and girl) from Translyvania. We had beers on the street (as you do in Berlin) trying to locate the S - Bahn (train) and I even managed to get off a bus at the right place.

Sunday 11 May, Berlin - Drinks in a bar in Kreutzburg that doubles as a DVD store. The bar girl is playing interesting CDs. I enquire and Im thankfully educated about Georgia's Horse and Big Blood. I pass on info to her about Shilpa Ray and The Ghost Wolves. She asks me if Im aware Ive got glitter on her face. Im not, but then I notice shes got glitter on her face too, it being dark I hadn't noticed it. It transpires the place is full of glitter , on the carpet , the seats...all over the shop. Could be worse. Could be chocolate......or dust.
A few Australians and a guy from Israel engage me in conversation. They've all got very dilated pupils and are drinking large gin and tonics.
I had to find some food / fuel and off to play at Culture Container . The show was filmed and Joe Armstrong and The Wildfires arrived down as did Jack Ponissi.

Monday 19 May Gothenburg  - The smell of flowers and earth on the early morning ramble, the overnight rain showers open up mama natures perfume box.
I had spied Elvis Presley's 'If I Can Dream' through the window of a local record shop. 7 inch single in a picture sleeve. The shop was closed, planned to return but then got the notion that said record may already be in my posession. And so, a welcome Elvis phase kicked-off as long forgotten LPs were pulled off the shelves. Eventually I found 'If I Can Dream' on an LP entitled Gold Records Volume 5. A good pressing too.

The post lady brought a postcard from new friends in Greiz, Germany. Alex and his lady friend wrote to say they enjoyed the show and hopefully it wont be too long before I return. Hopefully not.

Hours were spent extracting, storing and catalogueing song files. Basically, getting songs, track by track off the hard drive of my 8 track and storing them for some rainy day when somebody gets the bright idea to re-mix some songs. Wrote a song by accident. I was trying to finish one that had been started before Berlin happened, and ended up wrting something else. Handy when that happens. Music, melody and lyrics for four or five verses. Chorus too.

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