Hold on Magnolia!

Ray on the train to Winterthur.

















Who is this little fellow? Anyone know?






















Micke from Solander the morning after the show.


















Audience at house whow in Leipzig.

















Never go to Leipzig without going to UT Connewitz and breathe!

















Poland.

















Poland.

















Gallery/venue in Zielona Gora.
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Hey hey hey.

It has been a while since I wrote. Been staying busy and happy throughout the last few german and polish dates. Stumbled across some car related trouble towards the end of our stay in Switzerland, but it was nothing big and we kept on rolling into Germany soon enough.

Here some stuff about the last week or so.

Day off in Aarau.

We had to cancel the show at my friend Marco´s place in Rorschach last Monday because the brakes of the car kind of got stuck and we didn´t dare to go on. Lovely Lisa and Oli at Kiff helped us out very kindly in organizing a workshop, cheap parts and ridiculously cheap labour to get it fixed. Thank you so much for that guys. So we stayed an extra night in Aarau after the short train ride from Winterthur. Had a nice dinner at a crepe place in town and went to bed nice and early. Up in the morning to drop Ray off at the station and send him off to Paris. Which coincidentally is where the train I am on right now is headed.

Fürth

Up to lovely old Fürth the day after Aarau. Long drive alone in the car, and I missed having Ray there besides me going crazy over some strange drumming signed Charlie Watts. By the way Ray, I have listened to that twelve bar song on the singles collection trying to make out what the fuck Mick is singing and so far I have come up with this: - Dadadadadadadadadadadadadadad, man you better behave.

Met up with Martti and Line in Fürth after having a short walk through a sunny and cute little town. Had a drink and wrote some post cards in a café and set about trying to cure my cold with some ginger and lemon tea. I am not kidding, but I think I easily drank two litres of that shit that day.

Show in Fürth was great, although my voice was starting to get real rough. Had a real nice time after the show and then walked back to Christian´s house for some well deserved sleep. Slept in Christian´s sons bed and didn´t pay attention to the lego scattered on the floor when I walked in. Quite a nostalgic kind of pain treading on pieces of lego barefotted. Haven´t done that in years.

Nürnberg

Touring should be like this everyday. Punched in the address for the venue in Nürnberg and my friend James in the GPS machine tells me it´s six kilometres. Barely time enough to smoke a cigarette before I have to pull up at the venue to park the car. Perfect!

Tonight I am playing with a couple of people from Sweden. Some of them I knew already so I was very much looking forward to the evening. Great venue, great people, but unfortunately kind of half empty. Big soccer game between Bayern München and Lyon and since Nürnberg is located in Bayern it is easy to understand why there weren´t shitloads of people. As if I ever play to shitloads of people!

Show turned out to be a great one anyhow. I don´t think I sold a single album after the show, so maybe I am the only one who liked it, but I really got that good feeling singing and playing. Really connected with the songs and with myself. Doesn´t happen very often and it´s a great feeling. Losing the sense of time and space for a few seconds.

Ulm

After Nürnberg it was time for me to make a completely new acquaintance. Ulm. Never been there before, and came in early to have some time to take it easy. Checked into the hotel, had a shower and a well needed two hour sleep before heading into town for a bit of a stroll. Ate so much Käsespätzle I was almost not able to stand up.

The venue is an old bordello/dance club and nothing has really been changed, so it´s a strange little place I´m playing. I am quite sure the people who used to be on that stage did not wear jeans and a t-shirt. Played a great little show to a great little crowd and made friends with a nice young medicine student named Micha. Had a few drinks with him and talked about Spain and children and about music. Off to bed. Long drive the next day.

Leipzig

Long drive to Leipzig, but I´m in a good mood. Leipzig is of course my favorite town and I am excited to get there and meet up with dear friend Tobi. Go by his new work and have a nice cup of coffee in the burning sun.

Off to good old Deli next to UT Connewitz for yet another amazing tofu burger with fries. I am so full I can hardly walk and take the car down to Hotel Seeblick for a coffee. Reading Carson McCullers and smoking cigarettes. Lovely day and I´m in an excellent vagabond type mood!

In the evening I play a show in a huge flat with so many people it´s hard to move. A great party and I met up with some friends and had a good time. Thanks for having me in your home guys! After show off to Hotel Seeblick again for a drink and about eight packet of cigarettes. Wake up the next morning feeling like an ashtray!

Breakfast at Zest and then off to Poland!

Poznan

I arrive in Poznan late. After a couple of weeks on the german autobahn I calculate to make the drive in four or five hours and end up spending a good eight in the car. Think of this if you go travelling by car in Poland. Average speed: 50km/hour. That´s it.

Anyhow. Meet up with the people at Meskal, play a short set in the loud and smoky bar and then hang our with lovely people. Thanks so much for taking such good care of me.

Wake up early in the hostel although I really needed some sleep. Americans out in the hallway making so much noise it is rediculous. Americans on holiday in Europe. Is there anything worse?

Go down town to the old city square and have a coffee, write some postcards and have a walk around. Beautiful city and I would have loved to stay longer, but I am not taking any chances this time, so I decide to leave early to make it on time to Zielona Gora.

Zielona Gora

Come in early. Park the car and ask some guys for the way to the venue. Turns out I am practically parked in front of it. Easy. Good start. Good feeling!

Go for a walk around town. The sun is beating down like a drum on my head and I drink lots of water. Sit down in different spots, smoke cigarettes, read, write, drink water.

Find a nice looking restaurant and order a salad. The waiter looks strangely at me. And so does all the other guests. I don´t feel welcome. They stare at my tattoos and look at me as if I was a rapist or something. I eat my salad, don´t tip and get out of there. Fucking assholes.

Over to the venue to meet up with Woitek and Caroline. The venue is an art gallery and the space is just amazing! High high ceiling and amazing acoustic. I run around the place playing my guitar and shouting out loud. I feel very good about playing. And the show turns out great. Probably one of the longest sets I played on the tour. I think I play 15 or 16 songs. Haha. But eveyone seemed happy and I was in such a great mood.

Go with some nice people to a bar around the corner for a drink before bed. Have a great evening with them. We talk about all kinds of stuff and I really really start to love Poland. Thanks for taking such good care of me!!!

Wroclaw

Do some boring computer work at the gallery office in the morning and then head off to Wroclaw. Meet up with promoter Pawel and spend a few really nice hours with him before the show. Early show and a great one. Talk with some nice people and then unfortunately I have to go. Need to go to Berlin to catch a train to Spain. And that´s where I´m at now. But more about that later. Now I really need to go buy some underpants!

Love! B