TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY , JULY 22-23 – CHAPEL HART AND DRAKE MILLIGAN TO NORWAY AND GERMANY:
Leaving Nashville today with Chapel Hart and Drake Milligan for the Countryfestivalen Norway in Seljord and 4 shows at military bases in Germany — compliments of the Gary Sinise Foundation. I fly with the three ladies in Chapel Hart to Detroit and then Amsterdam and ultimately Oslo. Their musicians are on two different routings and with any luck, we all converge in Amsterdam! Drake’s group flies to DC then Frankfurt and Oslo.
No issues leaving Nashville to Detroit and all the Chapel Hart groups made their connections as well. But Drake’s group got stuck in Nashville due to weather and missed their connection in DC. United put them on a flight to London but now they don’t arrive in Oslo until 11:30 pm Wednesday night. Have to sort out transportation for them since Chapel Hart arrives at 11:00 am!
As usual, I got more sleep on the plane than I do when I’m at home. Everyone landed on time and all but 2 people had time to grab some food before the flight to Oslo. As we were going through passport control, Trea was pulled aside for questioning. When I asked “why”, they told me she had lost her passport and had a new one. Panic Attack! All our base clearances are with her old passport and it took weeks to get the security checks run and the proper paperwork issued. I spent my entire layover in the Lounge working on getting the information out to 4 different bases so they can try and work a miracle and get her approved.
Our flight to Amsterdam was on time and this time I checked by bag tracking app to see if my bags had been loaded. Nope. It showed that they were still being loaded even after the doors closed. I told the flight attendant and she assured me that they were on the plane. I told her what happened a week ago. She came back to my seat a few minutes later and said the pilot had sent a fax to make SURE my bags were loaded. When we landed in Oslo, everyone had their bags. YAY!
I walked my big suitcase full of gifts and pop-up GSF banners to the Radisson Hotel connected to the airport. Left it there in storage until we stay there on Sunday night.
We had a huge tour bus all to ourselves because Drake’s group did not make their flights. It was a 3 hour “quiet” bus ride with everyone sleeping. I’ve stayed at this hotel for decades and while it has some issues because of how isolated it is from a large city, it’s always been a decent hotel. This year, the ownership has changed and it has been a real challenge.
First – the desk clerk said that the “second elevator” is broken. That means we take one tiny elevator to 3rd floor and then we have to carry our bags up two flights of stairs to our rooms on 4th floor. He said the elevator needs a “part” so that means it won’t be fixed while we’re here. Then he told me that there is no buffet for dinner this year. Everyone has to order from the menu and he insisted on knowing what time we would eat. We got in an argument because we are not going to eat as a group. I finally had him contact the manager and we sorted it out.
It is about 200 degrees in the rooms but most of us were able to get fans from the front desk. They also changed the WiFi and the instructions are all in Norwegian with no way to change them to English. We all had to go back to the desk and get help connecting. The front desk does not have any “snacks” or still bottled water for sale…only sparkling water and other beverages. They have a container near the lobby where we are supposed to fill up our bottles with still water. And, they have no “change” at the front desk if you want to purchase an item. If you buy a beverage, it comes in a glass bottle that has to be opened with a bottle opener. But there are no bottle openers in our rooms which means you have to drink what you purchase immediately. The final straw was when there was no hair dryer in my room. I went to the front desk and they said I was booked in a single room and only superior rooms were given a hair dryer. I made them give me a damn hair dryer!
As I was lugging my bags up the stairs, I ran into my dear friend Sarah Jory from the UK. She is the most amazing pedal steel player in the world. She helped me get the bags up the stairs. Such a sweet, sweet friend.
There is a huge photo of a naked woman (in graphic detail) hanging over my bed!
The menu for dinner was very limited and not many things that Americans will eat. Choices for the main entrée were “salmon, Venison, or Elk patties”! The service was extremely slow and the food was “okay”. Last year and all the year’s prior, there was a huge buffet with so many wonderful choices. Like I said, new ownership.
I spent most of the time before and after dinner working on getting Drake’s group checked in. There are no more fans available so I went to every room and opened the windows. Their flight lands at 11:30 pm from London and then it’s a 3 hour bus ride. The airlines lost two suitcases, two bass guitars and their cymbals. God only knows if they will be able to get any of the items to the Oslo airport before they depart to Sweden on Saturday. David (at the festival) promised he would have someone go to the Oslo airport and pick up anything that does come in.
Almost 3 am here so I’m going to bed for a few hours.
Jude
THURSDAY, JULY 24TH – DAY OFF IN SELJORD:
Drake’s group rolled in at 4 am this morning and of course, there was no one at the front desk to give them their keys. Thankfully, I had already checked them in and messaged them their room numbers. One of the guys went behind the desk and grabbed the “HUGE METAL KEY FOBS” off the rack and they were able to get in their rooms.
I got up at 8:30 and was going to go jogging. But it started raining – which in itself would not have stopped me. But there was also thunder and lightning. Went down to the fantastic buffet breakfast and met up with some of Drake’s group as well as Music Road Pilots. Returned to my room and showered and then it was time for Chapel Hart to do a “Google Meet” video call with AFN Stuttgart. That actually went very well! The girls are such “pros” when it comes to charisma on interviews.
The hotel does not serve lunch so we all walked down to the ski museum. Ran into some more of Drake’s group while down there. They still do not have their missing luggage and equipment but one piece has made it to Olso at least. Hopefully the other pieces will arrive Olso tonight and the airline will deliver to the hotel on Friday…probably not in time for sound check but maybe by show time. I had a Chef Salad that was much bigger than I could eat. I purchased Lefsa for everyone to try as well. I wanted to get my meal to go but the little café did not have any “to go” boxes.
Hiked back up to the hotel (UP being the operative word!) and worked for about an hour before being picked up to go out to the festival to meet with Kjell. Sat and talked to him for hours and hours about “politics” and next year’s festival. Three of Chapel Hart’s guys came out to the festival for a few hours.
Before I knew it, it was after 9 pm and I was hungry. The catering backstage is salmon (imagine that!), a beef patty with brown gravy and vegetarian lasagna. I asked for the lasagna since I had eaten salmon every meal but the ladies working in the kitchen discouraged me from ordering that. So….I had the salmon again and it was delicious.
We were all back at the hotel before midnight. Hoping I can jog tomorrow morning!
Jude
FRIDAY, JULY 25TH – DRAKE MILLIGAN PERFORMANCE AT COUNTRYFESTIVALEN SELJORD:
Had breakfast with lots of the folks here for the festival. Ray Scott is here and I haven’t seen him in years. So good to catch up with him! Ended up having a short meeting with Mr. Jay after breakfast about future bookings.
Had a little while to work before going to sound check with Drake’s group. We had a passenger van and a cargo van and the driver did not speed and make us all car sick. I had asked David to have chat with the drivers and ask them to slow down on the curves. Never had that problem in the past.
Sound check was easy and the guys finished early. I took some photos of the campers and some of the amazing trucks that are here. One of the trucks has beautiful portraits of Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood on it!
Unfortunately, we had the same driver that we had yesterday for the passenger van back to the hotel. I rode in the cargo van and the lady driving it told the other driver that she didn’t know the way to the hotel and needed to follow her. Instead the driver took off like a race car driver and we never saw her again. I called one of our guys and he made her pull over just before we reached the turn off for the hotel. Then I talked to the driver and told her she has GOT to slow down when she is driving us. She argued with me and said she was going the speed limit. Okay, but even going the speed limit, she needed to slow down for the many curves in the road. And, she never once looked back to see if the other driver who told her we needed to follow her was behind her. I’m sure she hates me now.
We arrived back at the hotel just in time to have dinner. I was surprised when everyone started ordering chicken nuggets and French fries from the children’s menu…not that I blame them. Boy, do we miss that great buffet we had last year!
We had a large tour bus to take Drake’s group and six of the members of Chapel Hart to the venue for Drake’s performance. Drake had a nice Meet and Greet with fans and festival staff right before his performance. He had a great show but the attendance was not as good as last year at the beginning of the set. Then after he sang a couple of songs, more and more people started coming to watch. The place was packed full by the time he finished. It was a fantastic performance.
He sang, “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” as the encore and the place went wild. I picked up the meals that they had pre-ordered and brought them to the bus for everyone to take back to the hotel. We were back at the hotel a little after midnight.
Drake’s group leaves for Sweden tomorrow for a performance there and then one in Finland. We’ll pick them up on Wednesday at the Frankfurt Airport so they can join us for the shows for the military bases in Germany – compliments of The Gary Sinise Foundation.
Jude
SATURDAY, JULY 26TH – CHAPEL HART PERFORMANCE AT COUNTRYFESTIVALEN SELJORD:
FINALLY – I got in a fantastic 3 mile jog in absolutely perfect weather. Felt better all day because of that! Grabbed a quick breakfast and then showered and went downstairs to see Drake’s group off. The Sprinter Van driver was already in the lobby and waiting to load the trailer. Since none of the guys were downstairs 10 minutes before departure, I got the front desk to open the storage room and took all their equipment out to the van for the driver to load. He said traffic was going to be bad on the drive and would like to leave on time.
Went to sound check with Chapel Hart and the way we did sound checks this year was different. I didn’t understand exactly what was going to take place when I was advised prior to our arrival and would not have agreed to it if I had understood. We had time to kill so we went to a nearby grocery store and everyone loaded up since the hotel has nothing as far as snacks and beverages. I bought Lefsa for the drive to Oslo tomorrow for everyone.
Back at the venue and finally they were able to do their sound check. They are pros and managed to finish on time. We drove quickly back to the hotel and had dinner. I think everyone ordered the chicken nuggets and fries from the child’s menu. I did and other than the salmon the first night, it was the best food I’ve had here for dinner!
Had about an hour to get ready for the show. When we arrived, a Norwegian band called “Vassendgutane (a Norwegian Band who is extremely popular in Norway) was on stage. They had approximately 13,000 people watching their show. I learned that there are approximately 45,000 people attending the festival this weekend including all the campers! After their performance, there was a 30 minute set change and everyone left the area. When Chapel Hart came on stage, only a couple of hundred folks were in front of the stage. It took 30 minutes for the crowd to return – but they did return. Chapel Hart was only allotted a one hour set so when they finished, the crowd was begging for more but the lineup was too tight to even allow them to do an encore!
The festival staff was very happy with their performance and obviously the fans were too. Several of my friends came by to say how wonderful the performance was.
The kitchen cooked barbequed pork chops and potato salad for everyone to take back to the hotel. I had a lot of “packing” to do once I got in my room. It’s now 2 am and I need to get a few hours sleep. We drive to Oslo and stay at the Radisson Hotel on Sunday night. Then on Monday, we fly to Frankfurt to begin the Gary Sinise Foundation Tour for 4 military bases.
Jude
SUNDAY, JULY 27TH – SELJORD TO OSLO:
What I assumed was going to be a “boring” travel day with nothing to report took a dramatic turn — for the worse.
We talked Ray Scott into riding the bus with us since he’s staying at the Radisson Hotel as well. He had injured his back and I know he had a lot more space riding with us. When we were about 30 minutes away, I called the hotel and asked if they could please go ahead and pull our room keys for us. They found the reservation but said I should have called earlier because they “might” be too busy. I told them I just appreciated anything they might have time to do.
When we arrived, I confirmed that the Festival was covering the costs and that I would sign all the registration forms. The clerk insisted that everyone present a credit card and a fee of 100 NOK would immediately be charged in case we left without paying incidentals. The charge would drop off if we didn’t owe any incidentals. I assured him no one was going to charge anything to their rooms but he wouldn’t budge. I finally called David and he had a “chat” with the guy and they let us check in. We had called the hotel and given them my Radisson Rewards number so I “assumed” I had been upgraded to the next class of room. No one thanked me for being a member.
When I got to my room, the temperature was 77 degrees. In year’s past, this hotel has always had air conditioning. The front desk said now they only have “ventilation”. So, the lobby, restaurant, hallways, business center, and even the fitness room are all air conditioned. But, they can no longer put air conditioning in the guest rooms? I moved a big stool over beneath the air conditioner vents to see if any air was coming out. One vent had a little breeze but the filter on the other one was so dirty there was no way any air could get through.
I went back to the front desk and asked if my Rewards number was in my booking. It wasn’t. I had them put it in and asked if they could upgrade me. He moved me from 3rd floor to 5th floor but when I walked into the room, it was much smaller than my previous room. I needed floor space to repack all the bags because of the “gifts” I had in one big suitcase for the military bases we visit. I went back to the lobby and told them I wanted my original room back. Moved all the bags again and walked over to open the window because it was much cooler outside today. They are “double” windows and the handle to the inside window was broken completely off! Norway has very strict fire code regulations and there is no way that window could have been opened in an emergency.
I tried calling the front desk but no one answered. Went back downstairs and every time I had to go down to ask a question, I had to get in a long line of people checking in. By then, it was after 3 pm and the desk clerk said “maintenance” didn’t come in until 6 pm but she would send him up immediately. When I tried to unzip the big bag with all the military gifts in it, evidently TSA had inspected it and locked my zippers in place. Since I never pack anything of value, I had never set up the combination lock and had no way to open it. I took the bag to the front desk to see if they had any suggestions and they said I had to go back to the airport. First stop was at the airline check in counter who told me they could not help. They sent me to Security Control and that guy laughed at me. He said I needed to go downstairs to Customs and if they couldn’t help, the Police had an office right beside Customs.
Customs was closed, so I went to the police office. They sent me back upstairs to Lost and Found. Lost and Found sent me to “Special Baggage Services” and FINALLY there was someone who could open it. Now, it’s 5 pm and still an hour before I can get the window open. I went to the Fitness Room and worked out for an hour. Still no technician when I got back to my room at 6:30. Again, I tried to call the front desk and no answer. At one point, I put it on speaker phone and just let it ring for about 20 minutes. The only way I could get someone on the phone was to go to the desk or call the hotel on my mobile phone and they would “eventually” answer.
I told them I was going to the airport to grab something to eat and if the window wasn’t fixed by the time I returned, I would have to change rooms again! When I got back, the window was open. He definitely didn’t fix the handle but at least the room is now cooling off.
I remembered I needed to print some forms for the military tour and tried to find “something” in the room that indicated where the Business Center was located. Nothing. Tried calling the front desk. Nothing. Walked back down and they told me the business center was downstairs. When I got there, a big sign said, “Closed. Check with Registration Desk!”. Back upstairs and in the line again. This time they gave me an email to send the documents to which meant I had to come back down to pick up the printed copies after I emailed them. I already have over 12,000 steps in for the day.
The only other mishap for the day was the TV. Finally have a TV with one English speaking channel (BBC – not my favorite but at least it’s background noise!). It worked before I left to work out but quit working when I came back. Had to go back to the desk stand in line, and ask for someone to come fix it.
Some of the group went into downtown Olso to walk around. Shops are closed but restaurants and tourist areas are open. Kjell was going to meet them and show them the sculpture garden and waterfront and take them out on his beautiful boat.
We have a 10:15 lobby call tomorrow. Excited to be going to perform for the military bases in Germany!
Jude
