SUNDAY AND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH AND 30TH, 2020 – NASHVILLE TO BERGEN, NORWAY:
Seems like I just left Europe….Oh I did!!
Bellamys had shows this weekend in Texas so they drove overnight from the “border” all the way to Austin to take a SWA flight to Nashville. Arrived at 1:40 pm and we immediately took all the equipment/luggage upstairs to check in for the flight to Norway. That ran smoothly and we had a few minutes before we needed to go to the gate. I exchanged money, bought a book and went into the Delta Lounge for something to eat. They had the best corn soup in there I have ever had anywhere!
Flight to Atlanta was short and easy and we went directly to the gate for boarding. Boarding was a massive “cluster”! The Delta agent making the announcements had an accent so heavy, it was difficult to understand him. They boarded all the wheelchair passengers first and then asked for active duty military. A man in a robe and headdress got in line and boarded. Guess he was Somalia military? We finally started boarding but then 2 more wheelchair passengers showed up and stopped that process.
We finally got on the flight and David noticed that his TV monitor was dark and wouldn’t come on. I got a flight attendant to re-set it. We took off and after we leveled off, I tried to log onto WiFi. I kept getting an error and so did David. I asked the flight attendant if she could re-set it. She came back and said the switch was already “on”…which is not what I asked at all. She said, just keep trying because we must be in a “dead spot”! I tried for an hour and a half and got nothing. Once the meal was over, we never saw a flight attendant again. I went into the galley to see if I could get someone to reset the WiFi. There was a female eating and a guy talking to her. I asked him if he could turn it off and turn it back on. He responded that he was SURE someone had already tried that and that GoGo InFlight had reconfigured their service and it was blocking iPhone users. I told him I have an Android and it wasn’t working and asked him to just “please” try turning it off and back on. He reluctantly agreed. The female flight attendant made a smart remark saying she wanted “to eat her steak before it got cold”! For about a half hour, it still didn’t work and then it miraculously came on!
We landed on time and cleared Passport control and headed to the Lounge for our 4 ½ hour layover. Brutal. I worked the entire time though and got a lot done! When it was time to go, I walked by where the guys were sitting to see if they were still there. They were and they were passed out! I woke them up and we headed for the gate…which, of course changed before we got there. I noticed that two of my bags were showing as being loaded on the plane on my App but one bag was supposedly still on the flight that landed 5 hours ago from Atlanta. I asked the gate agent to check on it but she never got back to me. Typical KLM! I asked the flight attendants on the aircraft if they could check. They said that the pilot said he was showing on his manifest that I had 3 bags on board. Then after we took off, one of the flight attendants said ground control told him I only had 2 bags on board! The one that is missing is my suitcase with ALL my clothes in it. One of the other ones only has CDs, autograph sheets, and exercise clothes and shoes. And the 3rd bag is one I checked for Tim with all his mixing consoles.
I think we all slept as soon s the plane took off. We landed on time and it’s raining in Bergen. But then it rains every day in Bergen. Still my favorite city in Norway, though. We waited and waited and waited for our bags to come out at baggage claim. And surprise, surprise, everything arrived
Our driver – Vidar – met us and seemed to go into shock when he saw all the luggage and gear. He had only brought one van to carry all of us and the luggage/equipment. I had advanced our needs even to the point of sending dimensions, weights and measure of the suitcase and every piece of equipment. We had been told a van with a trailer would meet us but no one told the driver we needed the trailer! The driver made a call and another van showed up quickly – which was a good thing since the guys have been traveling or 24 hours!
Thankfully the hotel had our rooms reserved and we were able to check in fairly quickly. It’s a really nice hotel and we all agree that we have never stayed here before. We got things sorted in our rooms and people began wandering down to find something to eat. The restaurant in the hotel is very expensive and nothing on the menu that anyone wanted to eat. There is a “Lounge” though and they served food more to our tastes. I sat in the Lounge with David and ate a good hamburger. The other guys walked across the street (in the rain) and ate at a Burger King in the shopping mall.
David has these really great pair of prescription reading glasses that he had custom made. He managed to sit on them on his bed and broke both the “arms” off. We walked over to the Mall where they had an Optic Shop. But,, they couldn’t repair them in less than a week. So, he ended up buying a pair of regular reading glasses. We bought some water and food for our rooms and walked back to the hotel.
I had a message from our tour director telling me that another group was rehearsing in our hall until 2 pm tomorrow. We were scheduled to walk over at 1:45 and begin sound check at 2 pm. Guess that will be delayed a while.
Going to get in bed now. Busy day tomorrow. And we never say in one hotel more than one night and sometimes not even one night…just several hours! Six shows in six cities in six days in Norway then bus 22 hours to Sweden and perform 4 shows in 5 days in 5 cities in Sweden!
Jude
OCTOBER 1ST!!!! – PERFORMANCE IN BERGEN, NORWAY:
I forgot to mention one very strange thing that happened yesterday after we arrived. I got a pair of my shoes out of the bag and slipped them on but there was a “foreign object” in one of them. I shook it out and at first couldn’t tell what it was. Scared me because I thought it was a “critter”! It was a seashell with a blue ribbon on it! I had just worn the shoes a few days ago, so I have no idea where that came from!
Bergen is absolutely my favorite city in Norway and I LOVE jogging around the city. I got up early to get in a long run but of course, it was still raining. I went to the little gym in the hotel instead. The hotel is really nice and we have definitely never stayed in this one before.
Showered and met David and our friend David Genius for lunch at the Fish Market – David Bellamy’s favorite place to eat in Bergen. It is a huge outdoor “market” right on the waterfront. I didn’t realize that in the Fall and Winter months, they move it to an indoor building. As usual, the food was great. I had fish soup and both David’s had fish soup and fish and chips. Excellent food.
Got back to the hotel just in time to go to sound check with the guys. Lise (our contact from Stageway in Bergen) and all the people at the venue were so great and nice to work with. Sound check started late because the Philharmonic Orchestra was still rehearsing. Our bus was parked at the venue WITH A TRAILER ATTACHED (Thank God!) and I met our bus drivers – Nils and Gier (We are calling him Gil!). Very nice guys. The bus is nice just not as “new” as I expected.
I had to leave sound check at 3 pm and go meet with Joakim – the promoter on the Carlene Carter Show in Bergen in August. Such a nice guy, too. Just as we started talking, I got a text from Tim that we were missing the volume pedal for the keyboards and one of the stools with a backrest. The backline was rented out of Sweden, so we can’t just rent these items for the rest of the tour since we end in Sweden. I contacted Kjell and he was able to get the 2 items for tonight’s show from a local vendor and then Ashley with Stageway will source them for the remainder of the shows in Norway.
Didn’t have time to eat dinner because of “work” but will eat some cheese at the Green Room tonight. We were supposed to walk over to the venue because it is only one block from the hotel but it was raining hard. David had an umbrella and I had one that I gave Howard and I just used my jacket hood.
The venue, by the way, is beautiful! It is called Grieghallen and I had a “private” tour of it a couple of years ago when Ben and Noel Haggard’s Production manager took me down to meet a friend of his.
David Genius and his family and Joakim and his girlfriend came backstage for a few minutes to say hello. Show started right on time and it was a fantastic first show! Packed house and wonderful audience.
Show started at 7 pm and ended at 8:30 pm – very early for us. We had time to go back to the hotel and shower, pack up and leave at midnight. We had to walk over to the bus again because the roads are difficult for he bus to navigate with the trailer attached.
Since the tunnel is closed, it’s going to take us 10-11 hours instead of 9 hours as planned because we now have two ferry rides. But we will still arrive the hotel before sound check time at 2 pm.
Long day. Closing down as it’s almost 3 am. One 45 minute Ferry ride is now behind us.
Jude