SATURDAY, MAY 9TH – HAUGESUND, NORWAY:
Susan and I stopped by the 7-11 on the way back to the hotel last night. We walked up a side street to the hotel and just before we got to our street, we noticed someone dressed all in black lying in front of what looked like a planter. Susan thought it was a “street person” but as we got closer, we realized whoever it was (couldn’t tell if it was male or female!) had a cell phone and was talking to someone. There were several security guards in front of a nightclub a few doors down and they walked down to find out what was happening. We didn’t stick around to see what it was. The shower at the hotel was typical of Norway. There was a current around a shower wand and the floor was recessed maybe one inch. That meant it filled up quickly and flooded the bathroom floor. The shower was large enough for a small person to step inside…period. Then when you turned on the water (which had unusually good water pressure and temperature), the curtain wrapped around your body. The floor to the bathroom was heated which would have been nice except that it was unbearably hot in the room. I kept my windows open even with the rain and traffic noise. I finally figured out right before we checked out this morning how to turn OFF the heat in the bathroom floor. The promoter threw me a curve this morning. He showed up with a 15 passenger van and trailer instead of the nice bus that picked us up at the airport. Now…let me see..give us a nice bus (as our contract required) for a 30 minute drive and give us a tiny van so everyone can be cramped up for w hours for the drive to Haugesund…that’s makes a heck of a lot of sense, right? Anyway, we departed on time and arrived almost one hour later at the ferry just as it was departing. The next one was 30 minutes later and the ride over was pretty but really, really turbulent. Much worse than our trip to Estonia. But, the ferry was much larger than that cruise. Once we docked, we had another 45+ minute drive to the hotel in Haugesund. And the view was spectacular. It was a narrow winding road that wound through the hills with water surrounding us most of the time. Hotel is nice but the only person working the desk was a “trainee”. She had us, a wedding, and a graduation all there this weekend. It took over an hour to get checked in! Plus the promoter had accidentally sent her the rooming list from last year’s tour and 4 of the names were incorrect, including mine. It really blew her mind to try and just switch out the names and give us the rooms. We finally got checked in and then I went with the boys to see the venue. It is a “club” but a large one. The promoter – Bjorn — is super nice (and super cute, too J!) and owns not only the club but a lot of the restaurants on the same street as the hotel. The street that the hotel and restaurants are on overlook the water and it’s truly beautiful. The club is going to be lots of fun. I left the boys to load in and sound check and Bjorn took me to see the backstage entrance and then the restaurant where we’ll be eating dinner. He told me that the person who manages his Pub by the hotel is a huge Bellamy Brothers fan. Says he sings “Let Your Love Flow” all the time and that he has been on tv twice singing it. I said, “So he’s really good, huh”. And the Bjorn says, “Oh no. He’s terrible. He is extremely overweight and he takes his shirt off and sings. They put him on tv because he’s so funny!”. I walked into the beautiful little town of Haugesund and had to restrain myself from buying anything. Just can’t add any more weight to my bags. I know tomorrow is going to be brutal again on the excess fees. Plus, it started pouring down rain and I had to make a run for the hotel. Any time I miss a day of working out, I try to compensate by overdoing it the next time. Yesterday was no exception. I worked “arms” and today I can barely lift mine without complaining. Used heavier weights than I normally do, too. We walked down to the restaurant for dinner and it was good food again pretty rare in Norway as far as things I like to eat. So, at dinner everyone was talking about the “names” on the doors to their rooms. I looked at mine but it didn’t register because it was Norwegian. I guess some of our group have James Bond movie titles and their rooms have photos from those movies. I looked at mine when I returned and it says “Tolv Edsuovne Menn” which I figured out has something to do with MEN. The room across from mine is “Ladykillers”. I translated it on the internet and came up with “Twelve Men Edsuovne”. No idea what that means. Even our Norwegian promoter doesn’t know what “Edsuovne” means. The photos in my room show movie stars (some look familiar) in old black and white movie scenes. It’s all men in white shirts and ties and they appear to be in “meetings”. Hope I can find out what it means. There is the Norwegian equivalent of “American Idol” on tv now. The contestants are REALLY, REALLY bad. There is this one cute, young blonde girl who reminds me of someone running their fingernails over a chalk board when she sings. But, the crowd goes wild for her. Maybe the Pub Owner can try out for this. So, now I know what “Edsuovne” means – It’s the movie “12 Angry Men”! So, I’m sleeping in the bedroom of 12 Angry Men. Oh well, if anyone can handle it, I can. J Bjorn picked us up and the club was packed. It was the best show of the tour so far. Bellamys did 4 encores! I took some photos of them with him after the show. Sat out in the “entrance” area during most of the show with Susan and Jenny. The audience was pretty thrashed tonight but a little less rowdy. They kept coming out of the showroom, walking past us to go outside to smoke. Which meant they kept opening the door and we were freezing. One guy walked over to our table, looks at us, and says “Who the hell are you?”. Susan, who is always so nice and polite and has unbelievable patience, looked him in the eye and said, “Well who the hell are you”. I don’t know who was more shocked…him or me! Back at the hotel and it’s very late. Going to bed soon because we have to get up very early tomorrow. We travel ALL day just to get to Munich. Fly from Haugesund to Oslo, Oslo to Copenhagen and Copenhagen to Munich then drive for one hour to the hotel. Love the promoter in Germany though. He’s from the U.S. but has lived in Germany for a very long time. He has a great little club that I’ve been to many times.
Jude