MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH: Woke up with a roaring headache and hand hurting like crazy. It was raining and that was the cause. Went downstairs for breakfast and ran into Opie (our monitor engineer) and he could barely walk. His back was hurting yesterday and is much worse today. Got the name of a hospital from the front desk because I KNOW all the medical care is free here. He spent most of the morning in the emergency room waiting for someone to see him, only to be told all they can do is give him painkillers and muscle relaxers. He stayed in bed all day and missed the show. I went to the “gym” (and I say that loosely) and worked out. Did an hour on the treadmill and used all FOUR of their nautilus machines. No free weights. Better than nothing though. Susan and I walked over to the bank to change money and then stopped at a gas station where the guys “ate” last night. They actually have better food there than at the hotel! Answered emails and headed for the show. We have a “female” bus driver now. She is real nice and seems to be a good driver. We’ll find out tomorrow on the 3 ½ hour drive to our next city. The show tonight is in a Sports Hall and it was really nice. They said that it was sold out and the surprising thing is, this was a “listening” audience. Don’t think anyone was drunk. And, boy were they Bellamys fans! In Denmark, we always have to perform for 45 minutes, then take a 20 minute break and then perform for 45 more minutes. Kind of strange but it is not negotiable. Bellamys signed autographs and everyone actually lined up and were very polite. So different from Norway. Got back to the hotel by midnight and I stopped at the front desk to pick up laundry. A very short man from India was complaining to the desk clerk that his ironing board and iron needed to be replaced in his room. It wasn’t broke, he just didn’t think it was “new” enough and there were spots on the board. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to offer him my “Tide To Go” stick after I heard him say, “You know, I’m in the mini-suit”. Not suite – suit. I lost it. He was trying to be Mr. Rich Guy and didn’t pull it off after that comment. Going to bed now. Two more shows in Denmark. There is a row of bikes parked in front of the hotel that are available for guests to ride. I cross myself every time I walk past them. J Jude
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH: Will we ever be able to say or type that date without feeling the same pain we felt 6 years ago. Why does it seem like it was only yesterday and also feel like it was a lifetime ago? Please remember our fellow Americans and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice for us this day. John and Jan – how could such a horrible, tragic event bring the two of the people I love the most into my life? God give you strength to get through today. I had an email late last night from Furuvik Park – where the orangutan was pregnant when we were there in early August. I kept hoping to receive information that the “baby” had been born. It was a boy but it was stillborn. Below is the message I received:
Dear Lindsey and Judy It is with a heavy heart I have to write that Igelschen had a stillborn son. The pregnancy went the full time and a well formed male orangutan was born 01.20 on the 30th of August. Everything went well during the whole birth. We were so well prepared with both a veterinary surgeon and a gynecologist from the regional hospital. Igelschen was calm and followed her instincts well but when the baby was born we saw no signs of life. After only 2 minutes efforts to bring the baby back to life were made, but in vain. The baby has now been taken for a post-mortem which will most correctly be done by a doctor who also performs post-mortems on human babies. This knowledge will hopefully help us in the future. We are all very sad about the loss of this baby orangutan. Not only the staff at Furuvik Zoo but our whole county has been waiting with great expectancy for this birth. Interest from both nation and local newspapers plus individual public interest has been really enormous. Igelschen is a great favourite amongst our visitors. One positive things is that we now know that Igelschen and Naong are a functioning couple and with luck she will hopefully become pregnant again in the future. We are also about to commence on the building of a new orangutan house which shall be ready late next spring. A little baby had really been part of this dream and would have meant so much. Look forward to see you next year! Love Ing-Marie
I told Ing-Marie to get the “monkey-porn” tapes out and try again. It’s so sad because the whole country and a lot of us in the U.S. were anxiously awaiting the arrival of this special “child”. I wonder if the mother knew something when she was bouncing upside down trying to get it out when we were there? Got up early for a quick workout – just 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, but better than nothing. Not sure what will be available at the next hotel where we will be until Thursday morning. My blackberry fell off my shoulder bag when I was loading my luggage on the bus. Talk about an international incident. I was ready to stay in Copenhagen until it could be located. Fortunately, the driver found it on top of my duffle bag in the bus bay. The bus is nice but “old”. It has 8 bunks and a front and back lounge. But, it needs a new muffler. Not only is it incredibly LOUD but the diesel fumes come back inside the bus. Our 3 ½ hour drive is more like 4 ½ hours and we are all feeling nauseous from the diesel fumes. I’m just hoping it makes it through the tour without needing major repairs! Opie isn’t much better today. He still can’t walk. He said that the doctor said it is his “tail bone” that is causing the pain. Now he is having shooting pains down both legs and numbness. Doesn’t sound good to me. Think we are going to try and find a chiropractor or acupuncturist once we arrive the next city in Denmark. Hotel is nice and rooms were ready. But restaurant doesn’t open until 6 pm. We walked downtown and found a good Chinese restaurant. Also found a Thai Massage parlor and booked an appointment for Opie. He said it felt like it was helping him but then she hit something in his neck and the pain shot down his leg. I am really worried about him. We tried to find a chiropractor, but no luck getting him in to see one today. The venue is an hour’s drive from the hotel. It is owned by a Farmer who converted his Pig Barn into a performance hall. He spent $200,000 on the renovation and it is really nice….nicer than a lot of venues in the U.S. So, add this to the list of Bellamy Brothers “firsts” – tonight we sold out the Pig Barn in Denmark. Really great artist and I saw a couple of people that I know from Silkeborg. We took a limo over to the venue and the driver is my friend Peter that drives us every year. Have worked with the promoter – Calle – for many years. Our “escort” – Allan from the U.K. – is really sweet and very “wound up” 24 hours a day. Tonight we were “discussing” why I didn’t want the Bellamys to walk through the middle of the crowd to get to the autograph table. He grabbed both of my hands and squeezed and I went to my knees. This is the second day I haven’t worn my cast. Maybe I should wear it when I’m around other people! The little town we are in – Randers – seems nice. I’ll find out tomorrow when I try to find the path by the river to jog! It was freezing in my room when I left and the hotel assured me that they would fix it before I came back. They didn’t. Now it is 2 am and I am wearing two sweaters and my fleece jacket just to answer my emails. I will be finding the hotel manager first thing tomorrow. Going to bed. Long day tomorrow and then we fly to the Faroe Islands on Thursday. Jude
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH: Had to eat breakfast before I went running because it closes so early. So I answered emails and then went for a jog. Ran through the little town and realized there were some great shops here. Then got on a path that went along the river. It was a beautiful run but very, very windy. I ran into the wind for 2 ½ miles but then it was easy on the return because the wind was at my back. Felt great to get outside. Had a quick shower and then met with a record label rep that the Bellamys work with in Denmark. They recorded a duet with a local artist last year and it sold gold. He’s a really nice guy. We went down to the river and they filmed video of them with a female Swedish artist singing “If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body”. She is releasing the song as a duet on her next cd. It was so windy, we were afraid their cowboy hats were going to blow off! After the video shoot, we walked downtown to an Italian restaurant that we had been told was very good. But, it didn’t open until 4:30 pm! Found a great “local” restaurant that prepared everything “fresh”. Then I did some power shopping before heading back to the hotel to get ready to leave for the show. Howard was able to talk a chiropractor into seeing Opie today. The doctor was a female and he said that he felt a little better after the adjustment. We are trying to figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow. Not sure he’s going to be able to fly. If not, I guess we’ll put him in a hotel that is next to the terminal in Billund, Denmark and he can fly home from there when he feels like it. SAS – which is the airline we are on tomorrow – has grounded a lot of their planes. When we were flying into Denmark from Norway, we heard that the landing gear crumpled on one of their planes. Evidently it happened again today. The manufacturer said that they warned SAS over a year ago that they needed to fix this. Trying to find out if the flight we are on tomorrow is affected by this. Tonight we played in Horsens, Denmark in a “hall” that seats about 900. Sold out again. That’s hard to do on a week night. The merch table is set up inside this empty room with huge painting on the wall by some famous Danish artist. Right above my head is a very old, wrinkled, overweight naked man standing in water. On the back wall, there is a photo of a naked woman sitting down and squeezing her breasts. The milk is going into the mouth of a baby lying on it’s back at her feet and then the baby is peeing in a cup. Very strange! Evidently they sell for thousands of dollars. Several people from the Silkeborg Festival were there and recognized me. The promoter and her husband, daughter and son-in-law were there. She was delighted to see that I was “healing”. She saw me right after the bike wreck and took such good care of me. Wonderful people! Autograph sessions have been really good in Denmark. Fans lined up and were very polite. Tonight they didn’t want to “line-up” but I used my “cast” to whip them into shape. J Tomorrow we fly to the Faroe Islands so get ready for some “fun” Road Kill Reports. The Bellamys were there 10 years ago and have tried to “prepare” me for this experience. It’s 2 am. Going to bed. Jude