SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2007:
We were in the city in Austria by 1 pm but he couldn’t find the hotel. We pulled into a parking lot of a swimming pool complex. I got out of the bus to call the promoter on the cell phone. Once I got him on the phone, I put him on the line with the bus driver and got back on the bus. I noticed this really OLD, very wrinkled man standing by the bus window and it looked like he was nude. However, he did have on a horrible speedo! He was making motion and speaking in German. I thought he was being nice and asking if we needed directions. Then he started banging on the bus window and yelling and holding his ears. He wanted us to turn off the bus engine!
The promoter said he was send a car to guide us to the hotel. Only he sent a guy on a bike and we followed him DOWN A BIKE TRAIL! We passed beautiful statues and fountains. What an incredible area of Austria. The show is in the city of Tulln and is outdoor on a “FLOATING STAGE. There is a moat in front of the stage between the stage and the audience. Bryan Adams is performing here next year. The hotel is really, really nice. Only no air conditioning and no fans. I saw Howard at the desk saying, “Okay, I understand no fans. But can I at least get some toilet tissue?” J
We walked over to a little local restaurant and had some pasta for breakfast/lunch and now I am going to go jogging on the bike path along the water. On the other side of the water is Italy. Supposedly there were a lot of battles fought here between Italy and Austria.
Love this city and venue! Hope we have a big crowd. And there is a DSL line with free internet in every room. Yippee.
I’m a little concerned about the trip to Ireland tomorrow via London because of all the bombings. I go to Iraq all the time, where I expect the attacks, but not prepared for this in the U.K.!
Great news is the airlines found the last 3 pieces that were missing. They will be in the Vienna airport by 6:30 and we will pick them up tonight. I know our keyboard player will be thrilled to have his luggage!
Had a great jog along the lake. Beautiful weather…a little warm but not hot. Because I have been to Austria many times, I’ve logged hundreds of miles jogging the bike paths. I am firmly convinced that the entire country is connected via a bike path. I have yet to ever find a trailhead or trail end! At one point on today’s jog, there were two beautiful yellow dogs to my left by the lake. One was barking loudly so I turned my head to see what had him agitated. There was a man and a woman in the water and standing on the bank was a nude woman. She was around 60 years old and about 100 pounds overweight. I am convinced 99 pounds of the excess was cellulite. And I don’t think she exercises as her breasts and her butt sagged! Not a pretty site. Europeans are much more open about nudity. In this instance, that was NOT a good thing. J
Went over to the show and there are about 700 people in attendance. Not a sellout but a good crowd. They should have advertised this as a “country music event” rather than just advertising the Bellamy Brothers. We talked to the promoter about this and I think he will do something again next year and advertise as a “country music festival”. The concert is part of a “series” of concerts this Summer. The people who did attend were serious Bellamy’s fans and they gave them a great show.
I was talking to one of the cute young security guards about country music. He said that there is an hour and a half show on public television in Austria every Saturday night. They play all kinds of music, including country. He said he likes country and had seen a video by Toby Keith. I didn’t get to talk to him long because he was asked to go to the Vienna airport and pick up our 3 missing bags.
The Bellamys went out to sign autographs after the show but the merch bag was still missing. Everyone in line wanted to buy a cd but we didn’t have any. Our security guard didn’t get back from the airport in time with the bags for us to have any to sell. Darn airlines!
I just got a call from the Production Company that I work with in Kuwait. As you may know, I have Josh Gracin touring Kuwait and Iraq for me. Here’s what happened:
Suleiman just called my cell phone so excited he could barely speak intelligently. Was totally blown away with Josh Gracin. He said Josh is such a STAR. Evidently Josh set the second attendance record at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait — Charlie Daniels was the first. Said there were 1,972 people there and Josh rocked the place. He went out into the crowd behind the sound desk and sang to the troops. Said the autograph line went on “forever” and Josh stayed and signed every autograph for more than 3 hours. Also was so impressed with how NICE Josh and his band are. That’s what I want to hear. It’s still killing me NOT to be there with him but Suleiman made me feel better when he said that “Stars for Stripes” always sends over the most amazing talent!
Happy 4th of July to our troops. 🙂
Going to get may 3 hours of sleep and then go to the Vienna airport to fly to Belfast via Heathrow. I heard that one of the terminals in Heathrow was closed today due to a possible terrorist attack! Going to put out some positive thoughts that we won’t encounter any problems.
Jude