WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6TH AND THURSDAY, MARCH 7TH — NASHVILLE TO ZURICH:
Leaving today for Zurich for performances by Dailey & Vincent at Albisguetli Schutzenhaus. They have performed at this event a couple of times in years past, so should be an “easy” weekend. The Last Bandoleros and The Mavericks were here last month with Lindsey working those visits.
I kept Zac and Zoe last night and kissed them good-bye when they left for school – last kiss I’ll have for 3 whole weeks. Not happy about that at all! I fly home from Zurich on Sunday but they are leaving the day before to spend their Spring Break in Norway. I’m home next week but depart on Sunday, March 17th for Japan. They arrive back from Norway that same night. I’m in Japan until March 29th – so 3 weeks total. ☹
My flight from Nashville to JFK was on time and landed on time. Then I had a 5 hour layover at JFK. I was able to work the entire time in the Delta Lounge. We boarded on time and it’s one of the really “small” aircrafts…absolutely NO storage and even the overhead bins are very narrow. Everyone was on-board but the Pilot came on the intercom and said we were “waiting” for some final bags to be loaded. And we waited and waited and waited. We were finally able to taxi for take-off but we had lost our spot in line and were now #18 for take off. Departure was an hour later than scheduled. I’m sure lots of people will miss their connections.
I logged onto my “free T-Mobile” WiFi on my phone and answered emails for about the first 3 hours of flight. Also had dinner and watched “A Star is Born”. Only had about 3 hours left to grab a “nap” and then we were landing. The pilot came on and apologized for the late arrival “due to having to wait in line so long for take-off”. No mention of the fact that it was Delta’s fault that we lost our position in line because we waited so long for the bags to be loaded!
It was cold and raining in Zurich when I landed. My one suitcase made it and I grabbed a taxi to the hotel. I don’t know if I just got an inexperienced driver or what but we got stuck in construction traffic and then behind a trash truck….all the while with the meter running. What should have been around a $50 taxi ride turned into an $80 fare. Next time, I’ll take UBER!
Lindsey had asked the hotel to give me one of the larger rooms but when I arrived, they had no record of the request. The hotel is full, so I’m in a tiny little single room that is so small, I can’t open my suitcase unless I put it on the bed! The hotel is “clean” and the staff is “friendly” but it is seriously smaller than the hotels in Japan. The elevator is so tiny, only one suitcase and one person can fit inside!!! The shower stall is so small there’s now way to even turn around in it. At least they have removed the shower curtains and installed “doors”. In the past, the shower curtain stuck to your body when you tried to shower!
I answered some emails and then went downstairs and had a really good lunch in the hotel restaurant. The group was set to arrive at around 2:15 pm and they did. I had already checked everyone in and given the hotel a copy of their passport information. The front desk clerk was super impressed with how well-organized I had everything. Guess she gets some groups who aren’t as prepared.
Albi (promoter) came by to say hello for a few minutes and I collected the money for the dinner buyout from him. I walked down to the Co-op and bought a supply of water and then I went upstairs and took a 2 hour nap. Did I mention that I am trying to cut caffeine out of my diet? I never drank more than 2 cups of coffee a day but think I may have developed an allergic reaction to it. Several weeks ago, I switched to “Half Caf” so the next step is No Caf! I’ve had a massive headache for 2 days now and sleepy all the time. Hopefully this will pass soon.
I walked several blocks just to get some exercise and grabbed some Indian take-away food that turned out to be really good.
We have sound check tomorrow afternoon and the first show. It’s about 10 pm here now and I’m going to finish up emailing and then try to get at least 7 hours of sleep – a LOT for me.
Jude
FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH – FIRST PERFORMANCE IN ZURICH
I think I woke up every hour but was able to go back to sleep. Pretty typical for the first night in a foreign country. I was able to get in a minor “work out” in my room. Not able to do much because of a lack of space. Went downstairs for a quick breakfast and some of the group wandered in while I was there.
Back up to the room to shower and “work” for a couple of hours. It’s still raining non-stop and cold. I bundled up, grabbed an umbrella and walked to the two grocery stores nearby to find a salad for lunch. Spent the last couple of hours working before meeting the group downstairs to depart for sound check.
Sound check did not go as quickly as we had anticipated. There was a “mix-up” about the items being brought from the USA and what was being provided. We ran about 45 minutes longer than the time allotted which meant the opening act was late starting their sound check. D&V were very apologetic to the other band and they were very understanding.
We went into the restaurant for dinner and then had another 2 hours before “show time”.
The venue capacity is 750 and there were 650 tickets sold before show time. I’m sure they had some “walk-ups”. Dailey & Vincent went on stage exactly on time and absolutely “rocked” the house. There is still a misconception that they are only a “bluegrass” artist. They are definitely much more than that and one of the best country music groups ever. The crowd loved them.
The tables in the venue were placed too close to the backstage stairs and most of the people sitting at those table were handicapped. Darrin was trying to put his stand-up bass back in the case after the show when an elderly gentleman who was using crutches fell backwards into him and all the way to the floor. Scared both of us to death as we were afraid he was injured. His friends helped him up and he seemed to be okay. I told the promoter about the incident and he was going to make sure the tables were not placed there for tonight’s performance.
I had “guests” there from other cities in Switzerland as well as from Germany. It was great to see all my friends that I have made throughout the years in Switzerland.
Darrin and Jamie signed autographs and took photos with everyone after the show. It was well after midnight by the time we arrived back at the hotel. I stayed up until 2:30 am working and decided to change my lunch meeting to a dinner meeting tomorrow!
Jude
SATURDAY, MARCH 9TH – LAST PERFORMANCE IN ZURICH:
It’s not raining this morning but definitely still very overcast. Think it’s supposed to start again around noon.
Got in another “minor workout” in the room. Then had breakfast with one of the guys and afterwards worked non-stop until time to shower and go meet my friend from Germany for dinner prior to the concert.
I took the tram downtown but missed the stop I wanted to get off at because I was facing “backwards” and didn’t recognize the shops until too late. I got off at the main station and walked down towards the street where the restaurant is located. At one point I thought I had walked a lot farther than I should have so I turned on Google Maps. It told me to turn around, so I did but soon realized it wasn’t correct either. I eventually figured it out and met Bill for dinner at what used to be “Contrapunto” but changed names and ownership a few years ago. Bellamy Brothers introduced me the restaurant and it is still my favorite in Zurich. But, the black truffles are not in season so I didn’t get to order my favorite dish.
It was nice to catch up with Bill after so many years. He even gave me a ride to the venue after we ate dinner. The guys were still in the restaurant finishing up dinner so I sat and chatted with them until it was time to get ready for the show.
The downstairs is packed again tonight so I’m going to walk up to the balconies to see how the crowd is there. The minute D&V started playing, the fans hit the dance floor and danced the entire 45 minute set before they had to take a break.
It was truly a great show! The fans just kept coming up to them saying how much they enjoyed the show and please come back next year. They sold all their CD’s and DVD’s and signed autographs for everyone after the show.
Again, it was close to 1:00 am when we arrived back at the hotel. We have an 8:30 am lobby call which is better than what Jamie and Darrin have — they need leave for the airport at 3:45 am. Yikes!!
It was a quick weekend, but a great weekend – seeing my “Swiss and German” friends and have two terrific shows with very appreciative fans!
Jude
SUNDAY, MARCH 10TH – FLYING HOME FROM ZURICH:
Had an 8:30 lobby call so got up early to shower and answer emails before departing. Really glad I told our driver to bring a trailer this morning or we would have had a big problem. He thought it would take us about 30 minutes to drive to the airport because it’s Sunday but we actually made it in less than that.
I was hoping Delta would let me use my Million Miler status and give everyone in my group the same baggage allowance I get. But, they said we all had to be in the same “record locator so they charged 100 CHF for everyone who had to check more than 1 piece. Such a rip-off.
The flight departed on time and our driver had warned us about the “high winds” on the drive to the airport. OMG – take off was terrible. The plane turned sideways and dropped several time before the pilot got high enough to get above the wind turbulence. This aircraft was nicer than the one we flew to Zurich on. Not sure if it was because I was on the opposite “side” of the plane or if it was just a different aircraft. I watched a great movie “Instant Family” while I ate the meal and then slept for several hours. The head purser got sick and was lying in the seat in front of me. The other attendants kept coming by and checking on her which was really sweet but it woke me up every time they chatted with her. She seemed to be feeling much better by the end of the flight. I talked to her for a while and we agreed that being sick on an overseas flight is the WORST!
All our luggage and equipment arrived at JFK although the oversize pieces were the last to come out. We had less than a 2 hour layover so didn’t have much time to get to our gated. We landed at B37 and departed from B47 so I thought “piece of cake”, right? I stopped to change money back to U.S. Dollars while the others headed to the gate. When I followed the signs for departures, the led me to an area where the choices were to take stairs down opposites sides of the floor or get on a tram. Absolutely NO signs anywhere indicating what to do to get to the gate and no attendant in sight. I opted for one set of the stairs and it led me into the main lobby of the airport for all check-in’s! I followed the arrows to “all gates” and the line was extremely long for security. I kept looking for “TSA Pre-check” but couldn’t find an attendant there either. I finally walked the entire length of the floor and found it at one end – again absolutely no signs indicating where “TSA Pre-Check” was located! I finally wound my way around to the downstairs area where the gates were located. And, guess what, they started at gate #1! I walked for at least 15 minutes to get to Gate 47 and that was with me walking briskly. Got there about 5 minutes before they began boarding.
Flight to Nashville was smooth and we landed a few minutes early. Again all our equipment and luggage arrived. Said good-bye to the musicians and headed home for one week!
Jude