Thursday, Feb 18 – Friday, Feb 19, 2010
I leave today with John Adam Murph and his band for Zurich, Switzerland. John will be playing at Albisgutli Sat night and Sunday. We are on United from Nashville thru Dulles and then directily into Zurich. Can I just say that Stacy at the United counter in Nashville is awesome? She put all of in Economy Plus and did not charge for any extra bags. I called mom, who was coming to the airport later on to fly to Vegas, to make sure she dropped off some swag for Stacy for all her help. Our flight was delayed about 45 mins out of Nashville so we went down to Noshville for some breakfast. Finally boarded our flight and who is our gate agent? Stacy! She told us the ramp guy that would gate check our items was new and to give him a hard time.. uh yeah.. not going to be hard with this group! Landed in Dulles and had just enough time to get to our departure gate. However… John is having to carry Ricky’s fiddle as one of his carry ons and in true John form he accidently whacked a lady in the back of the head with the fiddle case while we were walking to the next gate.. I have learned to just keep on walking…
Thank God the flight to Zurich was not full and we all ended up having a row to ourselves. I scooted back to a middle row of 3 seats and tried to catch some sleep. I think we all slept on and off for about 4 hours. Landed on time and was met by the promoter, Albi. Loaded up the van with all luggage and gear and then I rode with Albi from the airport to the hotel.
Most of us cleaned up and headed out for a little shopping and sightseeing.. trying whatever we could not to lay down and go to sleep! John, Ricky and Nick made it until around 2pm before they headed back to the hotel and took a nap, Chris and I kept on shopping.. even in a daze and went back around 5. Dinner was at this Itialian restaurant that was ok and then I came back to the room to work a little while the guys went back down to the pizza take out 🙂
Going to try and get some sleep and then show day tomorrow!
Saturday, Feb 20, 2010
Show Day! Actually got 10 hours of sleep last night. Yay! John and I went downstairs around 8 to get some breakfast and then I took the tram back downtown to do some more shopping.. yes, I bought more truffles. Came back to the hotel around noon and walked across the street to a “take away” place where I got a Calzone. It was so good… pizza sauce, cheese, spinch and then he broke an egg inside before folding and baked it. We were suppose to leave for the venue at 3 so we could do soundcheck from 3:30 to 5. We had to be done at 5 because doors were set to open. We loaded into the van but the driver says he has to wait until 3:30 before leaving. I had to go a little “Judy” on him and let him know we had to go so we could have enough time for our soundcheck. The production company, Live Sound, is a great company and very profesional. Christophe was our sound guy and everything was set up and I think we finished soundcheck by 4:30… so now we have about 2 hours to kill before dinner here at the venue and then showtime at 9:30. We walked around outside and they have this huge like “bubble” set up in the parking lot. It is a smoking room with sound and screen to hear/ watch the show. Pretty cool. Went next door to the restaurant for dinner. I think all the guys oredered the veal while I opted for the Chili con carne. John did a few PSA’s for a local radio station and then showtime. John and band rocked it out. They loved him. He really had an energetic show and got the crowd dancing. The promoter was very happy and wants him to come back. After signing autographs it was almost 2 AM by the time we all got back to the hotel… and we get to get up and go back to the venue for a 9 AM showtime!
Sunday, Feb 21, 2010
Well that was a quick night.. slept off and on for about 4 hours. I think I am getting a cold. boo. All the guys were in the lobby and ready to go at 8:45. Can I say how much I love these guys? They are so much fun and so professional. We are really having a good time. The are having an American breakfast at the venue and it is sold out. John is SUPPOSE to do 3 45 min sets, however we get there and they decide they want 4 40 min sets. Again the “judy” part in me came out, but John and his band were fine with the change and adjusted their set list accordingly. Again the crowd loved him and we sold out of merch! Finally got done around 1 and back at the hotel at 2. A few of us wanted to try the Swiss fondu and took the tram back into town. John didn’t think he could handle all that cheese, so he and Ricky ended up elsewhere. It is now 7 PM and I think the last 2 days are catching up with everyone as we were ready to get back to the hotel and chill. Flight home is not until noon tomorrow so we can sleep in a little bit 🙂