Tuesday, Sept 2 – Wednesday, Sep 3
Well I am off again to the land of the midnight sun and $15 dollar beers. I guess I did not go over to bad on my expense account as Judy has asked me to go to Oslo, Norway with Nanci Griffith and her band. Have to be truthfull I really do not know any of her songs, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s sold out show here in Oslo.
The promoter, Gunnar, is the same promoter I met with The White’s back in August. Gunnar and his band will not be opening for Nanci in Oslo, but will in Lofoton on Sat night. I’m looking forward to that as I really like him and his band.
The trip started at 10:12 Tuesday, flying out of Nashville to Detroit. Good flight as no one was sitting beside me so I was able to stretch out a little. Arrived on time and as I was having a soda, CNN News called and wanted a quote from Roy on the passing of Jerry Reed. Sure was sorry to hear about this. We all knew he had been fighting bad health for a while and the reporter told me he died from complications from Emphysema.
The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was un eventful also, and again I had no one next to me for the 71/2 hour flight…why did I know this would not last the whole time….
Arriving in Amsterdam my phone goes off and it’s Judy with a message to call her. I have no signal so was unable to call her back at this time. In Amsterdam you have to go through passport control. There is always 300-400 people trying to go through and there is always only 3 gates open. Not only that, my gate is going to be the gate furthest away. This time gate 82.
I get through passport control and head to the gate. As I pass a schedule board i notice my gate is flashing and that means they are boarding and all should be on board. I look and I’m at gate 32, only have 50 to go. Sure… like this is going to happen. As most of you know I have a left knee that will not let me run. People are passing me running and huffing. I have worn a heavy short sleeve golf shirt, and the sweat begins to pour as I’m walking as fast as I can. I get to the gate and I’m drenched with sweat and clothes I have had on for 24 hours. Take my seat and of course my row is full. I’m sitting on the aisle seat, and I fill so sorry for the man in the middle. I tried to stay as far from him as possible.
I look up and here comes a man who weighs about 100lbs more than me and his shirt, pants and hair are soaking wet. I thought he was going to pass out. He did finally get his bag down and right there in Business Class he takes the shirt off and puts a new one on. Only in Amsterdam. LOL!
As we were sitting on the plane sweating profusely, with no air on in the plane, the pilot comes on and says we will be a few minutes late as we were waiting on 37 more passengers. I looked over at the big man and he just put his head down and took a big deep breath. I had to make the flight as mine only landed 45 min prior to Nanci…so I thought.
We left 30 min. late but arrived 15 min. early. Go figure. On the flight over all I could think of was the message Judy had left. I knew all was OK, but you still have that thought in the back of your mind esp when you have a 97 year young mother, and a very pregnant with twins daughter, some things do come to mind. Oh I forgot to mention the 2-3 month old baby that was 2 rows behind me that thought it would be cool to cry as loud as she could all the way to Oslo. I was hoping the smell was not getting to her. 🙂
Arriving in Oslo and at the Baggage claim I keep hearing my name over the loud speaker. I assumed it was the gentleman that was going to pick us up letting me know he was there. I could not leave the customs area to get the message. I tried to call Judy and after figuring out the right way to call out I got her answering machine. It was just 2 am there and thought there was a good chance she was still up working. LOL!
Well now for the good part. Yep you guessed it no luggage. I ask the man standing there when do you know when the last piece has been put on and he looks at me and says, sir what is your name, I told him and he says yea I’ve been trying to page you to let you know that your luggage never left Amsterdam….I thought it was just my eyes going, not the ears too.
Nanci and her bands plane was about 2 hours late because of traffic in Newark. Their sound man was missing 1 piece and it will be delivered tomorrow. It was left on the tarmac in Newark. They saw it as the plane backed away so they knew it would not make it.
Nanci is a slim small woman and very nice, and as I said I’m looking forward to the show. She is very popular in Europe. The band members are also extremely nice and have been in the business for quite a few years. Spent a short time with them as they all went to their rooms after checking in. Hope it was not from the aroma that was following me around.
Our driver was there right on schedule and we made it to the hotel in good shape. The hotel is the Thon Hotel in downtown Oslo one block from the waterfront and the New Opera House that I told you about last trip. It is beautiful at night.
Stupid me also realized that I had put my computer cables in my bag, do not know why, but I could not get online. My luggage was suppose to be at the hotel by 3. SURE.
I went to my room and had to have a shower, not thinking that I would have to put on the same ones when I got through, but I knew I could not stay out side and take the risk of being picked up for a homeless person.
Bag did come in at 6:15, and I took another shower and put on some fresh cloths and deodorant. All is well now.
At the top of this I said I must have not done to bad on the past expense account. I guess she took my Burger King story at heart. LOL
Well to end the night I DID GO to BURGER KING got my 2 double cheese and fries and that along with the coke and 1 beer I have only spent about 300 Kroners today. Shoot I have this trip licked.
Till tomorrow.
Taylor
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4:
I woke up this morning to rain, more rain and wind. I was sitting outside on the covered patio having a cup of coffee, and since our hotel is on the waterfront in downtown Oslo I realized that with the rain and fog Oslo is still a beautiful city. The mountains are covered half way with the fog and it is still a sight to behold.
I can also observe all the traffic. Oslo is not a very large city, but it is very busy. Cars, buses, trucks and, of course, bicycle’s are everywhere. It is fun to watch because the city is loaded with roundabouts and you just know you are going to see one heck of a wreck.
Oh… I had an email from someone today asking about the phone call from Judy that I could never retrieved. It was as I expected, just her letting me know that Nanci’s plane was going to be late.
Here in Norway, I assume that all the hotels have complimentary breakfasts. Again someone wanted to know if I had eaten the red stuff. They did not have it this morning, but hey, there is always tomorrow….
Other than the rain we had a great show. Sound check went off with out any problems and everyone was happy with what they had to work with. Nanci’s guys are super people and very talented bunch of guys. I mentioned yesterday that I had not been able to get to close to them, for obvious reasons..LOL.. but today was totally different. She is a very sweet lady and has been in the business for quite a while. She has written some great songs and has worked with some great groups. She is very close to The Crickets, Buddy Holly’s band, as well as Bobby Vee and she toured for 5 years with the Everly Brothers.
The show was a sell out and the crowd enjoyed every minute. I guess you could call it Folk Country, I don’t know if that is a class of music. She gets right into a relationship with the audience, explaining each song and where it originated. As I said they loved her and so did I.
Tomorrow is moving day. We fly to Lofoton which is on an Island in the Northwest corner of the country. We leave at 3pm and arrive around 6, with a stop on the way. Both flights are on small planes and I’m most hopeful that the weather will be better for two reasons. First they say the flight over the Ice Caps are beautiful and the mountains and Fjords are beautiful. The second should be obvious.
Just to let you know the drummer, Pat, has still not received his luggage. He had to go out and buy some essentials today and also some drum sticks and brushes. We last heard the bag was in Heathrow. Now explain to me how a bag that was suppose to go from Newark, NJ straight to Olso has made its way from NJ to Toronto on Air Canada, to London Heathrow on British Airways. The only good thing is his bag is picking up some good air miles.
Till tomorrow.
Taylor