WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25:
Today I leave for Zurich, Switzerland to kick off the 6 week Country Music Series at Albisguetli Schutzenhaus. I will meet up with Tex Mex Experience in Atlanta, as they will be performing the opening weekend. Bobby Flores is playing fiddle with TME, whom we have worked with before. Bobby is “amazing” on the fiddle!! The other musicians are Shawn Sahm (son of the famous Doug Sahm), Nunie Rubio, Neal Walker and Freddy Krc. Shawn has put this band together especially for this event. I am not very familiar with their style of music so I am looking forward to hearing them play. Flight to Atlanta was on time and uneventful. I met up with the guys are the departure gate to Zurich. First thing Shawn says is “how’s your mom”? You would be surprised how many people ask me that. Lol I had to explain that Judy is not my mom, she’s Lindsey’s mom; then he proceeds to ask me about my twins. Again, I had to explain – that’s Lindsey, not me. J Then Nunie comes over introduces himself and says “how’s your mom”? lol I explained (again) that Judy is not my mom, and I don’t have twins. J We board the flight and the plan is half full, which is wonderful. Everyone is able to stretch and get a whole row if they want. I listened to some music, had dinner, watched “Moneyball” and slept for about 3 hours. I was kind of disappointed in the movie. I had it heard it wasn’t very good, but anytime Brad Pitt is in a movie, even if it’s not good, you still have something “nice” to look at. Unfortunately even he was not looking his best in this movie. L
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26:
Landed on time, went through passport control, picked up luggage, etc. All too easy. We met Ernie (our driver) and Albi outside of the baggage area. Shawn did a short “tv” interview at the airport to talk about the show. We had a short drive to the hotel, rooms weren’t ready yet, so we all had breakfast while we waited. Got everyone checked in and we all crashed for a while. I had been having trouble with my phone since we landed. Tried calling Verizon, but it wouldn’t go through on Skype. Finally realized that is was after hours here, so I took a nap. When I woke up, I called to find out what was going on, and they had activated the “international” plan on my husbands’ phone rather than mine. They switched it over and all was fine in the world again. J Got cleaned up and headed downtown. Was nice to get out even if it was “freezing”. It was so cold and the fog was so low to the river, you could not even see the Bavarian Alps. Walked around for a while and ended up having pizza at the little bar next to the hotel.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27:
Slept in this morning. I think I am making up for all of the nights that I still have to get up with Jacob. J Left the hotel around 2:45 for the venue. The guys did set up their gear and did sound check. This is the first time they have all 5 played together, but you would never know it. They are all such professionals, everything ran so smooth. As I said earlier, I was not familiar with their music, but I really enjoyed it. It’s very upbeat, tejano, country, rockin’ music. After sound check Shawn did a short “live” radio interview then we all went to dinner. Tonights show was a private event with around 700, and earlier than our usual show. It was more of a listening audience as they wanted to have dinner and socialize during the show. Wow, that is hard for the band, although they did a great job keeping is “down”. J Shawn did get a little wild with his guitar at one point and almost blew an amp. Sound guy had to run up during the show and set up another amp. During the 2nd show, they kept both amps up there as a backup.
Back to the hotel around 10:30, and we all went across the street to a little pizza / sub shop to grab something to eat. Ended up getting in bed around 1 AM. Thank goodness we don’t have anything going on early in the morning.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28:
Got up around 9 AM, went down and had breakfast with some of the guys. Shawn has an interview at noon with a magazine, then some of us are going downtown to shop. J Shawn did a great interview. Man, he has so many stories about growing up, some too wild to repeat. J Not only were there wild stories, but the people that he has met / known over the years is unreal…..from Bob Dylan to Gene Simmons. Nunie, Neal, Freddy and I went downtown shopping. I took them to Teddy’s Souvenir shop, took a tour of the famous church “Gross Munster” and made a pit-stop at Spriingli – the chocolate store. OMG!!! Stopped off for a quick lunch, then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the show. Left the hotel about 6:30. Got to the venue, and since we have a different sound tech tonight, Shawn wanted to go up and check the amps and do a little tweaking before the doors opened. Those of us who went downtown weren’t very hungry, but we did eat a little since it’s going to be a long night. There’s a band from Holland that is opening for TME tonight. The lead guy in the band is Dwayne – he is 20 years old and Flaco’s “prodigy”. Nunie had met him in Texas when he came there to visit. Anyway, the guys were inviting him to play with them during their show, and Dwayne was ecstatic. First set tonight was much different than last night. Crowd was totally into having a good time, partying. Shawn invited Dwayne up during the 2nd set….OMG…..Dwayne is amazing on the accordion. They all rocked the place, had a blast on stage and the audience had a great time. I told the guys this was my 4th trip here, bringing a band over, and I don’t think I have ever seen the crowd have so much fun. Their style of music is so fun and upbeat, you can’t NOT have a good time. Back to the hotel around 12:30 AM, gonna be a short night since we have to depart a 7 AM. Gonna get most of my packing done tonight so I won’t have to in the morning.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29:
Up at 5 AM, showered and then called all of the guys at 6 AM to make sure they were all up. Went downstairs at 6:30 AM, even had time for a quick breakfast before we left. Short drive to the airport. Nunie left for Amsterdam to visit his son, the rest of us headed back to the US. Our flight was late leaving Zurich. I already had a short connection in Atlanta so this worried me a little. I slept most of the flight home since the movie selection was not much. Landed about 20 minutes late and I made a dash for passport control and luggage area. Said my “good-byes” to the guys and headed off to my gate only to find out my flight was going to be late leaving. Nice…..made it home about 5 PM to my 3 boys – Tim, Andrew and Jacob. I was so glad to be home, but I sure did enjoy meeting TME and hearing LOTS of interesting stories. J