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Mile 731721 - San Francisco, CA
Tomorrow I head out to Scotland. I have to make a quick stop first in New York City, but I arrive in Glasgow on Wednesday morning. Then I head straight for the Highlands. I'll be doing a few solo things before Sidette and Sidey join me at the end of the week. The Scottish Highland country is one of my favorite places. It reminds me so much of my home in Virginia. It's beautiful, and I always have the best time there. I can't wait. Once again, I'll be on the lookout for the Loch Ness Monster, but once again I don't expect to see it. Too far into tourist season now... according to the locals, she only shows up about once every year just before tourist season starts...
Last time over there, I drove all the way around that Loch (it's large) and didn't see one freakin' monster. Not one! I hope to try some new types of whisky while I'm in the Highlands. I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything particularly excellent. (They're all quite excellent really...)
Today I heard a grown woman trying to explain to a grown man what the word 'recession' means. "To go down", was her definition. Guess that guy doesn't watch much TV news, or live in this country...
Anyway, I'm going to try to keep up with regular mile markers again while we're overseas so make sure to check in over the next couple of weeks and see what we're up to. Now that I can post pictures with the mile markers, it's a lot more fun. Oh, that reminds me. I'll most likely be posting pictures from the trip too in the photos section, so make sure to check in there too. Remember, those of you using Internet Explorer are still seeing the old website (RoachMusic classic). If you're curious, download the Fire Fox browser and check out the new and improved site. Otherwise, just hold tight. We hope to have the site ready for Internet Explorer users real soon.
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Mile 718,250 - Amsterdam, NL
Today was a day off. Sandra set up an appointment for us with her friend, Boudewijn, who is the carillon player for 14 different bell towers throughout Holland. For those who don't know (I didn't know until today), a carillon is a piano-like instrument consisting of wooden baton keys each connected to a large metal hammer that strikes a bronze bell when the key is pushed. Many of the towers in Holland (and indeed throughout the lowlands and around the world) have such carillons in their belfries. I always assumed that there was some sort of mechanism akin to a player piano that played the melodies in bell towers. While it is true that these type of machines exist in many bell towers, there are also a handful of these carillon players, so sometimes when you hear the bells from that church up the street there just may be someone sitting behind a carillon punching and stomping the keys to make the melody that you hear.
So, thanks to Sandra, we were able to go up to the top of the Westerkerk (one of the more prominent landmarks in Amsterdam) and enjoy a private carillon performance.
On the subway ride over, Sidette wrote out the score for one of our songs, 'Hazel Blue'. After Boudewijn's first piece, he asked if we had any music with us. We gave him the score and he played 'Hazel Blue' on the bells of the Westerkerk tower! It was unbelievable. His interpretation of the simple melody was absolutely beautiful, and I have to admit that it was quite a rush to know that half of Amsterdam was hearing one of our songs (whether they knew it or not). I have video of Boudewijn performing the song, but I switched the recorder off early... my only regret from today.
After his performance I got to talk with Boudewijn a bit outside on the platform that wraps around the tower just underneath the bell chamber. What a guy! And the view of Amsterdam from atop the tower is unparalleled. It truly was a pleasure to meet Boudewijn and to hear him perform. It's an afternoon I will always remember. Thanks again to both Sandra and Boudewijn!
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Mile 717,838 - Amsterdam, NL
Yet another radio show... I guess we're getting pretty good at these by now... Tonight's was very cool though. We did this same radio show last time we were over in June of last year. It's called Desmet Live. It's a show about culture and politics among other things I guess. They broadcast it live from a little cafe in Amsterdam. Very cool. There's a small audience there in the cafe, and of course they have a loyal listenership over the airwaves and the internets. Speaking of which, if you'd like to hear the show, you can (for the next week or so) follow this link, and click the link that says 'Beluister de hele uitzending online'. A warning for our non-Dutch speaking friends though, most of the show (all of it except for our songs which are about every 30 minutes or so) is in Dutch. You can also watch the show by clicking on the link that says 'Bekijk het eerste uur van de uitzending online'. Our performances are at around 2:50 and 41:30. Then click the link that says 'Bekijk het tweede uur van de uitzending online'. Our performances are at around 8:20 and 23:05.
After the show, we went back to Lucky Dice headquarters to drop off our instruments and gear, then headed back out for an evening on the town. We're all still recovering from jet lag though, so it was pretty tame... Had a few laughs and beers, and then headed home. Bassy forgot his shoes at the Desmet Cafe, though and we did have to go back for those. Pretty funny. How could you forget your shoes, you might be asking... well, don't forget, it is Amsterdam after all. (He actually had brought two pairs, it's not as if he left the cafe barefooted or anything.) Tomorrow is a day off, and then we start the actual non-radio gigs in earnest. First up is the BBBluesclub in Enschede. Home of the Grolsch brewery -- I'm actually enjoying one as I type this -- so of course we're all looking forward to that.
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Mile 717,829 - Hilversum, NL
Got my banjo back this morning. All in one piece and everything. Luciano saw some guy wandering around outside trying to find the address and flagged him down.
We did two radio shows today. Both for National Dutch Radio. One was with my friend Paul Harvey at around 4pm and the other was at 11pm. The interview with Paul was great. Just talking with my friend, except there were microphones and broadcast equipment with lights blinking and dials spinning. We drank some beers with Paul and he gave us all DVD copies of the Take Root Festival (a big Americana festival in Holland) for the last 3 years or so! Great gift. Thanks again for that Paul.
After leaving the media complex, we went to a nearby town and had some pancakes. Dutch pancakes are sort of like crepes, except in my opinion much better. Sidette and I split a mushroom, tomato and cheese plus I had a tasty cup of tomato soup... The restaurant that we ate at had a caged Myna bird. It was right behind me whistling and talking most of the time that we were eating. I think it may have called me some names, but it may also have just been saying something in Dutch that I couldn't understand... I think it was cussing me though. I read a story on the plane a few days ago about a parrot that had a sailor's mouth, so I don't think it's out of the question.
After lunch, we went on a walk through the woods around one of the Queen's summer places. I wonder if she needs a house sitter. I'd gladly keep an eye on the place in the winter.
The show at 11 is called Met Het Oog Op Morgen which Luciano told me translates to "With the eye on tomorrow". Everyone there was so nice to us. They brought us beer, and gave us their security card so that I could go outside to have a cigarette. The show doesn't normally have music, so it was great that they invited us on. It's a current events type talk show all in Dutch.
The funny thing was that -- since they don't usually have music -- all four of us are just sitting there in the studio with the hosts while they talk about current events in a language that none of us can understand. We've all got our headphones on and have been told (by the host) that it'll be about 7 minutes until we play our first song. So after about 10 minutes, this voice comes over the headphones and says "one - two - three. Last one, two - three - four" This was really confusing to all of us because we weren't sure if someone in another room was counting down until we were supposed to play, or what was going on. It turns out it was just an audio clip that the host was playing that was probably related in some way to whatever he was talking about, but it very nearly caused us to just start playing in the middle of his program. I mean Sidette was ready to kick it off and I was ready to follow her.
As if the phantom headphone voice wasn't enough, during the course of the show the host kept saying 'San Francisco', so each time he would say it, I would think that he must be talking about us, and I'd get ready to start playing. Turns out he was talking about the Olympic torch being in San Francisco, which I knew nothing about. A fact that became obvious to everyone listening a short time later when our host asked me a question about the torch being in San Francisco and I didn't even know what he was talking about... All in all though, the show was great. Next time I go on a Dutch current events show however, I'll be sure to read the paper first.
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Mile 717,799 - Amsterdam, NL
We left San Francisco yesterday morning at around 9:00am. After a short 10-hour flight, I watched the sunrise from about 18,000 feet just 40 miles or so north of London. I’ve been to London several times, but usually when I fly in, it’s either dark or foggy or both. Today it was sky blue and clear. We did a wide sweeping circle around the whole city. It was beautiful. I saw the Palace, the Parliament and Big Ben, the Millennium Wheel, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, and on and on. All things I’ve seen before from the ground. On the ground though, they take all day to see. Today I saw the whole city in the span of 15 minutes.
Once we docked at the gate, we walked though the twisting labyrinthine halls of Heathrow for what seemed like hours just to reach a shuttle that then drove us to a different terminal where our connecting flight to Amsterdam was to depart from. We had about a four-hour layover, so even with the walk and the ride, we still had nearly three hours to kill. Heathrow is a dreadfully painful place to try and pass three hours. It’s like being in a giant shopping mall, except that with the currency exchange everything costs twice as much as it says it does. I don’t even like those stores when they’re giving things away, so you can image…
As an interesting side note however, they do have a WORLD OF WHISKY shop – or some such – that has tons of great Scotch Whisky. Again though, with the currency exchange, the spirits are willing, but the dollar is weak.
After eons of waiting we finally boarded the plane to take the short 40-minute flight into Amsterdam, and then… waited some more! We sat at the gate for an hour while they loaded luggage onto the plane. There were only a few of us on the plane, but I guess everyone else had as much luggage as we did, so while the cabin was nearly empty, the cargo hold was overfilled.
Once we cleared passport control in Amsterdam, I found out that I jinxed myself with my last mile marker. My clothes made it okay, along with Cds and all the instruments except for my banjo. The ‘Kitten Killer’ was left behind somehow. I figured it probably got left in London during the baggage loading, but it turns out that it is still in San Francisco! They’ve got their best people on it, so hopefully it will arrive here in Amsterdam tomorrow. There’s just one thing… the report they gave me for the missing banjo says ‘This report is in no way an admission of liability on the part of [Airline Name]… That sort of makes me nervous… Just a little. Wish me luck.
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