as i was leaving yellowstone this morning, i got a phone call from timo to ask how everything was going. its with the help and hard work of timo and julian that i am on tour this month. i left the studio before anyone else arrived with a sadness that it'll be gone before i pass back through and a note to offer my engineering skills, if they ever need them!
- the broken beats -
the sun took me away this morning... it was blindingly beautiful as i drove to the ulm hbf stopping only for fried potatoes and veggies. with wallis, we always stop at the big rasthauses, this time, i'm stopping at lay-bys and smaller, more independant truckstops - so far, i've been pleasantly surprised and have even saved some pennies - every little helps :)
today, i was picking up charlie barnes. charlie is a live sampeling songwriter and pianist from leeds. he is going to be playing a set on the next three shows and joining me in the car.
- 31 knots -
its an industrial part of germany... factories billowing smoke sit next to windfarms - how long will it be before someone writes a horror movie about aoleans?! brilliant and inspired but scarily imposing!
- the miserable rich -
the last time i was in ulm, was for the ulmer zelt festival with wallis last year. it was the first show after my friend, denis, had died and it was a crazy show... the storm outside building to a volume greater than our gig during measuring cities, so we joined in and got louder and louder until it started to subside - we sat around a campfire in the backstage after the show and sheilded ourselves from the cold... a guitar was being passed around - it was a funny vibe, nice but i was distracted - my head still in the storm from earlier!
i can't remember why, but i wrote "thees uhlmann" in my notebook with no explination! charlie is a lovely guy. i can tell that we're going to have a good laugh! he films his days on shitty low quality digital cameras - watching them must be like the oft-hazy memories i have!
as we arrive at the dornstadt exit, we are directed to a very abandoned looking hotel and truckstop. in the carpark there are a few parked trucks and weeds pushing up through the tarmac. we parked and walked around the various buildings and outhouses, kind of looking for the venue, but mostly exploring! we were early, so it was a nice diversion :)
the venue turned out to be the petrol station - one of the wierdest and nicest venues i've played in - great team, great sound, great audience! we hung out with them after the show and had cake. charlie and i spent most of the evening saying "brilliant brlliant brilliaant"... it was brilliant!
on the drive to the hotel in ulm, we took backroads and realised that in this fine fancy car, i can see the stars while i drive!
we got locked out of the hotel... it's one of those little-bit-fancy, cheap, modern, horrible hotel chains that have replaced the receptionist with a computer and the key with an 8-digit code! i had written it into my notebook, but it turned out that what i had written down was my booking reference and not the door code - soooo many numbers :(
charlie eventually negociated with a guest to let him in so he could try and get the room open to get the code we need to open the carpark... the only problem being that the code he would need to open the bedroom, was in the bedroom! during his corridor wandering, i managed to coax the computer into giving me the door code, so i got in!
i went straight to bed and as charlie was getting into bed he mentioned that he likes to sleep with the curtains open to allow the morning light in - me too!!
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