It’s the morning after our 12th show in a row. Three to go and we are done. I’m definitely ready to get back home, back to my kids, and back to my students. Last night we played in a building that survived the invasion of Napoleon.
I guess it was originally a mill back then, but now it is a restaurant and bar. We are in Scharnitz, which is a mountain pass from Germany to Austria. Napoleon had to come through here to get to Innsbruck, which is where we are playing tonight.
For the past few days we have been working out an arrangement of the Bruce Springsteen song Born to Run, which I consider to be the ultimate rock song. It is a tradition to find a new song on the road and learn it while traveling. This one has been tough. Last night we ran it live for the first time. It was pretty rough but there were very few people at the show so we thought it was a good time to try it. We found a few pitfalls but I think we can do it justice at our last three shows.
We’re all exhausted. Everyone is getting along and we have so far not had any major difficulties on this trip. We’ve even made it through customs without having our vehicle searched. Just one more time across the border and we’re good.
Alex Anest 