Day 1 – Anything Can Go Wrong

It’s been a hard day. Getting out of the airport was tough because our rental van is so high tech that we are literally like the three stooges trying to remove the seats and work the GPS. I ended up navigating Kevin to St Gallen to pick up Serge’s bass the old school way. You know, with a map? We got there late and the shop was closed for lunch but we killed time for a few hours. The Sprenger violin shop is the oldest in Switzerland and it was gorgeous and very cool. They had three basses for Serge to try out.

After getting the bass we headed to Stafa, having deciphered the GPS. But we arrived with only enough time to sound check and to head to the hotel for 30 minutes. At this point we have been awake for well over 24 hours and it’s been showing. We’re all pretty ragged but soon we will play our first show and get our first night of sleep. I’m hopeful that we will be rested for tomorrow’s gig. Now we’re off to dinner and the show…

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Day -1 – Dad, are you sure it’s a good idea to drill a hole in your guitar?

Tomorrow is Thursday. I’ll call it day 0 since our first show is on Friday. I’ve packed and I’m ready to embark on my 7th two week tour of Switzerland. Kevin and I have been doing this since 2004 but it’s always fun and exciting. This time I can tell I’ll miss my kids more than usual. They are older and more interesting and I really enjoy time with them. Kevin, Serge and I played a kick off show to a very friendly Ann Arbor audience a few nights ago. Keith Meisel, who has toured with us four out of six previous trips, sang some killer harmonies. I’m definitely going to miss him on the road.

Just before the Ann Arbor gig I decided to drill a hole in my 1930 Slingerland so I could attach a strap button to the neck heel. Bad idea. I ended up cracking the neck heel and now the Slingerland is in the shop, so for the first time ever I’m flying with a Gibson. It’s a beautiful ES-339, basically a 335 for short people, which I am. I’ll hang out with the kids tomorrow until noon and then it’s off to the airport. For the next two weeks my life will be simple. Drive. Play. Sleep. Repeat.

This is the current set list. I’m curious to see how it changes over the next sixteen nights.

Switzerland 2014 – Packed!

I’ve just finished packing for the upcoming two-week tour of Switzerland. It’s 2 AM. Keith will be here at 6:30 to drive me to Kevin’s house. We’ll meet Rob at the airport at 8:00 and take off at 10:10. We have a long layover in Toronto – I am not sure why I set up the flight that way but it is definitely my fault – and from there we fly into Zurich. I’ve managed to get a telecaster, a lap steel, the netbook that I will be using to write the rest of these posts, plus all of my clothing into the gig bag. The black bag holds my Vox Tonelab LE, which replaces an amplifier – it is basically a digital amp modeller/effects unit. Way easier for overseas touring than my usual tube amp. The road case holds all the cables and tools and miscellaneous stuff I might need. All in all I think I packed pretty small.

This tour is fifteen dates, starting in the town of Laupen – near Bern – at a little place called Die Tonne. We have played there on three other occasions and so it will be a nice way to start the tour. Christian von Erlach is our contact and he always makes sure we are well taken care of.

I’ll try to make this tour blog as interesting as possible and I will also try to update daily, though I may miss a few. Here is our complete tour schedule. You know, in case you happen to be in any of these towns in the next few weeks,,,

Samstag, 1. Nov. 2014      CH-LAUPEN, Die Tonne

Sonntag, 2. Nov. 2014      CH-Beth Wimmer‘s House-Concert

Montag, 3. Nov.  2014      CH-WINTERTHUR, Esse-Bar

Dienstag, 4. Nov. 2014     CH-OBSTALDEN, Sternen

Mittwoch, 5. Nov. 2014    CH-CHUR, Werkstatt

Donnerstag, 6. Nov. 2014 CH-REGENSDORF, s’Gwölb

Freitag, 7. Nov. 2014                CH-FEUERTHALEN, Dolder2

Samstag, 8. Nov.2014       D-01979 LAUCHHAMMER, Real Music Club

Sonntag, 9. Nov. 2014      D-Kötz, CWF

Montag, 10. Nov.2014      CH-THUN, Sekundarschule

Dienstag, 11. Nov. 2014   A-FUGEN-BINDERHOLZ

Mittwoch, 12. Nov. 2014  A-SCHARNITZ, Alte Mühle

Donnerstag, 13. Nov. 2014 A-INNSBRUCK, Bogentheater

Freitag, 14. Nov. 2014      CH-STAEFA, Rössli

Samstag, 15. Nov. 2014    CH-FLAWIL, Kulturpunkt Flawil