OK, here we go!
I actually had a great time in France!
We played a festival in Carcassone. I had a little bit of the day to look around.
Well, more so, to find a laundromat. So here is the typical Europe game plan:
Get a map of the area, usually from a hotel front desk. Curiously, the man at the front desk didn't know where the hotel was on the map. Huh? He asks one of the room service girls. She doesn't know either.
How did you people get here? Finally I find someone who knows where I am, and, where laundry is.
My French sucks but I do a pretty good impression of scrubbing clothes.
Go.
Hey this place looks just like New Orleans........Wait.


I find a laundromat, and take a closer look at the map. looks like there is a castle nearby.
Go.

That's the bridge and the castle in the background.
This is one of the larger ones I've seen. and in beautiful restoration.
Check out the Wiki on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne








There's my laundry! Down there on the left, past the trees!

Wonderful chapel here. Belonging to the Roman Catholic "Cult"
No kidding! That's what the sign said!






One of the neatest things I saw was this small chapel next to that bridge heading toward the Citi.




Isn't that beautiful.

1. Never pass a opportunity to touch earth.
2. Remember to give thanks.

There was a lock system in the city.



Next chance I got to wander a bit was Cognac.
Yeah, like the drink.....
Thusly:


Another cool church. This one with quite a few bullet holes.


Head over to the festival. Cool steps.


Remember these guys!

That bear sat in the front row for 8 shows! That's awesome!
(The dodo is mine......Duh.)

That's about it!! Whew. another European run down.
Of course, one of the cool things about being away is the warm welcome you receive from everyone when you come home.

Well, almost everyone.

Yah! Mariachi!

Wait. In Germany? HAHA These guys were playing while we were setting up.
This was a festival on the top of a hill in some castle ruins.

Work, work. So, I couldn't get many shots.
Next up was our only date in Italy. Mantova.
Beautiful city and venue. In the Palazzo Te.



Got a chance to walk around the next morning. Here are some pics:
Of course.....


Castello di San Giorgio:




A swan......uh....a swan.


Me:


Next we headed to Corsica!!
Got to finally walk along the Mediterranean! Nice.


Now, we were on the north end of the island and our gig was on the other side of a mountain range. As we went across it was ...oh, what's the word? "Dreary"


On the other side, it was completely different!










The next day we were back on the.... mainland, I guess.... do they call it that?
What do they call the big part of Europe?
Another little festival with us and ZZTOP!!

We had to move all the equipment onto trucks for this show.

That was fun. I actually like weird gigs like that.

Oh well, I'm actually back in the states now, but I have to finish up the Europe trip. A few more things to come. Stay tuned!

Ok short entry here but, some really nice pictures.

Achaffenburg. Beautiful little town. I had a opportunity to walk around.
They were having some boat races on the river, at the base of the Schloss Johannisburg.


Castle:


The view of the river from the castle:


Here's an old church built in 1183!


Inside:


Here's some pics of a park nearby built around a small structure and moat:









Holland, Belgium, Germany, Holland! The next few days were like a blur. "Wait, what language are we in?" was a common question.
Amsterdam was a nice venue. I didn't get much to wander, but....What does this mean?

Homo Sapiens not urinat in ventrum? HAHA
Cool vibe though.


Another shot from my home:


Here's a cool shot in Hannover:

See Luke in the mirror?

Next up was the Bos Pop Festival in Holland!
Big festival over three days. Our day included The Bangles, Crowded House, and, Santana!

The Bangles:


Crowded House


The crowd and stage




Me hanging with Dennis Chambers!!


Very cool!
Alright, more to come!!!
AWWW Crap. France.

Sugar balls!


Just thought those were funny packets. So, I took a bunch.
OK! Well, like I said I'm not going to give you the day-to-day, just a lot of scenery and some show info.
Check out stevelukather.net for performance pics, news, and more!

Where did I leave off?? Oh yes, the beautiful hall in Stockholm.
Here's a church nearby:


Were playing some really nice halls, and some ..... interesting clubs.
In Oslo they kept the board tape from all the acts that come trough. I think that is pretty neat.



Interesting note about some of the European boards (and computer keyboards), some of controls are arranged backwards from the US consoles. It's good to challenge your brain sometimes, but that's just weird. HAHA!
Finding internet is always fun. Finally got some reception. Time for a new computer, I think.


Next up was Kolding, Denmark. I had a day off, but my internal clock was still messed up, and the sun won't go away!! Well, it did go away, for about two hours around one o'clock. By three it was up again. Nuts.
I had a mission to find a laundromat. I got some rough directions, then as I walked toward the area, I realized that I had now idea what "laundromat" is in Danish, all the stores were closed, and every building looked like residences. Nevermind that I kept getting distracted. There is a beautiful lake with an old castle. So I think walking around is more important than laundry. (That priority changed later, of course.)


See what I mean?
I head to the castle. I didn't get too much information on it, but as I reached the top, things got interesting.
There were a bunch of kids up there drinking beer. They were fun. It was nice to hang with them. Punk/metal types. Very drunk but happy. They talk like most kids, boring town, nothing to do, "pretty boys" trying to beat them up. We talk about how metal can change the world and how cool it would be to tour the world doing music, and get out of town........


Next we head to Copenhagen.
Luke works on his ukulele chops on the way.

hehe. He's a great guy to hang with. The whole crew is really great.

The venue wasn't much to talk about, kinda a pain in the ass, actually, but we make it work.
I had a little moment to walk around in the morning.




I want one of these in my house!


Back in Germany, at a place called Fabrik. Interesting vibe. It was a bomb factory during the War.



Lots of old machinery I'm coming across. Love it!
Like this steam hammer in Oldenburg.


Got this picture with some fans after loading the bus. (Pascal, our tour manager, on the far right) They were from Paris and followed the tour for 7 shows.
Nice people.


Ok, I'm so far behind. Getting on the internet has been sketchy not to mention having time to do anything.
Work, Work, Work.

I'll follow up with a blog about Aschaffenburg. Beautiful.
Till then, I leave you with this:



The Blues Brothers on a German street, on top of a Japanese restaurant.......
There are some things that are universally true.

"Four whole fried chickens, and a Coke."

OK! Here we go!

I flew out of Orlando to Frankfurt, Germany.
This tour is going to be about 5 weeks. Mostly Germany and Scandinavia.

As always I'm not traveling along! I've got friends!!
A Dodo, and a Beaver! I'll try and get some photos of them soon. I've been forgetful of them, as well as not having much time to goof off. (i.e. sightseeing)

As monitor engineer, and drum tech on this tour I have one of the busier roles on the tour.
I'm 'First in - Last out' and working almost non-stop.
I don't mind the work at all, it's just means I don't have much time to take walk and look around.
Remember my quote: 'The back alley tour of major cities.'
Still very accurate! The shows however are a blast! The crowds have been great!

SO the tour blogs are not going to be dated day to day like I've done before, but a little more general and i'll just see how it goes.

Ok, back on track.
On arriving in Frankfurt we got on the bus and had a day of traveling to our first show in Sønderborg, Denmark.

We stop for the night in a hotel in Denmark. What a cool feeling being in Europe again, and the next couple of weeks are going to be cool. I haven't been in Sweden or Denmark before! Danish is a cool language, and, Swedish is just plain weird!
'I have no idea where I am, but, I'm so glad I'm here!'
Waking up I have no sense of time, and even less sense of direction! Jetlag is going to show up here in a minute.
I go to get breakfast and it was AMAZING! I love European breakfast! Bread, cheese, cold cuts and yogurt, coffee. Next to the hotel, there is a lake, farmland, and a golf course. I hate golf courses. I've ranted about them enough though.
Beautiful area. I walked a few kilometers to the water. Cold morning. about 10º C. Always looking for an excuse to walk around!
And why not? LOOK:






Having those days before the first show were nice, gave me a chance to settle in.
But now! Time to get to work!
Damn, first show I'm stuck with a Yamaha M7. Great desk, but less then ideal for on-the-fly mixing.
I'll try not to get too tech heavy in my blogs, but technically, this tour is going to be interesting. It's a different system every night! Whatever happens to be there.
Challenging in a good way and at the same time NOT good way.
(Ass-kicking = Learning experience)
And were off!

You can keep up with the tour, and look at pics and other news at:
http://www.stevelukather.net/

We finish the show,get on the bus go to a hotel, get up, get on the bus, and head to Arhus, Denmark.
Get off the bus, check into a hotel, get on the bus, go to the venue, set up. do the show get on the bus go to the hotel.

That's one thing that's kinda bugging me about the tour.
A lot of time and logistics is spent getting into and out of hotels. It really nice to have a room, but it makes things more difficult for me in a couple of ways.
1. If we went straight to the venue, I could start to work setting up the show, therefore, having more time to get it ready. Then maybe, have some time to walk around the town.
2. After the show I can just get on the bus and go to sleep, therefore having more time to sleep! Then wake up at the next venue. instead of having to get up again, just to get on the bus to travel to the next venue.
Having a room on a day off, or if there is not much driving time is great. but most venues have showers, and usually food.
As it stands, I'm getting to the venue just in time to get the show ready, and in some cases, having JUST enough time to pull it off. A little stressful.
Very different from the way I toured with the Toasters. Which at times was the opposite. you weren't sure when you would get your next shower, but it seemed like it was more relaxed as far as prep time was concerned.
Plus I was in town when shops were open and got to look around more and walk, meet people, etc.


Nonetheless, I got a whopping 40 min! to walk a couple blocks in Arhus. Looked nice but everything was closed at around
7:00pm. Save for a few cafes.

Beautiful port town!
Well, this is my view for the next few months!


The next day we head to Gothenburg, Sweden. Which includes a 3 hr Ferry trip!
Ferries are cool.

Heading into the port of Gothenburg, I head for the deck and check all the islands that they have to navigate through.




When we get into town we have the rest of the day off. I walk around, but it starts to rain. I duck into a cafe to wait out the rain with some coffee! (Oh coffee in Europe!)


I get some sleep and wake up really early in the morning. I head to the center of town.
It was really nice to be there before the city gets bustling.




Of course I can't help looking at a few bikes! I miss my bike! How I wish I had it here. Even bicycle would be great too!!! Maybe I should have brought some skates or something.


I bought a ukulele!! I was jonesing!! I found a Samick similar to mine at home. 675???!!!! Oh, that's Swiss Krona.
I knew that. Glad I got it. it's already been a lot of fun! I love that instrument. It's no accordion, but hey!

Next was Malmo, Sweden. Not much to report. In, out, gone!

Next off to Stockholm. Didn't get to see much of the city, but the venue was beautiful!! A huge ballroom, attached to a hotel, restaurant. and night club.
Some nice park area in front too.
During soundcheck:





As I expected, the show is over and the night club begins. Europeans, and their techno........
As we were leaving around 2:30 am the sun starts rising!!??

What the? That's messing with me.
It was close to showtime and the sun hadn't set yet. 'Wow, that's late' I thought.......
Now it's 3am an the sun is rising. 'Wow, that's annoying' I thought. Definitely plays tricks on you.

OK, that's it for now! Getan für heute!!

Lot's more to come. Sorry if it's a little weird. I figure it'll take a while to figure out the pace.
Hope everyone is doing well. Send me news!

Once again there is news, pics and more at
www.stevelukather.net

And cool reviews at:
www.Everchangingtimes.com


Take care!!

Missing Carrie.


What can I say? She's the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me.
It took me (and her) by surprise, having know each other for a long time, never seeing each other but once in a blue moon! But, only recently discovering how wonderful we are together.

We laugh a lot!

And, we love each other very much.

That's it.

Just wanted to put that out there.

My life was pretty awesome.

It's so much better.

I like putting spaces in between lines.

I love her.

We talk about getting a dog.
It's THAT serious!

HAHAHA!

Happy birthday to me!

AGGGHH! Watching Germany playing Spain in the finals! I hope Germany wins just because I happen to be in Germany and I want to see the country go off!!
That would be fun. I can't imagine the pressure on those guys now that I think about it. Wow, Having a whole country's mood depend on your performance. Imagine that! Tough.
Spain is up by 1 point.

Ok, I have some major backtracking to do! I've be sooooo busy lately, but, that's no excuse. I finally have a day off, so, i'll to bring you up to speed. Then, hopefully I can keep up. I think this is going to be in two parts.

Well I had a great little weekend playing with Whiskey Romance!
I really love these guys and hope to stay involved and wish them much success!
We had a gig in Tallahassee and saw some people that I had seen before last time I was through with the Toasters.
Then we went to Atlanta and had a chance to stop by my friends Kenny and Nisla's house and got to have a little jam with their daughter, Cheyenne! (if you remember, I gave here her first drum lesson while on my motorcycle trip.)

We were supposed to play a show at this bar in Atlanta......haha 1. They wanted us to play at 2:30 am 2. Not our vibe at all!!! 3. When we got there they really could care less who we were. (No, really, the main coordinator said "uh, who are you.. oh, what day are you playing?)
Needless to say we were not very interested to play there. We got on the phone to our friends High Lonesome in Nashville, and they said come on down you can play here!!
LETS GO!!! So, we left.
HAHA So glad we did, The people in Nashville are so great!! High Lonesome let us crash their gig! We weren't suppose to play that night, but, they let us get on and play a few tunes!
So we had three nights in Nashville. Cool little scene. Wak from Radio Death Wave let us stay at his house for the weekend! Thanks!!
The band went over really well and I hope they can get back there soon!
Check their site for more info on the shows!



Ok, So right after the show in Nashville I go to the airport to fly to LA to be around for the Steve Lukather rehearsals!
I was there for two weeks and pretty much working everyday. I did have a day off to tool around. I drove out to the coast around Malibu. I found this AWESOME road that wiggles though the mountains! All the time I was thinking how I wish i had my motorcycle with me! Lots of good riding roads here. Excluding um.. most of the city. Make that ALL of the city! driving in LA. Always fun.....not really.

Some scenes:

That's the Hollywood Bowl down there.


That thing:


Surfers....Duh!




I did drop by the LA Zoo!


This will be cool I thought, well turns out, LAZY was the theme of the day! HAHAHA!!

Roos sleeping:

Kilolas sleeping:

Gorilla sleeping:

Camel ......Sleeping:

Mircat being .....inappropriate:

Lion ......doing the same:

Giraffe resting:

Hippo yup, you guessed it:


Still, cool to get out and enjoy a facsimile of nature.
Speaking of which! Please tell me you find this as ironically sad as I do:


I wasn't really interested in hanging out in the city too much. I worked most of the day, and wasn't looking to party. When I did have time I just looked for some scenery.
Here's Luke and the band getting ready!




Thankfully, when rehearsals were done I had I chance to get home for a couple days before I had to fly to Europe. I had packed expecting to head straight to Europe, but, thankfully, that was not the case.
There is a VERY good reason why I wanted to get home for a bit. (More later.....Duh You all know why.)
Anyway, That, as they say, is a whole 'nother story!

Alright! So it begins my next European adventure!
This ones going to be quite different tough! Not a typo.

DAMN Germany lost. :( Well done Espana!)

More to come soon, If I can stay up!!


Love you all!

Hey everyone!
Well I am still alive! Loving life, riding all the time.
Can you believe that it's coming up on just ONE year since I got my bike.
It had 2500 miles on it when I got it, and it's 23,000 on it now!
I love that machine! That point was further driven (er..ridden) home a week ago. More on that in a sec.

I've been super busy and been neglecting to keep up with what's been going on here, but, I look in now and then. I'll read and comment more if I can.

So........I'm going to be in Europe this summer doing monitor work for Steve Lukather (TOTO).
www.stevelukather.net
Wish me luck! I love going on the road!! It's going to be a great tour!

Like I said, always working, but, never without my bike, and, some jobs are really tough, like...
THUNDER BEACH BIKE RALLY! PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL

Lots of bikes!! I brought mine too!



Poor thing. I'm really glad I brought it though. We were covering three different venues, so having my bike there was really handy as far as getting around the area, and being able to park ANYWHERE!
Nice that I got to ride up and down the beach all the time. Albeit, working, sometimes stressful, but counterbalanced nicely.
This was in front of the resort we were in the first week.



And the rally hadn't officially started yet! Huge. Note the little one right there in the foreground.
I didn't see ANY other thumpers, bummer. Enough Harleys to last um.... forever, I think.
Got some compliments on the bike. Old-schoolers loved it because they know what a great (Useful, fun, easy, etc. etc. I'm preaching to the choir here.) design it is.
But most (You know the type) where like, "what are you doing here?"
My thoughts were "I"M WORKING!!"
"My bike ain't pretty, it's got a soda crate and all sorts of misc. stuff strapped to it. I'm on it every day, all weather. It's not a show piece, it's my best friend."

I love my UKE too!

This is my view for the first few days! Tough eh......



The main acts that I worked with were Atlanta Rhythm Section, Slow Ride (featuring original Foghat member Tony Stevens), and a great group Mustang Sally. Check them out! All great shows.

This was my view for the last few days..



Oh wait, that's the "Miss Thunder Beach" contest. Trust me, that beach is really pretty back there!

See:



Rough life.....

And a great end to it all was the 400 mile ride back home! I took a small road back home and hugged the coast all the way there. Great to have that feeling again. Definitely put the bug back into me for another long distance road trip soon!! I'll never get tired of running around... What's next.....
I'm thinking Girlfriend, sidecar. mountains! mmmmm....... Who knows. Who knows........

Well of course I'll keep on writing! Haven't posted a blog in sooooo long. but I'm sure I'll get back into it soon.
Cheers everyone! Stay safe!

"The only joy is the joy of duty. Work... work... work" -Yoyodyne intercom announcement. (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

Hey everyone! So I'm home........again.
Side trip number 1.
Let me explain.
I got home from my trip! Playing some gigs, and a lot of sound work.

Yes that's a pool next to my stage! This festival was in an oval track as well!


Then I get a call to see if I want to go on a cruise....What's the catch?
I'll work one day.........and, it's county music........um, OK!
(I actually don't mind county music, people. Good stuff.)

The event was WCTQ's 1st annual "Country Cruise" With Emerson Drive, and, Steve Holy.
I was called in to bring a monitor rig in for the bands.

The cruise was Mon.-Fri. and the show was on Tues.

I didn't get any pictures leaving the port, because I spent most of Mon. dealing with the arrangements for my equipment, which included my camera.
The ship is out of Port Canaveral, and there was a Space Shuttle launch the day after we left. You could see the Shuttle on the pad as we left.

The two ports of call were Coco Cay, and Nassau in the Bahamas.

Here's some pics!











The Captain and I


Steve Holy


Emerson Drive


Great Show! "Unplugged" style.
Poor guys from Emerson Drive had to fly out of Nassau to Winnipeg! That's Canada! I was just there, and it was cold enough then.

Then had two days to just hang out! Spent most of my time just laying around, swimming, and wandering around the ship.

I know! I know! I just can't go anywhere without that damn hat!

Caught some of the entertainment, shows, games etc.
I was kinda in a weird mood though, not feeling particularly "Party animal".
I alternated between enjoying feeling relaxed, eating, having that 24 hr. coffee machine thingy, and marveling at the ships engineering. To despising everything it stood for.

Keep in mind I just came off a summer of minimalist self reliance. So the pampering, and wastefulness got to me at times.
That, and I live in Sarasota. So, tropical weather, and beautiful beaches are not that hard to come by.
(Ahem! That was a hint Sarasota, Leave it alone.)
Though judging by the number of people from Tennessee, I can see the appeal.
Finally, Your "Partying" does not impress me. (Two words: Burning Man)

Here was my favorite part. (and photo subject!)
American Sign Language.

There were two ASL interpreters on the ship and I would go down the theater to watch them. Whatever was going on. The shows were corny but entertaining. But it was great to just sit and watch some signing.
It's so beautiful to watch.
I had been studying ASL for a while and haven't worked on it in a long time.
It wasn't till later I thought of photographing it.


Talking


Singing and Dancing


Feeling


Communicating


Silence




Back to port at 7:00 am Fri. then home to play a gig that night!
Did I mention that I got paid to do this?
I get to camp, work, and ride my motorbike the next two weekends AND get paid for it too!
..... Oh well. If I have to....

74 days
11,935 miles
200 gal. of gas
8 qts of oil
2 filters
3 tires
1 turn signal bulb

One AWESOME bike ride!






Amen!