Corvus Corax the Sentinel

                              

   
 In Santiago I had purchased a painting and an etching from a night street market. Since the artwork was awkward to carry it was now stored in one of the guitar flight cases. I would see it again at our last show in New Jersey before I flew home.

  
 I rarely buy this sort of stuff but I liked the modern painting and the etching of a Corvus Corax, a Raven which is a bird that is ever present in the conifer woods near my home. The raven is a creature that can tell you all that is going on in the surrounding area if you are patient enough to pay attention and learn to interpret their extensive vocabulary. Nothing gets past the sentinels posted by these family groups.

'La Recoleta Cemetery'

 Upon leaving the gig in Montevideo the heavens opened up and a flashing and crashing storm lit up the whole sky through the night. We had an early start out to the airport the following day and the storm was still surrounding us. Due to the inclement weather, not many flights had managed to get into Montevideo so we were unable to catch our flight.  

 Having checked in, we just hung about for many hours. After about 7 hours it was more than obvious that plan B was to catch the late night flight direct to Córdoba. Originally we were to fly back to Santiago and then get a flight to Córdoba.

'At the Cemetery'

 The small Bombardier jet shook us all the way through the dark skies and got us to Córdoba at 23.20 hrs. We had a 13 hour day at the airport and the crew were scattered somewhere between Santiago and Montevideo. Luckily the following day off helped to get us all back together. The gig went well and before we knew it we were back at the hotel for a busy day tomorrow.

  The 10.15 flight took us to Buenos Aires and we were to play a show later in the day. I have never been a fan of flying on the day of a show. It makes me feel unbalanced but needs must, so the plan was to have a good lunch and a long walk after arriving at the Park Hyatt.

 

 Luckily, I had a friend who had lived in Buenos Aires and had given up an afternoon of riding horses to take me to a very cool restaurant. The weather was wonderful and after I walked around La Recoleta Cemetery. This beautiful cemetery was the final resting place of many presidents of Argentina, Nobel Prize winners and poets. The black marble tomb of the much loved Eva Perón is comparatively modest but is still a rather large piece of prime real estate.

 I took a short siesta in the late afternoon and with no sound check we took to the stage.

 The following day was a 14-hour travel day via Panama again. We crossed the equator once again and lost two of our crew to drink at the airport. They spent the night in the airport and caught up with us in Puerto Rico the following day. I felt for them as I had bought the first round of margaritas but I made the flight ok so I didn’t feel to bad for too long.

M.D.C.

Crossing the Andes Mountains and On to Montevideo

              

  With a throbbing blue knuckle I enjoyed some staggering views of the Andes mountains and the grasslands of Argentina. After a few hours we flew over a little of the South Atlantic and into Montevideo.

Our hotel in Montevideo

  Descending from altitude above the Rio de la Plata, it is easy to understand it is the widest river estuary in the world at nearly 200 km at it’s widest point. The brown muddy Paraná River. drains a huge area into this massive estuary which slowly enters the South Atlantic. From my seat (1F) in front of the aircraft’s wing, it was a grand spectacle.

  This is also the site of an incident at the outbreak of World War II where the marauding German battleship Graf Spee had been looting and sinking the easy pickings of the South Atlantic cargo routes. The pocket battleship was later forced to blow itself up before engaging the gathering British warships at the entrance to the River Plate.

 The skeleton crew, having left the forlorn killing machine before it’s demise, it is alleged that the episode had been politically manipulated by the collusion between the British government and the neutral Uruguay government.

  The hotel was set between the airport and the old town of Montevideo but it took four hours for me to get a room. Both bands and crew were staying in this hotel and my initial room when I entered could have still been occupied. I didn’t hang about to find out. There was a room service tray half finished on the desk and the bedding was disturbed. I was offered another room that was fine but for the feedback noise coming from the bathroom. I retired to the bar and told them to let me know when all was sorted.

Uruguay won the first ever World Cup here in 1930! 

 Two hours later I went back to reception to find out if anything had been done. I rattled my sabre and within thirty minutes all was well. 

   The first World Cup tournament was held in Montevideo in 1930 and the Estadio Centenario where the final was held and where Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 was our venue for the evening. I had bought a football so we had a kick about on the pitch that was surrounded by the light blue seating. We were told not to, but we are musicians and sometimes are hard of hearing. After a few minutes we were told to ‘clear off’.

  It turned out to be a great gig despite me pulling a thigh muscle passing the ball to James Walbourne in the afternoon.

 Tomorrow we have two flights to get to Córdoba in Argentina. It was going to be a long day. What I didn’t know was how long!

M.D.C.

Mexico to Lima, Pacific to the Atlantic

  Our third crossing of the Equator on this tour took place on Monday the 12th of March at 11.53am local time. We were 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean with the Galapagos Islands about 250 kilometres away on our starboard side and Ecuador to our port side. It was a travel day and the smell of burnt plastic was dying away until we got into the city of Lima.

 The show was played in a large carpark next to a freeway and my sore throat was getting worse, as I had developed a dry cough.  I can’t remember much about the show other than the fact that my drum tech Justin was doing a great job of setting the kit with different hired hardware everyday. My drum kit was flown everywhere along with all the other equipment, but at every gig, DW, my drum supplier, were furnishing Justin with the stands. This saved on the expense and logistics of the space and weight needed.

Positioning everything at every show is not an exact science and a centimetre here or there can mean the difference between skinned knuckles, bloody drum heads or not. It was so far so good but that was about to change. I was very much looking forward to Santiago in Chile and Montevideo in Uruguay that were our next two shows.

 The sound check at the National Stadium in Santiago was under the brightest afternoon sun. The heat was intense and reflective covers were over the drums. That night I hit the middle index finger of my right hand on the wing nut holding a cymbal in place on the last beat of Down the Wrong Way, right on the knuckle.

Fortunately, this was the point in the set where I left the stage. It hurt like hell and I wrapped my finger in the icy towels that I walk off stage with every night. It was turning blue but there was no blood, my own fault for being so bloody final about the last bosh on the cymbals. Still, I caught the stick!!

 

 These things happen from time to time and my knuckles bear testament to the last fifty years of playing the drums.

  To make up for it, there were fifteen birds of prey circling around in the air above the stadium on the thermal we were helping to cause.

 Tomorrow we travel over the Andes Mountains heading east to the S. Atlantic and Montevideo at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, the mighty river plate.

M.D.C.

Over The Equator Again

I bought the largest hat I could find!

  From Porto Alegre we flew to Mexico City in the Northern Hemisphere via Panama. We had four nights in the heart of Mexico City at The St. Regis Hotel. During our stay we followed the tourist route and visited the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.

  Mexico City lies in a high valley not unlike Yellowstone National Park. The only difference is the 10,000,000 vehicles and method of rubbish disposal. Whenever we were in the city, it was impossible to get the smell of burnt plastic out of my nose. Although the air quality was bad, it was a huge improvement compared to what it had been in the past.

'Police of Monterrey'

  After our four nights we flew to Monterrey not far from the Texas boarder and played a show the following day. We had prefabricated dressing rooms in the car park of this show and we felt the familiar shudder and wobble of an earthquake tremor a few times. It was difficult to tell if the tremors were real, or if the crew were wobbling the temporary dressing rooms to entertain us!  

  Afterwards we moved on to Guadalajara in the west. In this city the policing was heavy duty and the vehicles were loaded like tanks with a serious calibre canon type weapon fixed on the top. In the day and a half we were in town, 16 people were shot dead!

 

Soon we made our way back to Mexico City this time to play two shows. When we arrived at the airport, there were quite a few fans, many photographers and a few press representatives. We waded our way through the mass of people and were back in the same rooms at the St. Regis that we now considered a home away from home. 

 The shows were a grand way to spend a Friday and Saturday evening. On Friday, before I took to the stage, I visited with Phil Collins (who I had not yet said ‘Hello’ to) in his dressing room.

Monterrey

  

 Having never met one another before, we rattled through the last three decades or so, and about his son Nic playing drums behind him.

  Nic is 16 years old. He is living in Miami and has a band called Fifty Eight Hundred. He’s definitely a credit to Phil and a great player, playing with a bunch of top musicians in a band where the lead singer is his dad. Not a bad gig at 16 years of age when you really have to lead a rather large musical ensemble of a dozen or so musicians. With Leland Sklar on bass, he sits in the middle and fires off a great engine.

Our 'home away from home' in Mexico City

  
 One important thing to mention about Mexico City and performing there is the fact that it is at an altitude of nearly 7,500 ft. Denver in Colorado is a mile high, Mexico City is half as high again. It's well worth being aware of that fact. Stage right was the oxygen bottle, but from my past experiences it is best left for any extreme reactions. Back in the day (on our first tour) when I took some at a gig in Denver, it made my head have needles and pins and caused more problems than it solved.

Meanwhile, back in Hereford...

With one more day off in Mexico City, and a bag full of gifts and trophies, I spent my final evening at a restaurant where a different mariachi band would blow us out of our seats each night.

 The following day I'm up at 04.45 to leave the hotel at 05.30 for adventures in Peru!

M.D.C.

The Maracanã Stadium

 After rehearsals finished on Friday the 16th of February, I drove home to have a final few days there before I returned to the UK in April. I had arranged a meeting with the electrician to take a last look at the wiring mapping for the electrics that were to be run into the new section of my build. You only have one chance to get it right. A brief chat with the plumber and chippy for the same reasons and I put that all to bed for now. Any other questions I could deal with via email.

   

 On Monday the 19^th, I picked up my prescription medications from the doctor’s surgery in my nearby village. After a quick jab for a blood test, I drove to Heathrow for the following days morning flight to Rio de Janeiro.

 After leaving my smoking tobacco and accoutrements behind, we flew down the coast of Africa and across the Atlantic and the equator for 11 hours or so. After getting some sleep and watching a few movies, we landed on time in Rio and made our way to the hotel. Our hotel, the Avenue Atlantica at the Copacabana was overlooking the South Atlantic, and despite the change in time zone, I found it wasn’t difficult to fall asleep close to midnight.

  I awoke early but I’m gifted with the ability of drifting back to sleep quickly. I got up at 08.30 and that was the end of any jet lag for the tour. It’s great having a direct flight down to Rio. My mornings started from 9 am. every morning from then on.

Frigate Bird. Photo via:airspacemag.com

 Today was a day off and without a thought about having a roll up I stayed local and ordered room service. It was a day of short walks and being entranced by the magnificent Frigate birds high above the hotel. These birds were named ‘Man of War’ birds by sailors in the days of yore because of their aggressive feeding habits. Being a marine bird, it is unusual that it has no waterproofing in the form of an oily preen gland. If the bird were to get too much water on it’s feathers, it would drown in the sea. It survives by being a fast and agile flyer and harassing other sea birds by chasing them down and getting them to regurgitate the contents of their stomach which it then scoops up by using it’s flexibility of flight and long hooked beak. I have a tattoo of these birds on my right arm.

  On the 22nd of February we travelled through the traffic to the famous Maracanã Stadium for a brief sound check and our opening show. For the performance I had a 1970 Brazilian national football team shirt with the famous number 10 on the back. This was the shirt of the legendary three time World Cup football winner and Santos player Pelè. He had been ill for a while and there were more than a few in an audience of 54,000 that noticed my tribute to a unique talent and true gentleman.

 All was well with our show but I was surprised that the humidity made me feel so heavy. It was quite an exhausting 60 minutes. However, it’s always a good feeling to get the first one under the belt. It was a slow journey back to the hotel, as the heavens opened up and paralysed the traffic with so much flood water. The amount of water overcame the drainage systems, which is a serious issue. Our 25 minute journey turned into an hour and a half due to abandoned vehicles on the road.

  The following day we flew down to São Paulo for the two shows there. We changed the show a little and once again everyone was roaring their approval. Thankfully, the humidity wasn’t too bad and the aching fingers in my right hand had calmed down. The stage was very slippery when my water antics covered the area in front of my riser, which caused Chrissie a little concern.

 Another flight took us further south to Porto Alegre (not far from the boarder with Uruguay). This stadium was quite beautiful in design, but prior to our show it began to rain and it didn’t quit. At this point, the lightning was flashing all over, and it seemed our stage time would be delayed. Luckily it abated and we took to the stage a few minutes late, stepping on hastily laid walkways of white towels. We had a fantastic time in Brazil. The next country was Mexico!

M.D.C.