The Difficulties of Sleep and Travel

Using a tour bus is great. Literally ‘on the road’. One for the crew and one for the band. The night drives for me are generally ok but that depends on the duration of the drive.

At last - recognition!

If the drive is less than five hours I will wait for everyone to vacate the front lounge and settle in with my pillows and blanket and watch TV or a DVD. A few times it was just C.H. and me watching something.

If it’s more than five hours I will make it to my bunk with varying results. The added complication is that the entertainment centre on these buses is far too complicated to work easily. That’s if everything is working correctly to start with!

Tom, our driver on this one, had to set up the DVD player after a week or so (no lead connected because there was no lead from player to TV)!

Last night we got in to Des Moines at 05.30. Over the last few nights I had watched a few Deadwood programs from the first series, and at this point I knew of it but had never seen it. I am now up to episode ten of the first season. After, I dozed a little for a few hours and then managed to sleep at the hotel from 6am until 10am.

The beard didn't make it!

Very often arriving into a hotel room where the curtains don’t fit the windows can mean little if any sleep. There are solutions.

The wardrobes contains hangers with a pair of grips on them. These can be utilised to hold ill fitting curtains together. However, balancing on wobbling chairs at 05.30 trying to maintain a sleep mode can be arduous.

Also, the temperature of the rooms and the foolishness of the bedding can be time consuming to adjust. This results in trying to sleep in a mood of frustration and sheer incomprehension.

By this time, in Minneapolis, sleep seemed not impossible but the roadworks started up and the maids and guests start their day. These activities could be described as ‘unfortunate’.

The reason we are in the U.S.A. is to perform our songs the best we can. This we have done to the best of our abilities. However, in the Comerica Park in Detroit, the sun beat down upon us mercilessly and it was a great trauma for us. I resorted to an ice cold towel around my neck that ended up over my head for the last five songs. Almost impossible.

The Def Leppard’s have been very kind and chatty. The other act on these few shows we never saw.

The Wrigley Field show was great and our own shows have been truly great. We have all shared various problems during the shows and this is par for the course.

The last two shows at the State Theatre in Minneapolis and the Opera House in St. Louis were first class.

So tonight is the last of our own shows here in Ames, IA. Tomorrow we fly into Denver for another show with the Def’s at the Coors Field.

It seems there are plans afoot for another tour of the U.S.A. next year. It could be in the late spring so please come see us again. There seems to be a complete change to the set list in the air!!

Thank you for your understanding of these unusual ways of life that we lead. And remember: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR PLASTIC IS?

See you again soon!

M.D.C.

Heat vs. Drummer

'A good looking 'Vette' parked outside the stunning Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee

.'

As I settle into the touring routine of bus, sleep, hotel, sleep, gig, shower, I find myself getting stronger. It takes a while.

The heat is still playing it’s part, but as long as I rehydrate and get at least one banana a day to help with the mineral intake quota, I settle and there are no muscle quivers when trying to sleep.

I once talked to my old friend John McEnroe about these essentials and he was an adamant banana consumer for the very same reasons. It was a pity to miss him at the Arroyo Seco show in Pasadena. I am however enjoying his commentary at the Wimbledon Championships in London. It was great to see him doing a summary with his youngest brother Patrick McEnroe one afternoon. Patrick was a great doubles player and captain of the United States Davis Cup Team.

'Resting spotlight. Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee'

The shows have been varied and we had to miss the Hard Rock show in Northfields on the 7th of July. Chrissie had laryngitis and couldn’t sing. After the doctor's prescription, recovery was swift. She has a way of singing in an adjusted way to compensate for reaching to various notes. I find it fascinating. She is a great singer and after all these years I still become transfixed by these places she can inhabit.

We got back up to speed and had some great shows. As I sit in my very comfortable room here in Birmingham, Michigan, last night's show that already feels like a week ago was one of the best yet. An all standing affair with winged balconies. This is my favourite type of venue because there was no box attached to the room like theatres have. I was in the room.

'A great gig to play. 20 Monroe Live, Grand Rapids.'

The previous night's travel after our show in Milwaukee got us in to Grand Rapids at just after 5am. It was a 250 yard drag to the room at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and I couldn’t sleep because the light came flooding in at 5.40. I went for a walk by the river and got some fuel on board with an excellent breakfast. I ended up with two hours sleep.

I slept in the warm stairwell of the gig on a concrete floor for an hour. It did the trick and straightened my back out to great effect. A great show. Last night I slept eleven hours because the room is quiet and the curtains work! So now a couple of shows in Detroit and Chicago with the Defs.

Thanks for your interest. I will log back in soon. Take care out there!

M.D.C. 

Hot Hot Hot

Ryman Auditorium

The Ryman Auditorium is best played acoustically. It really isn’t good for a rock band. Not unlike the Royal Albert Hall in London, as soon as the sound gets over a certain volume, it is not good for the band or the audience. 

It was a tough show. We got lost a few times but it’s about how we find our way back to the song that never fails to amaze me.

Heading to the Louiseville Palace in Kentucky

For the first time in 40 years I lost it on Tattooed Love Boys. For some inexplicable reason I stuck in a bar of 3/4 in a 4/4 section which turned the snare beat on it’s head. The song has a 4 bar base but on the verses the 2nd bar is in 3/4. So the section has count of 15. Still with me?
Basically I shuffled! It doesn’t help when I feel disconnected with regard to my sound. Nuff said!

We travelled the following day to Louisville, Kentucky and played the Palace which turned out to be a great night.

During the afternoon out the back of the venue I saw a Cooper’s hawk catching a starling. These events are a privilege to witness should you be aware enough to know these activities take place in an urban environment as well as in the countryside.

I took a hot bath in my room after the show and we drove through the early hours to Cincinnati. I need these two days to relax and rest.

My computer had arrived back from it’s travels after I had left it on a flight and I spent the following day catching up on the usual digital work.

The FIFA World Cup

The heat on this tour has taken at least four pounds off my usual weight loss, but all is good on that count as long as I sleep and get enough of the right food at the right time.

In a tense last 16 game in the World Cup, we beat Columbia on penalties to go through to a quarter final game against Sweden on Friday the 6th of July. So we are still in it. We just
need to win the next three games, that’s all! Then we can bring home the World Cup trophy.

The first World Cup was played in Uruguay in 1930. Uruguay won (check out my blog from when we played in Montevideo earlier this year). FYI, The Jules Rimet Trophy was used until 1974. England won it in 1966.

The latest trophy is imaginatively called the FIFA World Cup Trophy and is made of 18 karat gold with a malachite base. It weighs 6.1 kilograms and is 36.8 centimetres high.

We don’t call this game soccer. It’s called football because we kick the ball with the foot. The Football Association (FA) was formed in England in 1863. American football became popular in the early 20th century with changes brought about by a man named Walter Camp of Yale University and a Hopkins school graduate who is considered to be the father of American football.

More later.

M.D.C.

From West to East

Looking down on Aspen, Colorado. Heading to Philly.

 After the Mountain Winery show I got a message from the former Pretender Robbie McIntosh containing the drunken outtakes by Orson Wells advertising the Paul Masson Wines (made from the grapes grown at this winery). Orson was such an arrogant drunk but quite funny to watch. Always good to hear from Robbie.

We flew east to Philly and I left my computer on the plane and didn’t notice until I unpacked. Disaster! Desktop not backed up! Horror! It was located after several sleepless nights. Should be reunited in Cincinnati.

At the Count Basie show I felt disconnected sound wise and it was hard work for me.
In such theatres the stage is a box attached to the room. I’m at the back so deep in the box. The band is along the joint of the two boxes, and I’m behind that awful Perspex, and behind the line of the amps. I never used to be in this position in the earlier years. Enough said.

It was great to have the All Mighty Senators doing our show at the Fillmore in Silver Spring M.D. A great night with an all standing floor! Although we joined our bus in Philly we took a flight to Atlanta and I had a glass corner room on the 26th floor at the Loews Hotel. The World Cup football was now into the last 16, so come on England. This was our first show with Journey and my friends in Def Leppard, it was at the new Sun Trust ball park. We did our 45 minutes and rocked out. It was hot and it was a joy to see the Defs after our show. Joe Elliot loves Mott the Hoople who I had worked with in 2009 and 2013. Joe would come on and sing a verse on All the Young Dudes. Jimmy Page was a regular at those gigs too! Unfortunately, we lost Pete Overend Watts and Terry ‘Buffin’ Griffin since those shows. Mick Ralphs has since suffered a stroke and I visit him when I can. Life is a day at most. Grab it. Feel it.

So far the whiskers are still on the road!

We traveled by bus to Nashville and gained an hour so, a regular night’s sleep! But man it’s hot now here in Nashville and It’s only 11am. I’m looking forward to seeing Emmylou Harris tonight. I believe she is one of our guests. She’s such a wonderful and gracious lady.
Brazil 2 Mexico 0. Mexico are going home although they caused some great and pleasant upsets!

So the Ryman Auditorium tonight. Love the room.

I will write again soon when I get my computer back! This is sent from my iPhone! None of this back in Jimmy and Pete’s day!!!

M.D.C.

Sent from my iPhone

 

Orson Welles Paul Masson outtakes