Road Trip Recap: Nice Bathrooms, Long Gigs, and the Gala Event Food Chain
There are certain undisputed truths about being a pro musician in Europe, particularly in Germany, where I work most of the time: you’re always asked to do more than you want to; you’re always treated well, but never as well as you think you should be; and the cleanliness of the bathroom in your hotel room has more of an effect on your performance at the gig than you would like to believe. On this past five day road trip I travelled to the towns of Bregenz, Austria (directly on Lake Constance, the body of water shared by Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Mannheim, Cologne and Hamburg, a total distance of 1909 kilometers (1186 miles), all of it by train. I performed three shows with two different bands: the Bregenz gig was for a conference of IT...
The Last Two Days: No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn
I feel like the gang in the movie “The Warriors” must have felt as they fought their way through the streets of New York, desperately trying to get back to the comfort and safety of their home turf; they had to endure numerous hardships until they got back home (the movie was reportedly the basis for the hit song from the Beastie Boys, “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn”). The same thing could be said about my last two days on the road, albeit in a far more positive context. It was a typical two-day blitz; Thursday afternoon I take the train to Mannheim (about 150 km, or 95 miles from where I live) to my teaching job at the Popakademie, teach until about 9 PM, take the train to Frankfurt to my regular gig at the King Kamehameha Club, one of Germany’s most...
Last Night: Rich People, Fashion Victims, and Dancing ‘Til Dawn
So, I get to the gig at about three o’clock in the afternoon, a beautiful spring day in Blankenese, a wealthy suburb of Hamburg. My show last night was a wedding party at a private residence; a typical job for me, and a very lucrative one. I perform at wedding parties at least 20 – 30 times a year. Based on the location and my previous experiences performing at weddings in Hamburg, this particular show had the potential to be a good one. Among the many types of jobs I perform, I have to admit that I enjoy playing at weddings, because if you perform well, the show becomes a very memorable experience for the newlywed couple; to this day I have couples for whom I have performed come to me and tell me how much they enjoyed my show. I’ve even had couples who...
