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Non-Tour Tour Diary, FAR-West Music Conference Edition, October 21, 2024 

Everyone knows that the best place to hear and play live music is in a hotel breakout room next to a larger conference room.
This is, of course, not true. But what can happen in these un-acoustically treated sterile environments is fantastic listening and performing experiences created by the people IN these rooms.
The Far-West Music Conference was held this year in the Woodland Hills Marriot. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and with this being my second time there, bumped into people I knew immediately – it’s that kind of community.
For a long time, I thought the Far-West and folk world was too far removed from what I did, I mean, I’m a rock guy. Yeah, I play a lot of acoustic guitar but there’s always a little bit of that punk coming through. Maybe it’s an age thing or maybe it’s me playing even more acoustic than ever before and so many house concerts and unplugged type of things but it started to feel more home than some other events. I’ve always had a bit of that
troubadour/storyteller thing in me and maybe it’s just the natural progression of things, I don’t know, but I’m definitely becoming more comfortable in the musical skin I inhabit.
Last year’s conference also convinced me that my friends in The Odd Birds should really come to this event. I love their music and I know that they also struggle at times to know where they fit in in the 21st century musical landscape.
The first act I see on Thursday night is Mariachi Continental de San Diego and I’m blown away. I’ve always wanted to be in a Mariachi band* and while I’m watching them and listening – I start counting the microphones on stage. Sixteen mics on stage. There are four violinists, two trumpets, guitars and singers everywhere and they are swapping positions, swapping lead vocals on the same microphone – there is choreography amongst the band for different songs and I look over at the two guys, Ian and David, that are doing sound and they are just switching and sliding the faders. I did not envy them on this. If you don’t understand what’s happening – sound check happens so you can figure out how loud to turn up a specific microphone for a specific performer. With this band switching spots and positions while the microphones stay in the same place, this is pandemonium for a sound person and from where I was sitting, it sounded amazing. Kudos to the soundmen.
After them I’m sort of wandering in and out and checking out different acts. The Prickly Pair put on a fantastic show and I return in time to catch Heather Lomax who is joined by the amazing Barrett Tagliarino on guitar too. You can’t go wrong when that dude is playing guitar with you.
Now the “Official” showcases run from 6:30 to 9:30. Then there is a break and the “Un-Official” showcases go from 10:00 to about 2 am. I love this but it is a lot. And yeah, I mean staying awake. The talent is great in all the rooms but I’m fading in and out. I saw music this night but I can’t remember who or what it was. I do remember there being snacks in the Mother Hen room and seeing my friend Azere Wilson running the show in there.
Friday:
The first panel I’m going to is about Booking and What gigs are out there. I mean, I do a lot of booking already but it’s always great to learn new things or be reminded of things that you forgot or just to think about it differently and I definitely got all of that. At the same time as this panel was running was The Feminine Collective panel and a panel on touring on a shoestring budget. I would’ve liked to have gone to both of those as well but there is only one of me and touring on a shoestring budget, while I didn’t go to the class – I do feel like I live that class quite a bit. Would’ve been nice to see where I could improve but didn’t.
After lunch I went to another class about building your music career and got some good ideas there too.
Sometimes these things feel so…against the grain of why I became a musician. It would be great if all I had to do was write/record music, perform and tour but you can’t JUST do that anymore. I mean, recording is so expensive – so I learned how to do that. Then I had to learn how to book shows and tours. Then I had to learn how to distribute my music. Then I had to learn how to do graphic design (to an extent) to make posters and things look pretty and then and then and then and then and then social media. The hardest bit about it all is that you can’t just learn a thing and be done. Whatever you learn is just what is passing you by right now. Tomorrow there is some new platform, some new video thing, some new algorithm, some new SOMETHING. And it is always more learning.
To be clear, I’m not opposed to learning and change but what I’m saying is – it is always learning and change. All. The. Time. That is exhausting.
And it is always learning and change that has nothing to do with the creation of music or songwriting. That stuff changes too but this is all marketing and promo that we have to keep doing just to keep our heads occasionally above water.
The official showcases kick off and I think I’m taking a nap when they do but I get down to the main stage and as I’m sitting there a six-foot dude in a nice suit sits down next to me. I tell him that it looks like he forgot his shoes. He laughs as he takes out his guitar and that’s how I meet Ron Artis II. On stage right now is The Two Tracks and their sound is definitely country but with the twist of one of the singers also playing cello – while standing up! *** And where country fiddle is definitely a thing, I don’t know if you could classify cello playing in a way of like violin/fiddle playing. Would it be cello/fello? I don’t know. I’m not a wordsmith. In any case I dig their stuff and at times almost leans into a jam-band-country vibe.
Then Ron Artis II takes the stage and just own the room with his voice and barely playing guitar. ** He gets everyone singing along with every one of his songs. He is one of those performers that you kind of hate because he makes it look as simple as breathing. It’s not jealousy that I feel while watching him, it’s fascination. I’m a new fan of Ron Artis II.
After the Official showcases end, I go get my guitar as I have three un-official showcases myself tonight at 10:15, 11:00 and 1:00. And I am really loving performing with no PA, just straight up busker style. I can’t say for sure but it feels better. I feel like I sing better as well. Singing into a mic is such a different beast and one that I only occasionally conquer.
I start in Brett Perkins' listening room and have a pretty good set and talk to some folks afterward before boogieing to my next set at Far-West Campfire by Deb Ewing and I have another good set and I’m bouncing between rooms. I get to hear Zoe FitzGerald Carter for the second time and she sounds fantastic. The Odd Birds sound great as always and I’m happy that folks are digging them too. By the time I get to my Mother Hen show at 1 am – I’m again on fumes. It is literally SO MUCH Music. I love it but my brain is full. I actually plug into the small amp at Mother Hen and have fun with my loop pedal but that’s the only time it came out. This is new to do so much without any amplification and I really dig it.
I talk to some folks about coming and playing their festival in Seldovia, Alaska and that sounds so far away. I mean, it’s closer than Europe but somehow further away still.
Sleep comes easy.
Saturday:
As I’m eating breakfast, Mike, stage manager/M.C., comes up to me, drops a roll of gaff tape down on the table and says “I’m guessing you know how to gaff down cables.” Or something like that. He is not wrong. I took Gaff 101 at Videocam back when I as an A1. I’ve been enlisted into tech work. It happens everywhere. It’s probably why I feel more at home talking to the sound crew at gigs. **** I tape off the cords and light cable in the Grand Foyer so no one trips on them. *****
After that I go to the Vocal Masterclass for Songwriters and I feel like I can never get enough good information in this category. Lots of breathing exercises and I leave just before it’s over to go do another un-official showcase in the grand foyer area where I don’t even plug into the Fishman loudbox and I still get told I’m too loud. Story of my life.
The lunchtime luncheon thingy features the incredible James Lee Stanley introducing the other incredible Laurence Juber. It’s a short musical history lesson by James and then a completely mind-blowing acoustic performance by Lawrence with him finishing with an instrumental acoustic version of The Who’s “won’t get fooled again” that nearly hurts my brain just trying to comprehend the parts he’s playing. He played every part except for Roger’s scream.
I’m starting to get nervous for my Official Showcase this evening. I don’t typically get nervous, per se, about performing but there’s something about watching a lot of really talented folks take the stage before you and then know that you have to follow them. I’m comfortable in my skin and I know what I do and all that but I’ve also built up this show a bit in my head. These are really great, nice and supportive folks. I don’t want to muck it up.
Soundcheck is at 5 pm, I go in, plug in, they set me up with a great $700 Neumann microphone, we dial it in. I play first verse and chorus of “Massachusetts” and I’m good to go. I stop and tell them it’s great. We all laugh because I think I may have just won the “easiest soundcheck of the weekend” award. I put my guitar on a stand and go get dinner.
Fox and Bones is on before me and they are great, fantastic playing and crowd interaction. Ok, I’m ready to go. Sound is still great on stage; I tune my guitar and all is good. First song goes off easily. Towards the end of the song my guitar gets significantly quieter in the monitors. I’m used to this. Sometimes I play harder than I mean to and they had to adjust the gain. EZ-PZ. I tell a story about my next song and as I start, I am way out of tune. I take a second and fix it and then play the song. Before I hit the first chorus it’s gone out of tune again and then it comes back full in the monitors. It’s not the sound guys adjusting levels, my cord is cutting in and out. I give it a wiggle and it comes back and then off again.
Jesus Christ. Is it too much to ask to have a god damn guitar cable work? I can’t even blame anyone else – it’s my cable and its sort of new. It’s not damaged – but it’s going to be soon. My guitar drifts out of tune more and I finish up the song. I take the capo off and re-tune. My G and D strings have gone down almost a full step. As I’m introducing the third song, I’m told I only have 5 minutes left. Dammit. Too much stories, too much tuning – I’m losing out on my 4th song. Launching into my last song my low E string goes slack and the A is also out. The tighter I try to hold onto it, the more it slips away from me. I finish up the song by going single notes for the last chorus because no chords will sound close enough to anything listenable.
I’m struggling to maintain my composure and as I’m hitting the last chord to end the song I reach down and grab the D and G strings and just rip them off my guitar. You know, like all folk singers do. ******
Off stage people are generous towards me about my set but I just know I chunked it. I go out to the foyer area and text Tracy; “I just ruined my career.” She’s very nice and says she’s sure it wasn’t that bad. Am I being a little over-dramatic? Maybe. But I’m really overpowered by frustration at myself. I’m allowed once in a while to be a little dramatic.
Someone comes up to me and says they enjoyed the show. I thank her graciously and she follows up with “You know, it’s all been very polished so far. You were like a breath of fresh air.” And I KNOW it’s a compliment but I was so going for polished. I tried to dial back a little bit of my aggressive playing to suit the moment. Someone else comes up and says “When you hit your first chord, I knew we had a rocker in our midst.” And these are all compliments but all my brain is hearing is “you stuck out like a sore thumb”. Another dude comes up and asks “Did you just rip the strings off of your guitar?” “Only two of them.” “Like, how did you do that?” “Frustration?”
I go back inside and catch the end of Grover Anderson's set and as I’m sitting down Mike comes back over to me; “Can you do one more song?” “What?” “Can you play one more song?” “Yeah, of course. When?” “Now!” I look over at my guitar with it’s two broken strings and say “Ok.” David, the soundman, looks slightly uneasy. It is messing up his flow of saved settings on the PA for the acts. I turn to him and say “I can do it unplugged if that’s easier.” “Yes.”
“Can you get me a guitar?” I ask Mike. “Mine has two broken strings.” And as he runs off, I open my case, break out the backup strings and clippers and by the time Mike returns with someone else’s guitar – I’ve changed both broken strings in about 45 seconds. Possibly a personal best on time for me.
Up on stage they have set up a single Ear Trumpet Labs microphone for me and as I strum my guitar, I can hear how it is filling the room and my voice too. One microphone is picking it all up. This is old technique with new technology is all new to me. And with that I do the best performance I can and it goes off great.
All the self-hatred I had 5 minutes ago is washed away with a single song. I mean, I still sucked earlier but at least I can hold my head high for bouncing back.
A few things all kind of came together for this. The first is that the show was running ahead of schedule and the band that was scheduled for next wasn’t there yet because that’s how ahead it was. The second thing is that I was there, ready and able to go in a moment’s notice. And the third was that I think Mike wanted me to do well and gave me a second chance for redemption.
I mean, maybe I was just right place right time but the feeling I got was – get back up there, do your thing, we’re behind you. And *that* is empowering.
Out in the Foyer folks are buying cds, I give away some of the promo ones I have, sell a couple of vinyl as well and keep talking to folks and I think this second performance has saved me. I showed I could do my rock/folk/whatever thing in the first bit and played through technical crap and then I came back and did a fairly polished (for me) performance. I never want to just be one thing; I always want to be the utility infielder with a good bat.
I am enjoying chatting to folks all night. Sarah from Fox and Bones******* is wearing my t-shirt, another person comes up to show me pictures of her cat because she looks like Lena on the back cover of my album. And then I go hear The Odd Birds in Brett’s room
The end of the night comes and talking to Ron and Jen (Odd Birds) we decide it’s too late, we have to sleep. I stay up for a while longer and catch Amelia Hogan in Brett’s room and I love her Irish-y folk with harp and bodhran. Holy crap so much great music how can I sleep?
For some reason I think the hotel bar might be open but when I get there it is long closed but Ron and Jennifer are sittin sitting with Azere and (my now friend) Zoe. Ron and Jen are drinking Malbec out of a can. I go buy myself a can of malbec out of the chilled fridge by the front desk. It’s all class from here on out as the rest of the night devolves into a laugh fest of late-night college radio proportions as we’re joined by more great singer/songwriters Steve and Kristi Nebel. Some time around 2 am Azere excuses herself because she has to clean up the Mother Hen Promotions listening room.
My buddy Melvern Taylor sings a song about screw top wine and gas station roses. I feel like I might have to write one about canned, chilled malbec from Argentina.
You can clink your glass and drink to your health
but our dreams won’t break when our wine cans melt.
(first attempt)
Zoe suggests we go help Azere clean up the room by suggesting there may still be snacks left over. More hijinks ensue and the bag of chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels from Trader Joe’s are nearly all gone by the time we’re done.
Sleep, again, comes easily.
Saturday:

Non-Tour Tour Diary, FAR-West Music Conference Edition, October 21, 2024 

Everyone knows that the best place to hear and play live music is in a hotel breakout room next to a larger conference room.
This is, of course, not true. But what can happen in these un-acoustically treated sterile environments is fantastic listening and performing experiences created by the people IN these rooms.
The Far-West Music Conference was held this year in the Woodland Hills Marriot. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and with this being my second time there, bumped into people I knew immediately – it’s that kind of community.
For a long time, I thought the Far-West and folk world was too far removed from what I did, I mean, I’m a rock guy. Yeah, I play a lot of acoustic guitar but there’s always a little bit of that punk coming through. Maybe it’s an age thing or maybe it’s me playing even more acoustic than ever before and so many house concerts and unplugged type of things but it started to feel more home than some other events. I’ve always had a bit of that
troubadour/storyteller thing in me and maybe it’s just the natural progression of things, I don’t know, but I’m definitely becoming more comfortable in the musical skin I inhabit.
Last year’s conference also convinced me that my friends in The Odd Birds should really come to this event. I love their music and I know that they also struggle at times to know where they fit in in the 21st century musical landscape.
The first act I see on Thursday night is Mariachi Continental de San Diego and I’m blown away. I’ve always wanted to be in a Mariachi band* and while I’m watching them and listening – I start counting the microphones on stage. Sixteen mics on stage. There are four violinists, two trumpets, guitars and singers everywhere and they are swapping positions, swapping lead vocals on the same microphone – there is choreography amongst the band for different songs and I look over at the two guys, Ian and David, that are doing sound and they are just switching and sliding the faders. I did not envy them on this. If you don’t understand what’s happening – sound check happens so you can figure out how loud to turn up a specific microphone for a specific performer. With this band switching spots and positions while the microphones stay in the same place, this is pandemonium for a sound person and from where I was sitting, it sounded amazing. Kudos to the soundmen.
After them I’m sort of wandering in and out and checking out different acts. The Prickly Pair put on a fantastic show and I return in time to catch Heather Lomax who is joined by the amazing Barrett Tagliarino on guitar too. You can’t go wrong when that dude is playing guitar with you.
Now the “Official” showcases run from 6:30 to 9:30. Then there is a break and the “Un-Official” showcases go from 10:00 to about 2 am. I love this but it is a lot. And yeah, I mean staying awake. The talent is great in all the rooms but I’m fading in and out. I saw music this night but I can’t remember who or what it was. I do remember there being snacks in the Mother Hen room and seeing my friend Azere Wilson running the show in there.
Friday:
The first panel I’m going to is about Booking and What gigs are out there. I mean, I do a lot of booking already but it’s always great to learn new things or be reminded of things that you forgot or just to think about it differently and I definitely got all of that. At the same time as this panel was running was The Feminine Collective panel and a panel on touring on a shoestring budget. I would’ve liked to have gone to both of those as well but there is only one of me and touring on a shoestring budget, while I didn’t go to the class – I do feel like I live that class quite a bit. Would’ve been nice to see where I could improve but didn’t.
After lunch I went to another class about building your music career and got some good ideas there too.
Sometimes these things feel so…against the grain of why I became a musician. It would be great if all I had to do was write/record music, perform and tour but you can’t JUST do that anymore. I mean, recording is so expensive – so I learned how to do that. Then I had to learn how to book shows and tours. Then I had to learn how to distribute my music. Then I had to learn how to do graphic design (to an extent) to make posters and things look pretty and then and then and then and then and then social media. The hardest bit about it all is that you can’t just learn a thing and be done. Whatever you learn is just what is passing you by right now. Tomorrow there is some new platform, some new video thing, some new algorithm, some new SOMETHING. And it is always more learning.
To be clear, I’m not opposed to learning and change but what I’m saying is – it is always learning and change. All. The. Time. That is exhausting.
And it is always learning and change that has nothing to do with the creation of music or songwriting. That stuff changes too but this is all marketing and promo that we have to keep doing just to keep our heads occasionally above water.
The official showcases kick off and I think I’m taking a nap when they do but I get down to the main stage and as I’m sitting there a six-foot dude in a nice suit sits down next to me. I tell him that it looks like he forgot his shoes. He laughs as he takes out his guitar and that’s how I meet Ron Artis II. On stage right now is The Two Tracks and their sound is definitely country but with the twist of one of the singers also playing cello – while standing up! *** And where country fiddle is definitely a thing, I don’t know if you could classify cello playing in a way of like violin/fiddle playing. Would it be cello/fello? I don’t know. I’m not a wordsmith. In any case I dig their stuff and at times almost leans into a jam-band-country vibe.
Then Ron Artis II takes the stage and just own the room with his voice and barely playing guitar. ** He gets everyone singing along with every one of his songs. He is one of those performers that you kind of hate because he makes it look as simple as breathing. It’s not jealousy that I feel while watching him, it’s fascination. I’m a new fan of Ron Artis II.
After the Official showcases end, I go get my guitar as I have three un-official showcases myself tonight at 10:15, 11:00 and 1:00. And I am really loving performing with no PA, just straight up busker style. I can’t say for sure but it feels better. I feel like I sing better as well. Singing into a mic is such a different beast and one that I only occasionally conquer.
I start in Brett Perkins' listening room and have a pretty good set and talk to some folks afterward before boogieing to my next set at Far-West Campfire by Deb Ewing and I have another good set and I’m bouncing between rooms. I get to hear Zoe FitzGerald Carter for the second time and she sounds fantastic. The Odd Birds sound great as always and I’m happy that folks are digging them too. By the time I get to my Mother Hen show at 1 am – I’m again on fumes. It is literally SO MUCH Music. I love it but my brain is full. I actually plug into the small amp at Mother Hen and have fun with my loop pedal but that’s the only time it came out. This is new to do so much without any amplification and I really dig it.
I talk to some folks about coming and playing their festival in Seldovia, Alaska and that sounds so far away. I mean, it’s closer than Europe but somehow further away still.
Sleep comes easy.
Saturday:
As I’m eating breakfast, Mike, stage manager/M.C., comes up to me, drops a roll of gaff tape down on the table and says “I’m guessing you know how to gaff down cables.” Or something like that. He is not wrong. I took Gaff 101 at Videocam back when I as an A1. I’ve been enlisted into tech work. It happens everywhere. It’s probably why I feel more at home talking to the sound crew at gigs. **** I tape off the cords and light cable in the Grand Foyer so no one trips on them. *****
After that I go to the Vocal Masterclass for Songwriters and I feel like I can never get enough good information in this category. Lots of breathing exercises and I leave just before it’s over to go do another un-official showcase in the grand foyer area where I don’t even plug into the Fishman loudbox and I still get told I’m too loud. Story of my life.
The lunchtime luncheon thingy features the incredible James Lee Stanley introducing the other incredible Laurence Juber. It’s a short musical history lesson by James and then a completely mind-blowing acoustic performance by Lawrence with him finishing with an instrumental acoustic version of The Who’s “won’t get fooled again” that nearly hurts my brain just trying to comprehend the parts he’s playing. He played every part except for Roger’s scream.
I’m starting to get nervous for my Official Showcase this evening. I don’t typically get nervous, per se, about performing but there’s something about watching a lot of really talented folks take the stage before you and then know that you have to follow them. I’m comfortable in my skin and I know what I do and all that but I’ve also built up this show a bit in my head. These are really great, nice and supportive folks. I don’t want to muck it up.
Soundcheck is at 5 pm, I go in, plug in, they set me up with a great $700 Neumann microphone, we dial it in. I play first verse and chorus of “Massachusetts” and I’m good to go. I stop and tell them it’s great. We all laugh because I think I may have just won the “easiest soundcheck of the weekend” award. I put my guitar on a stand and go get dinner.
Claudia Russell is on before me and she’s great and I’m ready to go. Sound is still great on stage; I tune my guitar and all is good. First song goes off easily. Towards the end of the song my guitar gets significantly quieter in the monitors. I’m used to this. Sometimes I play harder than I mean to and they had to adjust the gain. EZ-PZ. I tell a story about my next song and as I start, I am way out of tune. I take a second and fix it and then play the song. Before I hit the first chorus it’s gone out of tune again and then it comes back full in the monitors. It’s not the sound guys adjusting levels, my cord is cutting in and out. I give it a wiggle and it comes back and then off again.
Jesus Christ. Is it too much to ask to have a god damn guitar cable work? I can’t even blame anyone else – it’s my cable and its sort of new. It’s not damaged – but it’s going to be soon. My guitar drifts out of tune more and I finish up the song. I take the capo off and re-tune. My G and D strings have gone down almost a full step. As I’m introducing the third song, I’m told I only have 5 minutes left. Dammit. Too much stories, too much tuning – I’m losing out on my 4th song. Launching into my last song my low E string goes slack and the A is also out. The tighter I try to hold onto it, the more it slips away from me. I finish up the song by going single notes for the last chorus because no chords will sound close enough to anything listenable.
I’m struggling to maintain my composure and as I’m hitting the last chord to end the song I reach down and grab the D and G strings and just rip them off my guitar. You know, like all folk singers do. ******
Off stage people are generous towards me about my set but I just know I chunked it. I go out to the foyer area and text Tracy; “I just ruined my career.” She’s very nice and says she’s sure it wasn’t that bad. Am I being a little over-dramatic? Maybe. But I’m really overpowered by frustration at myself. I’m allowed once in a while to be a little dramatic.
Someone comes up to me and says they enjoyed the show. I thank her graciously and she follows up with “You know, it’s all been very polished so far. You were like a breath of fresh air.” And I KNOW it’s a compliment but I was so going for polished. I tried to dial back a little bit of my aggressive playing to suit the moment. Someone else comes up and says “When you hit your first chord, I knew we had a rocker in our midst.” And these are all compliments but all my brain is hearing is “you stuck out like a sore thumb”. Another dude comes up and asks “Did you just rip the strings off of your guitar?” “Only two of them.” “Like, how did you do that?” “Frustration?”
I go back inside and catch the end of Grover Anderson's set and as I’m sitting down Mike comes back over to me; “Can you do one more song?” “What?” “Can you play one more song?” “Yeah, of course. When?” “Now!” I look over at my guitar with it’s two broken strings and say “Ok.” David, the soundman, looks slightly uneasy. It is messing up his flow of saved settings on the PA for the acts. I turn to him and say “I can do it unplugged if that’s easier.” “Yes.”
“Can you get me a guitar?” I ask Mike. “Mine has two broken strings.” And as he runs off, I open my case, break out the backup strings and clippers and by the time Mike returns with someone else’s guitar – I’ve changed both broken strings in about 45 seconds. Possibly a personal best on time for me.
Up on stage they have set up a single Ear Trumpet Labs microphone for me and as I strum my guitar, I can hear how it is filling the room and my voice too. One microphone is picking it all up. This is old technique with new technology is all new to me. And with that I do the best performance I can and it goes off great.
All the self-hatred I had 5 minutes ago is washed away with a single song. I mean, I still sucked earlier but at least I can hold my head high for bouncing back.
A few things all kind of came together for this. The first is that the show was running ahead of schedule and the band that was scheduled for next wasn’t there yet because that’s how ahead it was. The second thing is that I was there, ready and able to go in a moment’s notice. And the third was that I think Mike wanted me to do well and gave me a second chance for redemption.
I mean, maybe I was just right place right time but the feeling I got was – get back up there, do your thing, we’re behind you. And *that* is empowering.
Out in the Foyer folks are buying cds, I give away some of the promo ones I have, sell a couple of vinyl as well and keep talking to folks and I think this second performance has saved me. I showed I could do my rock/folk/whatever thing in the first bit and played through technical crap and then I came back and did a fairly polished (for me) performance. I never want to just be one thing; I always want to be the utility infielder with a good bat.
I am enjoying chatting to folks all night. Sarah from Fox and Bones******* is wearing my t-shirt, another person comes up to show me pictures of her cat because she looks like Lena on the back cover of my album. And then I go hear The Odd Birds in Brett’s room
The end of the night comes and talking to Ron and Jen (Odd Birds) we decide it’s too late, we have to sleep. I stay up for a while longer and catch Amelia Hogan in Brett’s room and I love her Irish-y folk with harp and bodhran. Holy crap so much great music how can I sleep?
For some reason I think the hotel bar might be open but when I get there it is long closed but Ron and Jennifer are sittin sitting with Azere and (my now friend) Zoe. Ron and Jen are drinking Malbec out of a can. I go buy myself a can of malbec out of the chilled fridge by the front desk. It’s all class from here on out as the rest of the night devolves into a laugh fest of late-night college radio proportions as we’re joined by more great singer/songwriters Steve and Kristi Nebel. Some time around 2 am Azere excuses herself because she has to clean up the Mother Hen Promotions listening room.
My buddy Melvern Taylor sings a song about screw top wine and gas station roses. I feel like I might have to write one about canned, chilled malbec from Argentina.
You can clink your glass and drink to your health
but our dreams won’t break when our wine cans melt.
(first attempt)
Zoe suggests we go help Azere clean up the room by suggesting there may still be snacks left over. More hijinks ensue and the bag of chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels from Trader Joe’s are nearly all gone by the time we’re done.
Sleep, again, comes easily.
Saturday:

Tour Diary, October 5, 2024 

Tour Diary, October 3, 2024 

Tour Diary, September 25, 2024 (part two) 

Picking up from where I fell asleep last night…

The room in Klosterneuburg at Richie and Renate’s house is a perfect set up for a house concert - it’s intimate, plenty of space and sounds fantastic with a natural room reverb. Richie and Roman are the guitar players in the Sundown Ramblers and joined by Angelika on bass, Toni on mandolin and new addition, Jörg on fiddle. I dig sitting in on their “sound check” - I put it in quotes because there is no PA tonight, we’re all just strumming and singing in the room.* They run through bits of a couple of songs, sorting out who is taking what solo and what-not. 

I really dig their sound as they are all respectful of how they fit in and play with each other. Jörg turned towards the group most of the time he was playing which may have been because he was new and following along but it had the additional sound enhancement of making him blend in, volume wise, with the group in a natural and organic way. 



I talk to Angelika’s mother and father for a few minutes before the show. Her mother has been studying her English for a while and practices with her grandson - and her English is fantastic. Her dad was born in 1935 and he got hooked on American blues music that was being broadcast on radio stations over here in the 40s and 50s. When he first started dating (his wife) he made her listen to the albums and won her over from her classical listening youth. They love the blues and say that they think listening to it is what gave Angelika her starting performing music. 

Roman and Barbara do their sound check and I can feel Barbara’s excitement/nervousness about her first show. I feel lucky that I get to experience someone’s first performance because how often does that happen? Hardly never. 

I soundcheck after and, I know, it’s just singing and playing guitar in a room but I’m glad I do because it just gets my ears ready for how the room sounds. Richie set up a telecaster and a small amp in case I want to play that for some songs and it’s a really nice ‘52 reissue Tele**

After that I talk with Renate for a few minutes and learn a bunch about her and Ritchie and how they came to be in this house and in Vienna and all that. I learn that she was a professor of women’s studies at university and I can’t wait to talk to her about that. There are also snacks and drinks out - bottles of wine and Elderberry syrup.***

Roman and Barbara’s set goes off beautifully and folks are singing along with them when they perform “Bella ciao” and before you know it, she is now a performing musician. Welcome to the club Barbara!

The Sundown Ramblers start off their set with the instrumental “South spring” by Jon Reischman that I was unfamiliar with but really dig and (GGW) Roman’s Iris guitar next to Richie’s Martin guitar - they blend so seamlessly because of the different tones… I know this is super guitar geeky but when you mix music you hear all these little nuance type things. When Roman does his solo part in the song, it has these chord voicing inversions that go up the neck and without being louder or turned up in the mix - you can just hear it because of the guitar’s character. This is why guitar players need different guitars!

Before I play we are all served food. Richie tells me it’s to prevent the audience from getting hangry. Well appreciated and delicious as he has made chicken curry and lentil curry over basmati rice. 

It is a great listening audience and as I step on the rug in the performance area I notice something new. Now, I’ve played, shit, I don’t know - thousands of gigs? And yes, all gigs are different but the elements of them are usually very similar. Tonight I look down at my feet and see my socks. This is the first time I’ve ever performed without shoes on. Everyone took their shoes off at the door, I didn’t even think about it until this moment but I have a habit of right before I perform I wiggle my toes - it’s this thing I learned years ago about how to be present and in the moment and if you wiggle your toes, you sort of stop what you’re doing and connect to where you are. Today I wiggled my toes and felt the carpet. This was new.

I’ve sort of written down a handful of songs that feel right for the evening. Mostly I just had the first two so I would get myself in motion and it’s goes great. I have to keep telling myself to slow down in speaking with my stories. It’s very easy to just sayawholebunchofthingsveryquicklywithoutrealizingthatyouretalkingtoofast and I don’t want to do that. 

And it’s a great show. I got to play one of my favorite songs, nothing needs to be said, and I look over at Johanna sitting on the couch and she’s crying a little bit. And that moves me. You reach for those moments of connection and I live for them. 

I bring Roman up and he joins me on dobro for Queen of the party and swings and then Barbara joins us for Cold War and Glad and Sorry and then everyone joins us for a 2 guitar, mandolin, fiddle, bass and dobro version of You ain’t going nowhere that really feels like we’re The Band. 

I think that’s the end but they want more songs and I am more than happy to oblige. I get requests for Hate this town, Angelia and APB. When I sing Angelia I notice Richie is singing along with me and I encourage that and the next time the chorus hits he sings louder. 

We all sing along with APB and it’s just a fantastic night. 



Talking with Renate after the show and she mentions how, and I’m not going to remember exactly what she said, but something about how vulnerable, real and honest the stories and songs are and thanks me for that. I’m so touched by that. We have a great conversation about having complicated relationships with our hometowns. She left her hometown as a teenager and I ask her what was the motivating factor for wanting to leave her hometown and she tells me about this bar that she had to walk by as a kid and hearing the misogyny and racism coming out of this bar made her want to move away and find something better. I’m kind of amazed by this because it’s something I’ve been delving into on my own and thinking about what made me move away from Billerica. Because as a teenager I thought I would probably live there the rest of my life and you know, why and what was it that made that change and I determined it was the Center Cafe in the middle of town. Going in there to deliver pizza, rescue a relative or co-worker and just being in that place made me decide that I didn’t want that for myself and now decades later realizing how much that shaped me and more than shaped who I would become, it shaped who I didn’t want to become. 

It’s 4, 032 miles from Billerica to Vienna and here I found someone that had the same complicated relationship with her hometown as I had with mine. The world is huge, beautiful and small.



Angelika’s mother also had a great time and she asks me if Jim Croce was as popular in the U.S. as he was here. I tell her how much I loved his stuff as a kid and how he was amazing at just tell his stories in his songs and she says “You are just like him.” 

I have never been compared to Jim Croce before and I almost start crying. 

So yeah, I had a good night. 

It’s a long drive home through the dark forest back into the city. Roman hugs the road with his souped up 1997 Volvo station wagon. I’m convinced if left to his own devices Roman would be a rally race car driver winning races across continents. 

There’s yesterday’s wine waiting for us and I fall asleep at about 4 am. 

Can’t wait for tomorrow. 




*Ok, so if we’re being historically accurate - there was a tiny bass amp that the double bass was plugged into just so it wouldn’t get lost behind the rest. 
**That I completely forget to play. 
***it’s roughly a 7 to 1 ratio of water to the syrup. I use sparkling water and it’s a tasty treat.

Tour Diary, September 28, 2024 (Part 1) 

Austria is still recovering from record breaking storms that flooded everywhere. So much so that the train I took here from Schweinfurt to Linz to Passau to Vienna - one leg, the final leg from Passau to Vienna was not running. I was grouped in on a different train that was packed and no seats left. Yes, I sprung for the assigned seat but on a train that was not running. I ended up sitting in the footwell by the doors for a couple of hours.

I tried to sit and write there but it was just too uncomfortable to try to hold the iPad on my knees.

Roman is already waiting for me at the station and he gets me a week pass for the trams and trains and we scoot across town to where he lives during the rush hour.

Barbara has made delicious pasta for dinner and my stay with my vegan friends is a shift in my diet but it is still delicious. I’m not just saying that because I know they will read this - it is legitimately delicious. We have a great catch up and drink some wine and the weekend is off to a good start. I think it is only Wednesday though.

Barbara has started playing double bass (read: upright bass) and they have formed a duo together. I don’t think Roman and Barbara have a group name yet but I can already picture a highly stylized R & B with the ampersand in the shape of a cat. Maybe it should be B & R so no one gets it confused with R&B music because that is not what they play. The first song I hear them play is Hank Willams and I love their sound.

Short Guitar Geek Warning:

Roman got an Iris guitar last year and it is such a fabulous instrument. Devotee’s to my GGW understand that I fancy myself a “guitar whisperer”* and I love when I can suggest what guitars certain people should get but I love even more when people find the guitars on their own without me and that’s what this is. I’ve played some Iris guitars before and Roman’s is probably my favorite one I’ve heard.**

/end GGW

Hanging out in their apartment, they run through a few songs for the show on Friday night. We’re performing a house concert together. Roman and Barbara on first, then Sundown Ramblers and then me. I get the wild hair to have Roman and Barbara join me on a couple of songs.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention - Barbara has only been playing upright bass for a short time and this is going to be her first gig ever.

So I throw a couple songs at them, Too Many Miles, Cold War, Glad and Sorry, Queen of the Party and You ain’t going nowhere.  Yeah, you know - no pressure! It’s sounding so good in the apartment that it makes me start thinking of ideas for my next solo album. Stripped down with just upright and dobro or mandolin - oh man!  It sounds sooooo good!

Anyway.

Roman makes some eggplant dish over rice noodles and I’m starting to get used to this diet.

The show tonight is a house concert outside of Vienna in a town called Klosterneuburg at the house of Sundown Ramblers guitar player Richie. It’s a beautiful house and they have a great living room that’s been set up for a house concert.

Ok, I just fell asleep typing. This has to be continued tomorrow. BTW it’s 2:44 am. I must sleep. I apologize for making it a two parter.

xo,
Goodnight.

*quotations mine.
**If I was ever to get an Iris guitar I would have to spring for the P90 and Sarah Ryan (sarahryanstudio.com) paint job. So unbelievably amazing. Oh and Iris guitars are made in Burlington, VT

Tour Diary, Sept 21, 2024 

It’s Saturday afternoon, I’m sitting at an outdoor cafe in the Prenzlauer Berg^ section of Berlin. There’s a big cup of Earl Grey tea next to me, the city is alive with folks on bikes, pedestrians and babies in strollers. I heard Vietnamese, German, English, French and I think Farsi being spoken all within five of my steps. Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”* is on my earbuds now and I feel like I’m in and out of time.

I wish it was raining just a little bit, that would make it perfect.

I’ve been in Berlin this week. I had things planned that I couldn’t do. I spent the better part of the past two days in bed with a tweaked back. I tried to still do some things but I couldn’t even stand up straight and walking was a chore.** I don’t want to make the tour diary a medical report but I’m doing better today.

The other day I stopped at Hansa Studios and saw Rocco. We had a great time when I was here recording my “October” album and he was pretty stoked that I came back to deliver a record to him. We talk about recording and different styles and he is absolutely the type of person you want running a studio. He tells me about a recent German Schlager*** session and how one of his friends was sort of questioning how he could enjoy that and Rocco explains how the musicians work and how he can find something he likes in nearly all music. And then he tells me about a technical challenge they had recently where they had to record 120 tracks simultaneously. Not only is that impressive but I wouldn’t even want the job of labeling all the tracks.****

I got out of my taxi in front of the hotel, walked down to the laundromat and somewhere along the way hurt my back. I can barely get my back pack off when I get to my hotel room, I hit the bed and don’t move for about 2 hours. The hotel is in Prenzlauer Berg so that’s good for me. I like the energy here. Since I can’t move, I opt to sit in a chair and write. And I write and write and write. I have a file that I imported a couple of years of tour diaries and I’m trying to go through them to see which ones would actually be book worthy.***** I’m able to pick up on certain themes in my diaries - one being how much time I spend driving and my tours seemingly routed by someone who had no access to a map of Germany. The Bremen to Berlin to Amsterdam to Chemnitz in 4 days was particularly asinine.******

I’ve moved on to Nick Drake’s “Bryter Layter” album. The trees on this street have just started to change. “And the leaves cried as they fell, too soon, too soon.”******* This restaurant have things they put on the table that look like a toy Big Ben clock but have a spinning blade on top and they keep the bees away.

I walked a couple of miles today. I got all the way over to Mustapha’s Gemüse kebab. The four best words in German: Hähnchen Döner mit Gemüse. Yeah, Mustapha’s has become a touristy type of “the döner place to go to in Berlin” and the line is crazy long. I got there early today and only had to wait 30 minutes in line. By the time I left the line had tripled in length. The dudes there - they don’t hurry. They make each one special. And watching him delicately choose the toppings and veggies for my döner, you’d think I was the only one in line.

Man, the bass line in “One of these things first” is so subtlety amazing. Whenever I sing along with this song I feel like I’m in a music video.

I had never listened to or even heard of Nick Drake until the Garden State soundtrack. Nick died at age 26 after releasing his third album. He was on a major label Island Records and sold less than 4,000 albums during his lifetime. He got good reviews in the music mags of his time but was reluctant to promote and perform. Posthumously, his music was used in a VW ad and that boosted sales by over 70,000.

I think of folks like Nick Drake when I think of my own music and legacy. Legacy, what a word. Reading the latest review I got in American Songwriter, it’s really great - I get good reviews, my music doesn’t suck, I bust my ass to bring my music to as many places as I can but I’m still struggling. I mean, does the world really need another 50 year old dude singing songs? It’s so hard to cut through the noise.

Maybe Nick Drake is not the best thing to listen to when you’ve been alone for a couple of days on tour and are wrestling with darkness.

“I could've been a sailor, I could've been a cook
A real live lover, I could've been a book
I could've been a signpost, I could've been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock

I could be here and now
I would be, I should be, but how?

I could've been
One of these things first”  ~ Nick Drake

^It’s one of the more gentrified and hipster areas of Berlin. I do love it here. I passed a store today that sold nothing but antique typewriters.
*If you want to listen along while you read, start on track 5 “horn” and then you will be listening at the same time as reading. More of an interactive experience.
**For clarification purposes - I have two herniated discs in my back. I’m usually fine but sometimes I move wrong and then I’m in a world of hurt. Yes, I’ve been to docs and all that - new insurance and no one could see me the month of August and then I was gone. So my next appointment is in late October for P.T.
***Schlager is the absolute un-coolest music you could listen to. It is a form of pop music heavy on the sentimentality and melancholy. If Anne Murray was German and making contemporary pop music, it would probably be Schlager. On the Irish side, it is probably closest to Celtic Thunder stuff.
****It makes me wonder how Jason Day would color code and group them all. “Ok, woodwinds are all brown. Percussion is all red…”
*****I have currently edited 1200 pages down to 95.  
******Reading that made me mad all over again at Arne, the guy booking that year. I read it and feel like Wesley in Princess Bride -  “I just sucked a year of your life, how does that make you feel?”
*******From “20” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Tour Diary, Sept 15, 2024 

When I don’t write my diary immediately my brain feels like an etch a sketch that has been half shaken by the time I start writing and that’s where we are today.

I told you about Liekedeeler in Verden and the time with Nico and Mona and Heike - the next morning I wake up late. Late, like 10:45 am. Could’ve been the Willie Nelson, could’ve been the wine.* We have to leave around 6 pm tonight to get to Haus am See. So that’s like 6 hours at least from now and I drive over to see Sam Barnard at his guitar shop. He’s been apprenticing as a luthier and doing guitar repairs and the shop is not that big but has nice stuff in it. Ukuleles and guitars on all the walls and when I go in back to his shop it is just full on wood working equipment. He shows me the acoustic guitar he made and it is beautiful. The neck is great, even a little wider than normal and the tone - from what I can tell, it’s like a modified jumbo size acoustic body and just full and balanced and I absolutely love it and want one of his instruments now.

Sam and I have a nice catchup over coffee and tea. Sam has played gigs with me before - sometimes on cajon and sometimes on bass. He’s an accomplished musician beyond just being great at fixing and making them. I can remember one gig a few years ago where I just felt like playing a new song that we hadn’t rehearsed and Sam hadn’t even heard and right before we played it I was like “It’s C - D - Em for the verse and the chorus is…” and he was like “got it, I’ll follow you.” And the song sounded perfect.

Back at Heike’s I’m organizing some stuff, we are taking one car tonight to the gig and it is a small car. We don’t have a lot of stuff but 3 people, a small PA, merch and 2 guitars means we are packed to the ceiling.

Haus am See is only about 30 minutes away but the last 2 miles have you winding through neighborhoods and small streets and it’s like - how and why is anyone going to come here to see us? It is a beautiful site, right on a vacation-y lake and tables outside for the summer season and a restaurant and big room for music events inside.

“This is the place with the great schnitzel.” Nico reminds me and as soon as he says it, I remember.

We’re greeted at the door by Daniel the owner and he shows us in, a waitress takes our drink order and we start setting up. Again, setting up with Nico is a breeze. He’s got to take a few minutes and sort out a ghost in his looping machine and in minutes the PA is up and running.

We each place our order for schnitzel and then it’s just hanging out and greeting our fans that arrive for the gig - and they show up wearing our shirts too! I don’t know who ever started that trend thing about “don’t wear the band’s t-shirt to the band’s gig” but they were full of shit about it. Seeing folks wear your t-shirt is almost as good as watching them sing a long to your songs.

As they bring our schnitzel out to the table, I make a mental note that most other folks got the hamburger - and it is a real good looking burger, stacked high and it’s tempting. But you know, I’m in Germany, why the hell would I get a hamburger here when I can get schnitzel with mushrooms?

I’m on first tonight and with it being a quiet room, I feel weird just launching into the (acoustic) ROCK so I ease into the set. I do a couple of quiet ones - crooked jack, 10,000 miles, some salvation** and the crowd is pretty subdued too. Very nice and listening. I gradually ramp it up a bit and it all goes well. I’m playing some songs that I hadn’t played on tour yet so that is fun for me and I think the folks here that have seen more than one show already (some 2 and 3 shows already) appreciate mixing it up. At one point I unplug entirely and perform a quiet one in the middle of the room. It’s probably my favorite moment of the show. When I’m all done I get shouts of “Zugabe!” And one more song. I don’t want to cut into Nico’s time and I check with him and he’s cool so I play one more. Sonja has requested “APB” and so I sing it for her with my favorite moment being when I stop the song and ask her how to pronounce “Otterstedt” which I’m trying to put in the song. It takes several tries before I get it right.

Nico has a great set and his looping/ kick pedal/ tambourine and effects come off perfectly in this room. He unplugs for his last number and it’s a fav song of mine and ends up stuck in my head for the next day. “Oh, bottle of hope won’t you take me home…”

The chatting with folks afterward is the best and folks buying cds and what-not. Petra has brought me more chocolate and that is so sweet of her. We reminisce about the first time I met her - playing a church in Bremen where she wouldn’t even make eye contact with me until I kept singing to her and got her to smile. Then how she brought Heike to one of my gigs and that’s how I met Heike. And the world just continues to be amazing to me. I’m on the other side of the world in this tiny venue on the banks of a tiny lake in the tiny town of Otterstedt, Germany talking to folks that have traveled to see me here and locals that just stumbled in.

Daniel asks if we need any beer to take home with us. Nico takes him up on one giant bottle of something and we wind our way back to the garden in Bremen. We have a great post-gig hang with wine and biscuits and great conversation. I will miss this when I leave.

Sleeping is easy in the garden and the spiders in the windows seemed to have gotten bigger since yesterday. The web in front of window is bigger, the spider next to the outdoor toilet is not scared of me at all and there’s another on the wall that looks at me while I pee and I think he wants a fight. Heike tells me that I will miss her in the morning as she has to work today. We hug and make vague plans for 2025. Nico and I continue to plan for next year as well.

I pack up my bag and count my merch - I’ve sold quite a bit here already. Probably should’ve brought more but it’s such a challenge - you don’t want to bring too much and then have to carry it home and you don’t want to bring too little and then have nothing to sell at shows. We brought a bunch of t-shirts and sold them all, brought a bunch of records and I have 2 left, brought a bunch of cds and still have like 25 left. If you tour out of a backpack and one guitar - it’s a different type of traveling/touring than if you’re out of a traditional van/tour bus/whatever.

I think back to when we were playing all over New England in the 90s and The Gypsy Mechanics, shit, we’d forget to bring cds to sell at our gigs more often than not. Our first time in Canada we didn’t even have a cd to sell. At that time the business model was to play gigs, get interest, get on a label, make an album, label puts the album in stores and and you don’t even bring them to the gig to sell. I don’t know exactly when that changed but I know I changed in 1999 when my first solo album came out and Tracy and I started making our first merch table signs. And now hardly any bands go out performing without having some kind of merch to sell.

Was just different.

/old guy ranting at clouds

I wake up this morning to a great new review from a German magazine, a small container of cookies in my bag and a note from Heike saying goodbye until next year.

Tschüss Bremen. I’m on my way to Hamburg.

xo
~Bobbo

*As the Tragically Hip would say.
**It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve played this solo and also why I have not played it solo. Tracy sings the second verse. I don’t know the second verse.

Tour Diary, Sept 6, 2024 

Tour Diary, Friday, Sept 6, 2024

It’s been a weirdly relaxing start to this tour. I say “weirdly” because I usually hit the ground running. Land on a Thursday and gigging by that night or the next but this time I also know that Tracy is using her spare vacation days for this tour so I was trying to make it not just gig gig gig M-F.  Matt is also with us and I know he’s getting anxious to do a show but I knew he’d dig seeing some of Europe before diving in. We had some off days at the beginning in Amsterdam and went to the Van Gogh museum.

If you’ve not been to the Van Gogh* museum I highly recommend it in Amsterdam. This was actually my third time visiting the VGM and I still love it and get more out of it every time. I didn’t even realize what a fan I was and I say “fan” but it’s not like I’m about to go out and start buying Van Gogh’s. His story seems to be patient zero for the troubled artist/starving artist trope. I mean, I’m probably wrong about that but there’s so much there - there. How he only sold one painting while he was alive, how his brother kept him in house and paint, how his psych doctor told him “above all else, paint” and how the world wouldn’t even know of him if it wasn’t for his sister in law, Jo Van Gogh-Bogner, making it her life’s work to make sure the world knew of Vincent - after both Vincent and Theo were both dead.

I return to the VGM hoping for that feeling, or to share that feeling of, or hoping that Tracy and Matt will both get the feeling that I had when I first saw the Sunflowers painting. My reaction was tears. I had no idea how impressive it was. Sure, I had seen it in magazines or in print but to see the detail, the brush strokes, the depth in that painting up close - it literally moved me to tears and an emotion that I fully didn’t anticipate. And it’s hard to go back to that moment but I was still seeking it out, if not for me than for Tracy and Matt at least.

We walked all around and ended up by the Anne Frank house. We didn’t feel like going through the heaviness of the house, you have to get tickets months ahead, but we did walk by it and you still feel the solemness just being on the street outside of it. For real, you look out at the canal and just think - Anne looked out at this canal. Damn.

Anyway.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city and we stayed in the not so beautiful city center where it was party central all around us. The hotel was inexpensive and had AC and was close to the train station.

The train ride from Amsterdam to Bremen is mostly uneventful aside from the AC not working for the first 30ish minutes of our ride - which sounds oh so very posh of me but no. It was hot on the train. Matt was not in a good space about this. They got the AC sorted and then when we got to Germany, the German train crew was not there to take over the train. Which meant waiting near 30 minutes at the station for them to show up and then having to run in Osnabrück to catch the next train, which thankfully was running 30 minutes late.

Again, I may be underplaying the stress we were feeling in the moment. I mean, I’m used to late, canceled trains and all but when traveling with Tracy and Matt and I was the one who booked these things - I want it to go easily for them. It’s one thing to be stuck by yourself, that’s easy. But stuck with a group, less easy.

From Bremen Hauptbahnhof it’s an easy 5 minute walk to our hotel and big comfy beds. Matt gets his room inexplicably upgraded to a suite that I’m low-key jealous of. For now we sleep well and start a new adventure tomorrow.

Picking up our rental car, the woman behind the counter remembers me from last year and also gives us a great doner recommendation here in Bremen - Siggys Gemüse Kebab and she is not wrong. It’s some of the best I’ve had.

Driving to Siggys we pass by where Mona lives and I message her we’re in her area and she suggests meeting up after for some gelato. As we’re eating the doner it starts to sprinkle some light rain and we huddle under an umbrella on the street. We’re enjoying the weather break when all of a sudden the clouds open up and it is a deluge. We run inside and get soaked on the 6 foot gap between umbrellas and front door.

We have a great gelato with Mona after the rain in an old style gelato place that makes fun of us for trying to take our ice cream off the counter. “This is not McDonald’s, we bring it to you.” I try to get up and get spoons. “I will bring them.” My American-ness shining through.

Then we go see Heike and pick up the PA that we need for our show. A few years ago I bought a small PA system that I leave behind at Heike’s place and I let other musicians that come through use it too. It’s great that she lets me store it there and I get a great feeling of helping other musicians that wouldn’t have this sort of thing sorted out. Getting a PA is a huge pain in the ass sometimes. Todd Patridge used the PA over the summer and he contributed a microphone and two speaker stands to the cause. It feels very communal and good.

I feel like I missed a day somewhere in there - we also went to Bremerhaven to the emigration museum and tried unsuccessfully to look up Matt’s genealogy. Then we also had lunch with Heiko from songs&whispers and we talked about a booking for 2026 at Sendersaal. Yes, 2026.

And then it’s Thursday night and we’re driving to Sparkasse. It’s a bank and a very community friendly bank. Heiko was telling us how when most banks have downsized their footprints to save money, Sparkasse has kind of done the opposite and made itself part of the communities where they exist and this one is no different. There’s a sitting area, tables and a few chairs as well as a large chalkboard filled with upcoming events - things for kids and adults. They have converted the reception area to a bar, selling water, beer and Fritz cola.

This is the 5th time (??) I’ve played a Sparkasse and the third time I’ve played this one. Anja is the manager and she and I have been messaging for the better part of a year setting this up. She is super supportive and even brings cinnamon for me to put on the raisin toast.

What? You think I don’t have a toaster here? I bought a toaster that I also leave with Heike at her garden house, since she didn’t have a toaster this works out well, and she brings it to the show for us.

It’s great seeing folks at the show, Petra, Michael, Norbert (sorry Barbara - feel better), Sonja and more.

The PA sets up easily and we have a pretty good sound going - setting it up so the speakers are sort of behind us a little and angled in so they are also our monitors. Matt wrestles with his new kick pedal and setting it up on Alina’s borrowed cajon. Tracy tunes up her Jaguar bass and amp that we leave here and our set up is cool and great for travel and we sound good.

Super short Guitar Geek Warning:

I leave behind a pedalboard here so I can do all my weird sounds when needed but on our PA head we only have 4 inputs (Tracy vocal, Bobbo vocal, Matt vocal and Acoustic guitar) so my second signal has nowhere to go but I noticed that the PA also has an “aux input”. There’s no volume control for this input at all so I just have to dial it in with the Sparkle Drive pedal that I have and use that as volume and tone control. Confused?  I will take a picture next time and show you.

/end GGW

We have a good crowd tonight. It’s not as big as some other shows I’ve had here but it’s still a great crowd. Anja is telling me that the heat wave here is keeping a lot of folks away as she got a number of emails telling her so.

We take some requests (thank you Petra!) and Michael mans the toaster in between sets and is dubbed “Toastmaster”. He and I also do another patch swap and I get a great new patch from his Krane & Schwerlast-Logistik company.

Our show goes great. Anja had told me that they have the air conditioning on but now here, the option to keep the front door open and run the AC is better but it is still hot. I am sweating through my shirt and drinking my way through the water and Fritz orange bottles they keep giving me. By the end of the first set I start to feel a bit vocally fatigued. I did very little singing and strumming since we left California and two full sets is a lot tonight.

We end with some APB, a great sing along and then Angelia and our encore is Stronger than Steel.

Post show is more hanging out and chatting. We’re each gifted a bottle of wine and a new Sparkasse hat. We all make plans to met up again at Heike’s Garden show and we say goodnight. I ask Matt what it’s like to play his first show in Germany and he’s like “they all listen!”  Yeah, it’s a thing to get used to, but a nice thing to get used to.

I get a message from Windy that he wants to swing by the hotel and buy cds. All my S&W friends remember Windy as the dude that would stop by the artist flat and bring us homemade jam. Windy can’t make the shows as he’s on the radio this week but wants to play our music on the radio. “They don’t have a Bobbo Byrnes listed as staying at this hotel.” He tells me. It’s odd but I go incognito just by using Robert.**

Today we have a little bit of a drive to get to Herdecke and Nathaniel at the Shakespeare Pub. He’s a Brit that’s lived here for 20+ years. He has already assured me he will have the kettle on when we get there.

Tschüss for now.

xo
~Bobbo

*As an American I mispronounced his name and I guess most people do. Van is pronounced just like a Chevy Van (of course) but Gogh is pronounced like cough with a G. Gough.  Who knew? Well, apparently most folks but now when I refer to Van Gogh with the correct pronunciation I can silently hear myself saying “you poseur, you know nothing of art and here you are in the room where women come and go talking of Michelanglo.”
**Secrets out now.

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