Chuck’s Tour Diary

In the morning we sent our luggage off with Spin and went for lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel, which is out by the pool area. I did the gym thing…and while I was in there, they made the announcement on television about the arrest of some 21 people in London that were allegedly conspiring to blow up some 9 or 10 planes simultaneously that were going to the US. It was all over the news, and on the one hand it was distressing to hear of more terrorist actions, but on the other hand it was great to know that they had caught these bastards before they could follow through with their heinous plans. It had thrown Heathrow and all the London airports into a confused tizzy, canceling lots of flights and leaving thousands of peoples stranded…and it looked as it things would stay in a mess for quite a while. I went back to the room to tell Rose Lane about it, telling her to turn on the TV and check it out while I went for my last run along the Mediterranean. When I got back, we took advantage of sun one last time, laying out by the pool for a while. After that we went back to the room to prepare for departure. Left the hotel for the airport at 3, and had wheels up by 4:15 or so. Flying into Portugal we were amazed at all the forest fires we saw from above. There has been quite a lot of stories in the news about the fires in Portugal and in the north of Spain. Apparently this happens to some degree each year, as it does in states out west like Arizona, Colorado, California and others…but this is an unusual year with a drought and some arson going on. From above we saw multiple fires burning all around…some big, some small…the air was filled with gray smoke and by the time we landed, there was a thick haze all around. No doubt these fires will cause a lot of damage…especially to the cork trees, which is a big part of the Portuguese forests. Sad to see, and I hope they gain control soon.
We arrived at the Sheraton hotel in the early evening and settled in to our room, taking it easy for a while. Rosie and I decided to go down for a drink around 7:30, and I stopped off at the concierge desk to check on some dinner options. We decided on trying some of the local fare, and made reservations and a place called Dom Tonho for 9pm. Then we headed to the bar. There was a really nice outside area with some beautiful mature trees, shrubs, lawn and a bit of garden. We secured a table and ordered our drinks, enjoying being outdoors for a bit…even with the haze still present. Jake Cohl and Anthony Green stopped by for a short hi, but mostly we just sat there sipping our Grey Goose, talking and relaxing.

a cab for the restaurant, which was in one of the old parts of town, right on the river Douro. Rosie and I had been to Porto before…on the last tour. But we didn’t really get out and about, only near the hotel we were in, and we were in a sort of bland part of town. But this area was amazing…so much character…really beautiful and interesting. We found the restaurant about halfway down the old cobblestone street that ran alongside the river and ducked in. We were shown to our table, which was upstairs in a nice quiet area. The waiter came and we ordered our food. After about 15 minutes, in walks Mick with some of his family in tow. They sat him not far from us and of course we exchanged glances, smiling and waving. I called across to him…”Well, great minds think alike, eh?”
The meal was quite good…typical Portuguese, very flavorful. Afterwards we decided to walk the area some and enjoyed strolling down the old streets and people watching some. We finally caught a cab back to the hotel and called it a night.
8/11
Interesting day for me…when we were in Milan, Tim Ries came to our room one night to hang out. We drank wine and listened to some music. I played him Randall Bramblett’s new CD, “Rich Someday”, which he loved. He went back to his room and brought a CD by a lady named Ana Moura (see anamoura.com for more info), who is a fado (style of Portuguese music) singer. I was most impressed, although we couldn’t understand the lyrics as she sings in Portuguese. Tim told me he had contacted her manager and was trying to arrange a recording sessions while we were in Porto. Well, he got it done and today would be the session. He’s working on a follow up to his “Rolling Stones Project” CD and wanted to do a couple of Stones tunes with her. He wound up doing an arrangement of “No Expectations” and “Brown Sugar” for the sessions. So at about noon he, Charlie and I met in the lobby of the hotel to drive to the studio. We arrived about 12:45. He had arranged for a few other musicians to join in…two were fado musicians…one played classical guitar and the other played what is known as a Portuguese guitar…a 12 stringed instrument that is tuned in a special and unique way. Both were superb players. In addition to Charlie on the drums, there was a percussionist…and there was an electric guitar player and a bass player as well. For “No Expectations”, Tim had done a beautiful arrangement and had played it for me on the piano. I insisted that he play piano on that track, as he did it in his own special way and I felt it would be better for his project. So I stayed in the control room for that one, offering encouragement and listening to the several takes they did. On the last take, I knew it was the one, and went out to the studio to tell them that I felt they should go no further. We all listened back, and agreed that it was the take to keep, so we then moved on to “Brown Sugar”. We did a neat arrangement of it where Tim and I did the intro, then the band joined in for the verses and choruses…then after the sax solo (which Tim wailed on..) we put in a cool breakdown for the last verse that was in the Fado style, finishing out the last chorus with everyone. It was great to get out of the hotel and have something interesting to do, and all the players enjoyed it. Tim has quite a few good tracks to work with now, and I’m sure his CD will be great when it’s all done.

After returning to the hotel in the late afternoon, I had some down time before we went to dinner. The concierge had suggested a place near the mouth of the river where it spills into the sea. It was called Don Manoel. We arrived there a bit early, so we decided to take a walk along the water before dinner. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. The walk was a short one, but really nice. We spied a bar that was down below the sidewalk even closer to the jagged and rocky “beach” called the I Bar. I found us a nice sort of isolated table and went to fetch us a couple of drinks. We sipped our cocktails and watched and listened to the waves crashing on the rocks…and to the seagulls calling. There were quite a lot of gulls scattered out and about, and it all made for a picturesque setting.

Finally we walked back across the street to the restaurant and were seated at a nice table at the window with a beautiful view of the Atlantic. For about 15 minutes we were the only people in there, giving us the feeling that we owned the place. It is an elegant restaurant in a large older home. Eventually a few folks filtered in, and then, Mick appears with his family. About 45 minutes later in comes Michael and Lori Cohl with the promoter, Nuno Braamcamp and his wife. They invited us over, but we declined as we had already ordered our food….but told them we would join them after the meal for a drink. The food and wine were excellent, and we relaxed and talked about things back home. After wrapping it up we joined the Cohl party and had a nice chat with all of them. Nuno told us some history of Porto and we discussed some other topics before announcing that we would head back to the hotel. He kindly offered us a car to drive us back, and we gratefully accepted. Fun day and lovely evening


8/12
I hit the gym before taking the early van to the gig. I’ve been trying to do more cardio these days, and spent a good 45 minutes on the treadmill after my weight routine. Then met up with the “early crew” and headed down to the gig. There I wrote up the set list and then headed to the Rattlesnake to get some food. Was able to relax a little before the rest of the gang arrived….then went to run the set by Mick. We made a couple of choices together and I took the list on over to Arnold Dunn to have it run by Keith. It was all settled, and I had a little more down time to myself, as Rose Lane had decided to skip the show and I had no guests.
Finally went through the routine of wardrobe, a little warm up time on the keyboard and soon we were on. The gig went well in the beginning, but about the time we got to “Midnight Rambler”, I could hear Mick having some trouble with his voice. Then on the next song, “Night Time Is The Right Time”, it was evident that we might be in trouble. He handled it fairly well, and after “Night Time…” is Keith’s two songs, so he got a little rest. But from “Miss You” (first tune after Keith) on, he was struggling….but he got through it.
Back at the hotel Rose Lane and I went down to the bar where our friend Patrick Woodroffe and his family joined us for a drink. Patrick’s wife Lucy is a wonderful person and we hadn’t seen her in a while…and they had their lovely two girls Alice and Laura with them. We sat and talked with them for a while, ordering a bit of food to share. The bar was buzzing with several of us musicians and staff members there along with some folks that had come to the show that were also there. Finally we felt the sandman coming and excused ourselves, bidding all goodnight.
8/13

Time to move on to Madrid. Rose Lane and I love Spain, and had been disappointed not to do the shows that were in the original plan in Barcelona and We were supposed to go to Barcelona in the very beginning and rehearse there and do our opening European show there. But of course we had to cancel both Barcelona and Madrid due to Keith’s injury. So we were happy to be going to Madrid and even though we had no show there (we were to play in Valladolid and El Ejido using Madrid as a base), we looked forward to staying in that fine city. We all gathered at the appointed time to get on the bus and go to the plane…and were in the air by 4:30pm. Arrived in Madrid at about 5:30. We were staying at the same hotel we’ve used for many years there…the Palace (now the Westin Palace). It’s a beautiful place, and we always have a nice big room there. We were given the exact same room we had the last time we were here, so it felt like home. Rosie and I went for a drink in the beautiful central area that has a huge stained glass dome as a ceiling. While it was certainly a nice space to sit and enjoy a cocktail, it wound up being the most expensive drinks so far of the tour….after taxes and service charges it cost us about 25 Euros EACH for a single shot of vodka…for the two of us, that’s about $64 for the two single drinks. OUCH.
Stinging from that, we went up to the local square not far from the hotel…called ????? for dinner at a restaurant called La Trucha (The Trout). It turned out to be a good choice. We had sort of a tapas dinner with several little dishes including mine and Rose Lane’s favorite, the pedron peppers.
These are small to medium sized green peppers that are sautéed and salted, served warm and whole. Most of them are fairly mild to medium hot…and are sooo good! We also had some spinach, some pink trout with little bits of ham in it, what they call “broad beans”, which are sort of like very small white lima beans..also with bits of ham in them, and a few other dishes, all very nice. We washed it all down with some Jarras (pitchers) of chilled Valdepeñas, a young Beaujolais-like claret. Afterwards we strolled around the square…there were still some merchants open in their tents in the middle of the square that were selling their goods…some clothes, some jewelry and other items. We didn’t buy anything but enjoyed the stroll before walking back to the hotel. There we cracked open a bottle of Rioja red wine and I strummed on my mandolin while Rose Lane tapped on her computer. Soon we got our newsletter under the door. When I read it, I was not terribly surprised to see a note saying …”As some of you are aware, tomorrow’s show could be in jeopardy”. I had wondered how Mick was doing after hearing his voice deteriorating in Porto….

8/14-16

We went through our morning routine…I had set up our traveling coffee maker and made a pot of coffee before Rose Lane awoke. I sipped the java and sorted out our emails for a while until she got up…and we talked for a bit, speculating on whether or not we’d be doing a show. After a while I called down to the tour office to see what was happening, but was told that Mick was still with the doctors and we wouldn’t know until about noon. So I went on about my biz…going to the gym and then having lunch with Rose Lane at another place in the square. When we returned to the hotel and were headed to the elevator, I saw Arnold Dunn who said the show was off….and that we would likely also miss the next show in El Ejido…but that we wouldn’t know for sure until the next day. So, we wound up with some extra time on our hands. Indeed, we wound up missing that show as well…so we had three unexpected off days in Madrid. We were all really sad and frustrated to miss the shows…it meant that out of the original four planned shows in Spain, we would wind up canceling all of them. I felt especially bad for the fans…and can only hope that we come back here next year to make up for all these lost shows. I know that Mick felt really bad as well…it wasn’t his fault…he was diagnosed with a viral infection that just had to run it’s course until he could sing again.
Rose Lane and I took advantage of the days off….by having some nice lunches and dinners, walking around Madrid and going to the famous Prado museum on one of the days. There was a little patio outside the fitness room at the Palace, a spot that you could lay out in the sun…and we did that about every day as well. I took a couple of runs in the wonderful big park near the hotel, the Parque del Buen Retiro. It all made for some nice down time, but us musicians would much rather have been playing the gigs!
On Wednesday the 16h we traveled to London….but it was a very late flight, leaving the Madrid airport about 11:30pm due to some special rules that concerned the principals of the band. We were delayed going through Immigration due to all the recent problems of the terrorist arrests…and also due to some not so savvy Immigration officers at Luton airport. So we finally got to London and the Landmark hotel at about 3:30am, totally wasted and went straight to bed

NICE TIME IN NICE

8/6

Rosie and I said goodbye to Zurich and boarded up with everyone else for Nice. This would be a travel day, but we were to have two full off days there, the 7th and the 9th with a show on the 8th. All of us looked forward to being there…and hopefully to get some fun in the sun! Our friend Tom Connor and his girlfriend Laura live in Cap dAil, which is not far from Nice. Tom has been in touch and we will be spending time together over the coming days. Tom put on an amazing party back in October of ‘04 which Rose Lane and I were a part of. It was in celebration of Oscar Wilde’s 150th birthday (Tom is a Wilde fanatic) and his own 50th birthday. It was an unbelievable affair. He put together a band that consisted of me on keys, Duke Robbilard on guitar and vocals, Jerry Portnoy and Rick Estrin on blues harmonicas, Gordon Beadle on sax, Steve Ramsey on drums and John Ross on bass. Tom dubbed us “The Werewolves”. He flew us all (including wives) to the South of France and put us up for a week there, taking us to nice dinners and such before we played for his huge party which was held at the Grand Hotel in Cap Ferrat. It was a formal affair with some 2-3 hundred people…. starting off with a classical trio playing for the cocktail hour with everyone dressed to the 9’s. Then a formal (an incredible) sit down dinner that consisted of some 7 or so courses. We were all entertained throughout by a plethora of videos (old movies like “Casablanca” and various music videos with the likes of Muddy Waters, The Who, and many others). Before dinner Tom had arranged for an English actor to actually play Oscar Wilde and do some readings of his works. After dinner the Werewolves played a set for about an hour, which was followed by a fireworks display out on the patio of the hotel to a huge big screen TV playing the Who’s “Tommy”. Then we played a second set for another hour. It was all amazing, and we had a blast to say the least. But we’ve known Tom from way before that and have seen him at many shows. He loves music and knows quite a lot of the particulars concerning the recordings, the musicians, the lyrics and so on. A true aficionado! He had invited us to dinner upon our arrival, but being Sunday there weren’t a lot of options, so we suggested we take an easy night and do dinner the following night, which was a day off. He agreed and the plans were made. He also invited us to go out on a boat that he was hiring for the day, and we told him we’d likely join them.
So with all these plans laid, Rosie and I checked into our room at the Palais De La Mediterranee hotel and took some down time. Our friends Scott and Brian Jones had arrived as well, and we got up with them for a short hello in our room. Then we decided to check into dinner options. It was raining, and we knew we didn’t want to go out far from the hotel…so we wailed about a block and found a Lebanese restaurant. We ordered some nice appetizers and enjoyed them…then decided to go to another place we’d spotted and ordered a couple of small pizzas. That made for a nice casual first night in Nice, and afterwards we went up to bed.

8/7

The hotel had a very small gym, but I managed to get a fair workout in it before we called Tom. He was already out on the boat and told us that he would tell the Captain to head over to Nice from Cap d’Ail where they started…and that he’d meet us there about 2:30. So we got a bite to eat and made our way to the harbor to meet Tom and Co.

Tom found us and took us to the boat, a really nice vessel that was owned and operated by a couple named Glen and Emily. We boarded up and headed out to sea. With Tom and Laura were some of their friends which we met and relaxed with. The water was a bit choppy, but we still enjoyed cruising around the Mediterranean, stopping at some of the small Caps and inlets. We went to Monaco, Cap d’Ail, Vilefranche, St. Jean, Cap Ferrat. Tom pointed out to us the historic house where Exile on Main Street was recorded…Nellcote. He told us a story about talking to the woman that had rented it to Keith…. and that she had fainted when she saw what shape the house was in after they used it…apparently it was pretty well trashed. She sold it to another woman that Tom met later, and he asked her what it was like when she bought it. She told him there were boxes of tapes and all kinds of stuff laying around…and of course he asked her what she did with all of it…”I threw it away!!” was the reply. No telling what she might have had!

We wound up our boat adventure about 5pm when Captain Glen took us back to the Nice harbor. We were slightly delayed going in, as we had to wait on one of the huge cruise ships to go in first. We bade our friends goodbye…but it wouldn’t be long before we would see them again…a matter of a short few hours as we were to all have dinner together. Tom had arranged a table for us at a the best restaurant in Nice, La Petite Maison for 8pm.
Rosie and I walked back to the hotel, about a mile or so. We took our time, wandering through the small streets and alleyways of the old town. We stopped at a few shops, but didn’t buy anything…. just enjoyed the stroll and looking around. I did spy some beautiful wooden bowls and thought about picking one up, but we have some at home and don’t really need to be carrying anything else around with us!
Back at the hotel we relaxed a bit, showered up and got ready to meet Tom, Laura and company. We had found the restaurant on our walk back from the harbor and knew where it was. It was 8pm when we got there, but still none of our friends had showed, so we decided to have a cocktail at a bar across the street. It was a cool little spot, and we enjoyed some Moskova over ice and talked about how things might be back home…about our dogs, Lilly, Maggie and Molly…our cats, Jazzbeau, Booker and Alberta…about the work we plan to do when we get home, like putting in some new windows and painting the outside of the house. We also need to do a treatment on our new Lodge and the Bullard House…. as well as our dock at our pond. We drank to all of these plans and then walked back to La Petite Maison to meet our friends.

Tom had arranged an outside table, which was surrounded by an ivy-covered trellis, giving us a nice feeling of being in nature. Laura’s sister, husband and new baby were along. Her husband “Bo” has an interesting job, being a violinmaker. Tom’s friend Alexis that had been on the boat with us was also there, and a few others. The food, wine and company were all fantastic, and we enjoyed talking about all kinds of things during the course of dinner. Rose Lane and I both had the local specialty of salt encrusted Sea Bass, which was delicious. Tom picked out some great wines…I should have quizzed him on what they were, but whatever they were they were a perfect accompaniment to the meal.
We wound down after a couple of hours and thanked Tom for the fine dinner, then headed back to the hotel to cap off the night.

8/8

It has been since 1982 that the band played in Nice…. and there was a huge buzz about the concert. Yesterday there were several multi-page articles on the Stones coming to town. The concert was totally sold out. Our friend Petter Binde from Norway had emailed me to tell me that he was coming down from Oslo on a whim…and when he got here and we checked on tickets, our VIP ticket rep Elizabeth told us there were none. But she managed to get him a SRO ticket so he could get in. Elizabeth told me that the show had been sold out for at least a week.
I did my exercise routine, enjoying another run in the sun along the wide sidewalk in front of the beach. Then took the early van going to the show. I did the usual routine, putting together the set list and so forth. I tried to get something different in there, but Mick didn’t want to get too experimental, so it wound up being a typical list.
When all our guests arrived, we had fun in the Rattlesnake (which was unusually large) socializing, mixing and mingling. Tom Connor, Laura and all their friends…. Scott and Brian Jones, Petter Binde and everyone had a great time meeting and getting to know each other a bit. I got Ken Fallon, Darryl’s bass tech and an excellent luthier, to come and meet Bo, Laura’s brother-in-law that makes the violins. I figured they would enjoy a chat, and I was right!
The show was in my opinion the second best one we’ve done…. Paris still being the best. The energy was great. The band played well, and everyone was on top of their game.
Afterwards, back at our hotel, Tom had booked a side room to have a little party in. So most everyone mentioned above went there to hang and talk for a while. It provided all of us for a perfect wind-down from the gig. Finally, we said our goodnights and goodbyes to all and went to put our heads on the pillows

8/9

Final full day in Nice, and we used it mostly to rest, relax and enjoy a bit more sun. I thought about calling Tom and Laura, but they had probably had enough of us and had already shown us such great hospitality, so we decided to stay to ourselves. After wasting away most of the day, we had dinner at a nice place called Truffles…., which as you might imagine served truffles as their specialty. It was a fine meal and capped off a wonderful stay in the south of France.

8/2

The Bransfords had an early call to make their flight to London…but we insisted that they peek in on us to say goodbye. So at about 8:30am they woke us up and came in for the farewells. They had to pry Miles out of our arms! Hugs all the way around, and then they were off to the airport. Rosie and I went back to sleep for a while, getting up again about 10:30. I went to the gym while Rosie went to a shoe store to buy some really cool boots (with roses on them!) that she had seen a couple of days before. Then we did our final packing of the carry on stuff and headed out the door to the bus. Amsterdam is one of the cities that we always see fans waiting outside, and there was quite a large crowd there to send us off. It’s really special that the fans do that, and it makes us all feel good. They call out to us….”Darryl…. Lisa…. Chuck! Thanks for a great show! See you next time!” …And we all sign some of the things they bring…cd’s, posters, tickets, sometimes just blank pieces of paper. All of us really appreciate these fans that acknowledge our contributions to the band. They are wonderful, and we love ‘em!
Today we’re headed to Stuttgart. This will be very cool for me, as the Stihl Company has a factory near there just outside of town. I have visited it once before, and had made arrangements through my good friend Jurgen Steinhauser to visit again tomorrow, before the show. But tonight we were to have dinner with Jurgen and his wife Rosewitta, their son Jorg and his girlfriend, and another Stihl executive, Michael Leisentritt and his wife.
We arrived with just enough time to relax for 45 minutes or so before meeting Jurgen in the lobby of the Le Meridian hotel. We’ve stayed here before when it was under different ownership…back then it was an Intercontinental hotel. We found Jurgen and went to his car where Rosewitta was waiting. It was great to see my old friend again. We had missed each other on the last tour, but back in ‘98 I think it was, we had met up with them and they had taken us to dinner, showing us wonderful hospitality. This night we were to go to a Swabian style restaurant. It is the typical cuisine of this region, and the last time we were together we were at a similar restaurant. We had a great time catching up with each other and I enjoyed hearing about the new products that Stihl is working on…and of course I was very anxious to see the factory again. It has been several years, and they have added a whole new research and development section to their facility. Jurgen relayed to us regrets from Hans-Peter Stihl, the head of the Stihl family and the ultimate leader of the Company (Stihl is one of the few remaining privately held family owned companies in the world), as he is on his annual vacation. Jurgen told me that every year he takes a month off…but instead of going somewhere, he takes all the new Stihl gear with him to his home and gives it all a workout for a month. That sounds like my kind of vacation!!
We enjoyed our dinner and all the conversation. Jorg, it turns out, is a commercial airline pilot for Lufthansa Airlines. I joked that he should be piloting our private plane, to which he replied…”When do I start?!”. Afterwards they took us back to the hotel and Rosie and I were not long for our sheets.

8/3

I had arranged for Jurgen to pick me up at 10:30, and he was right on time. Rose Lane had opted to stay in and catch up on some rest, but I was all buzzed for the factory tour. Upon arrival I was put in the hands of Hans-Peter Noway who is a product specialist for Sthil, and also accompanying was Ms Katharina Turski, who does the public relations for them. Both were most kind and anxious to show me around. Katharina would be taking pictures and some video of the whole thing while Hans-Peter showed me around the incredible showroom with all the Stihl products in it. Man, I was like a kid in a candy store! The set up was very professional and well laid out. There are a lot of products that Stihl sells in Europe that aren’t sold in the US…like pressure washers and even vacuum cleaners. They also have a line of tools called Viking that has chipper-shredders, lawn mowers and more. So while I was getting up to speed on all of this and learning about some of the new technology that the company has come up with, Katharina snapped away taking lots of photos. It was hard to drag myself out of that room, but we had limited time and there was so much more to see. Next stop was the new R and D facility. It was truly amazing…. there were some forty or more chambers (all sound proofed to keep the noise of the machinery within the testing chambers) with incredible high tech measuring devices taking all kinds of data during the testing operations. Every piece of equipment…all the different chain saws, trimmers, brush cutters, blowers…. everything…is tested for durability, vibration, fuel consumption and efficiency, and so much more. Every square centimeter of each piece is scrutinized beyond belief and all the data stored and reviewed so that they can continually be improving the gear in every way. Stihl is by far the most innovative and creative company of the genre when it comes to this. They are constantly on the cutting edge of technology, using everything from aerodynamics to every aspect of mechanics to come up with new and better tools for professionals and consumers. I was truly amazed and totally impressed with all of it.
They let me try one of their new entries into the chain saw line…. called the MS 441. It uses some of this new technology to make a more fuel-efficient saw with more power and less vibration. I made a few cuts with it in one of the testing chambers, and it cut like a hot knife through butter! I can’t wait to use one at Charlane!
After my tour of the R and D facility, we all met at their cafeteria. Jurgen had tipped me off that he had arranged for a piano to be brought in and asked me if I’d mind playing a few tunes for all the employees that would be there at that time. Of course I agreed to this, and upon our arrival I went straight to it and played “Statesboro Blues”. There was about 300 or so people there, and they gave me a nice round of applause. Jurgen made a quick introduction of me to the group, and then we all went to get some food. We enjoyed a nice lunch, and afterwards Jurgen asked me to play some more, which I did. I pumped out another three or four tunes, and the folks seemed to love it. I hung around and took pictures and shook hands with many of the employees, including the chef and some of his staff. It was all good fun and I enjoyed meeting as many folks as I could.
I had originally told Jurgen that I should head back to the hotel about 1:30…but as I was having such a great time and didn’t want to leave, I asked him to let me go back to the showroom for a longer look around at all the gear. I did so, and stayed until about 2:15 soaking it all in. Finally we made our way back to the hotel and I got ready to go to the gig.
Several of the Stihl folks came to the show, and I met them at the Rattlesnake to hang out with them. I got them all copies of the set list and some guitar pics for memorabilia, then said my goodbyes to them and got ready for the show. Opening the concert was Simple Minds, who played a solid set. We rocked the house yet again, putting on a strong performance. Jurgen and Rosewitta were to meet us back at the bar of the hotel, so Rosie and I went down to wait on them. While we were there, my old friend Mark Taylor, who plays with Simple Minds, found me, and we had a nice chat catching up with each other. Mark used to play with Elton John, as well…and is an excellent musician and a great guy. After a while the Steinhausers showed up and we had a nice time enjoying each other’s company for an hour or so. Then it was time to give it up and head up for the (ugh!) packing.

8/4

On to Zurich…Rosie and I had three invitations to dinner, but we declined all of them, as we needed a “date night”. We’d had quite a lot of socializing in the last two weeks, and the thought of a nice quiet night together was very appealing. We were staying at the Park Hyatt hotel, and after checking in and taking some down time, we went to the bar for a drink. We always get a list of suggested restaurants, and had studied it a bit, but after having a look at the restaurant at the hotel, we decided that would be fine. We didn’t really want to go out, and the restaurant looked great. During the course of the meal we noticed that some others in our “camp” had the same idea. Michael Cohl and his wife Lori came in and were seated a couple of tables away, and the Wood family came in as well, having a larger table in the corner. It was great to have a quiet and relaxing time together, and after a great dinner we went back to the room and cracked open a bottle of chardonnay to finish off the night.

8/5

Rose Lane had decided not to come to the show tonight. So after my gym hit I went on down to the gig with Isobel Work, our wardrobe person. We usually have more than just the two of us going, but for some reason it was just us in the van today. The drive was longer than usual, but we finally arrived at the site. This is not a stadium gig…but out in an open field. Oddly enough, one of the “opening acts” tonight would be an air-show by the Swiss Air Force. It turns out that the site was adjacent to an airfield, and somehow someone came up with the idea of having them entertain the crowd. So after doing the set list, having a bite to eat and meeting my guests in the Rattlesnake (I had only two guests…my friend Karl Purtscheller and his wife Yomiko, who live in St. Moritz), I went to watch some of the air show. It was fun to have something different for a change, and those guys were doing all kinds of maneuvers, putting on quite a show. We got very lucky with the weather…it had been threatening rain all day, and had indeed sprinkled some a few times…but when we took the stage it had stopped and we didn’t get wet. A solid Stones show was presented to the Zurich fans, and back at the hotel Rosie and chose not to go down to the bar and just chilled in the room…. and of course dealt with the bags, which were to be picked up at 10 the next morning. Now we head to Nice where we will have a good five days in the same hotel…. yea!

7/29

I had asked Michael Cohl a couple of weeks ago if Amy, Steve and Miles could travel with us on the private plane to Amsterdam from Paris. He had returned a “yes” to me just a couple of days before our departure. But before we left, Rosie and I walked up George V Avenue to Louis Vuitton to nose around. I wound up buying a cool pink long sleeve t-shirt there. It took what seemed like forever to make the purchase due to the slowness of the person waiting on me, but I finally got it done and we walked around to a few other shops before meeting back up with the Bransfords and loading up on the bus.

The flight was fine…just an hour long…and we arrived at the Amstel hotel by 6:30pm. While we were deciding on what to do for dinner, the phone rang and it was our friend Scott Jones from San Diego. Scott loves the Stones and comes to many shows, but he had not shown up in Europe until now. His eldest son Brian was with him. We invited him to dinner with us, and he accepted. I talked to the concierge and we settled on an Indonesian place…. there are a lot of good Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam, and it’s a good bet you’ll have a great meal at most of them. This one was within walking distance of the hotel. We settled in and told the server to give us “the treatment”. At these restaurants it’s a standard practice to order a set menu, which usually includes up to about 30 different small dishes that range in spiciness from mild to very hot. So we all agreed just to let them take care of us and bring us the “full meal deal”. It was great, and we all had fun trying out all the different flavors.
Back at the hotel we all got together in our room for a while, just talking and enjoying some wine. Great fun to see Scott and Brian, and to spend some quality time with all of us.

7/30

A day off in ‘ol Amsterdam. A few weeks ago I had a contact on our My Space website from a fellow named Charlie Dennard. Turns out that he used to live in Macon, Ga. when he was very young, and now is the keyboard player and musical director for one of the Cirque de Soliel shows, the one called Alegria. He noted that they are currently in Amsterdam and kindly arranged some tickets for us to come if we chose to. So we had made plans to do so…. but in the meantime something else came up. The tour TAC (Tour Activity Committee) had hired a nice sized boat to cruise down the canals of the city. Ah, such hard choices!
We hated to miss the Cirque show, but the idea of a nice relaxing cruise won, and we were to go at 5:30 in the afternoon. But before all of that, we had our morning routine of coffee, emails and general “waking up”…. and since Amy and Steve had adjoining rooms to us, they were included in that. Of course Miles figures in to the equation as well…. it’s so great to have the little guy all smiles and cooing at us…. playing with his teddy bear and other little toys.

It’s going to be hard to see them go in a few days!! After a couple of hours, I hit the very small gym at the Amstel while the rest of the family got ready to go out for a while. I joined in after the exercise and we went across the street to a little bistro for lunch. It was sort of rainy, but we managed to walk around in between the light showers, and the main attraction we saw was the beautiful flower market.

We went in to a few shops as well, but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without, and went back to the hotel to get ready for the boat ride.
We all gathered behind the Amstel about 5pm. The Amstel hotel is right on the Amstel river, and there is a dock right there. Slowly, all the participants showed up and by about 5:45 we were boarding into a nice old canal boat…. over a hundred years old. There were about 20 or so of us…none of the principal members of the band, but mostly staff and some of our road crew as well. We were lucky that the rain held off, and the skies actually opened up a little bit. So the captain pulled back the canvas covering, giving us an opening to the Amsterdam air. Some snacks, wine, beer and sodas had been put on board and we were ready to go. Finally we launched into the canals on the cool Sunday evening. It was a great time…. everyone forgetting their work or problems for a while, and just enjoying each other’s company and the wonderful scenes we floated by. We had arranged for a baby sitter for Miles, which gave Amy and Steve some “adult time”, which they needed. We mingled with all the participants, talking to some of the folks we don’t get to socialize with much because they are usually working when we see them at the shows. It was a fun and relaxing time for all of us.

Finally, after about two hours, the four of us got off on a short stop that the boat made near the old town area. We walked around, halfway looking for a place to eat…although we weren’t really all that hungry. Eventually we split up, Amy and Steve going their way and Rosie and I another. We looked for a decent place to dine, but being Sunday it wasn’t easy to find something suitable. In the end we wound up going back to the Amstel and having dinner down in the bistro. We had a nice table near the window where we could enjoy the view of the river. At another table in the room was Keith and his family…. they were about halfway through their dinner. We waved and chatted a bit with them, but mostly stayed to ourselves enjoying a casual meal in our little corner.
We met back up with Amy, Steve and Miles in the room afterwards and hung out for a while. I pulled out my mandolin (Miles seems to really like it and when he gets fussy it calms him down) and played for a while, until we all wound down and hit the sack.

7/31

After such a fun off day it was time to go back to work. Morning routine having been done, I opted for the very early van for the gig which left at 1:30. I just like getting down there and taking my time. It also gives me a bit of privacy to work on this diary, amongst other duties! I remember the last time we played Amsterdam. Mick lost his voice and we had to postpone one of the two shows. It was filmed and recorded for the Four Flicks set, and I think also for a broadcast for Europe. I recall that it wasn’t one of our best…. so here is a chance to make up for it and do a right and proper rock show! And indeed, that was the case. The band played really well, and the wonderful Netherlands audience was with us all the way. This would be the last show that Amy, Steve and Miles would be able to come to, as they were leaving for London to visit Steve’s brother and his family in a couple of days. Again, backstage everyone fell in love with Miles. He was the hit of the night for sure! Charlie Dennard came with some of the other musicians and performers of the Cirque show. Also there was my friend Ron Baygents and his wife. Ron was the fellow that arranged my speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC last year. Kevin Yazell was also there…Kevin has a couple of radio shows, one that is dedicated to the Stones. It was good to see them all and to spend some time with them.

One thing to note during this portion of the tour is that here in Europe the doors to the venues usually open much earlier than they do in other parts of the world…sometimes as early as 2pm. This makes it impractical to do sound checks, as we’d have to be at the gig very early…before the doors open…to get it done. This makes it difficult to run over songs that we might need to review, which we usually do at sound checks. The alternative is to set a small bit of equipment up in our backstage area…usually in Keith’s room or in the Snooker room so that we can go over things. We’ve been doing this more and more, and it really helps to have this setup available. Regrettably, though…it’s usually not enough time to rehearse as much as some of us would like…and sometimes Mick doesn’t have time to join in. So mostly it’s for review and not for “deep” rehearsals. But I’m going to try and push for a bit more of it so we can vary our set list more. Some of us are getting a bit antsy and want to be more adventurous.
The Amsterdam Arena is not known for a great sound, but our house engineer Dave Natele did an admirable job according to the reports after the show. We were originally slated to do two shows here before Keith’s accident, and it was disappointing not to be able to fulfill that…but hey…one show is better than none!
After the show it was back to the hotel for a hang in the room with the family. Miles had been great, and still had some energy left in him. We put him in his “bouncy seat”…which is a device that hangs from a doorway and has a spring and an adjustable strap attached to a baby seat with a tray on it. His feet can touch the floor, and the spring allows the seat to bounce up and down. He absolutely loves the thing, and he entertained us for a good 45 minutes while we sat and enjoyed some wine and conversation before we all went to bed.

8/1
“““
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on tour for more than a year now. Rose Lane and I left for Toronto and the rehearsals on July 10 of last year…. and here it is August of ‘06. Wow. And still more to come! With the recent announcement of the tour extension, which takes us back to North America this fall, we will be working almost to the end of November. When I look back at the recording of “A Bigger Bang” in mid March of ‘05 and to the end of the upcoming fall tour, that’s 20 months. Of course not all of it spent solidly with the Stones…we had Dec of ‘05 off and then the extended break of two and a half months from mid April to early July…still, it’s a pretty long time. I’m just happy that at this point it still feels fresh, it’s still fun and the fans are still coming to the shows. Early reports of the upcoming North American dates are that most are selling really well. I know the principals and managers have to be very happy with the way things have gone.
So today is our last full day off in Amsterdam, and our last day with Amy, Steve and Miles. It’s been so great to have them with us and we hate to see them go! Tomorrow they are off to London. So we wanted to spend as much time as possible with them. We had lunch together, shopped some and then came back to the hotel for a while before going out to a special screening of “Pirates of the Caribbean…Dead Man’s Chest”. Jane Rose, Keith’s manager, had arranged for us to have a theater to ourselves and invited us to go. Keith and his family was there, Lisa, us, and some of the staff members. I’d say about 20 or so in all. The theater was walking distance from the hotel…but a pretty long walk. We had hired a babysitter for Miles…and we took a cab there, meeting everyone at about 5:30. It took a little while for everyone to show, but by 6pm we were all seated. It was quite a long film…well over two hours. My personal take on it was that it wasn’t quite as fun or as fresh as the first one…but the visual effects were great, and it set up the next sequel nicely. It’s public knowledge that Keith will play Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp’s character) in it, and they will film his parts during our upcoming break. Keith will be perfect for the part…we all know that Depp modeled Keith in large part for Sparrow’s character and personally asked Keith to play the part.
Afterwards we went back and got Miles and went to dinner at a nice Indian restaurant called Tagore. It was just what the Dr. ordered…. a nice quiet place, great food and a chance for us to have a great last meal together. It’s been a wonderful ten days with the family…we wish Ashley could have been here, too…. but she will be coming to London and we sure look forward to that!

7/24-27

A four day break with the family coming…very cool. Amy, Steve and Miles would arrive ahead of us, in the morning of the 24th, a Monday. Even though we were leaving earlier than usual, we would not arrive until the afternoon, around 4. Karen Gault, our new advance hotel person, had arranged for them to get into their room early so they could get in a bit of rest. I called the Four Seasons George V as soon as we landed, to touch base with them. They had indeed arrived just fine, and had a little nap to shake off the trip. Amy reported that Miles had done fine on the plane ride, displaying very little fussiness and being a little angel for the most part. She said they were going out for a little while to stock up on some goods for the coming days and would see us when we got to the room. Karen had arranged adjacent rooms for us, which was perfect. Rosie and I checked in and went to our very nice suite, which had a cool large patio overlooking a side street. The Bransfords had not returned to the room yet, so I left a note on their door saying: NEED BABY….COME QUICK! with an arrow pointing to our door. It wasn’t long before they poked their heads in, and hugs went all around. Miles had grown considerably since we’d last seen him…as infants are prone to do. He’s now five and a half months old. He looks very healthy and happy and we oodled over him for a while.
We all went to dinner together at a bistro not far from the hotel called ?? I personally might have chosen to walk around some more before choosing a place, but Amy was starving, so we chose quickly. Nevertheless, it was a nice place and the food was fine. We ate outdoors on the sidewalk, as it was a warm night. The Bransfords were pretty burnt out afterwards, but managed to stay up until around midnight to try and get on our “rock and roll” schedule. Rosie and I turned in by about 1. The following days were spent just relaxing, spending quality time together and enjoying Paris in general. All of us had seen most of the typical tourist sites on previous trips…the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Orsay, and so forth, so we chose not to go back to those familiar sites.

We did, however, visit the Pompidou museum…they had a special visual arts display going on, and as Steve is about to do his dissertation for his PhD partially on that subject, we went to check it out. It was quite a quirky but fun presentation, with lots of TV screens showing all sorts of strange images…some familiar and classic scenes, some totally weird and whacked out stuff. Still, a fun way to kill a couple of hours.

We also did the old “walk down the Champs Elysee” thing…. just strolling down that famous avenue and checking out the shops. A lot has changed since the last time we took that walk…many of the shops have changed, most not for the better. We couldn’t find anything we couldn’t live without, that’s for sure! And all the prices were quite inflated…mostly due to the poor standing of the US Dollar against the Euro, but also just because it’s Paris and it’s over-the-top expensive everywhere you go.

We had a nice dinner at L’Angle du Fauborug one night, and on another night Rose Lane and I baby-sat for Amy and Steve while they went to see the film Marie Antoinette and then to dinner. On that night Rosie and I took Miles with us to our own dinner at a restaurant called ?? Marbeuf. We saw some of our entourage there…Arnold Dunn, Helen Knox, Val Adamson and a few others. On one of these days I felt a bit ill…with some discomfort in my stomach and a slightly nauseous feeling. So I stayed in that day, just watching TV, reading and taking it easy. I didn’t eat much that day, but by the next morning I felt better, if not totally “right”. But by the 27th I was fine, back to my old self and ready for action. It was so great to be able to have those days with the family. Miles was for the most part just a little angel and so much fun to be with.

7/28

Time to go back to work. The show this night was at the Stad Du France, another huge soccer stadium. We played here on the last tour. It’s a huge place, seating close to 79,000 for our concert. We were supposed to play two shows here on the original schedule, but with all the changes it was cut down to just one. It was very full…I would say a sellout…I couldn’t make out many empty seats, that’s for sure.

Tonight I would see our friend Dominique La Fon, who is one of the most revered and respected vintners in France. Rose Lane and I visited his vineyards and cave back in ‘95 on a break from the tour. He was bringing his 15-year-old son with him…. just a father and son outing to see the Stones. Very cool. I met with him backstage and we got to chat for a while, and take some pictures. Also attending was my old pal Matt Clifford, who played keyboards with us on the Steel Wheels tour in ‘89 and ‘90. He has also worked on Mick’s most recent solo projects. Of course Amy, Steve and Miles were there, and they were the big hit of the night in the backstage area. Everyone was impressed with Miles, and we got some great pictures of him with various folks…the best of which was with Keith and Patti Richards in Keith’s dressing room. Great fun!
The show was absolutely stellar. By far the best one of this leg of the tour, and perhaps one of the best of the entire tour. Being that it was just a couple of days after Mick’s 63rd birthday, when Keith took the stage on his segment, he said something like “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very special night…it’s Mick’s birthday, and I think we should all give it up for him! …. He hates to be reminded of it, and so do I, but we’re here and we’re glad!” It was a very sweet thing to do, and the audience loved it. The whole show was just magic…it flowed so easily, effortlessly, from beginning to end, and it seemed to go by very quickly. It was one of those nights that I felt especially proud to be a part of this great band.

Afterwards we wound down at the George V with a bottle of wine and some conversation recounting the night…oh, and of course the inevitable packing. Tomorrow we head to Amsterdam….

7/15

Next stop was Munich. I love that town, and Rose Lane has never been. I had thought that as many times as I’ve played there she surely had been with me at least once, but evidently not. This time we were staying at the Bayerischer Hof hotel. In years past we’ve stayed at the Kempenski. Don’t know why the band changed it this time, but the Bayerischer was a very nice place. Rosie and I decided to do dinner on our own after settling in to our digs and having a short walk around. Prior to making arrangements, we went to the hotel bar for a drink and saw Bernard there. We asked him to join us and had a nice chat about his family. He and his wife Jane have two beautiful daughters, Morgan and Bernadette, and he told us they were all coming to Paris. Lots of other family members will be coming there….ours included! After that we asked the Concierge about an Indian restaurant and were directed to one not far from the hotel…and made our way there at the dinner hour. We enjoyed our curries and then walked back to the room to chill out and do the sleep thing.

7/ 16
Our show was at the famous Olympic Stadium, where we have played many times. It’s a beautiful place, and I always enjoy playing there. We had our good friends Albrecht Oettingen and his family coming there, as well as our friend Jack Morgan and his guests from America coming as well. Jack is a client of Charlane Plantation and has hunted with us several times. Albrecht is a prominent forestland owner in Germany and also owns forestland in Georgia and has been a friend for many years.
I went down early to the show as usual, finished the set list and concentrated on some emails and phone calls. Our plantation manager Mike Hattaway was having trouble with his foot the last several months, and he called to tell me he was having an operation on it soon. It turns out he had a “hammertoe” and it needed straightening out. A minor operation, but it would require him to keep off his feet for a solid five days after the procedure. Other news was that one of our attorneys and a cousin of Rose Lane’s, Rabun Faulk, had a bad car accident back home and had injured several vertebrae in his lower back, broken his let and crushed his ankle. Terrible news. I guess the upside is that he survived it. We’ll be saying our prayers for him.
The show went down well…Keith continuing to improve and all of us getting our groove back with each gig. Still some little bumps in the road, but we’re headed in the right direction.
Afterwards, we got together with the Oettingens in the Garden restaurant in the hotel. Albrecht, Angela, their son Franz-Albrecht and daughters Teresa, Antonia and Nora all joined us as well as Angela’s brother Christian and his wife Sussanne and some of their friends. We had a wonderful time catching up and discussing matters of forestry. Albrecht is very active as an advocate of forest issues in Germany, as I am in the US. He is also president of the German Forest Landowner’s Association. Their children are all beautiful and very intelligent, and we enjoyed talking to them and hearing what they are up to. It was a fun reunion with them, and we stayed up later than we probably should have and drank more wine than we should have, but it was all worth it. Mick was having a small get-together in another restaurant of the hotel, Trader Vic’s. Rose Lane and I popped our heads in for a minute, but as we had all the Oettingens with us, we didn’t stay long.
Finally we bid goodnight to all and went to (ugh!) do our packing for our departure to Berlin.

7/17, 18

We were happy to depart for Berlin…for one reason, we would be there for several days and wouldn’t have to pack so much! Also, Berlin is a great city and has had quite a lot of rebuilding done in recent years…and I was anxious to see how it had developed. It was a short and comfortable flight…although we’ve all had to suffer going through these unpleasant security checks here in Europe, which slows the process down considerably and seems ridiculous as we are on a private plane. But we arrived in good shape and checked into the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pottsdamer Platz. Rosie and I had a nice room, spacious and with pleasant views. We relaxed for a bit and then checked on our dinner options. There was a nice little place right across the street called ??? that the concierge recommended, so we walked there and secured an outside table. The heat wave continues all over Europe (and all over the world, it seems), and most European bistro type restaurants don’t have air conditioning, so the outside tables are good if available. After a cocktail and just after we had ordered, Jane Rose (Keith’s manager) strolled by with her little dog, Ruby Tuesday.

We invited her to join us, and she did. She had taken Ruby for a walk around and was going back to the hotel when she spied us. We had a nice discussion…mostly about how great Keith has done and about the fact that the band has agreed to do the fall tour of the US. The announcement for that wouldn’t come for a few days, but we talked about some of the cities we would be going to and how cool it was that we were to continue. The meal was nice…. just good simple food, not too fancy. Even though it was not an expensive restaurant, with the unfortunate exchange rate between the US dollar and the Euro, everything is expensive over here.
We finished out the day with some wine on our room and watching the TV. About all you can get is CNN and the BBC news that are in English. And most of the reporting is about the terrible situation in the Middle East where Israel has invaded Lebanon to try and push back Hesbula, the extremist faction that has captured a couple of Israeli soldiers. Ah, more war. Nice.

The 18th was an off day, and Rosie and I walked over to a nearby Mall after we got our day going with our “in house” coffee and a workout in the gym. I went for a run in the huge park that is next to our hotel called the Tiergarten Park. It’s mostly a forest, really. Very pleasant to jog or just walk in. Before we did any shopping we had lunch at an outdoor cafe just outside the Mall, then went to check it out. I wound up buying some pants and a jacket at Mexx, and Rose Lane bought a black trench coat there. We buzzed around to some other shops but didn’t do any further “damage”. The pants had to be altered, and I would go retrieve them in a couple of days.
After some down time in our room following our little shopping expedition, we consulted the concierge for a restaurant that would be walking distance from the Ritz. He gave us the name of a place called Oktagon, which was just four blocks from us. We made the reservation and headed there for an 8:30 dinner. A good recommendation it was. Sort of Asian fusion cooking…but with bolder sauces than usual…. very creative and flavorful. Then we walked back and wound down in our room, mostly reading. Rose Lane gave me a book that she finished a few days ago called The Borgia Bride. It’s a historical novel, well written and very intriguing and interesting.

7/19, 20

This is a “hit and run” gig. The city was Hannover, a short flight from Berlin. Rose Lane opted to stay home for a night to herself, and the rest of us boarded our plane about 4pm to fly. I had no guests coming…. a very rare thing!…so that made for a very easy and relaxed time for me. I would liked to have seen more of the city…. we’ve played here before, but I don’t think we’ve ever had time to explore and enjoy it. Anyway, it was a really good show. Keith was back to his old form, and the band played better than it has in a while. Very encouraging. Now we’re really “Back In Business”!
We arrived back in Berlin by 1am…not too bad…except for having to deal with the stupid security routine. Even for a flight within one country in a totally private aircraft, they insist on running all of us through the whole thing…. scanning all our carryon bags and walking us through the metal detectors which inevitably are set off causing a “wand frisking” of most of us. Man, what a waste of time! But I got to our room and into the bed by about 2:30, which isn’t bad considering…

The 20th was another off day…and what do we do on these days…SHOPPING, of course!! After the wake up routine, Rosie and I asked the concierge where a different area with some boutique type shops might be, and he directed us to a nice old part of town in the former East Germany that had several shops of this kind. We started off with a lunch in the square of the area…again in an outdoor cafe…then proceeded to walk the area. Very quickly I saw some clothes that looked interesting in a shop called T&G. They had some really nice classy looking threads, and I headed straight to the 1/2 price sale rack where some great looking suits were hanging. I lucked into two great ones…one is a Givenchy Ivory colored silk suit, the other a classy black suit with thin yellowish stripes on it. My thinking was not for so much for stage, but for when I give speeches or make appearances where I need to “dude up”. The folks there were very helpful and I would up with a shirt to match each suit as well as a tie for the darker suit. There were some minor alterations needed, and we had them take the necessary measurements and were promised to have the suits delivered to our hotel the next day. I was very pleased…. love those 1/2 price deals!
We continued to shop and Rose Lane eventually found a pocketbook at a Hugo Boss shop. I wound up buying a pair of brass colored snakeskin looking sneakers, which were cool. We looked in quite a few more stores, but didn’t find anything more that interested us. We finished our shopping day with a refreshing coffee frappachino from a Starbucks in the area, and then headed back to the hotel.
A day or two before, we had invited Michael and Lori Cohl out to dinner….also to attend were Ronnie and Jo Wood, Torje Eike (physiotherapist), Isobel Work (our wardrobe person) and our friend Dillip Doshi (who was largely responsible for the Stones first ever shows in India on the last tour) and his wife. So we all met down in the lobby and had dinner in the bistro there. Really great time had by all…just small talk and fun shared together. Dillip has been trying to get the band to come back to India, and I hope he’s successful. If not on this tour, then some other time. It was a good evening, and spent with good people. That wound up a fun last full day off in Berlin.

7/21

Time to rock the incredible and historic Olympic Stadion of Berlin. Many important sporting events as well as music events have taken place here. It is a beautiful facility, and has been renovated in recent years. They have maintained the beautiful historical look of the place, but have updated it with modern technology and conveniences. We’ve played here many times, starting back in 1982. I put together the set list at the gig, but before I did, I had an interview with a journalist I had met during my “Forever Green” promo tour a couple of years prior named Natascha Walter. At that time we did her TV show, but this time it would be for her radio program out of Mainz, Germany. She arrived to my room about 2pm and we did a short interview, then I headed down to the show.
Coming to the gig was John Lynskey and Gary Giller (they are also coming to Cologne). So after the set list was written up, I went to see them in the Rattlesnake. We had a good chat…they were going to see Eric Clapton (with Derek Trucks on guitar amongst the band) on the following day. I asked them to give them all my regards and to give me a report on the concert when they got to Cologne.
When I checked my emails back in my dressing room, I had some good news. It seems that my children’s book, The Tree Farmer, had won a nice award. I had been sent a press release about it from the Porter-Novelli Company, which read:

The Tree Farmer receives award for Excellence in Children’s Literature
Rolling Stones keyboardist and tree farmer helps families understand being “green”

Washington, DC (July 31, 2006) – The Tree Farmer, a children’s book by Rolling Stones keyboardist and tree farmer Chuck Leavell, was awarded the “2006 Growing Kids Excellence in Children’s Literature Book Award” on July 29 by the Junior Master Gardener Program and the American Horticultural Society. The award recognizes a select group of books that are especially effective at promoting an understanding of and appreciation for the environment.

“Everyone’s talking about being green as the discussion around global warming and other environmental issues heats up,” says Chuck Leavell. “Trees play an especially important role in reducing the effects of global warming and CO2 emissions and The Tree Farmer creates an opportunity for parents to talk to their children about the important things that trees give back to the earth, such as clean air and water, wood and paper products, and beauty.”

The Tree Farmer, which Leavell coauthored with Nicholas Cravotta, is the story of a grandfather who takes his grandson on a tour of his tree farm for the first time. The book offers families a new way to think about environmental stewardship and the benefits of using renewable resources like trees. It is based on Leavell’s own 2,200-acre tree farm, Charlane Plantation in Georgia. The U.S. Department of the Interior named Leavell and his wife Outstanding Environmental Stewards in 2005.

“I’ve always said that we don’t inherit the land from our parents – we borrow it from our children,” says Leavell. “Every day, more than 4 million new trees are planted to balance the needs of nature with the demands of consumers. We all have a role to play in caring for our earth. ” To learn more about how you can play a part and to buy The Tree Farmer, visit www.thetreefarmer.org or www.knowyourtrees.org.

Very nice surprise!

The gig was yet another notch up. Keith continues to get better every show. The stadium was not quite full, but still not far from a sellout. After the show it was time to pack up the ‘ol bags again for our trip to Cologne.

7/22

We arrived Cologne at the usual time, in the early evening. We had made plans to meet with some of our “forestry friends” for dinner. It would be Christian Raupach, with whom I have been in touch with quite a lot lately. We’ve been discussing the possibility of me coming to Germany in ‘07 for a little solo tour, and he has been the main contact for that. With Christian was his wife Adrianna, and our dear friends Hermann and Barbara Hovel. Hermann did the translation to German for my book Forever Green, and Barbara is a skilled photographer and artist. With them was Hermann’s sister. That rounded out the dinner group. We all met in the lobby of the Park Hyatt hotel and walked across the bridge to the old section of town where Barbara had made reservations at a place called??? We had some fine food and of course some fine wine as well…and a great discussion. Christian had arranged for me to do a couple of interviews the next day, one of which would be for the German Keyboard Magazine. The other would be for a radio station. We also talked about the possible “Chuck” tour of Germany for ‘07. He has some great ideas, and we are going to proceed with the concept. The only question now would be exactly when. I don’t want to make any definite moves until I see the end of this present tour. But no harm in putting out the feelers now.
That concluded the day, and we walked back to our hotel calling it a night.

7/23

The interviews were set at a hotel back in the same area of the restaurant where we had dinner, across the Rhine. We all walked there together and were shown to the private room that Christian had arranged for the talks. First was Henning Eichler who is a radio personality for a program called Team Musik at a Frankfurt station. I had done an interview with him a couple of years earlier at the station when we were promoting the translated Forever Green. He’s a great guy, easy to talk to and very prepared…and is a musician himself, playing a mean blues harmonica. We went through the process, recording it on his digital tape-recorded. He will of course edit it later and translate it for broadcast in the near future. The second interview was for Keyboard magazine. It also went very smoothly, and we had made arrangements for a photographer to take some pictures both during the interview and also on the stage later in the day. Another great discussion, and there is a chance that this could be a cover story for them. We finished up the interviews and headed back to the hotel for my departure to the show.
At the venue, even before I wrote up the set list, I met with the Keyboard photographer to take some shots of my rig on the stage and some of the equipment below the stage. With that done, I set to my set list duties and other matters. I had made arrangements through our press liaison Cheryl Cerretti to get photo passes for both the Keyboard photographer and Barbara Hovel to shoot the first two songs of the show. She kindly set that up, and I double-checked with her on it. All was set and ready to go.
Later in the Rattlesnake we met up with Christian and all…and Lynskey and Giller. They told me the Clapton show was really great, and that Derek had done himself proud. Eric had given him lots of room to play, and he had made a solid impression on everyone. I was glad to hear this…Derek is deserving…such a fine young man and great player. We all visited for a while until time for me to get dressed and go to work.
Another really good show…. maybe not a great one, but still more than respectable. We were supposed to meet Christian and Co. back at the hotel bar, but they got hung up in traffic after the show and couldn’t make it. Rosie and I had already gone to the bar to wait on them, and spent time with Bobby and Holly Keys, Bernard and Blondie for a while until we had the call from Barbara to say they wouldn’t make it. Then we made our way back to the room for the inevitable packing. We would be leaving early the next day for Paris, and there we would be re-united with Amy, Steve and Miles. Yea!

7/13

We departed the Principe de Savoia hotel at 2 for our bus ride to the airport and our flight to Vienna. I was especially excited, as I had been in touch via email with a man that I have wanted to meet for many years, Axel Zwingenberger. I first heard about Axel ages ago from Ian Stewart. Stu had told me that he was one of the best boogie-woogie piano players in the world, and that had been confirmed to me from my good friend in the US, Bob Seeley. Bob is also one of the best boogie players in the world, and has done many shows with Axel. Charlie Watts played with him once on a television show called “A Left Hand Like God”, which was an English presentation about boogie-woogie. Axel is German, coming from Hamburg, but his girlfriend Eva lives in Vienna and they spend about half their time there. I had obtained Axel’s email address from Bob and we had passed several messages between us. We were to meet the next day in the afternoon, and we had made arrangements for his tickets and passes. He had made a great suggestion to get together before the show and go to the Bosendorfer Piano showroom which is just around the corner from the back of the Imperial Hotel where we are staying. He had a connection there, and there is a private room with two beautiful grands in it where we could have a little fun. I was familiar with the place as when I was last in Vienna promoting the release of my book Forever Green in German, we did a press conference at the Bosendorfer place. So the plans were laid.

We all loaded up in our new plane, the one we will use for all of our European tour. It’s from a company called Titan Airways out of England, and the plane is a very nicely outfitted Boeing 757-200. Rose Lane and I found our assigned seats and settled in for the flight, meeting our new flight crew. They are all English, and very nice folks. We always have some food waiting on us when we board, and this was the best we’ve ever had…great quality, excellent fare. It was a relatively short flight as are most of our European flights, and we arrived in Vienna about 6pm. I had thought about trying to have dinner with Axel and Eva, but both Rose Lane and I were a bit tired and decided it would be best to have dinner on our own and save our meeting for the next day.
We checked in to the Imperial and found our room…which was a very beautiful small suite with fine appointments. Before we left for dinner, I remembered that I wanted to contact another friend of mine, Benedikt Traun. I had met him on my promotional tour for Forever Green, and had visited his very beautiful forests and stayed at his fine Chateau, which is about an hour or so outside of Vienna. We had hit it off right away, making friends quickly. Benedikt is a tall and handsome young man, extremely intelligent and has a deep passion for his forests and for hunting, as I do. He is actually an attorney and at one time worked for a firm in Boston, but when his uncle passed away he was called back to Austria by his family to help run the family business, which in part includes forest lands. The Trauns are one of Austria’s oldest and most famous and respected families, and Benedikt is carrying on the tradition of high standards that they stand for. His forests were absolutely beautiful and well managed, and his chateau was nothing short of stunning. He had done a good bit of restoration to it, but was not quite finished at the time. He hosted a dinner that evening…a rather formal affair with about 20 or so guests. He had a nice old piano there, and after dinner I played a few tunes for the group. He had wanted me to go hunting with him the next day, but there simply had not been enough time to fit that in, so we agreed that we would try to make plans to do it at some point in the future. I had admired the traditional “forest jackets” that he and the others that took me on the forest tour had worn, and he said he would have one tailor made and sent to me…and he fulfilled his promise when about a month after I got home it arrived. That was truly a special thing to do, and it’s one of my prized pieces in my wardrobe at home. I had lost his phone numbers a while back, and had thought I had lost his email address…but I dug down deep into my computer and was able to find it. So I sent him an email with my contacts, including my cell phone number.
With that done, Rose Lane and I headed to dinner. The concierge had suggested a place that served traditional Viennese country style food. We took a cab there and found our table, ordering a bottle of wine to enjoy while we decided on our entrées. My cell phone rang and it was Benedikt. I was so glad to find him, and he seemed happy that I had gotten in touch. He said he had wondered if I’d call…. but not hearing from me, he was about to make plans to go hunting somewhere. Now that we’d connected, he was willing to change his plans and come to our concert. We had a great chat and afterwards I made the arrangements for him to get tickets and passes the next day. His girlfriend May and his friend Fritz, whom I had met when I stayed at his place, would accompany him.
Rosie and I enjoyed our meal…it was nice to have some time with just the two of us, as the previous week had consisted of a lot of socializing. We paid our bill and caught a cab home (if a hotel can be called “home”!) and called it a day.

7/14

We enjoyed a good night’s rest…as a matter of fact, for whatever reasons we’ve slept really well of late…I think one reason is that most of these European hotels have special blinds on the outside of the windows that allow you to shut out most all of the light. This is a big help to me, as I don’t usually sleep too well in the light. Anyway, we felt great and went about our morning in a relaxed pace. I had made arrangements to meet Axel around 1pm in the lobby of the hotel. He and Eva showed up right on time, and we had a warm and friendly introduction. I gave him a couple of my CD’s and he reciprocated by giving me a whole box of his! Probably a dozen or so different ones. He went to pick up his tickets and passes, and then we made our way over to the Bosendorfer room as had been planned. His friend that works there met us and showed us to the room with the two pianos in it. Bosendorfer is one of the best pianos made, and it’s like a kid in a candy shop for me to be in that place! Axel and I sat down and began to pump out some boogie. I started out with something in the key of C…just a standard kind of boogie groove, and he joined in straight away. Man, did we have fun! He’s an amazing player…his “pocket” is so deep and solid, his left hand pumping like a steam train and his right hand playing those “diamond tiara” licks. Rose Lane and Eva took some pictures while we played, and we were all smiles. Axel played me a couple of his own songs…some new ones that he’s yet to record. They were very clever, inventive and fun. After about an hour of this, I had to pry myself out of the room, as we had to go back and get ready to head to the venue. But before we did, we got a short tour of the facilities, which included the “golden hall” which is adjacent to the showroom. It’s one of the most famous concert halls in the world, and is heralded as having near perfect acoustics. I had seen it before on my last trip there, and it was as beautiful as I’d remembered. Just a gorgeous thing to behold. I hope I can actually attend a concert there someday!
We all went back to the hotel and I prepared to go on the early van to the stadium. We hugged Axel and Eva a temporary goodbye, saying we’d see them shortly at the gig.
I arrived at the Earnst Happel Stadion and scoped out the digs, then went to work on the set list. The rest of the band arrived soon, and after a bite to eat in the Rattlesnake Inn, I went to Mick with my list. I had not strayed too far from the Milan show…we wanted to get a few shows under our belt before we stretched out too far. But I did take out “Under My Thumb” as it had sort of flopped on the B stage, and replaced it with “Start Me Up”. I also put in “Rain Fall Down”, “She’s So Cold” and “Paint It Black” to give us a few different tunes to play. It all met with his approval and was sent to make the rounds.
Then I went to find my guests in the lounge. There was Benedikt and his friends. It was wonderful to see him again, and after warm hellos and introductions we sat down to chat. We caught up on things, talking about hunting experiences, forestry issues, music and other topics. He told me he had recently acquired some land in Argentina where he’s planting some new forests and also keeping some cattle and some agricultural fields. He invited us to come there at some point in time, and of course we’d love to take him up on that…. if this tour ever ends!
It wasn’t long before Axel, Eva and their two friends arrived. We also chatted with them for a while, introducing them to Benedikt and his friends. Also during this time our friends Bob Johnson, his wife Sheila and their son Zack from Georgia arrived and finally one other group from home, the niece of our friend and associate Jarrelll Greene (who handles all of our drilled wells at Charlane), whose name is Bethany Greene, and her girlfriends. They are here in Europe studying for the summer, and it worked out for them to come to this concert on an off day. They were a true “bevy of beauties”, all wonderful Georgia Peaches, and it was fun to meet them and see them having such a good time.

Finally I saw an opportunity to get Axel and Eva back into the dressing room area. I wanted him to see Charlie and to introduce them to Keith and Ronnie. We caught Charlie just outside the Rattlesnake, and they had a good chat. Then I took them back to look for Keith and Ronnie…. and found them rehearsing “This Place is Empty” in the Snooker room. I joined in on the impromptu rehearsal, and when it was over, made quick introductions…reminding Keith that I first heard of Axel from Ian Stewart, and that Stu had thought him one of the best boogie players ever. I suggested Axel give an example of his playing, and he sat down at the keyboard and started wailing away to the delight of all there. Some folks that were walking around outside the area heard Axel’s playing and stuck their heads in.before long there was a nice little crowd, all dancing around and having a great time. Keith was loving it, as was Ronnie and all of us. I joined in for a short little bit of four handed playing, but it was Axel’s moment to shine, and shine he did! It was a total groove, and he and Eva seemed to enjoy it as much as we did! There were some quick photos taken, and then I took Axel and Eva back to the Rattlesnake, grateful that I had been able to help a memorable moment backstage take place.
After a time I had to say my goodbyes and get ready for the concert. I thought it a good one, maybe just a notch up from the Milan show.
Back at the Imperial, Benedikt, May, Fritz, Axel and Eva met us for a few glasses of wine and more conversation. Before we left, Axel gave me a beautiful book that he has written on Steam Trains…with photos that he has taken through the years and text about the history of them. It’s all written in German, which will be a challenge for me, but the pictures speak for themselves. The title is “The Magic of Trains”, and the book is indeed magical. There has always been a connection between trains and boogie-woogie piano. In America, when the railroads were being built, often times there would be a piano player that would ride the rails with a piano to entertain the railroad workers on the weekends. Many boogie-woogie songs were written about trains…like “Honky Tonk Train Blues”, “Chicago Flyer” and many more. Axel brought it all together with his book, which also has a CD of his playing along with it. It will be one of my treasured possessions from now on!
Finally we had to say goodnight…it was difficult, as we had all had so much fun. But Rosie and I had to go do our final packing for the next day’s departure to Munich.