Chuck’s Tour Diary

9/15-19

Most of the rest of the band will be coming in today, but the rehearsals don’t start until tomorrow, the 16th. Today I have a meeting with a company that is making an amazing new audio product. I can’t go into particulars yet, as it is for the moment “top secret”. But I will say that the team making the unit are some very talented and creative folks, some of whom I have known from prior years when they worked with other audio companies. We had a good meeting during breakfast and afterwards I went to see their new offices. All went fine and if things go as we all hope, we could be launching the new product as early as Jan of ‘07.

Ashley arrived in the morning on a red eye flight, and she and Rose Lane spent most of the first part of the day together. In the evening we went to dinner at a nice little Thai restaurant not far from the hotel on Stuart St. called Montain. It was a casual place, but the food was top notch and we loved being with Ash and catching up with all her recent adventures. After dinner we retired to our room and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine before saying goodnight to Ash and heading to bed.
The 16th would be our first rehearsal day, at the Orpheum Theater. Mick had called me earlier in the day to discuss what we might do different on this go-round. I went up to meet him and we had quite a long talk looking through my notes and suggestions. Before the end of the European leg we had talked about using Paint It Black as a possible new opening number, and we knew we wanted to try that out. We also talked about finding some different tunes in the early part of the set. We went through an outline for the newly revised set and finally decided on about a dozen songs to rehearse for the evening. Keith would not be coming in on this first day. He had been out in California filming with Johnny Depp on the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie and had barely made it home to Connecticut and needed a day to recuperate and re-pack.
So we headed over to the Orpheum about 6pm. Ashley and Peter (her boyfriend) came with me, but Rose Lane stayed back to relax and do some computer work.
We started out with a jam or two…. Mick pulled out a Muddy Waters tune called Champagne and Reefer, playing guitar and blowing a mean harmonica. Then we got down to business on some of the new ideas. But about an hour and a half into the rehearsal, he started having some trouble with his voice. He couldn’t figure why, as he had been totally fine up to then. Don Lawrence, his vocal coach, was there with us and had a short private session with him in another room, and it was determined that he might be having an allergic reaction to something in the building. In any case, to play it safe he left the rehearsals, but we got Bernard to sit in and sing in his place, doing a few more tunes before calling it off.
The next day I went to check on Mick, and indeed it seemed that he did have a reaction of some sort. He had met with Don and with a Doctor, and the decision was that he should not sing until the day of the show. Also, we moved the rehearsals from the Orpheum to the Aggonis Arena on the Boston University campus, just to play it safe and make sure that no one else had problems. I met with Mick to go over some other ideas to try in his absence. And also, with Mick absent from the coming rehearsals we could concentrate some on other numbers for Keith.
The girls and I went out shopping some in the day…and I found a great looking jacket at Ralph Lauren. However, it was a little small for me. The good news was that they found one at their Denver store that was the right size and would send for it. Rosie bought a pair of pants, and we just had fun walking around looking at the different stores.
Later at the rehearsal hall, we went over lots of tunes….trying the new idea of Paint It Black as the opener, going over Live With Me, Monkey Man, Under My Thumb, She Saw Me Coming, Star Star, She Was Hot, Sweet Virginia, Sway, Loving Cup and some others. Keith wanted to try You Got The Silver, Little T and A and Can’t Be Seen With You. We went over all these tunes for the next couple of days, and they all sounded great.
The 19th would be an off day with no rehearsal, but Mick wanted to get together and try and finalize a set list so that it was all done. We agreed on a 7pm meeting in his room. He had a piano there, so we could go over some things if need be. For the first part of the day, Rosie, Ashley and I went out shopping. I wanted to try on the new Ralph Lauren jacket and they wanted to roam around the Newberry Street area. The jacket fit fine except for the sleeves being a bit long, so we had their tailor alter them and we would pick it up in a couple of days. Our good friends Herren and Susan Hickingbotham had come to Boston and that evening we all went out to dinner to celebrate Rose Lane’s upcoming birthday on the 23rd. The restaurant was called Avila. Rosie and Susan had eaten there a couple of days before while we were rehearsing and liked it. So it was Herren, Susan, Ashley and Peter and Rosie and me for the dinner. Great time, nice food…. and I especially enjoyed the 1997 Monthelie-Les-Duresses wine…lovely!

9/20

All right, it’s Showtime! Gillette Stadium is quite a ways away from Boston…out in Foxboro, about an hour drive. We made our way there around 2;15. We had a sound check scheduled at 4. Mick would not sing, but would be with us on stage to go through the motions with Bernard again sitting in on the vocals. That went well, and we tried out a new song rolling out on to the B-Stage….Under My Thumb. We had a couple of logistic challenges with it, but we made it work.

After the sound check I went back for a final discussion with Mick on the set list, and we agreed to stick with what we had written the day before which contained the new Paint It Black opening, Live With Me, Monkey Man, Sway, Under My Thumb on the roll out to the B Stage, JJ Flash on the B Stage as the “new” changes. Keith went with You Got The Silver and Little T and A, so all of that made for some very significant changes to what we did before on the total of four shows we’ve done in Boston in the past 13 months.
I went to the Rattlesnake to see my friends…Steve Kramph and his folks from the Chestnut Hill Audio company; Brian Marriott, a friend that now works with AARP; Ashley, Peter and their friends and several others. Said hello as much as I could, but Keith wanted to rehearse some of the numbers we would be doing, so I had limited time. The rehearsals in his room went pretty well, and I went through the rest of the “pre game show” routine.
The show had fantastic energy right from the start. We could tell that the fans were excited to hear a new opening number and some tunes we haven’t played before. There were some stumbles here and there, but overall it was a huge success. When we got back to the hotel room and Rose Lane went to some of the Stones chat rooms, the news was all over the place and everyone was ogling over the change in set list. We went down to the bar as Ashley, Peter and their friends were there, and Herren went with us. Susan had a stomachache and had passed on the concert. We didn’t stay long, though…and headed up to bed shortly after. A great day for the Stones and their fans!

9/21

Final off day in Boston, and we wanted to spend as much time as we could with Ashley. Herren and Susan had an early flight back to Little Rock, so they wouldn’t be with us today. The three of us had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen around the corner after I dealt with shipping a guitar I had signed by the band for a charity (American Forest Foundation) to where it needed to go. Then we went to Louis Boston, a fancy shop in between Boylston and Newberry streets. We browsed around but didn’t buy anything…then went to Ralph Lauren to pick up my jacket. They did a good job on the sleeves, and it fit perfectly. After that we strolled around, going to a nearby mall and hitting a few stores. We were near Ash’s apartment, so when we were tired of looking around she went to her place and Rosie and I went back to the Four Seasons for some down time before dinner.

We arranged dinner at Terramia, a nice Italian place in the North End. The three of us had a fine meal and good conversation….but we all felt a degree of sadness because we knew it was our last night together for a while. We had so much enjoyed being with Ash and her friends and it’s tough to say goodbye. Ash came back to the hotel with us for a while, then headed off to her place. Rosie and I packed our bags to the point where all we would have to do in the morning was basically zip them up, and put our heads on the pillows.

9/22

Ashley came to see us off about 11…again, tough to say goodbye. We hope to see here when we’re in NY in Oct, but there are no guarantees at the moment. We gave her a big hug and it was hard for Rosie to hold back tears (me, too!), but we managed not to get too blubbery. She headed off and we went for lunch before our designated departure at 3. We had about an hour and a quarter drive to the airport Portsmouth, NH in order to avoid having to go through the screening process that Logan Airport was insisting on (even though it’s our own private plane). But we enjoyed the drive, seeing some early Fall color changes on the way. Eventually we took off for Halifax, landing there in the evening about 7:30, getting to the Lord Nelson hotel just after 8. We were feeling pretty beat. Went down to the lobby bar for a drink, then out on the streets to find dinner at a place called Ryan Duffy’s, a steak house. Nice dinner, with a bottle of Sterling Vineyards cabernet, then back to the hotel and to bed.

9/5-14

After sleeping in our own bed (which was really a great thing!) I awoke with plans to get out and about on the plantation. The first order was to get down some of the standing dead trees…. the ones near our house. There were none in our yard, but there were some in our horse pasture behind the house and some right next to my shop as well as some near the entrance sign next to Mike’s house. So I buzzed away, taking them down and bucking up the ones that would make lumber…. and piling up the tops and the logs too small to saw. It was good to work outdoors, even in the heat. I caught up with Mike and discussed some things that I hoped to get done in the coming days and heard from him some of the latest “Bullard news”. It’s always refreshing to hear news like that…. he told me that the dove shoot a few days before had gone well, talked about the wildlife he’s seen around the place, gave me news of what the neighbors had been up to and so on.
There was a lot to do over the short 10 days that we had at home. In addition to dealing with the dead trees, I would be meeting with Rob Williams from Red River Specialties about doing some spraying in some areas in our forest to try and reduce some encroachment of undesirable brush. I would also take a more extensive ride around to see how the work I did during the last break (some special mowing in particular) had turned out and deal with other such plantation work. But of course the main thing was to see our family as much as possible, especially Amy, Steve and Miles. They came down on Thursday the 7th. Rose Lane and I reveled in their being with us. Miles has grown even more than we expected. He is such a great little guy. He’s got a couple of new “tricks”.

One is sitting up all by himself. He seems to love that and thinks he’s such a “big boy”…fun! Another cute thing is his antics when he is fed. He love to eat now, and when he’s given something he really like he gets all excited and moves his hands in a twisting motion as if he’s gunning an imaginary motor cycle with his right hand and working the clutch with his left…. and kicks his legs and bounces…hilarious! He’s not crawling yet, but he likes to roll around when he’s put on the floor…so you have to keep an eye on him all the time. Amy brought a baby swing she had bought and I attached it to our existing swing set. He loved that. We spent quality time together, and Steve joined me on the following Saturday on a dove shoot in our field.

We had invited about 15 or so folks to shoot…. just family and friends. Steve and I sat together and shot about a box of shells apiece, but couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn…no matter, it was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. That evening we had a great dinner with our family…Rosie’s mom, brother, nephews, nieces, wives, kids, aunt Mary and more…. must have been 20 of us. It was so wonderful to share time with all of them, and of course the food was amazing…typical southern fare that you just can’t get anywhere else but in the South. It’s funny…you can get good Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, French….whatever when you travel. But you just can’t get proper southern food outside the region.

There was plenty to do over the final week we had. On the 11th I flew to Ohio to meet with some folks from the Davey Tree Expert Company. Our mutual friends Stuart and Gary Giller had suggested we get together with them to explore a possible relationship/sponsorship with the Company and we had set a meeting in Kent with them. I met Doug Cowan, the CEO, Karl Warnke, the COO and incoming CEO and Roger Funk, their Chief Technical Officer. We had a nice lunch in Kent, which served as a good way to start to know each other and to learn about our backgrounds and current situations. Then we went to the company headquarters where I took a tour of their lab and was given a video presentation on the company. Prior to flying up, Doug had sent me some background material, one of which was a book on the history of the company, which I read. I was most impressed with the history and the way they have grown through the years. We all hit it off nicely, and I feel sure we’ll find some great things that we can do together. They are on the cutting edge on some things like fertilization experiments, disease and insect control and prevention as well as being creative and talented landscape experts. They know their stuff! Also on that day, the Governor of Georgia, Sony Perdue, announced my appointment to the Georgia Land Conservation Council. This is a group that will be exploring ways to help families keep their lands by use of some incentives that exist now and some that we hope to come up with in the council, as well as looking at ways to keep and expand public lands. I¹m very proud to have been chosen to serve on this committee, and want to
work hard to contribute. It will be interesting to see what we can come up with! Another project we had going on was to start the procedure of painting our house. During our last break we had met with some folks from the Rhino Shield Company and had agreed to use their innovative product on our home. We had arranged to get started on this break and their team showed up on the 12th to begin. Of course it’s a bit of a mess to deal with…the pressure washing, sanding, scraping, caulking, replacing rotting wood and so forth, but it was good to get it going. They were still at it when we left…and it’s a bit disconcerting not to be there when they finish, but at least we got to know the guys and got all the main decisions made so that they can just do their thing. When we get home in December we’ll have a nice freshly painted house to enjoy!
We had some much-needed rain during some of the days we were home. I think the worst is over as far as the trees dying now that some rains have come and that the cold weather is on the way. At least I hope so!
As we knew it would, the time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to pack up the ‘ol bags and head to the Atlanta airport to head to Boston and start rehearsing for the final leg of the tour. We left on the 14th, arriving in the evening. Ashley was out of town, coming back from a trip to California for her Invisilign job and would be there the next day. So Rosie and I had dinner with just the two of us, choosing to stay in and dine at the Four Seasons. Here we go.

8/31

Finally to a new place that we’ve never been before. Nice. A bit of history…. Bergen is a beautiful town (pop. 233,291) and is the second largest city in Norway. Only Oslo has more people. Bergen lies at the head of By Fiord and is the chief seaport of western Norway. It has a mild climate and an average annual precipitation of 80 inches, so it rains quite a lot…up to about 300 days a year. The city carries on a large trade in dried fish, herring, and machinery. It was founded in A.D. 1070, and became a trading center of the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages. The city has many wooden houses that are hundreds of years old. The University of Bergen was founded in 1948. We stayed in the Radisson hotel there…which was definitely the smallest hotel of the tour. Our room was very small with two twin beds shoved up next to each other, and there was barely room to put our suitcases…some of which we left unopened. We’re now on “cruise control” to the end, but we loved being in this new place for us. Torje Eike, our physiotherapist is from Norway, but not Bergen…he was from another town some five or six hours away. I know he was happy to be there for at least a short time…his mom cane to the gig, too.
The main part of the town is built around the harbor there, and there is a huge fish market that is open most every day. Not only do they sell fresh fish of all types, but also some of the places cook on the spot. There is also a lot of cured fish…like smoked salmon and mackerel, even whale. In addition, they have indigenous meats there…elk, reindeer and moose mainly. Rosie and I lunched there twice, once with Bernard. The three of us took a nice walk around the city, enjoying the charm of the place. Some of the buildings along the harbor are very old and historic…little wooden structures that are now leaning in one direction or another, making it appear as if they are swaying a little. There were lots of merchants selling sheepskins, reindeer skins, and sweaters and so forth along with other items typical of the area.

The gig was very close to our hotel, in a park. It was one of the smallest of the tour, with a capacity of about 20,000. It was only about four blocks from the hotel, so we could easily walk it if we chose to. The city was well primed for us, and it had been sold out for a couple of weeks. Good solid show and a very fun audience to play to. Our stage was somewhat smaller than normal due to the closer quarters, and that made it a little more intimate. Great experience overall.

9/1

My brother Billy’s birthday. He’s 68 today. Billy is a unique guy…born deaf due to my mother’s rubella when she was pregnant. But he never saw it as a handicap, and learned to lip read very well. Because he was so much older than me, it was almost like having a second father when I was growing up. Billy went on to become a preacher for the Church of Christ deaf congregations and now does a lot of missionary work, traveling to places like Africa, China, Indonesia and many other parts of the world. It used to be difficult to communicate with him long distance…. mostly we would write letters. But when computers and emails came into being, it made it much easier. His other talent is doing cartoon art…and for years he put out a bulletin called “Light for the Deaf” that had bible stories in cartoon art form. Very cool. Anyway, I sent him a happy birthday message and had a response fairly quickly from him. It’s so great that we can stay more in touch now!
The gig was very close to our hotel, in a park. It was one of the smallest of the tour, with a capacity of about 20,000. It was only about four blocks from the hotel, so we could easily walk it if we chose to. The city was well primed for us, and it had been sold out for a couple of weeks. Good solid show and a very fun audience to play to. Our stage was somewhat smaller than normal due to the closer quarters, and that made it a little more intimate. Great experience overall.

9/2

We packed up and headed to Denmark. We were staying in Copenhagen, although the show was in Horsens, about a three or four hour drive from Copenhagen. Horsens is a very small place, and there was no hotel big enough to accommodate us. So we arrived in Copenhagen in the late afternoon. At this point I think we’re all a bit tired physically…and Rosie and I could feel it along with everyone else. But we got out and walked around the city some before it got dark, enjoying the vibe. It’s a great walking city. When we made our way back to the D’Angleterre hotel we ran into Marlon Richards, Keith’s son. He and his wife Lucy and their kids have traveled with us some lately, but I hadn’t really had a chance to talk to him much. He came down to the bar and joined us for a drink, telling us of some of the projects he’s been working on. He’s been working with a book company that does very high-end exclusive limited editions. One recent project was a history of the Montreaux Jazz Festival. This will be a huge book…1200 pages with tons of photos and something about every artist that has played there over the last 30? years. Amazing project, and he said the book would sell for something like $10,000. Wow! It was great to catch up with him, and we enjoyed his company for a while before going to dinner. We wound up at a steak house, and had an ok meal…not stellar but certainly not bad. Back at the hotel we faded pretty quickly.

9/3

Well, we’re going out in Europe with a “Bang” for sure. Eighty five thousand people to play to! After the morning routine we met in the lobby with everyone to get on the bus to go to the airport to fly to Horsens. Short flight, and we arrived to our waiting police escort to get to the gig. It was about a 45-minute drive. After arrival we made the rounds to the Rattlesnake and backstage area. Talking to the crew folks, you could tell that they are very ready for a break, too. Those folks work so hard and do such a wonderful job, rarely complaining. They get a lot less rest than we do, have to arrive at the gig a day ahead of us, get everything set up, wait on us to get there, look after us to get ready for the show, then tear it all down after we leave. They have worked their tushes off this whole tour…. and they deserve our profound thanks and appreciation. I hope they all get a bit of rest and spend some time with their families!
This was a great way to wind things up. The audience was fantastic, and so many of them! Number wise, it reminded me of one of our early shows of the tour…. up in Moncton, Canada. We gave it our all and it was a solid performance.
Afterwards it was a quick wave of goodbye to all the crew folks, on the bus, get to the airport, fly back to Copenhagen, take the bus to the hotel. There was a little get-together in the bar, but Rose Lane and I didn’t go…we had the packing to do and a 7am wake up call for us to load up and head back home…and by now it was 2am. And besides, this is a short break and we’ll see everybody soon enough!

9/4

The 7am wakeup call came all too early, but as we were anxious to get home and didn’t want to miss our plane, we made the best of it. Bobby Keys was on the same flight with us, and therefore rode in our van to the airport. We had a very long wait to get checked in and get through security…about an hour and a half, so we were grateful that we left early. We saw some of the others in the process…Michael Cohl and his family, Blondie, Bernard. Then when we got to our gate, a good many of the crew folks were on our flight. Some were planned to be there…but some had missed their connections due to having to work through to the early morning hours and were put on this flight. Geez, I know they are so tired and just want to get home.
The flight was fine, if a bit longer than I thought it would be. Nine and a half hours. But we did ok, getting a bit of sleep, watching a couple of movies. Finally we arrived in Atlanta. Rose Lane made the mistake of putting a couple of pieces of fruit in her handbag, and when we were collecting our luggage one of the sniffing dogs picked it up. That meant we were sent to the dreaded Agriculture Dept. search area and had to go through a special search that delayed our getting out of customs. It wasn’t too bad, though…just caused us an extra 45 minutes. We usually get Mike Hattaway to meet us in our Ford Expedition and take us home, but he was occupied and we had arranged for a service to pick us up. We found him in the luggage area and loaded up for the ride home. Our driver, James, was a nice guy and we had pleasant conversation on the 2 hour drive home. Finally, we were at Charlane! Greeted by our Border Collies Maggie and Molly…and shortly afterward by our Jack Russell, Lilly. Ah, home! As the sun was still up, I was able to take a ride with the dogs and have a look at the place. I could see lots of dead trees due to the drought stress that we had over the past three or four months…. which means that I will be spending some of the coming days with a Stihl chain saw in my hands cutting them down and bucking them up to be taken to Jerry Peacock (who owns a portable sawmill some 15 miles from us) to be sawn up into lumber. Mike H. had told me he’d done his best to keep up with them and had already taken nine loads to Jerry…the good news is that we’ve started to have some rains of late and I hope the worst is over…but I would guess there is a good 30-40 or so trees still standing dead. Other than that, things looked good. The dove field that Mike planted faired pretty well, and we had a dove shoot planned for next weekend. I saw several deer all around, and even flushed a nice covey of quail. Also saw lots of turkey feathers scattered around, so it seems the wildlife are doing well.
Rosie pulled out some salmon from the freezer and we cooked it on our grill, grateful to finally be home……

8/27

This would be one of our rare “hit and run” shows. We left Glasgow for Sheffield about 3pm, landing at the Robin Hood airport about 4. It was a good hour drive to Sheffield. Rosie and I had one of these rare shows where we had no guests, so it was a relaxed situation. We played at the Don Valley Stadium, and the show went very well. Still making it easy on Mick with the set list, with 19 songs instead of 20. He fared just fine, having no difficulties. We finally had to pay some dues to the weather…it rained a good bit of the show. But with the incredible luck we’ve had so far, it was certainly no bother. The crowd was with us all the way.

After the gig we made the drive back to Robin Hood and the flight to Luton airport in London. Then the hour long drive to the Landmark hotel. So we didn’t arrive until after 2am, making for a long day. Rosie and I had no trouble crashing out.

8/28

A leisurely day off. Did the gym and the run in Regent’s park, and then we went out on the streets for a while. Same ‘ol routine, and at this point our minds are very much on getting back home…just under a week to go now! But we enjoyed our walk…around the Soho area. There was a cluster of music stores we found and I enjoyed investigating a few of them. This was a “bank holiday”, and some of the stores were closed…. but we were just killing time, and we walked quite a long way before heading back to the Landmark.

Rose Lane had received a recommendation from Lori Cohl for a restaurant called Toto, so we had the concierge call to make sure they were open on the holiday. Lucky for us they were. It’s a small, fine Italian restaurant and we had a fabulous meal there. The service was excellent…with plenty of waiters that were constantly checking on us. I had the Bresaola for an appetizer, which was well presented and delicious as was Rose Lane’s grilled vegetable tart. Rose Lane had pasta for the main course, and I had turbot…both exceptional. We indulged in deserts, which we usually don’t do…with Rosie trying the mango sorbet and me going for the tiramisu. It was one of the best restaurants we’ve been to on the tour.
That wrapped up the day and we retired to bed back at the Landmark.

8/29

Another hit and run show…but this one is a drive instead of a flight. Cardiff is normally a three-hour drive, but with the heavy traffic it took us a little over four. Rose Lane stayed back, taking a day off. I had been in touch with my old friends Dave Edmunds and Dave Charles. Edmunds is a well known artist himself…. having a few hits under his name and also working with a popular band called Rockpile years ago. He is also famous for his great production work with bands like the Fabulous Thunderbirds, which is how I met him…he produced the “Hot Number” record that I worked on with them. We became close friends, and he called me for several projects…his own “Closer To The Flame” record, the “Porky’s Revenge” movie sound track, Dion Dimuchi’s “Yo Frankie!” record and some other projects. He’s a wonderful and talented man, and it’s been years since I’ve seen him. Dave Charles is a great drummer and also a great audio engineer, and was involved in several of the projects named above. The three of us have had many, many great times together. I had lost touch with both of them, and had no idea how to find them any more…but recently Dave Charles sent us a message on our website, and so we were back in touch. They both live in Wales, and so I arranged for tickets and passes for them for our show in Cardiff. I couldn’t wait to see them again.

So after the very long drive, we got to the stadium and settled in. I did the set list on the bus, and went straight to Mick’s dressing room to discuss it…we wrapped that up and I went for a bite to eat. In about 45 minutes after that, I went back to the Rattlesnake and found the two Dave’s and their wives. Dave Edmund’s wife, Cici, I had known through all the times we’ve spent together. Dave Charles’ wife Linda I had only met once before, very briefly. It was so great to see all of them, and they all looked fantastic. I took them back to see Ronnie, Keith and Charlie…all who knew them. We didn’t have a lot of time, but made the most of it, having fun catching up on things. Finally I had to tear myself away as the show was approaching and I had to get ready. I hated to say good-bye to them, but the good news is that we are all back in touch with each other!
Show went fine…maybe not amongst the top of this leg, but still a solid performance. The drive back was mercifully quicker, taking about three hours. We got there about 2:30am and I was off to bed within a half hour.

8/30

Last day in London. Same ‘ol routine…it’s starting to feel like the movie Groundhog Day now (ha). We made the best of it, sleeping until 11, doing the exercise thing, then lunch and a walk. Today we went out to an old haunt area…around the Mayfair district. We used to stay at the Mayfair Hotel when I was with Clapton back in the early 90’s. So we went back there and walked around Shepard’s Market, then Curzon St. and New Bond Street. I couldn’t help but peek my head into the Holland and Holland shop. They always have some fantastic beautiful shotguns…mostly antique collectable models. There were some gorgeous side by side and over and under guns priced from about 5,000 Pounds up to 75,000 Pounds. Waaaay out of my league, but it’s just fun to see them. I’m happy with my Beretta 687EELL that I have back home…but maybe one day I’ll add something else nice to sit beside it!
We went into most all the designer shops…Armani, Stella McCartney, Prada, and more. Didn’t buy a thing except a cappuccino at an Italian coffee shop. Then went back to the hotel. For dinner, Caroline Clements had told us about a good Lebanese restaurant she had been to called Fairuzi on Blandsford St, not too far from the Landmark. So we made reservations there and walked to it around 9pm. We made it easy on ourselves by ordering the complete menu…and it was all great. We had asked Caroline to join us, but she got tied up working and couldn’t make it.
Then it was back to the room for the lovely packing that we adore so much (barf). But we won’t have to deal with it too much longer before we get a little break! Tomorrow it’s off to Bergen…we’re ready for a change!

8/24

With the recent incident of the thwarted terrorist plots, London’s airport security is on hypersensitive mode. Even though we are traveling on our own private plane with all the proper paper work and credentials, we had to go through a beefed up security screening at Luton before boarding for Glasgow. We had to live with the same new rules concerning carry-on items…i.e., no liquids or gels, only one very small bag allowed per person. It slowed things down considerably and we were all grumbling…but to no avail. Anyway, we finally got through and headed to Scotland. As we approached Glasgow, Rosie and I enjoyed looking down at all the beautiful green land. Seems that Scotland has fared better than most of Europe in the drought. It was a pleasant site.

We landed and made the short drive to our hotel, a very unique place called Mar Hall. It’s an old castle that was once a hospital for veterans during WWII and has now been converted to a luxury hotel and spa. It’s a bit secluded…a good 20 minutes from Glasgow and sort of out in the middle of nowhere. For some of the members of our entourage this did not bode well, but for Rosie and I, it was a very pleasant change from being in the cities. The setting is absolutely gorgeous.

There is a beautiful view of the River Clyde that flows into the Firth of Clyde. The surrounding landscape is of rolling hills, sheep pastures and some forests. Nice and quiet. We found our room and walked around a bit, enjoying our digs. We had a drink in the bar, which offered a nice view of the river before having dinner in the hotel dining room. It was a bit funny…as we had taken over most all of the hotel. When we walked in the dining room, at one table was Isobel Work (who does wardrobe for us) and Torje Eike (our physio person on tour), at another was Ronnie and Jo Wood, at another was Michael Cohl and Norman Perry, then there was us…. and shortly Mick came in with his group. We had basically taken over the whole restaurant, if with separate parties. It was more than a decent meal, and fun to have us all “rule” the room. That ended our day, and Rosie and I retired to bed.
8/25

We played two shows here in Glasgow on the last tour…both in the arena there. But today’s show would be in the big Hampden stadium. Rosie stayed back, saying she wanted an easy day…and had hoped to walk the beautiful grounds of Mar Hall and take pictures. But as it happened, it rained most all day, keeping her indoors. The rest of us made our way to the show…. thinking that we would get soaked during the gig. In fact, the rain stopped about a half our before our set and never came back…. lucky again! We didn’t see much of Glasgow…just a brief look as we came in to town in our vans. The stadium was a good facility…and the show rocked. The Glaswegian audience was with us all the way, and Mick had fully recovered from his vocal woes…although we again played it safe with the set list. Back at the hotel Rosie and I capped off the night sharing a bottle of wine, then turned in.

8/26

Some of our folks were going out exploring today…either in to Glasgow or out into the countryside. But Rosie and I had arranged for a “spa day”. She made appointments for a manicure and pedicure, and I for a massage. For the first part of the day we relaxed in the room, then went for a walk around the grounds and took pictures. It was such a great setting, and to get a dose of countryside was refreshing and renewing for us. My massage was maybe not one of the best I’ve had, but still a good relaxing time. For dinner we went to a place that Tim Ries had been to the first night of our stay and that he had recommended called “The Fox and Hounds”. It was about a 15-minute drive to get there…all through some wonderful countryside which Rosie and I enjoyed seeing from the cab we had arranged. Tony Russell and his girlfriend Patti were finishing up their meal when we got there…so we chatted a bit with them and then went down to the bar for cocktails while we waited on our table. It was a neat place…just a pub, really…but with a good atmosphere and vibe. I had grilled salmon and Rosie ordered a filet of beef, both of which were delicious. She drank the house red while I did the white. While we were there, Tim showed up with our tour Doctor, Brad Connor and his daughter. After dinner we headed back to Mar Hall, did our packing and put our heads on the pillows.

8/17, 18, 19

Ashley was on a flight from Boston that arrived in London in the early morning. We had originally planned on traveling later today, but with the change, we would actually beat her here. Rosie and I got up about 11am and knew that Ashley had the room adjacent to ours…but decided not to call her as we knew she would be sleeping in. We finally buzzed her at noon, and it was so great to see her smiling face! We drank coffee and hung out in the room for a while before finally going out about 2:30. We walked up to the Globe Pub on Baker Street not far from the hotel and ordered some fish and chips (the Globe’s chalkboard proclaimed they had …”probably the best fish and chips in town”). I’m not sure the fare lived up to their claim, but it didn’t matter….we were just happy to be together.

We spent the day walking and shopping, although we didn’t make any purchases to speak of. London is probably the most expensive city so far of the tour, and most of what we’ve seen could be bought in the States for 30-40% less. After piddling away most of the day we had dinner at an Indian restaurant near the hotel called Cinnamon Spice. We had eaten there before during the last tour…it didn’t seem as good this time, but again…it was the company that was important and we enjoyed talking and catching up on things. Ashley has been taking some pre-med courses in Boston and has been doing very well with them, acing all the subjects. She’s interested in possibly pursuing a career in dentistry, and this will set her on that path. We’ll see how it goes from here.
The next day was similar…just messing around London, window shopping, having a nice time, enjoying each other’s company. Mick had contacted me earlier in the day to ask me to write up a set list and send to him to consider. He was still recovering from his laryngitis and wanted to do a pretty “safe” set that would not tax him too much. I wrote it up and sent it to him, and he came back to me with a couple of changes. That gave us a good head start on the first Twickenham show.
We went to dinner on the 18th with our friend Will Nash…Will did the incredible book on Ian Stewart a few years back called “Stu”…an amazing beautiful leather bound limited edition that is a true fitting tribute to the man. Will had invited Cynthia Dillane (who was Stu’s wife for many years) and Chris Kimsey, who produced and engineered several Stones records as well as many other artists. He had arranged a special table at a Moroccan restaurant called Pasha. It was a very special time, and great to see all of them and find out what they had all been up to in recent years. Pasha features some belly dancers, and a couple of them came by our table to entertain us…all good fun.
My sister Judy’s birthday is on the 19th, and I sent her a happy birthday email before we headed out for the day. We had arranged for a day trip to the Cotswolds for today. Rose Lane had researched tour guide companies on the internet, and we found one that offered private tours with trained guides. We were lucky to secure someone on short notice (we called the day before) and made arrangements to be picked up at 10am. Our guide was a very nice and knowledgeable fellow named Stan Midland. He was driving a comfortable large Peugeot sedan that we climbed into for our adventure. Stan asked us what we wanted to see, and we told him we wanted to go to Stratford on Avon, and perhaps some nice small Cotswolds villages that we could explore. He suggested we take a glimpse of Blenheim Palace on the way, and we agreed. Off we went, taking in the scenery of the beautiful English countryside.

At Blenheim we didn’t have time for a full tour, and just poked our heads inside the gate to see the palace and the beautiful lake and grounds that were set out by Capability Brown back in the ??? mid 1700s. It was a beautiful sight to behold and we took a few pictures, then were back on our way. Stan was a great guide…and as we drove he gave us a lot of history of the area. He asked us about lunch, and we told him we’d like to stop somewhere quaint in a small village around noon. He found us a really neat place called The Cherington Arms in a little village in Warwickshire called Shipston-on-Stour (www.cheringtonarms.com).

It was an incredibly charming little place, and we all enjoyed an excellent relaxed lunch there. Then we headed to Stratford. We stopped at Ann Hathaway’s cottage (Shakespeare’s wife’s family’s place where they courted)…Rose Lane and I had done this before on our first trip to Europe way back in 1973 when I was playing with the Allman Brothers Band, but we wanted Ashley to see it. The old cottage with its thatched roof is lovely…but for us the main feature is the beautiful typical English garden and orchards. We took the short tour, the guide giving us a picture of what life was like way back then.

After that we explored the town a bit, walking the streets and stopping to see Shakespeare’s birthplace.

Back on the road we went to the little villages of Broadway, Stowe and ??? before heading back to London. It was great to get outside the city, enjoy the countryside and explore some of the beautiful Cotswolds.

For dinner we went to ????, topping off a nice day for the three of us.

8/20

I had made some arrangements for passes for some folks for tonight’s show…my friend Dan Morrell who runs a non profit environmental group called “Global Cool”, and my childhood friend from Tuscaloosa Fran Strong who lives here now. Ashley went down early with me to the gig as she wanted to see some of her friends in the crew that she worked with on the last tour. We left about 2:15. She had also contacted her college room mate, Abbey Brooks and we had arranged for her to ride on the late bus with Rose Lane and meet us at the show.

Although I had already done the set list, I went through it to make sure that it would work…then just relaxed in my dressing room while Ashley went around to see her friends. After the band arrived, I met with Mick for the final sign off on the set list which included some tunes we haven’t done in a while like Bitch, Live With Me and a couple of others. We had cut it down by a song as well, and agreed that it should work fine. Mick sounded good…but I could tell he still had some trepidation and anxiety about his voice. He had flown in his vocal coach, Don Lawrence, as a further precaution. I had a discussion with Don about the list and about trying to keep Mick relaxed for the set.
In the Rattlesnake I met with Dan M. and Fran S., chatting and catching up on things…and saw some other folks that I hadn’t seen in a long time. The Rattlesnake was really crowded as was predictable, being the home town for the Stones. Lots of relatives, friends, business associates. I heard that there were some 800 or so passes that had been given out, and I believe it.
The set went down really well…but I could tell that Mick was still having a bit of trouble. But he managed to get through it in admirable fashion and the audience loved the show…they couldn’t tell that anything was wrong…only a select few of us could hear the slight difficulty he was having…but it was worrisome as we have a second show scheduled for day after tomorrow!
Ronnie and Jo Wood had arranged a big party after the show. It was a bit awkward for us, as we had to drive from Twickenham back to the hotel after the gig, change clothes, then travel to their place in Richmond (which is almost all the way back to Twickenham) where they live. It made for a very late party….but they certainly did put on the Ritz for it! Several tents were set up, lots of famous folks hanging out…like Peter and Chrissy Blake, our old friends from the Clapton days. Peter is famous for designing the Sergeant Pepper’s album cover. He also did the art work for the “24 Nights” CD and special limited edition book. Owen Wilson (actor…The Wedding Crashers) was also there…and Jeff Beck as well. It was incredibly crowded…but great fun. Ashley and Abbey went with us. We had a few drinks and talked to some folks for about an hour or so, then Rose Lane and I decided to go back. Ashley and Abbey stayed for a while. Unfortunately, Ash has to go back to Boston tomorrow…but at least she had a great time on her short London stay!

8/21

There were lots of reviews in the papers about the show…mostly very positive, thank heaven. There was also some press about Ronnie and Jo’s party, which was fun to see. Ashley’s flight back to Boston was around 6pm, so she didn’t have to head to the airport until late afternoon, giving us a little more time together. But as it had been a long night, we all didn’t get up until close to noon. For lunch we went around to corner to what many Londoners say is the best fish and chips place in the city, The Sea Shell. It was quite good…although it seems to us that England doesn’t really get how to fry properly. The chips (french fries) are always soggy and not crispy, and the batter for the fish leaves something to be desired. Guess us Americans just have a different view of these things!
We saw Ashley off to the airport after lunch, hating to see her go but grateful for the time we had with her. Rosie and I killed a few hours before going to dinner at a really good Asian fusion place called “Patara”. Excellent food, service and wine. During the day I had checked in on Mick…and was told that he was struggling but would make the show the next day. I again sent in a set list that would make it even easier than the one the first night and we all kept our fingers crossed.

8/22

With all of us a bit on edge about Mick, we headed to the gig in the early afternoon. When I met with him for the set list I was worried, but he assured me he could make it. I talked to Don Lawrence about it, and he said he thought Mick would be ok as long as he didn’t push it. Backstage was again totally crazy with tons of folks…Rosie and I avoided the Rattlesnake as it was elbow to elbow. I did get to see my old pal Alan Rogan, who is Pete Townsend’s guitar tech and who worked with the Stones way back on the Steel Wheels tour. Great to see him and chat for a while. So after the usual pre show routines, we hit the stage. Much to our relief, Mick not only made it through, but did so much better than any of us expected he would. I think what happened was that the viral infection he was dealing with had run it’s course, and he was back to full form. The Doctors had said that his vocal chords looked fine, and it was just the infection that was causing the problems. I could see the relief on Mick’s face about halfway through the set…and he really loosened up and sang his ass off. So we wound up with two very good shows for the Boy’s home town and everyone was very happy!

8/23

Our final day in London before we head to Glasgow. I did the gym and a run in Regent’s Park, then Rosie and I hit the streets of London one more time. We’re coming back here in a few days….working Cardiff out of London. We had the same results as our previous outings…not really buying anything but just walking and looking. Late in the afternoon Tim Ries called us to ask if we wanted to go to dinner. Rosie and I had already made plans to go to a place we knew called The Guinea Grill, so we told him to join us. He hesitated, but we convinced him to come along and left the hotel about 8:45 for our 9pm table. It was great to spend some time with Tim, just talking about how all of his solo shows have gone (he did one here at Ronnie Scott’s, the famous jazz club during our London stay) and sharing general chit chat. The meal was a good one…a nice way to close out our stay. Back at the hotel we saw Michael Cohl’s personal assistant Val Adamson…it was her birthday.

She was in Cohl’s office, a large ballroom at the Landmark. There was a piano there, so I played Happy Birthday to her while Tim danced with her and we all sang. We invited her and a couple of her girlfriends up to our room to share some Port that Tim had brought, so we all went up and hung out for a while celebrating. That capped off our initial London stay, and after our guests left we did the packing thing for Spin to pick up our bags the next morning.