Chuck’s Tour Diary

8/20

Buddy had hired another chopper for us to take us to the Shannon airport. The four of them were headed back to the States, and I was going to London. Rose Lane had already arrived there a couple of days ago after her art experience at the West Dean College, so she was waiting for me at the Savoy hotel. I said good-bye to Buddy and Co. and had a breakfast in the airport, as my flight didn’t leave for another couple of hours. The flight was fine, and I arrived at Heathrow airport where I found the train that goes on into London…. to Paddington Station. There I took the Underground to Charring Cross where I got off and walked five minutes to the Savoy. It was great to see Rosie again, and she had put the paintings that she had been working on for the past week all around our room. She had obviously been working very hard in her studies…. the work she had displayed was really good. I think she has jumped to a new and higher level of understanding and talent!

We went out for a while, walking around the Covenant Gardens area that is not far from the Savoy. We rested up a bit later and went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant not far from the hotel, the Sitar. It was very good and quite reasonable…. for London, that is. The ‘ol US Dollar has plummeted of late and it takes a little more than two of them to make one British Pound. Big ouch. After the meal we enjoyed some English speaking TV before heading for bed.

8/21

We are in a unique situation in terms of how to get from our hotel to the venue, the ‘02 Arena. The time of day we have to leave puts us in jeopardy of a bad traffic situation…. so the Tour Office decided to book us on a ferry boat to get there. There is a dock right across the road from the back of the Savoy hotel, so we walked across there to jump on the ferry that would take us down the Thames to the Arena. The Arena is not the most attractive of venues to look at from the outside, but the interior is spacious and much better looking than the exterior. Prince is playing here on a series of over 20 shows…. and we are playing in the middle of his run. This now marks “the beginning of the end” of the Bigger Bang Tour, with the three final shows in London.

I had several guests coming…John Malloy and Mike Masse, Dan Ashley and his family (Dan is a star News Anchor in San Francisco for KGO television), my pal Richard Kerris and his wife Nat from Apple Computer and Dano Sayles (a friend of Tom Connor’s from Hawaii). So after doing the set list and some other preparation, I went to the very large Rattlesnake Inn area for the social duties. Rose Lane was helping Carolyn Clements round up the band to go into makeup, so I went on my own there. I ran into all of the above guests and spent a little time with all of them before heading back down to the dressing room for a short rehearsal in Keith’s room.
The show may not have been one of our very best, but at least we were off to a fairly good start for the run. The reviews later were quite good. One funny thing was that no one had thought about this new rule in London concerning smoking in public places. Apparently the law prohibits smoking on stage during performances unless there is some special permission to do so. So the next day there were a lot of articles in the local paper about Keith and Ronnie “breaking the law” by puffing. It was quire amusing to read some of the comments and columns on this.
We laid low after the show, choosing to unwind in our room.

8/22, 23

Day off, but not such a pleasant one as it’s cold, damp and raining on and off. We managed to get out just a little for some lunch at a pub not far from the hotel…and also dealt with laundry. We stumbled into a neat jewelry maker in the process of walking around after delivering our laundry to a “fluff and fold” place…. the jeweler’s was called “The CRAZY PIG” and is a place that has made a lot of pieces for Keith through the years. They had pictures of him and the owner scattered around the place. Rosie and I admired some pieces and decided we’d come back again another day. Then we strolled around the area popping in and out of several shops and eventually ran into Richard and Nat Kerris in a men’s clothing store. Had a nice chat with them and made our way back to the hotel. For dinner we again stayed close to the hotel, going to a restaurant in the theatre district called Joe Allen’s that had been recommended by Norman Perry, the owner of the Stones’ merchandising company, Anthill. It was fine…and low key…which suited us. Then we wound up the day.
Our second show in the Arena was a step up from our first, and we rocked the house. It felt great from beginning to end. It’s nice to be indoors for a change…and the sound was pretty good for all of us. I had some guests to attend to before the show…John and Mike were back as was Dan Ashley and some of his family. I saw them and others in the Rattlesnake, and we had the usual warm up playing in Keith’s room. We all are feeling the end is near now…. and there is that mixed bag of being happy to move on and sad that we probably won’t see each other for a long time. But we all want to make a good finish, and tonight’s show was a really good one.
Rose Lane and I didn’t go out after…. as I have to leave tomorrow to go to Frankfurt to rehearse with my German band and to play the first show of my Green Leaves and Blue Notes tour.
I had made these arrangements quite some time ago, and knew that it would be challenging with the travel, rehearsal and show, and then to get back for the last Stones’ show in London. I had made Mick and Michael Cohl aware of these plans back when we were rehearsing in Brussels…but all of a sudden they got nervous about me doing it and told me to try and get back the night of the 25th. This would be impossible for me, as my show is in a place called Laubach, Germany…about an hour and a half outside of Frankfurt….and I would not finish until past 10pm. Anyway, I told them that it was nice to “…feel so loved and needed”….and I just brushed off their concerns knowing that it would be no problem for me to get back on the 26th. I had already looked into it, and there were about 5 different flights that would get me there in plenty of time.

8/24-26

My flight to Frankfurt didn’t leave until 11:30 from Heathrow, so it wasn’t too painful to get up at 8:30 to make it to Charing Cross station and from there to Paddington and on to Heathrow. From there I boarded on a British Airways flight to Frankfurt, arriving about 3:30. I lost an hour with the time change. Andrea Tutenburg, the wife of my friend and the organizer of the tour, Christian Raupach, picked me up and drove me to the HR1 studios where I would finally meet the band that would be working with me. We had a nice chat on the way, and got to the studio about 4:30. I first met Paul Hochstadter, the drummer. Tim Ries has met Paul when we were in Frankfurt earlier in the summer when the Stones had played there and had recommended him to me. Paul graciously put the rest of the band together for me. Paul gave me positive vibes right away…and had helped to set up my piano rig for the rehearsal. I had a nice Steinway to play and he had it all miced with some monitors set up for me. Then I met the rest of the guys…Christian Diener, the bass player; Lutz Haefner, the saxophonist; and Martin Scales, the guitarist. We eventually all took our places and got down to work. The guys had prepared well, and between the mp3 files I had sent them over the Internet and the charts that they and I had made, we had a great rehearsal. But being the first time we had ever played together, it did take us a good 6 hours of work. We were all pretty tired at the end of it, but I felt confident that we’d have a good show the next day.
We wrapped up the rehearsal and Christian took me to my hotel. We had a late dinner together before saying goodnight until tomorrow.

The next day, my friend Michael Salm-Salm came with his friend and neighbor Patricia Senszh driving. Apparently he had let his drivers’ license expire and therefore had to call for help. I had met Patricia back in ‘04 when I came to Germany for the release of my “Forever Green” book here. It was good to see them both, and we headed out for Laubach, where there would be a meeting of the German Forest Landowner’s Assn. that we would attend, then I had the concert to do for the “Blues, Schmooz and Aplemus” festival, also in Laubach. It was a beautiful drive through the German countryside…. lots of agricultural lands and forestlands to gaze out at during the drive. We also had a great chat and caught up with our respective families and various goings-on. Finally we arrived in Laubach and the place for the Landowner’s meeting. It was already in full swing with about 100 folks in attendance. I had a few interviews to do and went to a room upstairs to get a couple of them done…..then went back down to the meeting. Michael had asked me to speak to the group…so after several other speeches, I gave a short address with him interpreting and played a couple of songs for them. They all seemed to enjoy it, and so did I. Then afterwards I signed some autographs and did a couple of more interviews upstairs. With all that done, I had a little time to grab a bite to eat with Michael, Patricia and the president of the Association, a really nice and sharp man named Michael von der Tann. We had a light bit of food and good conversation together.
Finally it was time to play. The stage was not far from the facility where we had met with the Association and had our meal…only a short walk down some grounds to get to a big tent that had been set up for the festival. I was surprise to see such a big crowd as we approached…. there was about 3,000 or so folks there. The entire band had arrived and set up, and Christian had arranged for someone to set up my piano and rig. I greeted everyone and we had a short discussion of the set list and little details about arrangements and then took the stage.
Wow, it went better than I could ever have asked for! Great crowd…. and the guys played brilliantly. We went through about a ninety minute set and did a couple of encores…and left them wanting more…truly a perfect start to the campaign! I congratulated the band for such a great job…. and then we had to pack up and say our good byes…. but temporarily…. as we had more dates to together in the coming month. Michael and Patricia drove me to the Frankfurt airport where I would stay in the Sheraton hotel, right next to one of the terminals. Michael helped me get checked in and we hugged each other good-bye, grateful for such a successful day. By now it was a little past midnight, and I had to catch a 7:30am flight the coming morning to get back to London. I put in for the dreadful wake up call and put my head on the pillow.

THE END OF THE BIGGER BANG

I woke up with a startle to the phone… which was really loud. Probably a good thing, as it wasn’t easy to drag myself out of the bed. But I did, and put myself in the shower to help me wake up. Luckily there was a little coffee maker in the room and I downed a couple of cups which helped, too. Then it was time to rush out of the room, check out, find my way to the proper terminal and get checked in. It turned out that i had plenty of time, and when one of the restaurants finally opened at 6:30, I was able to grab a little bite and more coffee before boarding. I made the flight with plenty of time to spare and then did the train thing again from Heathrow back to the Savoy. I was beat, but I had made it. I stayed up with Rosie to tell her about the previous day, then we went for a light lunch at a pub next to the hotel called the “Coal Hole”. After that I had time for a short nap before having to get ready for the last show of the Stones Bigger Bang Tour.
I went down early in one of the vans and had time to do the last set list of the tour, and deal with issues like my wardrobe, talk to Will Alexander about my gear and some items I wanted him to ship home for me and such. Then the social requirements kept me busy for a little while. In addition to John, Mike, Dan and company, I had my good friend Fran Strong and his guests there. Fran is a diplomat in the US Embassy in London and we’ve known each other since our school days. It was wonderful to see him again and to meet his friends. I had nice conversations with all my guests…talking about how this would be the last Stones show….at least for a long time.
Back downstairs we had the last warm up in Keith’s room and soon it was time for the downbeat of the final show of the tour.
It was really a great one to end on. I could feel the vibes all over the stage from everyone playing that we wanted to “celebrate this one home”…and we did, from beginning to end. After the final note of “Brown Sugar” we gathered on the front of the stage for our final bows…and then I looked down at 13 pairs of shoes that I knew I wouldn’t see for a long time. We waved to the crowd and made our final exit off of the stage and into the vans that would take us back to the Savoy.
Of course there was the “End Of Tour Party” to go to….and after turning in my clothes to wardrobe, Rosie and I went down to the place just next door to the hotel where the affair would take place. We were all smiling and congratulating ourselves on having survived the last two years….lots of hugs and good wishes were passed around and there were many glasses that touched together in various toasts. We saw everyone there at least for a little bit…and finally decided enough had been said and done. Most of the folks would be taking flights early in the morning to get back home. But Rose Lane and I would stay in London for an extra day before flying to Vienna where I would play the second show of my “Green Leaves and Blue Notes” tour…and the first one that would be a solo performance. We headed up to bed about 3am.

8/27

I have to say it was a load off my shoulders (and I think Rose Lane’s, too) to be finished with the Stones tour. Now we could truly concentrate on other projects and issues. Today we would just have a light day of rest and relaxation…with the only plan being to go back to the Crazy Pig to purchase some jewelry for Rose Lane. Her birthday is coming up and after thinking about what we’d seen there, she decided she liked a special “Goethe” ring and a silver “Fleur de leis” bracelet. After an easy morning we eventually made our way there and purchased the items. It made us both happy to do so, and we enjoyed the experience. After that we walked around the area again, taking our time and peering into windows, occasionally walking in a store. We went back through Covenant Gardens, browsing through the little stalls there, finally making it back to the Savoy. For dinner we tried the Red Fort, an Indian restaurant that was on our list and that Darryl Jones had also recommended. It was fine…but to be honest, we liked the Sitar better. We cabbed it back to the hotel to do our final bits of packing….most of it had been done in the afternoon, but we left some things for later. Finally we went to bed, feeling good about how our last two years with the Stones had gone….great memories, great shows, lots of happy fans and friends…and we were happy too. Now we can start the next adventure!

8/17

Today we headed to Dublin, Ireland. With the usual routine of packing, paying the hotel bill, meeting everyone for the bus, getting to the airport and boarding the plane taking up most of the first part of the day, we made the flight and landed in Dublin about 7pm. This time we had a whole drug squad waiting on us, complete with K9 sniffing dogs. What a welcome! After going through all of that we loaded up in the bus that took us to the Four Seasons hotel. We stayed here before some years ago when we played The Point a couple of nights. This time we are to play at Slane Castle. We played here back in ‘82, during my first tour with the band. It’s a beautiful setting about an hour’s drive from Dublin…. out in the open with the Castle in the background up on a hill, it’s a very cool site.
I went to my room for a bit, but it was pretty lonesome without Rose Lane there for company, so I took a walk to find something to eat. Not far from the hotel was an Asian restaurant and I opted for that. I had brought my book and a couple of magazines with me to keep me occupied, and hung out there for about an hour and a half. Food was ok, but not fantastic. They had a little trio that consisted of a piano player, a “beat box” and a couple of female singers that came on about the time I was ready to go…and as they were more annoying than entertaining, I settled up and walked back to the hotel. There I picked back up on my book (Rose Lane had given me one that she had finished…it’s called “Mayflower”, by Nathaniel Philbrick; and is the story of the trip over to the US by the Pilgrims and the settlement of Plymouth) and let it entertain me until my eyes got heavy.

8/18

My friends John Dewberry and Buddy Darby will be here for the gig tonight. They have both hunted with us at Charlane. Both are very big developers. John owns some prime property in downtown Atlanta and in Charleston and other areas…. Buddy and his wife Tammy live on Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina and among his many projects; he was the main developer of Kiawah Island in SC. One of his recent projects is an amazing “golf destination” in the west coast of Ireland called “Doonbeg”. John bought one of the suites there and of course Buddy has one as well. They have invited me to stay on in Ireland an extra day and go there while the band flies on to London tomorrow.
But before that, we have a show to do! After getting up and finally ready for some food, I walked out of the hotel to search for a place for a late breakfast. It was a lazy Saturday and it seemed that there weren’t a whole lot of choices, though. I picked up a few newspapers and walked back to the hotel, deciding I’d have room service. I wanted to go down to the gig early, so after some cereal and a short time I made ready for the drive. It was raining on and off, and that wasn’t a good sign for the gig…. but no matter, we had a show to do.
I had given John my cell phone number, but had not heard from him. I sent him an email thinking he’d respond, but I still didn’t hear from him. We did the backstage routine, and I checked into the Rattlesnake a few times looking for them, but never saw them. When we finally hit the stage, we were very lucky that the rain had stopped. It had rained right through the first couple of acts, but mercifully for us it spared our set. Really good show, and a huge crowd of over 70,000.
Back in the room I finally had a message from John. They had been late getting to the gig and had missed the Rattlesnake, but had made the show. We agreed to meet in the mid morning for the trip to Doonbeg. I made it an easy night and stayed in.

8/19

Buddy and John had booked a helicopter to fly us from Dublin to Doonbeg, about an hour and twenty minute flight. It reminded me of back in ‘82 when we played Slane and choppered in for that show. Seeing Ireland from up above really shows you how green it is. A kind of green that you really don’t see anywhere else. Anyway, we met downstairs in the lobby and I was introduced to Buddy’s wife Tammy and John’s girlfriend before we drove to a little farm not far away where the helicopter was waiting. They allowed me the front seat next to the pilot (whom they apparently knew from previous similar flights). It was a great trip, and along the way the pilot pointed out several places of interest. We saw lots of peat operations…where the dig up the peat and dry it for use in heating in homes, mostly. We flew over a few historic ruins and some beautiful big estates. Finally we flew over the big and beautiful Shannon River and then took a swing around the Doonbeg resort and golf course that Buddy had put together. He has truly done a wonderful job in making it look as if it’s been there for two or three hundred years. The coastline there is very dramatic and ties in beautifully with the gold course designed by Greg Norman. We landed on the lawn just outside the main part of the resort and went in to have lunch. We enjoyed a nice light meal and I met a few folks in the process…. some of which had been to a Stones show here or there and had fun comments to make. One fellow knew some musicians that I’ve worked with before…. Jerry Portnoy (a great blues harmonica player) and Duke Robillard (fab blues guitarist), both from the New England area. He apparently puts on a big party just about every year where these guys come and play…and he suggested that he might call me to join in sometime. You never know where you might meet folks like this! After lunch we strolled through the clubhouse a bit, and Buddy wanted to show me the piano in one of the bar lounges. I enjoyed banging out a few songs for the folks there, which seemed to please everyone.

Buddy had arranged for a little fishing trip for us though one of the locals, so after that the two of us were picked up by his friend Tony and we drove about 35 or 40 minutes up the coast to a spot where the cliffs overlook the ocean some 300 or more feet. The whole scene was quite amazing to behold, and soon we were throwing our lines along with a few other folks way over the cliffs and down below to fish for mackerel. There must have been hundreds of thousands of them down there, because every time we dropped our lines we would come up with two or three on the hooks. We fished for about an hour and then took our catch back to the resort. Tony was kind enough to say he would clean all the fish for us and give them to the chef of the restaurant so we could all enjoy them later.
Buddy had arranged for a nice massage for me in their spa, so about 5 or 6 I went down for that. A nice fellow named Shane gave me the massage…. and he worked hard on my right shoulder, which has given me trouble now for over a year. He managed to push some of the “devil” out of it, for which I was grateful. After that I found Buddy in the Jacuzzi and sat with him a while to try and further my “treatment”. It made for a great relaxing and healing couple of hours, and then I went to my quarters for a little down time before dinner.
At dinner we had a group of about 8 or so folks including the five of us. We enjoyed the mackerel we had caught for appetizers, and the rest of the meal was first class. Good food, good company. Tony had come in as we were finishing up and brought his brother and a few other friends with him, so I went back to the piano to entertain them a bit. Finally we wrapped up the evening and I went to bed for a good sleep.

Today Rose Lane flies to England to attend the West Dean College for a week studying art. She took the train from Lausanne to Geneva to fly to London…where a car picks her up to drive to Chichester where West Dean is. The band travels on to Düsseldorf where the next show is, but I take a train to Frankfurt to rehearse with the HR1 Radio band for some of my solo shows in Germany after the Stones tour ends. Rose Lane left first, and my train left around 11:30. I walked to the train station…it was down a steep incline from the hotel to the station, and as I only had hand luggage it wasn’t bad. The first part of the trip was fairly crowded, but after about an hour most of the other passengers left and it was nice and comfortable for the other 3 hours of the journey. I just rested and enjoyed the ride, spending some time looking at the charts and song list to be prepared at the rehearsal.

I arrived at the Frankfurt train station about 3:45 and my friend Christian Raupach picked me up. From there we drove to the HR complex where the rehearsal would be. This would be the first time I met the players in person. We’ve communicated via emails up to this point, and now it was time to see each other and play…. and get to know each other as well. I met Paul Hochstetler first…he is the drummer that Tim Ries had suggested a few weeks ago when we played Frankfurt with the Stones. Paul had put the rest of the band together. Christian Denier on bass, Lutz Haefner on sax and Martin Scales on guitar. We all met in the studio and had short conversation before getting down to work. The guys were great…. they had prepared well and we tackled some twenty or so songs over the next 5 hours. I was happy with the results, and when we finished up Christian drove me to the hotel where I would stay the night before taking the train to Düsseldorf the next day. But we had some business to discuss, and Christian stayed with me for dinner as we went through the particulars of the tour. This will be a combination of some solo shows, some with the band…. some public and some private. We will also be doing quite a lot of press during the tour…talking about conservation issues, forestry, and global climate change and such as well as music.
We’ve lined up several sponsors for the tour…. AXA Insurance (they insure a lot of German forestlands against storm and other damage), Stihl, Yamaha Keyboards, Lexus (they are providing a nice hybrid car for the tour) and the HOLTZ group (a forest landowner’s association). So far there are nine shows, starting in Laubach, Germany at a festival called “Blues, Schmooze and Aplemus” on Aug 25th.
This will be a challenge, as I will be in London for the last three Stones shows during that time. The Stones play 21, 23 and 26 at the ‘02 Arena, and I will go back to Frankfurt on the 24th for one more rehearsal with the guys, then play the show the next day in Laubach, then fly back to London for the last show on the 26th. There were other details to go over, and Christian and I spent about two hours during and after dinner discussing things. Finally we wrapped it up and I headed up to bed a tired puppy around 11:30.

8/13-17

My train to Düsseldorf left at 11:20, and it was only about an hour and a half journey. I made my way to the hotel and prepared to go to the show. All the guys asked me how the rehearsal went, and I recounted the experience to them, telling them that I was very fortunate to have such good musicians to help me out. The gig was another good one…we seem to be hitting a stride now. I was tired afterwards and didn’t go out of my room after getting back and turning in my stage clothes. It’s been a long couple of days, but very productive!
Now we’re off to Hamburg. I like this city quite a lot…and of course it has a strong musical history with the Beatles, Stones and other bands getting their start here in the 60’s. I love the beautiful lake and have enjoyed walking around some of it in past times here. We stayed at the Park Hyatt…. nice new hotel. I went out for a walk to shake off the travel…. but had to make my way through a crowd of fans that were hanging out at the front door. They were all nice, but many wanted things signed, and it took me a little while to do that and then finally stroll around. I thought about going out somewhere for dinner, but I wasn’t really up for going out on my own, so I wound up eating in the hotel restaurant. I saw Dillip Doshi in the restaurant, and he kindly invited me to sit with him and several of his friends (Dillip owns some Mont Blanc stores, and Hamburg is where they make some of their products…and he had several business associates with him). I politely declined as I just wasn’t up for a lot of socializing and they were about finished with their meals anyway. I did go over and meet them and chat for a minute or so before taking a table by myself. After dinner I just went back to the room to chill.
Next day was showtime again, and all went well. Nice turnout in the stadium, and a very positive reception. Before the show I strolled around the area near our hotel again for a while, but it was raining a bit on and off, and I didn’t stay out long. After the show I had a peek in the bar, but I could see it wasn’t a scene I really wanted to deal with, so I opted for quiet time in my room with a couple of glasses of wine before bed.
The 16th was an off day in Hamburg. Again I walked around, and in the afternoon I had a call from my friend Axel Zwingenburger. Axel and his wife Eva live not far away in a village called Ahrensburg. They were coming back from a gig (Axel is a great boogie-woogie piano player…one of the best in the world) and offered to come pick me up and go to their house. I accepted the invitation, and we met at the hotel for the drive to his place. It was wonderful to see them both, and they were most gracious to me. At their house we sipped some wine and played the piano some…I am always amazed at Axel’s talent. I picked up a few licks from him, but it would take me a month of hanging with him to really learn some of the finer points off his playing. It’s much more complicated than it seems! We also listened to some of the historic rare recordings he has of some of the famous players of this style…then we walked to a nice Italian restaurant that is owned by a friend of theirs that is also a piano player (of course!). There we had a nice meal and afterwards we played some on the upright piano that was downstairs. Great fun, and good company. After that they drove me back into Hamburg. It was so great of them to take the time to do all of that for me…especially after coming back from a gig. Axel and Eva are top-notch folks and I feel very fortunate to know them and share such a friendship with them! Great day….
Now we move on to Ireland.

SCANDANAVIA: HELSINKI, GOTHENBERG, COPENHAGEN AND OLSO…
AND ON TO LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

7/31

Christopher Dunn knocked on our door just a little after we had awakened the next day…around 10:30. I opened it up to allow him and the accompanying bellmen to pick up the bags, and afterwards went back to our coffee for a while. I had inquired about the possibility of us going back to the Hermitage to see the jewels, and called the concierge to check on it. She said she was still trying and would get back to us shortly. Soon she rang back to say that the earliest time we could go would be 2:30. But we were leaving at 3, so that wasn’t going to work. We were sorely disappointed, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully we can get back here some day and see some of the things that we missed this time around. But we were grateful for what we had been able to see and for all the fun experiences we’d had in St. Petersburg. It really is a wonderful, beautiful city…full of majesty and interesting things to see and do.
But now it’s time to move on, and after settling up our bill and killing a little time, we all gathered in the lobby to get on the bus that would take us to the airport to fly us to Helsinki. At Customs and Immigration we were again delayed a while…until all the other guys: Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Michael Cohl and all their families and security guys showed up. Finally we all boarded the plane and said goodbye to Russia.

After landing in Helsinki and making the drive to the Hotel Kamp, which is a beautiful old hotel in the heart of the city (although we had one of the smaller rooms we’ve had on the tour…even though it’s given the title of a “suite”), we made our way down to the bar.

Upon our arrival, there was quite a large crowd outside the hotel to greet us. The entire city seemed to be abuzz with excitement, and we later found out it was all due to the Stones being in town. Across from the hotel there is a long and narrow sort of park that separates the buildings on either side. Folks were all scattered around in it, and there were some street musicians here and there playing music…. several playing Stones songs.

But we decided not to venture out into the crowded streets quite yet and viewed all of this through the window of the bar where we enjoyed a couple of drinks with Scott Jones and his girlfriend Sheila who had arrived there. We chatted with them and some other of our group that wandered in and out of the bar…. finally deciding to try the Japanese restaurant that is in the hotel called Yume. At first Scott and Sheila said they would join us there…and Rosie and I went on to get a table. But soon, Sheila came in to say that they had decided they really wanted a hamburger…. and would pass on the Japanese food. So we had a nice private meal again…the restaurant was virtually empty until another small group of some of our folks came in. It was a pleasant change from the norm, and the light but flavorful fare fit the bill just right. Rosie ordered a set menu of sushi and sashimi and I had a whole fish dish…crispy sea bass. The sake flowed along with the food and we enjoyed the attentive service given us. Apparently the chef of Yume is the longtime personal cook of the Japanese Ambassador, so he knows what he is doing!
That finished out the day and we retired to the room for rest.

8/1, 2

Rose Lane and I love Helsinki…such a pretty place, and the waterfront area with the outdoor market that is there almost every day is a treat to wander through. So after some gym time we went out to explore a bit. Just as was the case yesterday, there were lots of people out and about, obviously the majority of them there for the Stones. We ventured out not really knowing exactly where we wanted to go…. so we just walked around for a while until we stumbled upon a large music store. I told Rosie I wanted to go in and look around, so we did. I had been in need of a special cable for a computer program called Siebelius that I had recently acquired, and luckily they had what I needed. I also enjoyed the large piano section they had that was full of Steinways, Boston and other grand pianos.

In addition they had some nice vintage guitars, which were fun to see. I was tempted to investigate that further, but we didn’t have a whole lot of time and we wanted to get to the waterfront market before I had to go to the show. So we asked for directions to the market and headed for it. It didn’t take us long to locate it, and we walked around looking at the arts, crafts and other offerings. Soon we came to the section where they cook food on the spot…and took on some fresh wild salmon and a couple of small fried fish…perhaps sardines, I’m not sure. The gentleman serving us pilled on some yellow rice with vegetables on to our paper plates and we sat down to savor our lunch. Man, was it good! And no doubt one of the least expensive meals we’ve had in a long time!

We enjoyed strolling through some more before I had to go back to the room to prepare to go to the show. I really wanted to wander some more, but time wouldn’t let me…plus, I needed to go early to get Will Alexander to help me with this new Siebelius program.
I got my things together and joined the others that usually go early to the show down in the lobby. John Malloy was tagging along with me. We got there and I settled John in the Rattlesnake and went to find Will to hook up the keyboard, my computer and the Siebelius program. Siebelius is a comprehensive program that among other things allows you to play into it as it converts the input into notated sheet music. As I don’t read or write in this kind of notation and wanted to make some charts of my songs for the guys that will be my backup band on my German tour, this is the perfect option. But like any new program, it requires a learning curve and some study. Will had never used it either, so we both had some intense work to do. Of course you don’t learn this stuff on the first go-round, and today we would just get a start on it.

Will hooked it up and pressed buttons while I skimmed through the manual. In the end we did get at least a little bit going, but we wound up with more questions than answers. He made notes of our questions to send via email to one of the company’s technical reps as we stumbled around.
I took a break to go get a bite to eat and check on John who was enjoying his experience. All was well, so I turned my attention to the set list. I was able to convince Mick to be a little more adventurous…and we put in Sweet Virginia (hoping to get some sing-along going on it), Can’t You Hear Me Knocking and Love Is Strong. I went on about my business of getting ready…wardrobe, RI visits and such, and soon it was Showtime.
The gig turned out to be one of the strangest of the tour. It was a sold out stadium…huge crowd of probably more than 50,000. But they were very quiet throughout the gig. They wouldn’t sing along on Sweet Virginia (…or at lest very few did) and in general were just flat. It didn’t help that Keith was not at his best…I think he must not have had much sleep and was perhaps dehydrated from eating all the salty caviar in Russia. It was obvious to all that he was having some trouble, and we were concerned about him. But Mick and Ronnie did well and while it certainly wasn’t one of our best sets, we got through it ok. In any case we were all relieved to get through that one. By the next show Keith was fine, and we were all relieved.

The next day we had to travel…but Rose Lane and I managed to get out a little before we had to go. I had spied a sporting goods place a couple of streets over the day we arrived, and wanted to go there to nose around. I did so, and bought some nice Finnish fish filet knives to take back home. They are really great and special tools, and while you can find good filet knives in other places, they are no better in the world than what you get here.
Ronnie Finestone had told us about a fun clothing store called Helsinki 10, and after some inquiry we found it. We both bought a few things…jeans and a couple of shirts for me, a couple of pair of jeans for Rosie. After that we wound up back at the hotel cafe for a little light lunch. I didn’t eat much as I really wanted to go back to the market and have some more of that fresh fish…the little ones that were fried. We did indeed go there, and I asked for three of the “little fishes”. The lady serving said…“is that all?” I replied yes, just the fish…and upon offering some money, she smiled and said it was on her…so I relished the little fishes as we made one last round of the market before walking back to the Kamp for our departure for Gothenburg.

We went through the usual travel routine, arriving in Gothenburg in late afternoon. Here we stayed at the Raddison Hotel, on the edge of the old part of town. It’s a fairly nice hotel, but with some pretty strange decor, I must admit. We had a generous two-room suite, which was nice…but with some odd furniture, like the “space chairs”, the “ice cube light”
and the main attraction, our “X-Ray bed”.

But the good news was that the curtains were good a heavy to keep the light out during the day, and the windows were nice and heavy double paned, so it was relatively quiet…. which would make for good sleep. We ventured out for a while, walking around the old town to a big square and through the streets…thinking we may find a good place for a drink and possibly dinner…but we couldn’t quite find anything we liked, so we walked back to the Raddison to look over our restaurant list and make a decision. We had a drink downstairs in the very large and loud lobby where the restaurant and bar are intermingled and I went to consult the concierge about a place. The first choice was fully booked, and a couple of others on our list were closed for the season…but we finally made a reservation at Avenue 1, which was a 10-minute cab ride from the hotel. As we were about to leave, Jane Rose and her sister Nancy Portnoy came up and as we were speaking, we found out we were both going to the same place. So we went together and arranged for a table for four when we got there. It was nice to have the company, and all of us enjoyed the meal and our time together. That capped the day and we rode back to the Raddison.

8/3, 4, 5

Show day in Gothenburg…. I was able to hit the fitness room before I had to leave for the show…. going down early. Again, with my friend John Malloy tagging along. He’s a nice fellow and just loves the Stones…. and so far I’ve been able to let him ride with me to the gigs and take a guest van back. We arrived just past 3, and I got him settled in the Rattlesnake and had a bite to eat with him, then turned my attention to the Seibelius program again, trying to figure some things out. I managed to get my first lead sheet done…. for a song of mine called “Blue Rose”…. but as I was writing it for tenor sax, I wasn’t sure if I had it properly done for that instrument, and called on Tim Ries to help. He told me it looked OK, but if I could figure out a way to shift the interval on the staff, it would be better. So I dove back into the manual for a while trying to figure that out. Our dressing room was a weird situation…. in a tent, as many of these recent shows have been, but this time we were right next to a major road and the traffic noise was loud and distracting. Anyway, I did manage to get a little further along with it.
Finally I did my set list duties and went to see Mick, who selected a couple of choices I gave him and signed off on it. Later we did our little rehearsal with Keith, running through Ain’t Too Proud To Beg and Let It Bleed. Soon it was time to hit the stage, and the show flowed nicely. It felt good to get Let It Bleed in, as we haven’t been playing it much. The crowd was much more responsive here, which helped us all stay in the groove…and being a sold out show made everyone happy.
Rosie and I packed our suitcases after we got back, as we travel again tomorrow…to Copenhagen.

A quick gym hit again, and Rosie and I had a little time to walk the streets before our departure. We enjoyed looking around, but didn’t buy anything, just walked and looked. Did the travel routine, arriving in Copenhagen in the late afternoon. On the way in we were talking about how we were here in September of last year, playing our last show in Europe. We didn’t play in Copenhagen, but stayed there and did a hit and run gig to Horsens. We were talking to Lisa Fischer about all of this, and both she and I were having trouble remembering the hotel and the show. But as we talked it started coming back to me, and I could visualize the D’Angleterre Hotel and it’s surroundings. Guess the ‘ole memory banks are getting fuzzy, but eventually I got it!
We got to the hotel and checked in to a very nice room…. I think it must have been the same one we had before when we were here last year. It had a balcony that faced the square across from the hotel and wrapped around the side. Narrow, but wide enough to get out on, and it had a small table and a couple of chairs…nice. Again it had the two separate rooms, giving us good space. After settling in and hooking up on the Net for a while, we went downstairs for drinks. There we ran into our pal Ronnie Finestone, who invited us out to dinner with his group. We passed on that, though…deciding to go somewhere with just the two of us for a quieter situation. While I was talking to Blondie Chaplin in the bar, who had joined us for a minute, Rose Lane went to see the concierge and arranged a reservation for a place around the corner called “38”, which was the number of the street address where it was located. Great dinner, but wow, was it expensive. Boy, the ‘ole Greenback is suffering these days. I winced when paying the bill, but there was no undoing it…so I did my best to savor what we’d had!

Next day was nice and sunny, and I sat out on the balcony for a good couple of hours before it was time to get back to work. Again going early to work on my charts, I left about 3. I was able to get two more charts done, and then dealt with the set list. We had a short warm up in Keith’s room, then hit the stage shortly after. Show was strong and consistent…and fun. At the hotel we wound down with some white wine in the room and watched the telly for a while…then turned in.

8/6, through

We’re in a bit of a whirlwind now….we traveled on to Oslo on the 6th, having dinner at a nice Asian place (name?) near our hotel, the Grand Hotel.

The 7th was a day off, and we did laundry and walked around the town killing time. The show on the 8th was quite good, and the following day we moved on to Lausanne, Switzerland. It’s a beautiful city near the scenic lake Geneva. The 8th was a travel day for us and we arrived in the late afternoon, and had dinner in the hotel. On the 10th we had a great experience at our friend Claude Nobs’ home.

Claude is the founder of the Montreaux Jazz festival. I’ve played there twice…once with Sea Level way back in ‘77 and once with Eric Clapton around ‘92, I believe. Claude is a friend and a fan of the Stones, and we’ve seen him through the years at a few shows. He sent an invitation to all of us to come to his incredible home way up in the mountains above Montreaux. It’s quite an amazing place…sort of like a compound/small village/getaway. He has several buildings on the beautiful grounds…. filled with fun collectables, musical instruments, an impressive sound/video system that feeds all over the whole place…. all overlooking the mountains and the lake below.

He put on the “Ritz” for all of us…. with cocktails, h’orderves, and a seated meal. Rose Lane and I enjoyed walking all around, gawking at all his fun collectable model trains, bric-a-brac and such. He had a couple of fun dogs that we also enjoyed playing with. Such a wonderful guy and a gracious host.

We also viewed quite a lot of his vast collection of Montreaux performances…. he has the largest collection of music performances in the world, I think. It was truly a fantastic day and we were all grateful for his having us to his place.
The 11th was the show in Lausanne, and it went smoothly. We’re on the “home stretch” now, and there are only six shows to do now that this one is done. We had a nice crowd in Lausanne…a very successful show.

7/26, 27

Mick’s 64th birthday is today. It made me think about all the times we’ve celebrated his birthday on tour. There have been many…even last year we were in Paris celebrating it. But today we will just be traveling…. and there is a proper party planned for the day after our show in St. Petersburg. We made ourselves ready for the travel after our wake up routine. It’s about a two hour flight and there is a two hour time change…losing time. The travel and flight went by quickly…however, the customs and immigration took some time after we landed. We finally cleared through some time after 8pm and loaded up in the bus to take us to the Astoria hotel. All of us enjoy seeing the new places, and our faces were glued to the windows on the way to the city, taking in the scenery. Rose Lane and I remarked on how strong all the architecture we viewed was. Very sturdy buildings, but with a sense of elegance. The streets were generously wide, and we crossed several beautiful bridges over rivers and canals as we came closer into the city.

We had read some about the city in preparation, and Rose Lane was even reading a book on Catherine the Great.
Here we are very far north….and the sun doesn’t set until very late…around 11pm or a little past…and not for long, getting light quite early in the morning. So you could see very clearly as we drove in, and when we arrived at the Astoria a little after 9 it was still very light. I had called our friend Tom Conner, who was coming in from his house in France with his girlfriend Laura and a couple of their friends….but didn’t get him and left a message. I had thought we might have dinner with them, but they had obviously made some other plans and had already gone out. Another good friend of ours, Ronnie Finestone, who works for the Andrew Marc fashion company (makers of fine leather goods…..I wore an AM jacket in my Vanity Fair photo shoot for their “Green” Issue), and his daughter Kat were coming….but I knew we wouldn’t see them until at least tomorrow. There were others coming that we had helped arrange tickets. So after getting to the Astoria we went to our room to drop off our bags and settle for a moment and try to decide on what to do for dinner. We always get a sheet with restaurant information on it, and studied it a bit….but not knowing anything about the locations of the restaurants and not really wanting to go out far, we went down to check with the concierge and see about options. Downstairs we ran into Dillip Doshi, a good friend that is originally from India, now living in London. Dillip was a famous “slow bowler” in the game of Cricket many years ago…and is good friends with the band…especially Mick and Charlie, who he has known for over 30 years. Dillip was largely responsible for us doing shows in India a couple of tours ago and is a very nice guy. We always enjoy seeing him…he usually makes at least three or four shows a tour. We spoke for a while and then we ran into Darryl, Lisa and our mutual friend “Doc” Weltler and his wife Renate. Doc is a Dr. in Austria, and is a long time friend of Darryl’s. He is sponsoring one of my solo shows after this tour…in a town outside of Vienna. We had seen him recently in Budapest, and he had brought Renate with him here to see another show. They invited us to join them for dinner in the hotel restaurant called Davido’s, and we gratefully accepted. We had a fun time together….and a very nice meal. Of course being in Russia we had to try the caviar…which was divine…and I ordered sea bream, also excellent. The conversations that passed between us were lively and full of anticipation about this new city for us…. none of us have ever been here before. Over our protests, Doc picked up the check. He claimed that since it was his and Renate’s anniversary that the “party” was on him. We thanked him and left the restaurant, headed to the bar. There we ran into Tom Connor and his group. Of course Laura, his lovely and sweet girlfriend…. and two folks who were friends of his from Boston…. Patrick and Ann. They had been out to dinner and were just returning. We talked to them for a bit, trying to sort out some plans for us to get together. However, they had quite a lot of things planned out and it sounded like we may not be able to fit in anything more than the time at the show together. They had plans the next night to go to the Opera, and had some outings that were leaving earlier in the day than we wanted to deal with. But none of us fretted about it, being grateful to have any time at all together. It was getting late, and Rosie and I decided to go up to our room and bid all pleasant dreams.
The next day we stayed in the bed late…. I never fare too well trying to sleep when there is a good bit of light coming in our room…and being here where at this time of year there is little darkness during the night, and given the fact that our curtains were just slightly less heavy than I would have liked, I had woken up several times. But I did manage enough sleep to not be too tired, The phone woke us up around 11:30, and it was Dillip calling to see if we were interested in going out with him for a while. We accepted the offer, agreeing to meet him down in the lobby in an hour or so and got up. After downing some coffee and showering ourselves awake, we went down to meet him. He had arranged a car and driver…and being a vegetarian had found a veggie restaurant for us to go to. So we loaded up and met our driver…. a heavy set fellow named Valori, who spoke at least some English…and made our way to a place where we had a nice late lunch.

After that we asked Valori to take us around the city a bit, just to get a feel for it and orient ourselves. He pointed out some of the more important buildings and monuments as we drove, using his broken English to try to tell us what they were. Eventually he took us to the Palace Square, where our stage was being set up just next to the beautiful and majestic Hermitage. We got out of the car and walked around the huge square, marveling at the sight of our stage being erected in the middle of this amazing place. This is going to be a very special and unique show, for sure! We saw many of our crewmembers, waving to them and giving them the “thumbs up” as we walked around. We also marveled at the Hermitage…. also known as the Winter Palace…and it made us excited about our trip to go inside on Sunday.
After a while Valori drove us a short distance to the Church Of The Spilled Blood (also known as the Church of the Resurrection), a beautiful Mosque and one of the famous places in the city. We bought tickets and went inside, awestruck by the beauty of the mosaic tile art in the interior. Oddly enough we saw Mick and L’Wren there. We could see him trying to hide from the crowd, having a large cap pulled down over his head… and decided not to go speak to him as we didn’t want to draw attention to them. But we did give him a nod and a smile and he did the same back to us. Back in the car we drove through the streets some more, but didn’t stop at any other sights, eventually making our way back to the hotel. We thanked Dillip for letting us tag along and went to our room for some down time.
I had been able to contact Ronnie Finestone, and we made plans to have dinner together. He called me to say he had arranged for a place and gave us directions. It was not all that far from the hotel, and when the time came later on we walked to the Stroganoff House as per his instructions. Wow, were we in for a treat! This beautiful place has been restored and made into a five star restaurant. Ronnie met us outside and walked us in to the bar where Kat was already sitting. We gave her a hug and sat down…. Ronnie had already ordered some Champaign for us. There was a trio playing quietly in a corner…a violinist, pianist and guitarist. They were playing some nice classical music, and we enjoyed the relaxed and refined atmosphere as we sipped the champagne and talked. Finally we got up and walked around the place to check it out. It is relatively small, and at the time we were the only ones there. We saw a beautiful large room that was all set up for what looked like about 20 or so guests…and found out it was for Ronnie Wood and company. Ronnie, Mick and Keith all had quite a lot of family with them, and obviously Ronnie had found out about this place and had made reservations. There were portraits of the Stroganoff family on the walls, and all the furniture and other accouterments in the restaurant were of fine make and character. We were led to our own private dining room…, which was an amazing setting. At one end of our very large and beautiful dining table (which could have easily accommodated 12 or so, but was set for just the four of us) was a large throne of a chair…and I couldn’t help but park myself there at least for a moment. Ronnie insisted that I stay there for the meal, and after some protesting I gave in and made myself comfortable. We could tell that we were in for quite a treat.

Our headwaiter, a nice young gentleman named Vladimir, placed on little silver holders an array of printed placards in front of us, which were our menus. He also gave us a large leather-bound wine list, which Ronnie pushed over to me. As we soaked in the elegant setting, I opened the wine list to find some of the most amazing (and very expensive!) wines I’ve seen offered in a long time. Lafitte Rothschild’s of vintage years were among the list…several of them costing well over a thousand Euros each…. one was over three thousand! I joked to Ronnie that we should try a case of it. I managed to find a bottle of Chablis and a bottle of Cabernet that were much more reasonable and Vladimir went to fetch them while we mulled over the menus. The four of us had a wonderful time talking and dined in what was the most unique and elegant meal that Rose Lane and I have had so far on the tour. My sea bream was amazing, and Ronnie and Rose Lane couldn’t resist ordering the beef and venison Stroganoff respectively. I think Kat had the same fish that I did. Vladimir and his staff took good care of us throughout the evening.

Not long after we first sat down the Wood family and those accompanying them came in. Rose Lane was sitting facing their room and waved to them as they arrived and took their places. After our meal we walked in to say hello to them…all talking about how amazing this place and the meal was.
Vladimir asked us if we’d like a little tour of the place, and of course we took him up on the offer. He showed us the Stroganoff family portraits, explaining who was who and giving us some history. He told us that one of the ways they made their fortune was in the salt business…way back in their day quite a lot of the food was preserved with salt, and the Stroganoffs had a lock on the market. He also took us down to the wine cellar…and showed us a couple of secret rooms that were behind walls with wine racks. They were revealed as he opened the entire rack of wine…the first into a sitting room with a couple of sofas and some puffy chairs as well as other furniture inside. Another secret room was a bedroom, nicely appointed. He told us that these rooms could be rented…for a thousand Euros per night. By then the Wood family had finished their meal and had joined us…and we all had fun gawking at the place.

Ronnie and Kat walked with us back to our hotel (they were staying at a different place, the Grand Hotel) and we went to the bar, ordering some Armeganac for after dinner drinks and talked about the fun we’d just had and the fun that was to come in the days ahead before we said goodnight to each other.

7/28

In the morning we checked our newsletter and saw that there would be a party after the show for Keith’s daughter Alex, who was turning 21. That sounded like fun. While we drank our java and got our day going, I went online and did emails and checked the weather back home, hoping to hear of some rain. It looked like we may have gotten some and I sent and email to Mike back home to inquire. However, he later replied that it had gone around us and we’d missed it. Too bad, as I know we could use some…he said it had been three weeks since any fell. Skoots Lyndon had sent me some more pictures of the progress of our renovation, and it looked like they were doing well. Both fireplaces and chimneys were finished and they were starting on a roof over our Great Room. After a time I went to the gym for exercise while Rose Lane did her computer work. It was raining off and on all day…. and I couldn’t help but think of our crew having to deal with that. Soon it was time for me to go to the gig…. I went down early so I could do some demos of a couple of songs in my dressing room for the guys that will be playing with me on my German shows. Most of the songs I was able to get to them via previous recordings, but there were two that there were no versions of that I needed to do for them. It was a bit difficult, as there was quite a lot of noise and distraction with the crew still setting up and people coming in and out of the tent rooms that were our digs for the day. But I managed to get some crude but usable versions of them down on my little digital recorder and made MP3s out of them that I could email to the guys. I made it to the Rattlesnake after that to eat something and then made up the set list, anticipating what Mick would want to do and giving him a few choices in places.

This will probably be the last show where we’ll stick to the “greatest hits” standard set, and I look forward to mixing it up at least some in the next few cities.
With all that behind me I went back to the RI to see our guests. I spent as much time as I could with them, making the rounds and doing the social duties. Keith wanted to have a little warm up of playing in his room, so we all gathered there where we ran over “Little T & A”. His daughter Alex had requested it for her birthday, and he wanted to oblige. That went fine and we also ran over “She’s So Cold” which I had put in and that we haven’t done in a few shows…with Bernard doing the vocal duties. After that I made one last visit to the Rattlesnake for final visits with our friends. The rain had continued to come and go, but seemed to be slacking up more as time came closer for us to hit the stage.
When we did finally go on…to about 40,000 in the audience…. there was a beautiful rainbow off to the right side of the stage, to my left.

It made for an amazing site to look out and see all the people in the Square, the Hermitage to our right, and the rainbow arching over the The General Staff building and the Alexander Column in front of us. Although there were some heavy clouds above, luckily the rain held off throughout our set.

I have to say that I believe it was one of the best shows of the tour so far….and certainly the setting made it one of the most memorable. It was light for most of the performance….dimming ever so slightly up until the last three or so songs when it finally went into nightfall. I believe this show will live in the memories off all that were there….I know I’ll never forget it!
After taking our bows and being hustled back to the Astoria, Rose Lane and I made ready to go to Alex’s party. There was transportation leaving just past midnight going to a club called “Decadence”, no doubt appropriately named. We were amongst the first to leave, and while our driver got lost a bit on the way, we finally arrived close to 1am. The club was downstairs and all had been neatly set up…. tables, a couple of huge buffet offerings of fine caviar, hors d’oeuvres, fruit and of course a couple of bars. Oddly the bars only offered vodka or champagne…I started with the latter and graduated to the former, careful not to overdo it! There was music playing as we came in..surprisingly at a reasonable volume. I have to admit that we hate going to these places with loud and intrusive dance music being pumped at “volume 11”…especially after playing a show. Rose Lane and I enjoyed some caviar and the other offerings, settling down at a table after a time. It wasn’t long before we were joined by Chris Jagger, Mick’s brother. He and his wife Carrie sat with us a little while before going off to another table further back. Chris had injured his knee somehow recently and was walking with a cane, obviously in some discomfort. Still, we had a nice chat before they changed tables. Other guests were arriving and the party began to flow. We made rounds speaking to many folks. My old pal Matt Clifford was there, and we had a nice time together with him for a bit, Keith and all the family arrived taking seats at a table that had been reserved for them, and in due course the affair was in full swing.

Jane Rose whispered to us that there was some “entertainment” planned. We couldn’t guess what it could be….but didn’t have to wait long to find out. Soon about 20 or so men paraded in to some traditional Russian music, all dressed in bright red and black Cossack garb and (including the big black furry hats) carrying swords…and one carrying a small golden colored wooden cannon. They proceeded to line up, singing and dancing, clapping their hands to the music. The dancing progressed to athletic proportions….with them jumping over their swords, doing the fast spins and low leg kicks that is typical Russian. It all went on quite a while, getting wilder and wilder by the minute….and was so much fun to watch. They were all quite good….but especially the fellow that looked to be the leader….a short guy with a large mustache that really danced well Eventually they got Alex into the act, and she seemed to be loving the challenge….we all certainly loved watching this wacky and wonderful scene. The grand finale was when they shot off the cannon with a big “pow!” and gray smoke billowed out. Entertaining it certainly was, and we all got caught up in the celebration and the moment…everyone clapping and laughing at it all. Great fun!
Not long after the Cossacks paraded back out we went to say happy birthday to Alex and paraded out ourselves, exhausted but with big smiles on our faces. What a day!

7/29

Party, party, party! Tonight is the party for Mick that L’Wren has arranged. Whew, gotta get my “party chops” up! But before that, we are meeting up with several members of our group to go to the Hermitage. Shelley Lazar had arranged a tour for us, and those of us that signed on met downstairs at 12:30 to go. Supposedly there were some 40 or so that had said they would go, but when it came time to meet, it turned out to only be less than half of that. No matter, we were all happy to be able to go, and got on a nice big bus for the short ride there. We were escorted inside and then split up into three groups with English speaking guides for each. Rose Lane and I were with our tour Doctor, Brad Connor, and his wife Sharon and son David.

Our guide was a very knowledgeable lady named Irene, and she led us to the first room, explaining the history of the building (or rather buildings…there were several as through they years it has been expanded) and giving details about the amazing collection of art, furniture, and other collectables throughout. We were awestruck with all of it…and of course there was way too much to try and see it all in the short hour and a half that we had to spend there. We had hoped to see the section that housed the jewels…but unfortunately it wasn’t part of our tour.

There were several standouts…. the collection of Matisse, Monet and other Impressionist painters…but also other Masters such as Goya, Reubens, Velázquez and many more…and two Leonardo da Vinci Madonna paintings. There was an amazing special clock that is difficult to describe…but is made up of several gold animal statuary figures…the largest being a peacock, but also including a rooster, an owl, a squirrel and other figures…. we were told that when it chimes on the hour that the figures move…the peacock spreading his feathers and moving his head and the cock crowing the hour. The whole thing stood about six feet tall or so and even though it was shut off not allowing us to see it chime, it was just awesome to behold. My World Book offered this synopsis of the Hermitage and the city of St. Petersburg:

Hermitage is a famous art museum that stands in the center of St. Petersburg, Russia. The complex of buildings forms the largest museum in Russia. Part of the collection is housed in the former Winter Palace, once the home of the czars of Russia and a building important in Russian history.
The official name of the museum is the State Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage extends about 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometer) along the banks of the Neva River. The museum has almost 400 rooms, with about 3 million works of art from different civilizations, historical periods, countries, and peoples. The Hermitage is internationally known for its collection of European old master paintings. It also has outstanding collections of classical antiquities as well as wide-ranging collections of Russian art and the art of the Far East.
Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli designed the exterior of the Winter Palace in the late Baroque style of the 1700’s. The palace was built between 1754 and 1762 on a site where several earlier palaces had stood. The interior was designed during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, primarily in the Classical style.
Czar Peter III became the first resident of the Winter Palace. After overthrowing the czar in 1762, Empress Catherine the Great lived there until her death in 1796. Catherine founded the art collection when she imported about 225 paintings by Dutch and Flemish artists in 1764 to decorate rooms in the palace. Catherine had a long, narrow building, called the Little Hermitage, built along the west side of the Winter Palace from 1764 to 1767. The building soon housed much of the imperial art collection. From the mid-1700’s to the mid-1800’s, several more buildings were added to the palace complex.
During the October Revolution of 1917, the Hermitage was the headquarters of the provisional Russian government. Between 1917 and 1922, the Winter Palace and the other Hermitage buildings were converted into a state museum.

Saint Petersburg (pop. 4,695,400), formerly Leningrad, is Russia’s second largest city. Only Moscow, the capital, has more people. St. Petersburg is a major Russian port and one of the world’s leading industrial and cultural centers. The city lays in northwestern Russia, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea.
St. Petersburg was the first Russian city built in imitation of western European cities. Its magnificent palaces, handsome public buildings, and wide public squares resemble those of such cities as London, Paris, and Vienna. In the early 1800’s, a commission that included noted Italian architect Carlo Rossi established a design for the center of the city that includes a series of squares.
The city has had three names. Czar Peter I (the Great) founded it in 1703 as St. Petersburg. After Russia went to war against Germany in 1914, at the start of World War I, the name was changed to Petrograd. The country’s officials chose this name, which means Peter’s City in Russian, to get rid of the German ending burg. In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed under the leadership of Russia. In 1924, the Soviet Union’s Communist government renamed the city in honor of V. I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Communist Party. In 1991–as Communist influence in the Soviet Union declined–the people of the city voted in a nonbinding referendum to restore the name St. Petersburg. In September 1991, the Soviet government officially approved the name change. In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Russia became an independent nation.
The city lies on a marshy lowland where the Neva River empties into the Gulf of Finland, at about 60° north latitude. Because of its far northern location, St. Petersburg has very short periods of daylight in winter. For about three weeks in June, it has “white nights,” during which the sky is never completely dark.
The center of St. Petersburg is on the southern bank of the Neva. This area includes the main business district and most of St. Petersburg’s famous buildings. Many fine examples of baroque and neoclassical architecture have been preserved in the area, and few modern structures have been built there. The city has about 900 small rivers and canals and about 400 bridges.
The historic Winter Palace, which was completed in 1762 and is now part of the State Hermitage Museum, stands in the center of the city. The palace was the winter home of the czars. The General Staff Building, designed by Rossi and completed in 1829, stands across Palace Square from the Winter Palace. Several blocks away is the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, whose massive golden dome dominates St. Petersburg’s skyline. The Peter and Paul Fortress, begun in 1703, is the oldest building in St. Petersburg. Many Russian czars are buried in a cathedral at the fortress.
The center of St. Petersburg is surrounded by old residential areas that have stone or brick apartment buildings. Near the outskirts of the city are thousands of modern concrete apartment buildings. The western section of St. Petersburg is the chief industrial district of the city.
Several luxurious palaces built in the 1700’s still stand in three suburbs of St. Petersburg–Pavlovsk, Petrodvorets, and Pushkin. These palaces, famed for their architectural excellence, were summer homes of the czars. Today, they are popular resorts and tourist attractions.
Education and cultural life. Over 40 institutions of higher learning are in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg University, with about 20,000 students, is one of Russia’s largest universities. The Conservatory of Music, established in 1862, is the nation’s oldest music school. Its graduates include such famous composers as Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. The Choreographic School trained such famous ballet dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, and Anna Pavlova.
St. Petersburg is the home of many fine museums and theaters. The Hermitage, the largest museum in Russia, is known throughout the world for its masterpieces. It exhibits outstanding collections of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture; Islamic art; and Baroque, Renaissance, and French impressionist paintings. The Russian Museum has a large collection of Russian art. The Kirov Theater presents ballet and opera. Dramatic productions are offered by several theaters, including the Gorki Academic Theater, the Pushkin Theater, and the Young Spectators’ Theater.
The city has an important place in Russian literature. A number of famous Russian authors have used St. Petersburg as a background for many of their works. These writers include Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Andrey Bely.
The people. Most St. Petersburgers are members of the Russian nationality, or ethnic, group. Jews and Ukrainians are the city’s largest minority groups.
Few St. Petersburgers own automobiles, but the city has an efficient public transportation system of buses, streetcars, and subway and commuter trains. The city has such problems as air pollution and overcrowding. But it has far less crime than many cities of similar size.
Economy. St. Petersburg has been a major shipbuilding center since the early 1700’s. During the 1800’s, it became an important manufacturer of machine tools. Today, the production of machinery makes up about 40 per cent of the city’s industry. Other important products include chemicals, electrical equipment, textiles, nuclear reactors, and timber.
St. Petersburg’s industry and location make it an important trade and distribution center. The city has an excellent port and is served by 12 railroads.
History. Peter the Great founded the city as St. Petersburg in 1703. He had visited Western Europe and wanted to bring Western culture and technology to Russia. He made St. Petersburg his “window to the West,” a showcase for his efforts to westernize Russian life. Western architects played an important role in the city’s construction. In 1712, Peter moved the nation’s capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The new capital soon became the intellectual and social center of the Russian Empire. By 1800, over 220,000 people lived in the city.
The city played an important part in many major events in Russian history. In 1825, an unsuccessful uprising against Czar Nicholas I took place there. In 1881, a group of Russian revolutionaries assassinated Czar Alexander II in St. Petersburg. Early in 1905, troops of Czar Nicholas II killed or wounded hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in front of the Winter Palace. This Bloody Sunday slaughter led to the Revolution of 1905.
The city’s name was changed to Petrograd in 1914. Riots and strikes occurred there during the Revolution of 1917, which ended czarist rule in the country. Late that year, Bolshevik (Communist) forces seized the city and formed a new government, headed by Lenin. The Bolsheviks moved the capital back to Moscow in 1918. In 1922, Russia and three other republics united to form the Soviet Union. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad upon Lenin’s death in 1924.
In 1934, a Communist Party leader named Sergey Kirov was assassinated in Leningrad. His murder touched off the Great Purge, during which the government’s secret police killed or imprisoned millions of people. During World War II (1939-1945), Leningrad was a major target of Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. The Germans laid siege to the city from September 1941 to January 1944. Historians estimate that about 1.7 million Soviet people may have died in and around Leningrad, most of them from starvation, during the siege of nearly 900 days. The city was badly damaged by the attack, but it did not fall.
A large number of the city’s historic structures were rebuilt after World War II. The city also carried out construction projects to overcome a severe housing shortage. Large numbers of apartment buildings were constructed to meet the needs of the city’s growing population. In 1966, city officials adopted a long-range program aimed at achieving a better distribution of housing, office buildings, and parks.
In the late 1980’s the Communist Party’s tight control of the Soviet Union began to break up. As a result of elections held in 1990, non-Communists won control of Leningrad’s government. In August 1991, conservative Communist officials attempted to take over the Soviet national government. More than 130,000 people turned out in Leningrad to demonstrate their opposition to the coup. The coup failed within days, unleashing anti-Communist sentiments throughout the nation. In September 1991, the city’s Communist name of Leningrad was changed back to the original St. Petersburg. In December 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. Russia and other former Soviet republics became independent nations.
After enjoying the guided tour, we decided we’d stay and look around on our own for a while. But before continuing, we wanted to get a bite to eat as we hadn’t eaten anything since we’d awakened and were starving. The cafes there didn’t offer much, but we took a sandwich and some chips and went to sit down, finding a table in the back of one of the rooms in the cafe area. As we were finishing up, we saw Charlie, Tony King and Erik Hausch ordering coffee. They sat with us and told us they were going to see the Impressionist exhibit and invited us to tag along, which we did. When we got there, we ran into Ronnie and his entire crowd. He was running around taking pictures of his favorite paintings, and we all had a laugh that we had run into each other doing the same thing on a day off.

Rosie and I tried to get into the section with the jewels, but it was closed, so we headed back to the hotel, walking along the Neva River and enjoying the scenery along the way.
Back at the hotel we took some down time, reading and taking a short nap. The notice about Mick’s party said that we were all to meet downstairs at 9:15 to be taken to a “secret location at the appointed time we went down to meet everyone…this was to be a very private affair for just our entourage and family members…no guests. Finally we did load up, and we found ourselves in a van with among others, Kent Smith, our trumpet player. We talked as we drove towards the undisclosed location…and Kent said he had walked around the area we were in the previous day. As we got closer, he commented that there was a famous place nearby where Rasputin had met his fate…called the Yusupov House and that he had walked by it and noticed it looked like something was being set up. Indeed, that’s exactly where we were headed. We pulled up to the front and entered the place, which has been totally restored and is one of the most elegant and amazing houses of it’s kind in the city. As we walked up the beautiful marble stairs, Mick and L’Wren were greeting everyone…. and some of the staff that was there directed us to walk around the halls so that we could see some of the restored rooms. Truly beautifully appointed, mostly in all original furniture, it was very impressive. We all relaxed and marveled at the fine house we were in, enjoying each other’s company. We spied a nice looking gentleman dressed in a purple suit that we didn’t recognize…and soon he came up to us and introduced himself. He was the famous lyricist Tim Rice. He was as nice as he could be and seemed to know a good bit of my work, which was more than flattering considering his amazing career. Among other great songs and projects, he did all the lyrics for the songs of the Lion King, with Elton John doing the music. We had a very nice conversation and he told us about some of the new projects he was working on. I also ran in to Tom, a well-known poet and playwright that I had met last year in Porto, Portugal during our tour. We had hit it off and had a good conversation back then. He is also a friend of Mick’s, and it was great to see him here and to talk a while. Later gymnasts, ballerinas and traditional Russian Folk Musicians entertained us and there was dancing in the courtyard
. Rose Lane and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole affair, but chose to leave after an hour or so. It really was quite a party, and hats off to L’Wren and all involved in planning and executing it! Mick was certainly feted in regal style.

Notes on the Yusupov Palace:

The Yusupov Palace, a unique historical landmark of federal importance showcasing architectural trends from the 18th through 20th centuries, has been rightfully acclaimed as the “encyclopedia” of St. Petersburg aristocratic interior design.
The history of the palace and surrounding estate dates back to the epoch of Peter the Great, who founded St. Petersburg as his brave new Russian capital. The palace and estate took nearly 200 years to acquire its present shape with contributions from the best architectural talent of the time: J.-B. Vallain de la Motte, A.M. Mikhailov 2nd, B. Simone, H. Monigetti, W. Kennel, A. Stepanov, A, Vaitens, and A. Beloborodov.
Five generations of Russia’s elite aristocratic dynasty, the Yusupovs, owned the palace between 1830 and 1917. Many of Russia and St. Petersburg’s historical highlights were associated with the Yusupov family nest on the Moika.
The palace went down in Russian history as the place where the mysterious monk Grigory Rasputin was assassinated, a Siberian peasant who became the spiritual mentor and friend of Nicholas II and the Royal Family in the early 20th century. The tragedy took place the night of December 17, 1916 in the private annex of the young Prince Felix Yusupov, now housing a historical exhibit recreating the assassination scene.
In 1925, the Yusupov Palace was handed over to the city’s pedagogical intelligentsia. The palace still serves as a Palace of Culture for Educators, which in the 1990s was reinvented as a diversified historical and cultural center promoting museum activities, theater performances, music concerts, cultural and educational events.
The Yusupov Palace is one of the few aristocratic mansions still in existence in St. Petersburg that have retained both their bold facade suites, and their less glamorous premises: an art gallery, private mini-theater, and luxurious private chambers of the Yusupovs, where the warmth and charm of their erstwhile owners still glows.
The palace’s magnificent interior decorations, restored through the hard work of St. Petersburg’s best restoration artists, welcome Russian and international fans of history, art, music and theater.

For more info and pictures, go to: http://www.yusupov-palace.ru

7/30

Our last chance to see some of St. Petersburg…. but being a Monday, most of the museums were closed. So after the usual morning routine we went out to find something to eat. In the lobby we ran into Lori McGoran, who said she had just come from a nice meal at an Italian restaurant not far away. She said it was just past an Indian restaurant called Tandoor. That sparked a desire for both of us for Indian food, and we made our way there. We love those flavors, and it had been a while since we’d tasted them, so that’s where we went. It was a nice lunch and we savored the spicy tastes of the basmati rice, chicken masala and crispy fish. After that we walked back towards the hotel, and decided to venture into the St. Isaac’s Cathedral, just across from the Astoria.

We had seen it every day in it’s beautiful majesty, and had not gone over to explore it, and this was a good opportunity to do so. It is an absolutely extraordinary place….and we took a good many pictures as we wandered through the inside of the Cathedral. After that we decided to make the climb up to the balcony…some 200 or so steps. It was a bit crowded, but worth the effort as the view of the city from up there is really something to behold. Those ventures took up a good couple of hours, and we went back to the room to rest up a bit, both of us feeling a bit tired.
We rested up some and tapped on the computer a little before making plans for dinner. Ronnie had told us about a fish restaurant they had gone to and we decided to try that….so I made us a reservation through the concierge for Triton at 9. We eventually got out of the room and went to the hotel bar for a cocktail before heading over. It was a very interesting place…with aquariums scattered throughout the restaurant. As you walk in, there is one under your feet in the reception area, and the walls have them in intervals all around. There is even aquariums in the tanks of the toilets in the bathrooms!

We were led to our seats, but immediately were a little uncomfortable as there were a couple of smokers sitting near us and we were forced to breath in their cigarette and cigar smoke, which was not pleasant. Plus, one of them, a guy sitting right next to us, had his cell phone on and it kept ringing without him answering it. So we eventually hailed down our waiter and requested a different table. The waiter was very accommodating and led us into a different room where there was no one else occupying space…so we had it to ourselves. We were served a very good meal there, and the service was superb. The Chablis Grand Cru made a palatable accompaniment. This would be our last dinner in St. Petersburg, and we enjoyed lingering in the private setting for a while before going back to the hotel where we went to our room to start packing up our bags for the morning collection.