Tour Diary Day 3, May 26, 2017
I lied.
Nothing big but I brought more socks and underwear on tour then I let on. There’s the set I was wearing and then the emergency set in my carry on so all told I have 7 pair of underwear and 8 pair of socks.
Why is this important?
Because today was a NEW SOCKS DAY! (NSD™) It’s like pillows for my feet walking around in brand new socks and underwear.
And a good thing too - I did a bit of walking. Not “a bit of walking” in the Roman sense* but I probably walked a couple of miles today, down to the bridge and hit a bakery to get a traditional Cornish Pasty.** It was a butter chicken pasty and delicious. I sat in the shade by the IK Brunel monument and read about the bridge he designed that was a technological wonder of it’s time and connected Cornwall to the rest of England. I ate a cookie too.
Then I walked out on the big main bridge to look over at the IK Brunel bridge in all it’s wonder. It really must have been amazing to see this thing get built in 1859!
I made my way back up Fore Street towards St. Stephens Road and peaked in at a couple of little shops, found a present for Tracy and a card for me mum and chatted with the locals. By the monument for Major General Sir William Penn Symons K.C.B. of Hatt - I had a nice chat with an older lady walking her sons dog. She had been in San Francisco recently and went on a cruise through the Panama Canal. “They must’ve really loved this General Symons of Hatt, because Hatt is a town with one street light now, there mustn’t have been anything there in 1899.” We speculated over what war would’ve been going on in 1899 for him to have been killed in but we couldn’t figure it out.
As I walked along St. Stephens road I found myself listening in at this garage, they were in there working on cars and the music that was coming out of the garage - Burt Bacharach! How positively British!*** I felt like I wasn’t of my own time for a moment.
I got back just in time for some afternoon tea with Annalisa and I made some toast with some nice multi grain bread I picked up at one of the bakeries downtown.****
Tonght we’re playing in a school gymnasium, it’s all set up with a nice stage and kids climbing the walls (literally, it was a climbing wall!) and Peter’s band Jakku Dogs is playing and bringing the PA. Jim plays the cajon and Phil plays bass. Nice guys too. We rehearse a couple of songs that I’m going to join them on and we sound pretty good. I forget how much I like being a sideman, just playing guitar is SO easy! Make it loud here, make it quiet here. Originally it was my plan to be the sideman in someone else’s band but I had songs to sing so I morphed into this other thing. It’s interesting, when I do the sideman thing it feels like putting on an old pair of boots that fit really well, you sway side to side and everything feels familiar.
The show is sparsely attended. I actually blame the nice weather on this one. We’re in the U.K. and it’s sunny and in the 70’s and absolutely beautiful out - I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to come be inside on this lovely night.
I played first tonight and had an ok set. I used my looper pedal and my foot stomp making more sound than just me. Something you have to re-get-used-to when coming to Europe to play is when people sit and listen - you don’t have to bang them over the head with your music. It’s a holdover from playing in the states where you have to setting yourself on fire every 10 seconds to avoid folks getting bored. Tonight folks were sitting and listening and I found myself hurrying through the breaks to make sure I got to the next song quickly but they were listening to the stories and the tunes. It is a very different atmosphere.
The Jakku Dogs are great and Peter writes really catchy songs with beautiful parts, I wish we had more time to record stuff and work together. I can hear what they’re doing and the producer in me wants to record and mix.
After the show we came back to the flat, I bought a bottle of wine and Peter got some cheese, meats and crackers and we had a great hang in the back patio and even saw the International Space Station go by.*****
I’m truly sleepy tonight and hoping most of the jetlag is worn off as we have two shows tomorrow.
Word is the rain is coming back to Cornwall this weekend.
*No, not Romans. Roman. My friend in Vienna. That dude walks everywhere! Shit it is 83 steps up to his apartment!
**It’s a meat pastry that was originally made for the miners that worked the tin mines of Cornwall. It was made with a big crust so they could eat with their dirty hands and not get the part they are eating dirty.
***I know Burt Bacharach isn’t British but his music sure does fit.
****Thanks Deja for the toast tongs! Used them for the first time today.
*****No really, I took my phone out and with SkyView app - we tracked it!