Quick Tour Of Germany

Today I leave Berlin where I have been the last few days going over some songs with my friend, Wenzel and his band. We are going to do just a few gigs in Germany. The only gig I know I did before was at JazzClub in Eisenach, which was really fun - like playing in a large cave. It really has one of the best collections of jazz and blues on vinyl I have ever seen - just amazing. I'm looking forward to tonight as well as the other two gigs. Then I get to spend a couple of days with my sister, Nora and her husband, Michael in Bonn - That'll be fun! I had a fabulous time with Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops at Tanglewood before coming over here. As a matter of fact, I did the Tanglewood gig, and walked off the stage ready to go half way to New York that night. I was booked on The Queen Mary 2 going from New York City to Southampton, England the next day. So, I'm sitting back stage and Cookie (from my office) hands me the ships paperwork. I suddenly notice it says something like "no one will be seated for dinner without formal attire." I look in my little flight bag. Nope. There's no formal anything in there. And I remembered that years before I had a formal western (as in country and western) suit made for some occasion. I wondered if it was somewhere on the bus at home. So we drove home scrounged around the closets of the bus and WOW - It was there! I grabbed the attire hoping I hadn't outgrown it and headed to Woodstock for the night. Took a limo ride the next day and got myself settled on the ocean liner. The next six days were mostly spent looking at fog and getting dressed for dinner. So, here I am in Berlin - a great old city but changing very quickly and becoming yuppified faster than a New York minute. Still there are a few remaining places where regular people are being themselves. It's like there was this great old town where there was music clubs, theater and young (not financially endowed) people staying up into the early hours of morning. So naturally everyone wants to come and move into these areas, except they start complaining about the noise, and the traffic. So new people come and buy up these old places, and the rules start changing to accommodate them (and their loot). It happens everywhere these days. So, I'm enjoying what's left of Berlin. Nuff for now... adg