Sean Lennon Day 26, Paris, FRA

So. Everything I've said about Paris is still kind of true, but I take most of it back. I finally get it. It only took three trips...

People respond to me in French, don't laugh at my accent and I found great neighourhoods and amazing pubs, beer, wine and food. Of course, this was all packed in to about 90 minutes...

As is the usual schedule these days, we went straight to the venue, in this case La Cigale, an Italian-style theatre, and hopefully would have a chance to walk around a little after the show. But, when all was said and done, I can say I finally enjoyed a stay in Paris. The show itself was a little more on the high maintenance side, as Paris is Sean's biggest market (sold out show, long in advance, at 1400 capacity), but it went really well.

And, in the hotel scorecard dept., this is the 2nd trip in a row in which my hotel room has a direct view of the Eiffel Tower... Not bad, not bad at all... Now hopefully I'll find some incredible coffee at 7am when we have to leave for the drive to Lille-Turcoing...

Sean Lennon Day 25, Lyon, FRA

Today was another fast day. We got to town, went straight to the Ninkasi Kao and put on a show. Didn't even notice it go by.

After the show, we stopped by the pub that was attached to the club for a quick in-house beer that was actually really good. We then thought we were getting on the bus, but a friend of someone's convinced the boss to go to another club, which was actually a docked riverboat. So, with 40 minutes to go before the hardcore departure deadline, we hopped in cabs, made a mad dash to the boat, had a half-pint each and ran back to the bus.

Despite all the running around, I didn't manage to see Lyon at all. It seemed we were on the more modern side of the river, whereas everything on the other side looked ancient, and well worth exploring. Sigh... maybe next time...

Once back on the bus, I had the tedious task of explaining Canadian politics to Americans, everything from social services to Quebec referendums... made for a long night...

Sean Lennon Day 24, Nice, FRA

Today we accomplished the impossible. We found a nice area of Nice. The old city is actually interesting, but it's a very tourist trap, forced development kind of thing. It doesn't seem natural at all, more like a forgotten French costal town that's trying desperately to regain mass appeal. No good cafes were found, and the pizza was somewhat acceptable. Not feeling like I missed much, we left at 2am to head to Lyon...

Sean Lennon Day 23, Nice, FRA

So my first impression of Nice is that it's not very nice. Hahaha... yes that joke got old really fast. It seems the whole city is being reconstructed and it's just unpleasant, like being in a giant industrial zone. Actually, it's kind of like being in Secaucus, NJ, or maybe Regina, SK. It blows.

The Lino Ventura theatre was sort of nice, but the neighbourhood was depressing. There really isn't much going on here. We somehow miraculously found a place to get a drink after the show, which really was quite the chore, but then somehow had a great donair on our way back to the hotel, which, oddly enough, isn't nice.

That's even more disturbing though because it's a Sofitel, one of the premier hotel chains in the world. The Sofitel in Munich was phenomenal. When we arrived this afternoon, the bellhop saw the bus and literally ran away, then came out and shook his head and refused to help. Then, when he realized there was maybe 1 bag left, he appeared out of thin air with a dolley, only to have us tear a strip off him and tell him to get lost, and he did so, hanging his head in shame. Later on, one of the guys saw him picking leftovers off a room service tray in a hallway... Classy guy...

We have a day off in this disaster of a city tomorrow, but we're told it might be nice down by the waterfront, so we'll check it out and I'll let you know...

Sean Lennon Day 22, Toulouse, FRA

This was another day like Madrid, as part of the "Hotels at the End of the World Tour". Well, this was a slight exception... The one day we finally get a hotel right in the middle of the action, the venue is 25 minutes out of town, and I never saw the inside of the hotel, let alone the city.

The Salle des Fetes in Toulouse is actually in Ramonville, and the only thing it has going for it is that there's a creek right out back. It's a sort of canal that was built to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, so I guess that's sort of cool... We spent the entire day there, so I got to see that, if nothing else, and the houseboats that seem to live there...

After the show, we started the 10 hour drive to Nice... There's really nothing else to report...

Sean Lennon Day 21, Uh, let's see, right. Bordeaux. Again.

Today is the 3rd day in Bordeaux. I feel like I practically live here; I'm never in the same place this long... It's a nice city, but not very big. I already feel like I've conquered it in the 3 days I've been here.

Having to work today, we didn't have time for a long breakfast, so we went to a cafe downtown we knew we could trust for a quick coffee, where we had quickly become known regulars. Off to the Rock School Barbey, and it was business as usual. The funny thing is that it's actually a rock school.

Catering prepared a great duck for dinner, and that was probably the highlight, along with moving ahead in my studies of the Russian language. After the show we went to a small pub down the street from the hotel for some absinthe, but we were too tired to actually enjoy it. It was a quick trip, and now I look forward to about 3.5 hrs sleep before I have to get back on the bus to go to Toulouse. I believe this is what they call "Living the dream"...

Sean Lennon Day 20, Bordeaux, FRA

Today started with a trip to La Creperie, a crepe place (duh) that looked the best of what we had seen (our criteria for selection is very scientific). This time it actually was good, not insane, coffee was lacking again, but the food was good.

We didn't really have much to do, so we just wandered for a while and tried to see some sights, like the reknowned Esplanade. The Esplanade happens to be a parking lot. That was fun, so we decided to go for a late lunch, probably around 4pm by this time...

See, the thing about Europe is that you can't necessarily get what you want when you want it. They have specific windows, and 4pm for food does not get through the window. It's like trying to find coffee in Zagreb after 8pm. It just won't happen. Talk about frustrating. After trying maybe 3 places, and seriously looking at a number of others, we gave up and got room service at the hotel.

We tried to go out for dinner later on, but we missed the dinner window and settled for mediocre pizza. That was pretty much it for the night; we kept it quiet because tomorrow we actually have to work again...

Sean Lennon Day 19, Bordeaux, FRA

We got to Bordeaux around noon today after a long drive from Lisbon, something like 17 hours... It felt reeeally good to get off the bus. We quickly dropped our bags in our rooms and went in search for great coffee at a great cafe. How hard should that be in France? There were streets packed with cafes in every direction. So, we put in some time and effort to pick what looked like the perfect cafe with a great looking coffee station and proceeded to have the *worst* coffee of the tour. Talk about disappointment... Against all odds, Munich is still home to the best coffee in Europe, but France still has a week to get its act together. We're thinking the UK, Russia and Israel don't really stand a chance, though we could be corrected...

We wandered the town for a little while, I was able to get some shoes to replace my old faithfuls that had fallen apart, we signed autographs (seriously), I found a supply of the elusive Grand Marnier Cordon Jaune (and was laughed at for buying what the French consider an inferior product) and then went back to the hotel to regroup with others for dinner.

We ended up finding a great place downtown, had the second floor to ourselves, had insane food, great wine and complementary champagne. That made up for the coffee for now, but the hunt continues... After dinner we headed off to an Irish pub that was supposed to be the place to be, but sadly, that information was quite far from the truth... At least we have two more days here to make things happen.

Sean Lennon Day 18, Lisbon, POR

Today was the first of three days off. Got up a little late, went wandering through the downtown area, tried to find coffee (which proved to be somewhat difficult) and food. Eventually we settled on a place that was decent. I was looking for some shoes as well, as mine have officially decided that keeping my feet contained is no longer one of the necessary requirements of being a shoe. No luck though, Lisbon is not what I would call a shopping mecca.

After walking around all afternoon, we all went out for dinner and then had to board the bus for the 17 hour drive to Bordeaux, where we spend our next two days.

In the "Europe Isn't So Differet" category, the streak of McDonalds continues (every city so far), Pizza Hut, KFC and Dunkin Donuts are almost everywhere, and Starbucks seems to surface at every major historical site in history. Foot Locker and H&M are also making strong showings...

In the next couple days I'll finally have the chance to get all my photos online, so keep your eyes open for those...

Sean Lennon Day 17, Lisbon, POR

Today was one of those days. The bus couldn't fit down the tiny streets around the "venue", so we wasted the first 90 minutes loading everything from the bus into a passenger van in a parking lot somewhere. Then we get to Santiago Alquimista, the "venue", and it doesn't even come close to meeting our tech requirements. It's like if you need an Airbus 340 to fly across the Atlantic, but they give you a de Havilland Dash 8 Turbo Prop. It was awesome. Really. It was. It only took 4 hours to do a 1.5 hour setup.

The saving grace was that their crew was willing to do whatever we needed to get the basic things happening so we could at least put on a show. I even got to do lights too. Good times.

We did have a good dinner though. The promoter made a reservation for us at an incredible Portuguese place down the street. It's the only thing that made the day more bearable.

After the show, we had to do everything in reverse, back to a parking lot to reload the bus, then we tried to go out after but there wasn't a whole lot happening. We really had high hopes for Lisbon, but it just didn't come together... Maybe tomorrow...

Sean Lennon Day 16, Madrid, SPA

Today was a stereotypical road day. We got to town late, went straight to the venue, soundchecked, had no time for dinner, went back for the show and got out as fast as possible. Didn't see Madrid at all. The best we did was on the drive back to the hotel, through the downtown area, that looked like it was really starting to get interesting, but we had to leave... Oh well...

The bonus, yet painful blessing of the day, was when I got to my hotel room. I opened the door and couldn't see the end of it. It seemed I was given a presidential suite of sorts. In a 5 star hotel. I figured it was a mistake, but it wasn't my problem, so I went about taking my shower before we left town. About halfway through, my phone started ringing. Of course, it was the front desk. And they had zero customer service skills. The guy was freaking out because the people that were supposed to have my room showed up for check-in and the hotel guy didn't know what to do. He couldn't figure out why someone was in the wrong room, or what to do about it, to save his life. I told him it wasn't my problem, but he was really lucky I had to be on a bus to Lisbon in about 15 minutes. I stopped at the front desk on my way out to let him know I was leaving, and all he had to do was get the new people fresh towels, and he just couldn't get it together. Met the people waiting for the room, had a nice chat, figured out why the mistake happened, tried to help solve the problem, hotel guy was still too dense, etc... Hopefully they got their stuff sorted out.

Got to see a little more of Madrid on the way out of the city, and got some rest on the long drive to Lisbon.

Sean Lennon Day 15, Barcelona, SPA

As I mentioned, today started far too early after last night, but we had to get up to have the chance to see a bit more of the city. Surprisingly, I've made it through the day feeling rather humane.

First order of business was caffeine, followed by a trip to the Sagrada Familia. Insane. And it's not even near completion yet. Very imposing structure, definitely worth the trip. There will be many pictures.

After that we headed to the beach for lunch, and then off to Club Razzmatazz to get set for the show. It went fairly well tonight, and barring a hopeless search for food in the industrial area around the club (which culminated with mediocre pizza), all was good.

We got out pretty quickly, but there was no real chance to go out as we leave for Madrid momentarily. Good times...

Sean Lennon Day 14, Barcelona, SPA

We celebrated our 2 week anniversary in style. It was a day off, we're in Barcelona, the weather is phenomenal (shorts and t-shirts style) and the city stays open all night. What could go wrong with that...?

We started out with a quick trip to Las Ramblas just to see what was up and to get ideas for the night. After a couple hours of walking around, we headed back to the hotel to prepare.

We went for dinner at a place called La Fonda (recommended by my sister) which was impossible to find. We went through more than a few shady neighbourhoods with kids swinging sticks at things before we finally made it. The dining experience was great, and on a full stomach, we headed out to stop #2, Bar Marsella.

Bar Marsella is an absinthe bar, and we kind of had to sneak in. It was pretty heavy. Absinthe, back in the day, was a drink that was supposed to make you hallucinate (it doesn't anymore) and people like Gaudi and Picasso used to hang out at this particular bar. It was going really well for a while, tasted a bit like Sambuca, but it did start getting interesting. There was a group at the end of the bar that was, well, shall we say hallucinating? One guy in particular was getting his hair set on fire. This, of course, drew attention from the bartender, who jumped over the bar and threw the guy out. The guy's friends didn't like this, so they pushed their way back in and started fighting. Somewhere in the midst of all this, a Spaniard raised his fist in the air and screamed something and everyone cheered, and another guy was waving an open suitcase over his head. And, while all this was going on, the bouncers were still trying to get this group of people out. It was working until a girl got pushed over and then it got special. Before we knew it, barstools were flying with fists, tables were airborne and people were running and screaming out the door.

We didn't really appreciate the severity of all this. We were innocently standing at the end of the bar watching it all go down, feeling like we were in a private box at a movie. It was all very surreal. Then one barstool came a little too close (all the bottles behind the bar were smashed at this point, casualties of flying furniture) and we decided it was time to put down the drink and head outside. We never got the chance to finish our first glass of absinthe.

Once outside, it was obvious that all this spilled out into the streets. We watched from behind the safety of one of 3 police cars (and two motorcycles) while the police, in full riot gear, started beating everyone back. Nothing snaps you to attention like a baton to the back of the head. This went on for a couple minutes til the cops formed a chain and started pushing everyone back. We also realized that we did not have our passports on us, so we decided that it was a good time to bail.

After all this, around 3am, we were looking for something else to do, when we happened to communicate with the band folk who were at another bar. We went and joined them for what was supposed to be a few minutes, but then Sean sat down at the piano and serenaded us with choice hits from The Beach Boys, Van Morrison and none other than The Beatles. Weird.

So, at 5 am, we went back to the hotel where we ended up getting into some kind of deep conversation, listened to a ton of music and then we realized it was 7:30am. Not good. We had to get up at 10:30...

Sean Lennon Day 13, Zurich, SWI

We left Lausanne a little late this morning, but fortunately after I had some great Swiss pastries and coffee for breakfast.

We went straight to Zurich, right into Abart and began to pull together the nightmare. I never had a chance to get out of the club or see anything, so my time in Switzerland is rather uninteresting. I never had a chance to buy my traditional shotglass... The club tonight did have good in-house beer though... That has to count for something...

We're sitting in the bus now, waiting for everyone to board and we'llmomentarily be on our way to Barcelona... should be good... And... we're off...

Sean Lennon Day 12, Lausanne, SWI

They speak French in Switzerland. I speak French. You'd think we would understand each other. Turns out, no so much. I got a lot of funny stares today. They don't get my accent or my phrases. It's kind of funny in a way...

Les Docks is a pretty good venue. Best catering on the tour so far, bar none. Amazing dinner, great little coffee maker. No complaints.

We went out after the show to a small bar which I suppose was "downtown", but it was hard to tell for sure...

Overall it was pretty quiet today. The club was in a very industrial part of town, so there was no wandering to be done...

Sean Lennon Day 11, Milan, ITA

After two days off, we finally had to work again. We got up early to take advantage of the marvellous hotel breakfast and headed off to the club.

The Rainbow Club is rough. It's all poured cement, not very friendly for this kind of show. It did go well though, so I suppose it's all good.

After the show we had to leave to drive to Lausanne, SWI, so there wasn't much time to hang out. I did enjoy my time in Italy though... I learned enough Italian to get through basic daily situations, had good coffee, decent food (I was a little disappointed overall...) and met some nice Italians. I look forward to coming back.

Sean Lennon Day 10, Milan, ITA

So there's one important detail that none of the websites or tour books or hotel staff tell you about Milan. IT'S CLOSED ON SUNDAYS!!!

We finally have a full day off, no travel, nothing at all, and the city is shut down. Not a cafe, restaurant, store, zlich. Nada. Zip. Nil. However you want to say it. We walked for 7 hours looking for anything. There were maybe a handful of shops open right in the downtown core, but that was about it.

We finally found a little restaurant near the hotel though, something had to give, and it was right in time for happy hour.

See, happy hour here doesn't mean 50% off wings or nachos or some equally crappy appetizer. Happy hour in Milan (at pretty much every restaurant/cafe/pub) means you buy a drink and you eat for free. And it's good stuff too, real food, so this was a major accomplishment.

After happy hour, we stopped by the hotel, and around 9pm we went out again hoping to find some dinner. At 10:45pm we found a restaurant clear on the other side of town (convenient) that was open til 2am. Not being able to be picky, we settled in for an ok meal and headed "home". If nothing else, at least we got some exercise today and saw lots of the city...

Sean Lennon Day 9, Milan, ITA

The first day in Milan was quite relaxing. We got in around noon, had to wait a little while for our rooms, but they're nice enough so it's all good.

I went out to the downtown core, the Duomo, got accosted by a street person who put a bracelet on my wrist, saw a crazy cathedral, went to a good little creperie for breakfast/lunch, and, for the first time, finally got truly lost in a city. Turns out we were a 40 minute subway ride from our point of origin. It was fun though. Got to see lots of great architecture, an anti-US demonstration that included police with riot gear (unfortunately, Mike, who was exploring with me yet again, was wearing a jacket with the word "American" on it... talk about awkward...) and we found a few cool little neighbourhoods we'll explore more tomorrow, as we have another day off!

We met up with Chris, our Tour Manager, after walking around all afternoon, had a glass of wine in a little market area near the hotel, then went out for dinner at a great little restaurant across the street from our hotel where I had an authentic Italian pizza. Molto Buon.

And During This Time Back Home...

Sam Roberts Band moved to the next round of Spin Magazine's Artist of the Year voting. Go here: http://www.spin.com/artistoftheyear/ and vote for the boys. You can vote as often as you want, you know you want to...

Sean Lennon Day 7, Munich, GER

Before I get to the events of the day, I forgot to mention one thing about yesterday. When we were at the brauhaus, we finally found out what the worst job in the world is, and we had to go all the way to Germany to find it.

There was a little old lady, wiry, with a silver afro-ish hairdo, who spent the entire night with a mop. Her job was to run back and forth between the mens and womens washrooms and mop up around the toilets and urinals whenever someone walked away. Talk about rock bottom... I'm thinking it's not a job you can really take pride in...

And so I carry on... I woke up fairly late and had to run out to the bus henceforth, leaving behind the wonders of the Bayerpost Sofitel, and believe me, that wasn't easy. We went straight to the Backstage Werk, which, unfortunately, was in the middle of nowhere, so we couldn't escape to explore on our downtime. On the bright side, it was the best crew we've worked with so far and the day was really easy and flew right by.

After the show, we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and started making our way to Milan. In the early stages of the drive, Julian (Sean's older brother, who is hanging out with us for a few days), started showing me the joys of iPhoto. I then got sucked in to the photo editing world til 5am, learning all the tricks and realizing that my new MacBook is even cooler than I thought. Rock on.

Sean Lennon Day 6.5, Munich, GER

The Brauhaus was pretty cool. It was very classic, long tables everywhere, polka band playing all night, and sure enough, beer was served in 1 litre steins. And the sausages were great. That took up pretty much the entire evening, so all in all, made for a pretty decent day off... Now to find a good breakfast for tomorrow...

Sean Lennon Day 6, Munich, GER

Today is our first day off on the tour, but I have a very important task to attend to. Last night, on the drive out from Croatia, I really wanted to sit down and watch some Sopranos on my laptop. So, I start setting up, and come to the horrifying realization that my laptop power supply is missing. I traced back all my steps, and I can only conclude that I left it at the hotel in Prague. I called the hotel but they didn't have a clue what was going on, so I set out today to find a new one.

Fortunately, this was an attainable goal. With some help from a paramedic, I found the closest thing to a Mac store in Germany and they had just what I needed. On the way over, we (me and Mike, my fearless alley-exploring partner) stopped for some food and had an unbelievable coffee. At the coffee shop, we met a surfer dude named Greg from San Diego and we got pointed towards a brauhaus/sausage factory for dinner. Should be good. Apparently it's like Oktoberfest year round, and they serve beer in 1 litre steins. I'll let you know how it turns out...

Sean Lennon Day 5, Zagreb, CRO

Zagreb is a pretty wild place. Interesting old houses, and I mean old, with a mix of 1970's era buildings. Not much that's really new...

The show tonight was in a theatre called Kino SC which was on a university campus. At least we think it was. We don't speak or read Croatian, so it was a little difficult to figure some stuff out... Not the best attendance, but still fun.

We had an extended dinner break, so we were actually able to see some of the city. The more 'modern' area, and I use the term loosely, was pretty lame, but then we walked down a passage between some buildings that had a staircase at the end that scaled the side of a cliff. Always interested in getting lost, we decided to climb.

We were not ready for what was at the top. Absolutely mind-blowing medieval village. I can't even begin to describe it. This is beyond walking through history. You're in the thick of it. There was a church right in the middle of the first square we walked through, with a coloured tile roof depicting the crests of the city and country. We went through every alley we could find, and found ancient homes, pubs, statues, coffee shops, merchants, name it. It seemed like it was all original stone roads too. It went on forever. We didn't have a chance to see everything we wanted to, because we did start to run short on time, but I would go back in a heartbeat to see it all again and spend more time there.

Munich has some pretty big shoes to fill tomorrow...

Sean Lennon Day 4, Vienna, AUS

Today was a bit of a write off... We got to town a little late and went straight to the venue, a place called WUK. It was actually a pretty decent place.

We tried to walk around a bit during the dinner break, but we were in a more residential area, so there wasn't much to see, not much action.

After the show we went to a place called Cafe Galaxie for a quick snack, but we had to leave pretty fast to make it out to Croatia (never thought I'd say that...)

Sean Lennon Day 3.5, Prague, CZR

The show went really well tonight, almost a full house, and it even included theme music for the bass player, Brad. Good times.

After we were done, we decided that Pague needed to be explored, and local beer had to be consumed. The goal was to get incredibly lost and find a great local pub, and we almost accomplished all of it.

We just started walking aimlessly and if there was an alley, we walked down it, if there were lights down the street, we walked towards them. It was pretty incredible. Every time something blew your mind, two blocks later you'd see something else that took it up a notch. It's really indescribable... The closest I could say is that it's a cross between Paris and Istanbul.

We eventually settled on a pub, had a local brew, which wasn't too bad, but didn't fully meet expectations. Then we decided to go for pizza. That was interesting.

On the way there, Mike, our other sound guy, was approached rather forcefully by a very unattractive Czech lady who wanted a piece of what she thought was a "very sexy man". She wouldn't let go... for Mike, not so fun, for me, absolutely hilarious. So we escaped inside the pizza place (not the best pie, but good at 3am), then on the way out, Mike had another very similar encounter with an entirely different lady. It was great.

We eventually escaped her, made it to the hotel and at 5am boarded the bus for Vienna, home of the sausage. And a few other things, but the sausage came to mind first....

Sean Lennon Day 3, Prague, CZE

The band is soundchecking right now. They're working on a new song, so that gives me a bit of a break to write.

So far what I've seen of Prague is incredible; it actually seems alot like Istanbul. I've only seen it from the bus window so far, I really hope I get the chance to walk around a bit tonight. Unfortunately I missed out during the daytime, but we'll see...

The show should be good tonight. The Lucerna is expecting about 400 or so, sounds decent in here, all signs point to yes...

Berlin Appendix.

I forgot to mention one of the crazier things we saw the first night while walking around. We stumbled upon a mysterious looking alley, which we decided to explore. About halfway down, there was a courtyard that had a good number of people sitting around a fire burning in an oil barrel. Weird in and of itself, but it gets better...

The people were watching a puppet show that was being performed by two men. Dressed as surgeons. Sitting in a van. The show was being projected on a movie screen that they mounted on top of the van, and there was weird German techno music playing as some sort of soundtrack to the whole thing. It was pretty wild. Not something you typically see when wandering though alleys...

Sean Lennon Day 2, Berlin, GER

We got the first show out of the way today. It went pretty smoothly, especially considering that no one had seen each other since Dec. 22. There was a good crowd at the Columbiahalle too, always nice... And the catering was amazing, very rare in a club...

After the show we raced back to the hotel to try and catch the SuperBowl. I was particularily fixated on this as the Bears were playing. We got back to see the end of the 2nd, Prince at half time and the 3rd, but we had to leave at the start of the 4th to drive to Prague. I got the bad news later that night over the phone...

Sean Lennon Day 1.5; Berlin, GER

So after sleeping through most of the afternoon, hoping to get on to some kind of schedule, we met up again at 9pm to go out and grab a bite. 

Easier said than done. We walked for almost 2 hours before finally settling on an Indian place, that was actually pretty good. After dinner we walked for another hour or so and found a bar called White Trash Fast Food, which had actually been recomended to us, so we decided to pop in and have a couple drinks before heading back.

And that concludes Day 1 in its entirety. Tomorrow we have our first show of the tour, after which I'll try desperately to watch the SuperBowl, and then off to Prague.

Sean Lennon Day 1; Get to Berlin

At 8am EST I got up to get a few final things done before heading to the airport. Nothing too major, just lots of little details, and I was busy right up until the taxi showed up at my door. It's been a crazy week...

Got to the airport, all was good, made it to Toronto just fine, then leaving Toronto became interesting. The main problem was not one, not two, but three (!!!) screaming babies right in front of me on the plane. This is most definitely how you do not want to spend a 7.5 hour flight. I soon realized I had no choice but to accept my sleepless fate. But that was to be the least of the problems...

We finally get to the runway, reasonably quickly, maybe even record setting for Pearson, and the pilot hits the gas, we start moving, picking up some speed, then, all of a sudden, the plane screeches to a halt. Good thing seatbelts were fastened, seats were up and trays were stored in an upright position... 

Turns out some of the de-icing fluid was trying to find its way into the air conditioning system and a warning light went off during take off. The problem is if that actually happens, we start breathing toxic air and no one really wants that. So, the pilot pulled over to the side of the runway where we waited for an hour and half for the issue to get sorted out.

Finally, we get on our way and somehow make it to Frankfurt only 30 minutes later than our original time. The last fight to Berlin was painless.

Once in Berlin, I met up with Mike, the other sound guy, at the airport. He, unfortunately, was without luggage, courtesy of Air France. But they gave him a nice little travel pack to tide him over til his bags show up...

Got to the hotel, dropped bags, walked 5 blocks to the Brandenburg Gate, had a bite to eat, and now I will pass out, because my day started 24 hours ago and I still have to go out tonight... Stay tuned...

Sam Roberts Band: Artist of the Year?

Sam Roberts is one of the nominees for the 2006 Artist of the Year at Spin Magazine. From the boys:

Now, we ask for your help once again! We find ourselves sitting in a dim corner of the 32-band field. We're under "International" and in this first round, we're up against The Subways. You can help us advance to the next round by going to Spin.com.

You can vote as much as you like!

Now this isn't just about one award... if you read my previous blog postings, you'll realize that the effect of your vote is two-fold; Not only could Sam get massive recognition State-side, but it could also boost record sales bringing me close to the goal of receiving a Platinum Record. Come on, people, you know you want to!

I thank you in advance for taking the time to do this. Cheers!