Friday, La Spezia Another hotel breakfast, it's free and complete but unexceptional, as bland as our hotel. The taxi arrived and we had a funny exchange with the driver who was loading the bags into a passenger seat, he kept counting 4 people total, not including himself. "Ah, cinque!! Si, si!"
An hour wait at the station, and the train arrives and leaves on time. A nice crawl across Italy on the local, the train cuts through farm after farm in the plains toward Regio-Emelio, which I can tell is a much bigger town than I had thought from our brief visit 2 days ago. Bologna is a huge city, and finally to Parma where we have to change trains. 15 minutes sounds like a lot of time, but when you have to carry heavy equipment bags down and up stairs between platforms, it's not. Also, we needed to get some lunch in the crowded station bar. After Parma, the landscape changed to hills and distant mountains, the tracks lead us through many tunnels.
La Spezia is the end of the line, and after my first and successful try at using a public telephone, we find Herve and his girlfriend Chiara who will take us the our hotel. We drive through the downtown area of La Spezia which looks lively and colorful, a great place to explore, but then we keep on driving right out of the town and it's outskirts next to the huge port, with shipping containers (Matson, Maersk, Cosco, Han Jin) piled high, and huge cranes unloading cargo. The club and hotel are right next to the port. Instead of going to the hotel, they take us to his club to drop off some equipment, but we stayed there for about an hour, not doing much. Shake has an outdoor bar and they are planning a luau theme party tonight. Shake also has an inside bar, a stage and two rehearsal rooms. After a beer, we head for the B&B, which is really just a "B" as it doesn't serve breakfast. (It also doesn't have "i" so for the first time I won't be publishing my daily update). Very modest with the cot like singles we have slept on this entire trip.
At 6:30 we walk over to the club. This is definitely the industrial section of town and we have to hightail it over a 4 lane road to get to the club, which is surrounded on all sides by a highway, an on-ramp, the major road, and an alley that services truck yards. An island paradise surrounded by treacherous oceans? Chiara and her friend Maria-Luna (who are also the bartenders) are busy making flowers out of paper and decorating the stage for "Hawaii" night (everybody gets a lei as they enter). At the club, most of the gear we will be borrowing is already on stage. I will be playing through a 100 watt Marshall for the first time in 25 years. The drum kit needs major surgery to tighten up, the only tools at hand are masking tape and Jeremy's MacGyver like ingenuity. Also, a pipe over the stage has burst, flooding the upstairs bar and there is a big drip sprinkling Jono's side of the stage. Herve is upstairs mopping up, We do a few songs for sound check, the Marshall is putting out an ungodly amount of treble. Jono is using a Fender Blues Deluxe and Jeff's amp is overdriven as well, so everybody's tone is off.
Dinner up stairs is... Pizza! More bread and cheese! Jeremy and I require a variation in our palette so Herve takes us to a nearby restaurant and we have a couple big plates of melon and prosciutto. We get back to the club about 10:15, but Pollo won't go on until midnight. I pass the time swatting mosquitos and making our first set list that we have used on this tour. There is a possibility that we will get to record our sets at the Festival, so I want to make sure we don't forget any of the newer material.
By the time Friday turns to Saturday, the outdoor area has filled, mostly with people half my age and thankfully, there is a small breeze blowing in. For the first few songs of the set, there is the usual cadre of men at the front staring, seeing if we pass the test. But the women come forward to dance, and it's officially fun. We are plagued with drum issues, this is the problem with using an overused kit from a rehearsal room, although it does sound great. Behind the stage there is a little drop and the first few times Jeremy hits his "no look behind the back china" it falls off the stage. By the end of the first set, the problems are mostly worked out. The second set is great fun, and for the first time ever people sing along to "Moon Over Marin" and "Charlie Don't Surf". Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia" gets a huge ovation, and afterwards I introduce him as a "Proud son of Italy" too much whooping! At about 2AM Jono breaks a string, conveniently during our last song, "Jack the Ripper". However, the crowd and club demand, so we do three more. It's now 2:30, and we are dead beat. Herve is very happy with our show and wants us to come back next year, but asks that we play until 4AM next time! We pack up and walk back to the Hotel, looking forward to few hours of sleep before we have to go the train stazione.
At breakfast in Forli, the super efficient waiter was quick on the draw with my latte macchiado, and so eager to clear my plates, I couldn't even re-use my juice glass for water. Think of the work I was depriving the poor dishwasher of!Jeff loves trains and is excited. I am hot and love A/C. We are both happier in short order when the train arrives on time. There were continuing announcements that a certain other expected train was later and later. Maybe it will arrive tomorrow instead? Luckily, ours has no trouble. AFter changing trains with a little stress in Parma we make it to La Spezia, where Herve, Chiara and their young son pick us up in two cars. Chiara, the child, Jono and myself make our way a couple blocks to where the tiny car is parked. It is against the curb and is blocked by two other cars behind and a moto on the side. One car leaves and the moto isn't really THAT in the way, but one car remains. The window is open and I suggest that Jono see if it's a stick. He's just about to reach for the door handle of the stranger's car when they show up with their train station passenger in tow, and cheerfully leave, clearing the way. The drive thru downtown was like some car chase in a movie. OK that's an exaggeration, but it felt pretty hairy. The cicads are buzzing and the mosquitoes are biting as we wait around the club for awhile, while Maurizio the soundman sets up the outdoor (Yay!) sound system. We go to the hotel. Jono and I share a tiny cabin-like out building. Jeff and F share a room inside off the lobby. We chill here for a bit before heading back to the club for the rest of the setup and soundcheck process. At this juncture, I make a crucial mistake and do not eat anything. I am assuming there's stuff to eat at the club but there is not. We had passed a couple of cafe/bars on the short walk to the club, but did not stop because we assumed there was a rush. It seemed to take forever to get the kit set up. It took a lot of duct tape. The upside was that it sounded really good. I had lost a cam (which didn't really cause a failure) for my pedal and this set me off into neagivieland. I has hungry and bitchy (-er than usual) thru the soundcheck. Truckers honk their approval as they wait at the signal across the road from the club. There will be no noise complaints here. We are playing through a loud PA tonight, complete with two stage monitor speakers, each with their own mix. We rarely use monitors, let alone separate mixes, so I must remind Jono that I need his attention and cooperation to get my mix dialed in. Finally some food. Poor Herve, constantly dealing with vegans and vegetarians has shied away from big spreads in favor of...cheese pizza. He offers to take us around the corner to the reataurant. Ferenc and I enjoy our M & P. I am cracking up at the Italy's Funniest Home Videos show on the tube. Pets acting silly, people falling into water, and guys getting their testicles smashed in various hilarious ways...just like the states. Cartoon sound effects, falsetto voice overs for the speaking parts of the animal bits. Hardy har. Then: CSI/24/SWAT a la Italia. These people are all way too good looking to be cops and terrorists. AFter more waiting, we finally begin sometime after midnight. The drum set issues plague the first set and ruin the carefully orchestrated transitions between songs that Ferenc has painstakingly thought out. Unfortunately, I refuse to start a song if the kit has fallen apart. Must...fix...need...more...duct...tape. I feel terrible about this and try to lose myself in the music, which actually comes off pretty well.
ReplyDeleteBy show's end I was done in and managed to hurt myself folding up the cymbal stands. My right hand is starting to look like I just pulled it out of a meat grinder. A shower and some sleep and back to the station. Jono rages on into the wee hours at the club, finding it easier to converse with the locals in spanish than english. Party ON Jono!