Touring 2
It's 11pm, I'm in my hotel room, tired after show number 7. The band is downstairs at the bar, drinking and smoking, and tomorrow they will tell me the stories of their hang on the bus. So far, the tour has been going quite well, shows for the most part well attended, people pleased with what they heard, equipment - again for the most part - holding up.
We were lucky today. There was a sound man, whose name I still don't know and also could not ask, since the sound man doesn't speak anything other than Czech and probably Russian, both languages I have not even begun to wrap my mind around. I can politely say "prosim" and "Djekuje", and I can hawk my CDs in a weird but mostly funny mix of English and a select few Czech words, like the price for the CDs. It's my attempt at humor mixed with local flavor, and, again, for the most part, it works. The sound man had his PA already set up when we rolled in, and we didn't have to empty out the bus completely, because they have a gated and guarded parking space!
Two more shows. It is amazing, how quickly this tour has been passing by. It rushes right through me like a high speed train and leaves me completely exhausted but also happy. I'm not saying that this is the happiest I have ever been, that touring is the greatest gift to musicians. At least for vocalists, it ain't. Can't party, can't drink, must go to bed, take care of my voice, blablabla. But I gotta tell you, I have some moments during the day, before the show and during the show, when I am so happy that I could burst. And that's really all I need. Those moments, they make it all worthwhile (plus running water in the hotel rooms, towels and soap :)). Because I get to do this. I get to drive through a foreign country with a group of exceedingly nice guys, and bring my music to total strangers. Ain't that something...
We were lucky today. There was a sound man, whose name I still don't know and also could not ask, since the sound man doesn't speak anything other than Czech and probably Russian, both languages I have not even begun to wrap my mind around. I can politely say "prosim" and "Djekuje", and I can hawk my CDs in a weird but mostly funny mix of English and a select few Czech words, like the price for the CDs. It's my attempt at humor mixed with local flavor, and, again, for the most part, it works. The sound man had his PA already set up when we rolled in, and we didn't have to empty out the bus completely, because they have a gated and guarded parking space!
Two more shows. It is amazing, how quickly this tour has been passing by. It rushes right through me like a high speed train and leaves me completely exhausted but also happy. I'm not saying that this is the happiest I have ever been, that touring is the greatest gift to musicians. At least for vocalists, it ain't. Can't party, can't drink, must go to bed, take care of my voice, blablabla. But I gotta tell you, I have some moments during the day, before the show and during the show, when I am so happy that I could burst. And that's really all I need. Those moments, they make it all worthwhile (plus running water in the hotel rooms, towels and soap :)). Because I get to do this. I get to drive through a foreign country with a group of exceedingly nice guys, and bring my music to total strangers. Ain't that something...
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