Flying from Dublin to Paris, early morning... how come so many people
are awake, flying and being a drag? I would figure that scum like us,
business men and people without a choice would be the only ones up at
5am. The Dublin airport was packed. I'm guessing that none of us
have a choice.
One of the occasional treats we have in touring is
doing a fly date away from the trucks and tour busses. We grab a few
guitars and items that the rental companies cannot provide and knock a
show out. My error was in the difficult month of May (for me and my
family) I didn't follow up an order for two flight cases for the P
basses I care for. That meant when we flew to Dublin and then today to
Paris I was hand carrying the two main basses I'm responsible for. If
you've flown in the past four years with anything over the size of a
twinkie, you know that they will throw it under the plane in a half a
second in order to fit 3 more meweling children into the overhead
compartment.
From Hamburg to Dublin it was quite smooth and there
was plenty of room in the overhead for the basses. This morning I began
to get some attitude from the ladies at the counter who insisted on
putting a claim tag on the basses "just in case" I couldn't put them on
board. I stayed sweet but became slightly inflexable, stating I
wouldn't leave the country if they had to go underneath... typical
rational roadie statement.
I sleezed them through the gate and onto the plane
by pressing them vertically against my body and into the overhead.
Until the door closed, I stood at the ready to throw myself on my sword
or at least the headstocks of the Fenders. Sometimes all we have to
give to our clients is our word; they trust us with theire "babies" and
we usually take it way too seriously.
So, now we're at the Olympia in Paris where we
filmed the Paul Simon DVD, "You're The One", which still needs to be
remixed. Our frieghted items arrived about two hours after us and we
put the show up. we're all pretty burnt but it looks like it could be a
pretty good show; neat live theatre/room and we're starting to hit our
stride with the technical end of things even with new desks every day
and the like. Fly day to Vienna tomorrow and the Nova Festival Friday
with Marylin Manson...fun.
9:31:37 AM 
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