Tour Talk

hey ted....glad to read up on your adventures. sounds like you're having a blast....good on you!

i'm listening to Pawel's piece now. very nice. thanks for posting. have you learned if that earlier concert was archived anywhere? love to check that out.

bummer about the bassist and drummer deal. i do hope they made some effort to contact you to let you know they'd not make the gig and didn't leave ya standing around wondering if they'd ended up in a ditch somewhere or were perhaps grabbed up by the long arm of Obama and his Interpol lackeys!

you mentioned Purim. our's was uneventful.....didn't even score any chumentosh!!

so, are you enjoying eating your way thru europe? i think i'd enjoy that part almost as much as the music.

great pics too. don't know which i enjoyed more...the old Gibson amp or the Chi town pic w the frozen lake and the tire tracks on it.

thanks for taking the time to put those up and for taking the time to share your adventures. i hope the rest of the tour proves as much fun. i supsect it will.

shalom

Can't tell you how much I appreciate that very kind note. Was wondering if anyone was listening....or if it was only irritating people.

So I've scouted out the land if anyone here wants to tour Europe. I can give you what I've learned about where to stay, how to travel, what to see, what to avoid, etc...

Lot's more to report when I get a minute. 7 hours of driving from Folkstone England to Dusseldorf Germany yesterday, didn't make it the whole way before stopping at Hotel Gulpen (Netherlands). European breakfast/coffee is SO much better than what you get at an American hotel.

Wore a hole all the way through the bottom of my shoes so I'm going shopping before hitting the road. These old things have sentimental value, bought them for my dad's funeral 2 years ago. Guess it's time to let them go....

who loves ya, baby?

oh, and i doubt you're bothering anyone, ted. keep 'em coming, please.

and for the record.....i was learned a way back when from blind willie somebody to always make sure ya ain't got no holes in your walkin' shoes.

stay safe.

who loves ya, baby?

oh, and i doubt you're bothering anyone, ted. keep 'em coming, please.

and for the record.....i was learned a way back when from blind willie somebody to always make sure ya ain't got no holes in your walkin' shoes.

stay safe.

Now that sounds like an old texas Blues song

Blind Willy Somebody, he done told me
Don't get no holes in your walking shoes
Cause at the end of the day-listen to me
Your feet will be singing those poor man blues!

Whew....2 cities in Germany took away all the depression of a week in England.

Now I'm in the second month of the tour and have my longest drive yet. Since the band is not with me for another 12 days, I'm trading in the SUV for a smaller car that I can rent through Hotwire.com for $512 for the whole month. Hotwire is the way to go when renting a car, btw.

But it's a 3 cylinder VW Punt that I will be driving for at least 11 hours today, going through the Austrian alps. I feel sorry for anyone who gets caught behind me.

I'll probably be stopping to take picture a lot but I have to go from Trier Germany to Sisak Croatia before midnight. I'll be looking for an address in the dark and hoping I don't go to the wrong place.

Tomorrow there are 6 churches coming together for my concert and I'll be putting a band together from their musicians. I hope they're good players!?




.

Knock 'em dead, Ted. Hope that little 3-banger makes it over the mountains! No snowstorm danger, I hope?

Turns out to be a 4 cylinder and I was going through tunnels instead of over mountains.

Dang that was a long drive….oy!?

I started driving at 7 AM in Trier Germany and arrived in Siska Croatia at exactly midnight. 17 hours of non-stop travel through places where no one speaks your language will flat wear ya out.

I was trading in the SUV I had rented March 6 on a smaller car to save a couple hundred bucks this month since the band isn’t riding with me now, so I went online to get it last night, even bought the insurance online, just like a few weeks ago with Hertz.

However, as it turns out, Thrifty Car Rental doesn’t accept third party insurance…and insisted I buy their insurance at double what I was paying for the car. I showed them that I already had insurance and they simply said they wouldn’t accept it. Now we’ve got a problem because the expensive insurance I bought put me right up against my credit card limit with the price of the car for a month, the deposit, and the insurance…but they will only accept a credit card deposit at Thrifty…and now mine won’t clear.

Oy….looks like I’m stuck in Stuttgart without a car or a ride and I have to be 11 hours away from here by midnight and it’s already 1 PM.


So I make an expensive cell phone call the customer service at cheap tickets.com in California and demand that they refund the insurance they sold me that can not be used. After talking to a few people, they said I’d have to talk to the insurance company…and it’s getting too late and very expensive on an international cell phone call.

So I went back to the counter and asked if I could pay for some of this in cash and luckily I could pay the insurance and car with cash (thank God I had not transferred the money like I had planned to earlier). It was 900+ euro now ($1,247) but at least now there was some headroom for the deposit on my card. So I got it and began transferring stuff from the other car and turned that one in…and it’s 2:30 now.

Luckily, I am driving in Germany and Austria where there is no speed limit on the autobahn and I was doing about 110 for half the way here and ended up being right on time.

Bummer is that just as I was getting into the Austrian alps, it got too dark to see them. All I could see were the outlines of big mountains in Croatia with small village lights on them. Bet they will be beautiful mountains when I can see them on the way out. I’ll have two days off after tomorrow night, maybe I go site-seeing here one day and then Austria the next?

Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia all have a car tax registration sticker that you have to buy when you enter the country at a gas station. If you don’t know that, you could end up with a huge fine for not having it, so that also slowed me down a bit with customs and tolls. But I have now arrived and they gave me a nice private place to unwind tonight.

Another interesting thing is Croatian radio. More than half the stations are playing music in English. Found a great 50’s station playing Elvis and the like. Another station had a Beatles marathon. Evidently everyone here understands English and loves American music?

I can tell this is going to be a lot of fun. They’ve got posters up everywhere and seem to be excited. Very friendly folks…

'Trials and tribulations of touring'. Sounds like a lot of work sometimes - hope its all worth it in the end!

With one rehearsal I put a Croatian band together that did a 90 minute concert. It was actually GREAT!

But it takes a certain kind of song for someone to be able to fall in easily like that. I have enough "hyper-basic" songs that we could pull it off. Did 4 songs solo and then the band filled up the rest of the time...we have 4 songs left over.

On to Austria where I will put another band together for one concert...oy.


But I have 2 days to go see Zagreb Croatia and then the Austrian alps on the way.

Wow...so much has happened since my last entry that it would take days to write.

I'll sum it up: Walked all over Zagreb, Croatia during the morning of Apr 4 and then all over Graz Austria that afternoon/evening, seeing the historic sites of the cities. Got a nice room and began preparing for a mountain hike the next day

Next day went to Kalkalpen National Park (Austria) and got some amazing picture after walking about 20 km up a few mountains.

Next day arrived in Linz Austria and we had a March of Life there over the next couple of days. If you have a Facebook account, there are pics up at:

https://www.facebook.com/ted.pearce.18/ ... 968&type=1


Today I'm recuperating from all the walking last week...so sore.

I go to Uerkemunde Germany, and 3 gigs in Berlin this weekend. An open week after that where I will wander aimlessly around Saxony or Poland before playing on Easter for a group at Auscwitz.

Then the crown of the tour will be a week in Hungary, starting in Sopron and working my way to Budapest before going home in one day less than 3 weeks.

My agent has filled up May so I will hit the ground running when I get back....

In the meantime, I'm having a very productive and private discussion with the owners at Spotify. It would be so funny if I end up solving everyone's problem with them without using a lawyer.

The impossible is easy, miracles take a few days....

Must be awe-inspiring, traversing all those historic lands. Auschwitz must be incredibly moving. Will try to remember to look you up on FB to see the pics.

Berlin is so cool. I got in last night about 4:30 AM and the city was still awake and the streets crawling with young people everywhere. I'm starting to think that I'm too old for this...but only when I look in a mirror.

I've played 4 concerts in the last 3 days. The band came in from Poland and we had 2 two-hour concerts yesterday. One of those was downtown on the Spree River, where the city began many centuries ago and that was probably the best concert I've ever done, or maybe ever do. Not that it was a dazzling spectacle, but these are uber musicians and our different strengths compliment each other so well.

We added a DJ for a few songs last night called DJ Klangberg...but I mistakenly introduced him as DJ Krankenhaus (Hospital). Ooops. At least he has a good sense of humor.

There are still another 4 concerts left on the tour for me in Poland and Hungary, but unfortunately not with this same band. I'm a bit sad that we're done, and may never get another opportunity together unless I can find some major funding to do a tour of America with them.

5 weeks down and 2 to go. I miss being home and don't plan to do something this crazy again in the near future...but ya never know.

I found the underground "jam" scene in Berlin over the last 2 nights and had a blast hanging out with local musicians. The clubs were full of people who were there to enjoy the MUSIC, and the musicians were actually very good. Wasn't bored at all in either night. But one thing I noticed that really stuck out was they spoke in German, but every song on both nights was sung in English. The audience didn't mind at all, and even sang along loudly.

Wow...who woulda thunk it? It reminded me of the late 70s in America. I'll post pics and some video when I get back to the states, if you want to check it out.


So now the 10 day countdown to blast-off home begins....in a dangerous situation on the Ukraine border and then Hungary.


UPCOMING ON THE CULTURAL XCHANGE "Warsaw Sessions" EUROTOUR;

Apr 20th Sunday at 7:00 PM Salem Pentecostal church Oświęcim (Auschwicz), PL
Apr 22nd Tuesday at 7:00 PM March of Life Hungary - Opening ceremonies Hotel Fagus Sopron, HU
Apr 23rd Wednesday at 9:00 AM Kickoff for March of Life Hungary Sopron, 9400, HU
Apr 23rd Wednesday at 7:00 PM Synagoge Györ, HU
Apr 24th Thursday at 9:00 AM Memorial Event in Abda Györ, HU
Apr 24th Thursday at 7:00 PM Fortress of Monostori Komárom, HU
Apr 26th Saturday at 12:00 PM Brick Factory Budapest, HU
Apr 26th Saturday at 1:15 PM Memorial Event at the Park, XII. District Városmajor Budapest, HU
Apr 26th Saturday at 3:30 PM Open Air Event at the Danube - Stadt Schopper Square Budapest, HU
Apr 26th Saturday at 6:00 PM Festival of Life @ Calvary Chapel Budapest, HU
Apr 27th Sunday at 3:30 PM March of the Living, March of Life, & March of Remembrance - Budapest, HU
———————————————————————
PLAYED SO FAR ON THE EUROTOUR 2014
Apr 12th - Berlin, DE Jerusalemgemeinde
Apr 12th - Berlin, GERMA, DE Beit Sar Shalom
Apr 11th - Berlin, GERMA, DE Goldherz
Apr 5th - Linz, AUSTR, AT March of Life
Apr 1st - Sisak, CROAT, HR Glazbena škola FRANA LHOTKE
Mar 30th - Trier, RHEIN, DE Gemeinde des Lebendigen Gottes Trier e.V. (Church of the Living God)
Mar 29th - Dusselldorf, WESTP, DE Jesus Haus
Mar 23rd - London, UK, UK Church in London
Mar 22nd - London, UK, UK 12 Nations Conference
Mar 21st - London, UK, UK Shabbat in London
Mar 16th - Den Haag, NETHE, NL Pillar of Fire, The Hague
Mar 15th - Buitenveldert, AMSTE, DE Shiloach
Mar 14th - Brussels, BELGI, BE Beth Yeshoua
Mar 12th - Albstadt, GERMA, DE Lighthousegebaude
Mar 8th - Tuebingen, BADEN, DE Polish-German Conference @TOS Church-

Sounds like you are hitting the *meat* of the tour now. Stay safe. I imagine that due to the harsh guttural nature of the german language English is the natural way to go.

I think i hate you.


Be safe and enjoy your time in the sun.