The Hula Blues Band On the Road - Europe '99
The first official Hula Blues Band Tour actually started with the Australian run in April '99. This one though, 34 days in Europe was the test. "Can 12 men peacefully co-exist in a 13 metre bus for hours on end, day after day without killing each other?" As it turns out, they can. Actually, we all knew this was a long time coming. Over 15 years actually, and the first time we played for audiences in Germany, we knew we were doing it right.
Here is a little sampling of what we did.
Day 1 & 2: Weimar, DE
We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany after cancelled flights, 21 hours of travel, and lost luggage on the 17th of June, loaded up in vans and rolled the 4 hours drive to Weimar. A town in East Germany - Home of Beethovan, and so many other great artists. Eastern Germany lags behind economically the rest of the country after the 40 years of communist reign. Government and business are kicking in though, to bolster the ecomnomy and spirits of the people and tourism is thriving. For the first time in 4 decades, the people are getting a chance to see their own country unhindered. The weather was rather cool, and on the 18th, it started raining. We played in an open-air setting under a tent to several hunderd fans, initially under umbrellas, but eventually, they closed them and just danced in the rain. I guess they figured that since we are from the wettest spot on earth (Kaua`i 's mount Wai`ale`ale gets around 700 inches of rain per year) they'd make us feel more at home without the umbrellas. The temperature was around 45oF, and steam rose from our bodies (literally) during the set. We sat around the hotel bar later that night unwinding, and our bags finally showed up at about 2am (after 2 days of excuses from the airline). Good thing too, cuz we were starting to have to lean our pants up against the wall at night. We left the hotel at 8am and drove the 9 hours or so to Gronigen, Holland.
Day 3: Gronigen, Holland - Swingin' Gronigen Festival
The Riot. Yes, a riot. We got to Gronigen in the afternon, checked in to the hotel and drove to the venue in the city for the gig. The whole town turned out for the festivities, and several stages were set up for back-to-back performances of numerous bands including 'Las Chiquitas del Sol,' a Cuban all-woman salsa band (very good and good lookin' too), bands from the Carribean, Europe, and of course - us. As it turns out, the local soccer team had just lost a match (again), the opposing team members were housed in a hotel directly behind the stage. About 3000 irate soccer fans gathered in the square along with several thousand Blues fans, and started screaming and hurling cobblestones anf torches at the hotel, breaking windows and the like. The police showed up in 2 vans and were chased off. Twenty minutes later, about 25 vans and some 200 policemen arrived in full riot-regalia - shields, bats, helmets and flak jackets.
We started playing our set, looking over our shoulders now and again (with visions of rocks or whatever nailing us from behind). When we started playing, amazingly, the crowd quieted down. We got through the entire set with very little incident, with our sound guy - Turk - sitting out there in the middle of the whole thing (occassional rushes of crowds past his flimsy security barrier shaking his platform) holding on and running the board. We wrapped up the set, headed for the dressing rooms, and the crowd started up again. The cops moved in, we literally RAN for the vans, loaded up 13 of us into a space meant for 8 and whipped outta there just as the shit hit the fan (or fans as the case may be). An experience not soon to be forgotten. That was about midnight. And, of course we all sat around later that night coming down after the RIOT!!@!!! We left the hotel the next day at noon and drove 4 hours to Tilburg, Holland and the Mundial Festival.
Day 4: Tilburg Holland - the Mundial Festival
Got there about 5pm, checked in, and drove to the venue - a large open field, for our set an 7:30. Around 10,000 people were there, and as we started our set, a rainbow rose up over the field. Just fine, we played our stuff to the enthusuastic and appreciative crowd, cleaned out the dressing room of as much beer as we could carry, and returned to the hotel to catch up on some sleep and an 11am departure the next morning.
Day 5 & 6: Amsterdam - Club Paradiso
On and on. Yes, it's true. You can smoke pot in Amsterdam and nobody cares. Ho Hum. Good gig, great - beautiful town.
You Know, I started out this story going day by day. I gotta admit, it would get boring. So instead, I'm just going to tell you a story. So we rode around on a bus. Sleeping, jammin', and of course taking photographs of everything. I shot 6 rolls. I thought that was pretty impressive. Wayne came by the house the other day with ...get this... 27 rolls of developed images. Jeez. I didn't even take mine out.
We travelled with Petra and Volker as our "guides." With the best bus driver in the business - Fritz Braun sliding us along at 100 kph, life was good.
Road manager Carey Williams
Sound man "Turk" Schell Don't have any pictures of him though.
Production manager Johnny Salvo
Merchandising and general good guy Hannes Hannish
And of course - The Band.
Taj Mahal
Rudy Costa - sax, clarinet, flute, calimba, coke bottle
Kester Smith - drums
Pancho Graham - bass
Fred Lunt - steel guitar
Patrick Cockett - (soprano) ukulele
Wayne Jacintho - (tenor) ukulele
Michael Barretto - (baritone) ukulele
A motley crew indeed.
On the first day ( Me, Patrick, Wayne and Pancho got there a day late because of airline mess-ups), in Weimar, after the four of us caught up on sleep, and got accustomed to having lost all our luggage, we all tooled around Weimar... Beethoven's house, all these outrageous sculptures and cobblestone streets. After that though, we spent most of our waking moments either eating, tasting the innumerable beers of the country, or playing music.
The bus was perfect for close in jamming. We sat there, playing, writing, rehearsing new tunes, and working out the parts for the show. We added several numbers to the sets doing this. Just wait 'til you hear the new cd. I started to tell you about Amsterdam. When we got there, we figured we had finally escaped the weather. It had rained at every venue thus far. So we get off the bus and waiting around outside for Carey to check us all in... and it starts to rain. Ah well... then it rains harder. Hrm.. huddle closer to the wall, light another smoke... then these funny little chunks of ice started to bounce off my hat. Taj goes, "Eh, Barretto! HAIL!"
Yup. The weather was following us around and getting progressively worse. But hey, we're the Hula Blues Band. Nothing could bring us down. So we just went inside, found a place to have a beer, and stayed warm till the rain passed.
I have to warn you ... if Rudy Costa ever asks you to go for a "walk" with him, put on you jogging shoes. We went for a walk ... I use the term loosely ... around old Amsterdam. I think we covered about 12 miles in an hour and a half. Slept good that night.
Then of course there is the story of the time we left Wayne behind. We were on our way to Switzerland. Fritz stopped the bus for a short (I mean short) break at the high point in the pass - about 1800 meters. We all got out and threw snowballs and stuff, took some pictures, and got back on the bus. Rolling down the road, about 10 minutes later, somebody says, "Where's Wayne?" Little did we know that that phrase was to become the theme of the rest of the tour. We turned the bus around, and went back for him... He hadn't even realized we had left. Now THAT'S concentration.
In all fairness, I have to say that he isn't the only one that got left behind. I won't go into details, but suffice to say, we now know the true meaning of distraction.
This happens where ever I go. Great people... and the beer. In all the places we stopped, we were always greeted by smiling, professional, courteous women. Stage managers, efficient backstage directors, and fans. Always good to see a smiling face you know. And of course there's the music. And we played. A lot. We played in 5 countries. 25 venues in 27 days. That's something like work, you know?
So we're in Berlin. Me and Hannes go to this show - good blues band from Africa... Kenya. We stay pretty late and finally escape, Hannes with 2 young ladies in tow (I was the bait it turns out). The next morning at breakfast, Hannes is dragging pretty good. Sitting at the table staring at his coffee, and Linda Tillery looks over and says to him, "So you went out last night with the big boys eh?" Hannes sort of nodded (he didn't want to shake his head too hard).
"You better watch out boy, these guys will roll you up and leave you pickled in a corner someplace."
"It's a matter of conditioning," I say.
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