the great schwerte revival

Day 6

we felt a lot better after a great night of sleep
in our super mod Aachen hotel
the Mercure
we were determined to have a good day
and we did...
we had plenty of time to walk around Aachen
it’s a small town that not many people have heard of
a university town right on the border of Belgium
with a huge old Cathedral in the town center
and tons of charm
the whether was perfect
sunny and 70
we had a nice lunch at an outdoor café and then window shopped
through the cobblestoned streets
Gavin was thrilled when we found a small children’s carnival
in the center next to the cathedral
he rode on a tiny little train all by himself
and pretended to call his imaginary friend, Jake
on his imaginary cell phone
he also rode on a merry-go-round
and then on a huge ferris wheel with mommy
of course mister avoid danger i tried to convince them to ride in the enclosed car
they didn't
but i was ok
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
don't be afraid
it was a beautiful afternoon

we then drove to another even smaller town called Schwerte
a suburb of Dortmund
we stayed in a hotel that was old but cute
the venue was a state of the art place in a huge old industrial building
it was converted into a restaurant in front
conference rooms in the middle and a beautiful concert hall in the back
i don’t know what it used to be but it was cavernous with barrel-vaulted ceilings
we ate a gourmet dinner for free with the opening act
Nic Boray and her band
they were all really nice
especially Jorge
who loaned G a bag of soccer balls to kick around
then Gavin and Jayme watched my first set
it was a bit daunting at first
i was plopped in the middle of this giant room on a massive stage all by myself
in front of over 100 people sitting at little tables drinking
and not making a sound
following Nic in her band too (who were really good)
it went great though
the audience seemed to really like my set
we sold a bunch of cds later
and we found that the audience was full of musicians
including one very famous German musician
whose name we never quite caught
after the gig i had a nice hang out with Nic and band
plus Matthius
the hilarious publicist
we sat in the posh/cavernous restuarant and had
some more pasta
talking until about 1am
it was a good end to a great day
and really good show