nourallah breaking things across europe tour '07

Day 8

woke up
fell out of bed
noticed our power adapters where all dead
found a shop around the corner
where the man miraculously fixed them
then i turned on the video camera
to tape some scenic scenery
and guess what?
no dice
nothing
"eject tape!!!"
whaaaaaa???
this cannot be true...
try again
"eject tape!!!"
you've got to be f'in kidding me?
paris in 2 days and no video camera?
this was my japanese tourist nightmare coming to full fruition
anyway
i collected myself
and then we drove to yet another tiny town
called Frauenau
we were nearly at the end of a beautiful country drive
through winding farmland
and mountains
when we happened upon a grizzly scene
it appeared that a tractor of some kind going
in the opposite direction from us
made a left turn in front of a motorcycle going our direction
the motorcycle would have been fine if the tractor had not been pulling a trailer
Jayme got out of the car and ran down the hill to see what was happening
when she came back she said there was at least one person lying in the road
and possibly another
but she couldn't tell because of the debris
within seconds two ambulances and a medivac helicopter arrived
and there was much running and scurrying to the scene
but then the hurrying stopped
they were apparently dead
we sat for 30 minutes until the fire department arrived
and took over
making each car turn around one at a time
it was sad and disturbing

when we finally got to the club
Gistl
it reminded me of Switzerland
it was really old
and unkempt
with all kinds of funny things hanging on the walls
the 3 guys running the place were really very nice
but seemed to be extremely nervous about the show
the town only had 3000 people and was miles and miles
from any other town of significant size
yet there were 2 other shows going on that night
they had also apparently not known i was playing solo acoustic
and were visibly disturbed by this knowledge
but they were very kind
and hospitable
ordering pizza for us
and then putting us up in an apartment nearby
it was cold but tidy
Gavin made friends with some local cats
talking loudly to them and telling them he loved them
he also made friends with a large stuffed elephant
that was very sweetly left in the room for him
we were at a much higher elevation than we had been before
so it was getting very cold as the sun went down
we decided to take showers that night
so we could hit the road early for our 9 hour drive to Paris the next day
the showers were ice cold

i arrived to Gistl around 8:45
and the mood had changed considerably
the place was hopping
about 60 people sitting at tables
standing room only at the bar
i guess they were all waiting for the guy from texas
to do something
now the owners were only nervous about 1 thing
that i was alone
with just my acoustic guitar

almost 2 hours and 3 encores later
the previously skeptical bartender
(and third mayor of the town)
was positively giddy about the way things had gone
he shook my hand
smiled wide
and said it was one of the best concerts EVER
that made me feel really good
it had been a fantastic show for me too
i felt like the audience was with me every step of the way
they even sang along at the end
with "hob keine angst"
aka: don't be afraid
a group of hiply dressed 15 or 16 year old kids
that checked me out on myspace
were even there
sporting their converse sneakers
and leopard skin matching accessories
i had a great time hanging out and talking with them
one boy even wore his Ramones t-shirt
because he said he saw Gavin in one online
a rowdy skin-head soccer hooligan guy
came in at the end of the show
wasted and craving punk rock
or maybe even a fight
i could tell the entire room was nervous
about what might happen between us
he shouted things from the bar at me
but i had fun with it
at the end of "hang on" i screamed it right to his face
and he loved it
he ended up singing along
and wagging his beer in the air
later
he even bought me one

it was fantastic