In Heaven There Is No Beer....

... but there's LOTS in Germany!! And it's really good too!!

Hey everybody. Sorry I've been so long in updating my blog, but I've been working my little butt off lately. Practicing for Germany and England on my own, rehearsing with the groups for each trip, traveling to Germany, playing with Tequila Sunrise and rehearsing for England some more... that's been my life lately.

But I know you all want to know (or at least I hope you do...) about how my FIRST EVER trip to Germany went.

Well the trip itself was great, but the flights SUCKED! I really don't mind flying, except when you're all piled into a plane like sardines and there are screaming kids all around you. On the way over, we had some issues with our party's tickets not all being on the same flight. So we fixed that. Then we tried to get on an earlier flight to Philadelphia and found that we'd have to check our luggage (which we didn't want to do), so we just waited in Pittsburgh for our later flight. THEN as we were getting on the flight in Pittsburgh we were told that the overhead bins were full and we'd have to check our bags ALL THE WAY THROUGH to Germany!!! Needless to say, I was PISSED at US Airways.

Anyway... We arrived in Frankfurt at 10:15 Friday morning and were met by Jochen (pronounced Yo-Ken) Vogel, one of Tim's friends. We then piled ourselves and our gear into a LITTLE TINY CAR, and drove 4 hours back to Schneeburg (sp?), which is where we stayed. The Pueschel family were kind enough to rent us a two bedroom apartment (fully furnished) for the length of our stay. They also stocked the refrigerator with food and BEER!! Czech Republic beer is REALLY good and REALLY strong!!! Jochen also took us out every afternoon and evening for amazing food and MORE beer... and never let us pay for any of it! THANK YOU JOCHEN!!!

We saw an amazing Lutheran church that was in a neighboring town. This place was absolutely HUGE! When I get the pictures back that we took, I'll post some. The gig itself went very well, except that our guitarist's amplifier kept going on the blink. Technical problems aside, the locals loved us and it looks like we'll be back... hopefully as soon as this winter.

I would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to all of the wonderful people that made this Midwestern boy feel right at home during my stay in Germany. The Vogel family: Jochen and his wife (sorry, can't remember your name :-( ), their daughter Ines (who is running for Parliament... GO INES!!), and their son Kaei (sp?). Also thanks to the Pueschel family: Jo, Hikea, Nicole and Carolyn. And thanks to Dajana Tischer, a friend of Ines', who helped me learn lots of good German swear words!!! Hopefully I'll get to see all of you again VERY soon... and this time, I'LL buy the beer!! :-)

At present I am in the McGraw family kitchen in Fredonia, NY. I drove up with Sean yesterday (12 hours!!) so that we could rehearse his material for England. We rehearsed tonight and are also rehearsing tomorrow morning before our Tequila Sunrise show at the Fredonia Opera House. Then it's off to Akron, OH for the Rock The Lock celebration with TS. Back to NashVegas on Saturday and a performance and the world famous Bluebird Cafe with Sean on Sunday night. Then I get to "relax" in Nashville for a week before hitting the road with Tequila Sunrise for a few more shows and then it's across the pond to merry old England.

Hopefully I'll get to go home to Iowa after the England trip... I need some "home" time!!

Catch you all later!!!