Thursday, September 29, 2005

Drastic change of plans

Bless the internet! While taking care of emails we get an urgent message from our agent that there was a confusion about show dates and it turns out that we haven't an off day but a show two hours from now.
What a change of plans, I saw myself already cuddled under cover with my Dylan book and a cup of tea - well, that's tour life. We figure it's about 70 miles but we probably need more than two hours because it's all one lane streets across the scottish highlands. We try anyway and leave Fort Williams in a hurry. After about 10 miles the scenery becomes unreal, mountains and Lochs and nobody anywhere not even cars.
After about 50 miles we're deep in the highlands and I can't believe that there is a show waiting for us somewhere out there bu6 the itinerary says next stop Plockton, whatever that is. WE make it in time and at exactly 8 pm we arrive at the concert hall.Plockton is a small village right by the sea just a couple of miles before the Isle of Skye with mostly tourists and weekend guests but also a great school that manages to bring out artists for workshops and concerts. Well, we missed the workshop but at least we make the concert. Jennifer the organizer is awaiting us in front of the building reliefed when she sees me waving. No time to really get ready so we just grab our instruments and walk on stage. There is no sound system, the guy that was supposed to do it left hours ago thinking we're not showing up. So we play all acoustic which turns out to be the right thing to do anyway considering the size of the room and the acoustics. We're pretty tired but as soon as it starts it's magic! The audience is great and loves it. In the break everybody comes up to shake hands and chat a bit.
After the show Jennifer and her husband take us to their home which is about 15 minutes away. Well I think it's 15 scottish minutes which turns out to be an eternity in the dark on small highland roads. I have absolutely no clue where we are. Our hosts are lovely and we're sitting in the kitchen eating Pizza and Chocolate cake until two in the morning.
When I wake up I open the shades and am completely taken with the view. They live right on a Loch and the sun is reflecting of it and you can see all the mountains, some of them still in the morning mist. I wish I could make everybody see that. There is some underlying peace in it that is hard to describe but I feel perfectly balanced and everything is good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What great pictures. Keep the stories coming!

Anonymous said...

How annoying is it that people are putting ads & spam in teh comments box?!

A last minute gig with no sound system - cool. The only time I have done that is when busking! Sounds like you are having a great time, I'll check the jounal updates. I have never done a tour, sounds like a cool thing to do. Cheers, Mark.