San Jose

Today we played the Espresso Garden Café. It is "the" acoustic venue in San Jose. We sold out and my friend Phil who could not make it for the beginning of the show has to wait outside until they open the doors during the break. It's a great evening and I get to talk to a lot of people. Some unexpected friends show up and surprise me - Oh I love surprises, they are the spice in life. After the show we're talking untill they throw us out : )



I'm staying with Phil & Kristine and will fly out of San Jose early on Thanksgiving day. I hope everything is going to be smooth and they wait in Seattle before they cut up the turkey.

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Yeah!!! I made it. Though the flight from San Jose was about two hours delayed I still made it to the party. The food was out of this world - Iranian Jewel rice - nothing tops that and the wine is plenty. I love those parties at Sia's and Maureen's. That is like being at home as much as it can be for a German dude out of his waters.

Off days in the Café

Due to a couple of cancelled shows I'm spending most of my time sitting in an Internet Café in Boulder Creek (close to Santa Cruz) doing Biz. It's ok but I'm getting a little frustrated and am missing the performance. Just saw "Mr. Hollands Opus" for the 3rd time. It is a great movie but also a little depressing. Having the live of being a touring musician becomes harder and harder. Well let's see how it goes...

Freight & Salvage

Today we’re going to play the Freight in Berkeley. I love this venue and am trying to get a solo show for my March CA tour. The drive is beautiful and the sunshine is soothing and makes me think about my flight back to Seattle on Thanksgiving. Well, I have enough days left to collect some more bags of it to bring back home.
We get there early enough to hang out and relax. Tessa is our favorite sound engineer and does the sound check in less than 10 minutes. I have always butterflies in my stomach when i play the Freight. Well, there are a lot of great artists that play here any day of the week. It’s a great show and we have enough people to make it a successful Saturday. After that we all have a beer and a pizza at the “Lanesplitter”. Jamie and me stay at a friends house in Oakland and pretty much crash right when we get there. We got to get up early for a workshop back at the Freight.

Sebastepol

The drive from Boulder Creek up to Sebastepol is a mess! There are just too many cars around and it makes me wonder how the Bay Area will look in 20 years - well, I better not dwell on that and enjoy the sunshine in November. It’s really hot which is quite unusual for that time of the year. My favorite part is as always going over the Golden Gate Bridge. Amazing to think that they built it in the 30s.
We stay with friends in Sebastepol and just arrive in time for dinner. After that we drive out to the Occidental Church where the show is going to be. I love this little church and the sound is just terrific. It’s a pretty good show and lots of people come up to me and get a CD and talk. That is just the best part of it. I love to get to know the audience.

Boulder Creek

Today was an off day that I spend in the woods close to Boulder Creek, CA
My friend Susan has a big house there and has been a great host now for several years. It really feels like coming home and I’m thankful for that.
I spend a lot of hours at the Rainbow Café. They have great Bagels, a drip bar with Organic Peruvian Coffee and free Internet. It’s great to be able to work from the road and I can’t imagine how I did before that.
In the evening we cooks a big dinner and Jamie, Susan and me sit have a great dinner and good conversations until we retire. Tomorrow it’s going to be an early start to Santa Rosa.

Seattle - San Jose - Berkeley

I get up pretty early to be at the airport at 8am. The check in is fast but somehow my gear bag seems to be the problem and security turns it inside out. The plane has problems with the cabin pressure and so our flight is about 2h late. I’m half asleep and don’t bother. Jamie picks me up in San Jose and we drive to Berkeley for dinner.

here is a pic from the Berkeley Hills



Tonight is a contra dance and I’m looking forward to it. I talked to Evo and he will come by. He’s teaching in Martinez, about 40 minutes North East from Berkeley. It’s nice to see him again. The dance is good but my body feels strange and I don’t get into the rhythm the way I’m used to. After that we go to “Lanesplitter” a pub just around the corner from the Freight & Salvage to have a night cap. The Chocolate Porter hits the spot and their pizza is awesome. After a two hour drive out to Boulder Creek I crash and fall asleep right away.

Tomorrow in California

My flight is leaves at 9:55 am from SeaTac. I still haven’t packed yet and don’t know if I'll get to it tonight. San Jose is a small airport and I should be out by 1 pm. Still got to do some Computer stuff, which takes always more time than expected. Well let’s see...