day five thru 13.

ok, so i've been back from england for a month and i've only managed to document days 1-4. for some reason i'm seriously lacking pictures from days 5-12. i think this was right about the time skully hijacked the van and pete d was taken hostage. along with my camera. here's what i vaguely remember....

day 5 was chelmsford where we played the bassment club. bad news was the newspaper mis-advertised the show as being on wednesday not sunday which it was currently. promoter did a lovely job of drumming up people. it was an intimate crowd but still fun.

day 6 was back to london to play the 639 hostel. wild, wild times. great crowds. made lots of friends. drank sambuca. gringos inducted swedish groupies.

day 7 drove to lincoln. visited a gigantic church and made friends with the vicor's huge cat.

day 8 drove to hornscastle. did some serious shopping at a junk store that went on and on into another realm. fed ducks from my hand. played that night at old nick's tavern. the boys fell in love with the tavern owner's daughters.

day 9, ipswich. played the railway. strange little man who drinks bottles of amyl nitrate spoke of being sprayed with "the percy" from secret military aircraft in the hills. it made his skin smell of oranges and changed his sexuality. oh the horror. i'm never going back to ipswich.

day 10 was stepneys in newcastle. great club. unfortunately, the music venue section was soon to close. this was no fault of our fantastic promoter, spen. i'm sure he's working at another venue by now. he has great ideas and a big heart.

back to london on day 11. it was the last show of our tour. and what a send off it was. we played "what's cooking". steve, the show's promotor, hosts shows on wednesdays and saturdays upstairs at the sheepwalk. he personally goes into pub on those days and transforms the upstairs into a cosmic vintage ballroom. with gold lame curtains, paper lanterns, rows and rows of framed photos of musical legends, strings of plastic flowers and lights, and candlit tables. i really can't describe in words how gorgeous this room was. we played to a standing room only. after the show, the club was generous enough to let us stay there that night. we had the ball room all to ourselves. at midnight, we celebrated jason's birthday. kept celebrating til the break of day.

day 12 took equipment back to shrimpton & rental agency. returned big red to his rightful owner. wrestled some serious hangover demons. returned to wence we came.. hostel 639. rested up. said goodbye to gringos. tears fell. took tube to picadilly square for one last pint and a bite of dinner. returned to hostel. slept like kings.

day 13, said goodbye to skully. more tears fell. jason and sam took him to a secluded resting area. we will hopefully see him next year when we return. when the saga continues....

pete d sleeps this way by choice (or so skully would have you believe).

what's cookin decor.

after the show.

jason's antique birthday stein.
backstage in london.

the party's over.

day two.

day two began with the beginnings of a hangover. perhaps too many pints the night before? nick returned offering vague excuses of a pool game gone bad and a man from slovokia. i decided to eat a green apple for breakfast despite warnings from everyone that it wasn't ripe. i accepted the challenge. lost. hangover won.

checked out of hostel at 10:30. waited outside for our driver and our 8 passenger van to arrive. an hour later, shrimpton (the driver) shows up with a 5 passenger van. and a debate begins between us and shrimpton. this is not the van we aggreed upon. there are 8 of us. eventually we win, sort of. shrimpton's company admits mistake. but we are still without a vehicle. jason, sam, gringo pete and shrimpton dissappear for hours. the rest of us hang back at the 639 hostel where we are offered a place to play on our free night. we accept the offer. rough posters are made. by 3pm, no sign of our boys. start to worry. jason, sam & pete return minus shrimpton. and we are introduced to "big red" our mercedes van of enormous proportions.

sam has now been crowned our UK tour driver and jason, his handy navagator. we hit the road. go to instrument hire office to pick up our instruments . eat some monkey nuts. get caught in horrendous traffic in london and on the M1. drive to victoria's biker pub in leicester. down some bitters. play a show while trying to figure out our hired gear. drink some more bitters. and crash that night in our new home away from home, the "welcome break" or UK truck stop.

meet big red.

instrument hire (note the cobblestone street - how quaint)

awwww....monkey nuts.

gringos rockin at the vic.

day one.

rolled into london around 11am. met up with tour-mates (gringo star) and hopped a train to chelsea. checked into 639 hostel (next to a creepy old cemetary and the infamous wormwood scrubs prison believe it or not). hopped a train downtown to pick up cds. ate a bacon buddy (sandwich) with brown sauce. became addicted to brown sauce. hopped train back to hostel but got stuck at piccadilly station. after 15minutes of swealtering heat, hailed a cab. found out later that someone thru themselves on the tracks. bad omen?

freshened up at hostel and hed out to the royal crown pub. downed pints of bitter. i have no idea why it's called bitter because it's as smooth as silk. got lost on train ride back. bought a beef pasty at the train station. made it back to 639. headed up to our 8bed dorm. settled in. noticed nick was missing. passed out.

639 hostel.

gringos matt and nick catch up on local gossip heading southbound.

the royal crown.

which way is back?

where's nick?

i'm leaving on a jet plane.

tomorrow... london!

the bags are packed. the dogs are at doggie camp. the house is empty (except for the cats - who are loving it by the way). and me, i'm just siting here drinking a glass of wine pondering what the next few weeks will hold. last time i was in the UK, i had chemo hair. a lot has changed. but jason still has that shirt!

keep on keeping on. see you in the future.