Mon., May 30 - "Unt Back Vee Go!"

Mon., May 30 - "Unt Back Vee Go!"

Our last day of the tour involved waiting & more waiting ("The waiting is the hardest part"... apparently). We drove from Liverpool to London in the wee hours (when I say "we", I really mean "Bjorn") & were dropped off by Bjorn & Stef with hugs & kisses all around.

We then waited... & then waited some more... drank some bottled water... waited some more... & then after 4-5 hrs., made our way to the waiting area for the plane. We then, after some intense waiting, boarded the plane & then waited for the plane to fly from London To Vancouver (another cozy 10 hrs. of waiting... well, sitting really...).

Anyhow, after some questionable Hollywood pap courtesy of Air Transat (altho, don't get me wrong... it was still WAY better than Zoom Airlines!), we arrived in Vancouver & then waited in the Customs lineup until FINALLY, we met up w/ Nina & Kelly & her Pa at the airport for our rides home. 1 more hour & we were all safe in our cozy Vancouver beds draming of Euro-sugarplums & the rawk that was now in the rearview mirror memory books!

Ciao to all our friends in Europe... Can't wait to see you again!

Star Collector in Wafflekommen & Leoderhoesen

"Scousers in yer trousers & flags on yer chest!"

So, here we are... the last gig of the tour... We're still in Liverpool so, of course, it's off to see Beatles stuff again (as we did last fall). This time, The Cheat (Ringo to most of you... but in Liverpool t'would be sacrilege to use this nickname in vain... so we'll go with nickname #2 on this day...) joins in with Vique & The Monkey (replacing The Mingler/Brutha Ad from last year's pilgrimage). Bjorn & Stef are along for the ride, of course, also being Fab fanatics of the first order (the first song on their album, fer cryin' out loud, is called 'In My Life' (in German, though) - their own take on Lennon's themes, methinks). The Nerd is off galavanting around Liverpool on his own (again) so he misses the house on Menlove Ave. where John grew up, Penny Lane, The Dovedale Tavern (where John & Macca used to go to write tunes many moons
ago) &, of course, Strawberry Fields. Pics are taken but no piss is taken out of our fearsome 5 this trip (as was the case last fall when we were accosted by a bunch of 9 yr. old Scouse kids shouting, "Wot?... are you The Beatles, then?!?" dripping with sarcasm)... Haha... still laughing about that one!

We, then, make our way back to the Mathew St. area for food, atmosphere & cold brew as The Cheat & The Monkey found it WAS possible to find a pub on EVERY corner! Vique looked on with amusement & coffee while Bjorn & Stef went down to the docks for a looksee.

Then, back to Henry's to pick up our always congenial & dashing host for another evening of sweaty rock festivities! We're playing the last show of the tour at 'Flanagan's' which is a pub a literal stone's throw from The Cavern. It has 2 floors & your Star Collector lads will be playing downstairs. We walk down & are quite crestfallen at first at how small the stage is & the fact that the room is approximately 1/4 full. The band that's on finishes their set to a smattering (insert overstatement here) of applause & quickly exit stage left... or is it right?... ah, who knows... they get off anyway. The next band comes up while Vique is trying to get his head around the logistics of how his merry band of noisemakers will set up with the drum set virtually touching the front of the stage. There are bars on either side of the drums too which will keep the guitar & bass lions at bay so they don't come off stage & devour unsuspecting patrons. The singer of the band previous to us decides he'll just set up on the dancefloor & Vique makes up his mind this is the way to go too. The place is getting much smokier, sweatier, alcohol-ier &, thank God, busier & it's starting to feel like the gig won't be half bad after all.

A number of IPO folks we've met in Liverpool or elsewhere are seen in the crowd (Jean Catharell (our wonderful www.liverpoolbeatlescene.co.uk friend), Rina (David Bash's wife... David being the IPO Founder, organizer & all around good guy... as is Rina, of course!), Henry, of course, Dan & Mark of The Rye Catchers (fellow Vancouverite buds who are playing the Festival tomorrow), Wil & Daizy (transplanted Americans who came for the Festival & then put together a wonderful website, www.creativeflair.co.uk, to commemorate their weekend) &
Vickie, a friend of a woman we met on the plane coming over, who saw us in London & made the drive up to Liverpool for l'il ol' us!).

By the time it's our turn, the place is PACKED! 200 or so people primed & ready to git some... rock, that is... & the SC boys don't disappoint! This is, as it turns out, probably the highlight gig of the tour! There are girls with our little Canadian flags in their back pockets & stuck between their v-necks, guys waving flags in one hand & beer bottles in the other, people chanting the
Canadian National Anthem (okay... I made this last bit up...) & a room full o' scousers dancing like mad fools! Vique works the crowd with his newfound freedom by dancing/rocking with the folks at the front & even sipping someone's strange blue concoction during one of The Monkey's masterful guitar solos. The gig is totally over the top & the boys finish the tour with a bang!

We grab some burgers & fries at a little place just up the road (the veggie variety for Vique & Bjorn) & then all head back to Henry's for a bit o' kip before tomorrow's drive back to Gatwick Airport, in London. Ahhh... one great rock n' roll show... is there anything better?!? Just ask Mr. Schneebly...

"Back in The Cavern, Back in The Cavern, Back in The Cavern, UK...!"

So the happy day is upon us... AGAIN!! We're making our merry way to The CavernClub in Liverpool, where it all started for The Fabs back in the early'60's!... and for the second time in 7 months!! Man, tis too good to be true...but true tis...

The traffic on the UK motorways is dreadful as the Bank Holiday weekend is in full throttle. We start nervously checking our watches around 2:30pm as we're hoping to arrive at least a few minutes before our appointed 5pm I.P.O. slot (I.P.O. is the International Pop Overthrow Festival which is being held here in Liverpool for the third consecutive year... although it's been going on in the States for 8 years now). We roll up to the gig at 4pm so we have a little time to change into our "gig-duds" in the back of the van & grab guitars, snaredrums & merch.

We arrive slightly bummed that we missed our friends, Sweet Apple Pie (France), who were scheduled for a 2pm slot. We met & kept in touch with SAP since last fall at our Windmill, Brixton gig in London. A fantastic band with great songs & their most recent album, 'Between The Lines' has been on all our CD players constantly ever since (well worth checking them out, folks!). As it turns out, they got moved to a 7pm slot so Howdy AND Doody!!

We head backstage so The Monkey can do the 10 minute string change (Vique's sad record in this endeavour is usually 10 minutes per string so he calmly defers this til the infamous "later"). The Nerd's ankle is showing no signs of pain at this point & Ringo gives a hearty thumbs-up & devil's horns to the IPO drum kit on stage so... off we go!!

We power through our half hour of chosen tunes, which includes new songs, 'TheEvil Room', 'Monkeys X' & 'Play A New Song' & the audience gives us back a whole lotta love! We finish with a blistering version of 'Get It For Free!'from our latest album, "Flash-Arrows & The Money Shot" which includes another stellar 'Nugent Moment' solo by The Monkey! The audience is noisy & happy & we're sweaty & adrenalized! ANOTHER dream come true brought to you by the good folks at Star Collector Inc. Ltd.

We decide the night's got a lotta hours left so we catch SAP's stellar set & then move on to a beer garden that is so packed with people, you can't believe it. A scantily clad young 'un nearby sees our l'il Ringo & figures he might beher evening's puppet... but, alas, she's foiled when he has to tell her he could easily be her Uncle...

We move on to a late night bar where some of the silliest pop songs ever are played one after another (ie: 'Footloose', for cryin' out loud! Yeesh...) but as our lovely host, Henry Charlesworth, & Ringo are enjoying their cool lagers, we stick it out for a while before realizing... oops... we'll NEVER get a cab back to Henry's place at this time of night!! There's a queue waiting for cabs that is soooooo long, we discuss walking the long & winding road(sorry...heheh) back to Henry's. Luckily, as Henry goes off to release his bladder from the clutches of the evil UriNation, we, amazingly, flag down a taxi! We safely make it back & catch some well-earned zzzz's so we can get up tomorrow for 'Beatles Stuff Day!" We're about a block from Penny Lane as it is so all's well with the world as we drift off... to... zzzzzzzz....

"Shoppin', Sloppin' & Tube-hoppin'!"

Waking up as our ferry docks back at Dover, our bleary-eyed crue (sorry... no umlat on my keyboard) make their way back to the van for the drive to London. Everything's fine until we hit the Bank Holiday traffic as we try to navigate our way back to Westminster so we can park & then spend the day traipsing around. It takes us hours, literally, to get back to the area near The Borderline but we finally make it. Bjorn & Stef decide they are going to go off on their own & Ringo wants to catch up with his buddy Simon again. Vique, Monkey & Nerd say "Later, Tater!" to our l'il drummer boy & off they go by tube & train to the wilds of Camden for fun & the-opposite-of-profit...

T-shirts are bought, take-away Indian food is consumed & many an "Aww man, I wish I could afford that!!" is muttered as this day off is proving fruitful & most enjoyable. Ringo, meanwhile, has located Simon & they proceed to go drinking, water-skiing (!?), drinking & then to a lovely dinner in Windsor where they are able to do some drinking. Vique, Monkey & Nerd have a nice sit-down din din at an Italian restaurant near Simon's & we all convene at a pub afterwards for tall tales & brown ales.

Back to Simon's pad where Bjorn & Stef catch up with us & we actually get some sleep this night! Tomorrow, it's off to Liverpool & the "Most Famous Club In The World" (so says their website & who can argue??), The Cavern Club!

"Hello Netherlands!!, "How y'all doin' tonight?!!"

Okay... so we wake up in hotel beds provided by the Mayor of Warendorf... ahhhh...then we proceed to the Mayor's house (!) where we lie down & sleep some more (ahhhh again) in his beautiful backyard accompanied by cold fresh bevvies provided by... you guessed it... The Mayor & his wife! Now sleeping & drinking at the same time may have proven difficult for the majority of us but, apparently, Ringo was quite used to it & caught 40 winks while
simultaneously downing "grown-up pops"...

A well-rested hour & many Big Thanx later... we're on our way, for the very first time, to play in The Netherlands! (hence the tour name, "Finding Netherlands"... no tie-in to the movie of (almost) the same name, whatsoever... well, okay a little tie-in... alright, already! A direct rip-off, okay?!?! Sheesh...

Everyone seperates into groups when we arrive in Enschede... the Locas gang go off to find fries for Niklas; The Nerd wanders off by himself for some sight-seeing & Vique, The Monkey & Ringo go off to find Pannekoeks, deli sandwiches & internet access.

We then make our way to Arris' house, our new friend & promoter, who kindly booked us & Locas In Love to play Cafe De Kikker in Enschede. He proceeds to feed us & the trading of Wafflekommen (sp?) for Maple Syrup commences... Dankevell (Thank You) is the lone Dutch word learned, unfortunately, on this day...

Arris offers The Nerd the opportunity of a lunchtime to ride one of his bikes to the gig & The Nerd, being a bikoholic of the first order, accepts with that grin we've come to know & question... He & Arris make it to the gig faster than the lot of us in the van but we manage to navigate the alley-posing-as-a-real-street & park right out front of De Kikker.

Locas plays another bitchin' set which, again, concludes with Stef's unique rendition of 'Big Balls'... a real treat for us to see Bjorn & Stef (& their bandmates, Nikolas & Maurizio) actually playing music rather than simply schlepping a bunch of Canadians around Europe! Unfortunately, Ringo cracked one of Maurizio's cymbals the previous night & Maurizio asks Ringo for money to cover it. Maurizio is quickly pummelled into the Dutch Earth but manages to make it onstage just in time to start their first number; all the while keeping a wary, frightened eye on Ringo The Beast...heheh...

Then the oh-so-polite-but-a-tad-tipsy Star Collector boyz hit the stage & rock out with reckless abandon once again. Not the busiest gig of the tour as far as turnout, but we didn't care & played a good 'un. The club was boiling inside already & the scissor-kicks didn't help reduce the sweat but I mean, come on... how often do a bunch o' Western Canadians get a chance to play the Freakin' Netherlands?!

We had to make an early ferry the next morning back at Calais, whch means we had to drive from The Netherlands, through Germany, stop at Cologne to drop off all the gear as it wouldn't be needed in Liverpool, through Belgium & through France to the ferry... Bjorn & Stef were troopers again & we arrived literally as the ferry was loading approx. 8 hrs after leaving The Netherlands...

Sleep was had by all as we drifted merrily on our way back to the UK after 5 wonderful shows on the mainland... & tomorrow... a day off in Camden & Windsor for shopping & proper food... stay tuned, folks, as we're heading for The Cavern!!

Warendorf, Germany

Benny put together a first rate soundman, soundsystem, stage & dinner for us on
very short notice when the Bonn gig fell through. (so those of you with a tour t-shirt have a limited edition t-shirt with one incorrect city... but, never fear, you can always buy one from the next run which will have the date corrected! heh heh)

Warendorf is a gorgeous town just East(?) of Munster.

- big stage, lights
- great food, great beer n' lots of it
- amazing location... youth centre right over a waterway
- first night to play with Locas In Love
- a young local band closed the set
- Shane's ankle was still sore, expecting an "Entwhistle evening."
- nice turnout, Locas played a great set...fun to see them for the first time
since meeting back in October. From delicate to noisy and more... brilliant version of Big Balls with Stefanie on vocals.
- Energetic set... Shane defies the odds and rocks like a madman... sometimes bouncing on his one good leg but mostly giving'er in the name of rock 'n' roll!
- the BurgerMeister (Mayor) is at the show! (Benny's dad!) Meet and greet and get pictures with the mayor. He enjoys the show and welcomes us back any time.
- Bjorn asks to have a few beers for the band to take after the show and we end up with a case of 24!
- pack up and stay in a top notch hotel... ahhh... fresh, clean, cosy beds... off the floor... and a shower... ..ahhh.... brilliant, yeah?
- wake up for continental breakfast... mmm.... and the big guy gets his eggs...

May 25 in Munster

Woke around noon to meet "the other Bjorn" (a fine, fine fellow from Gleis 22)
for lunch at 1pm. We were running late so jumped in a cab. Turns out the cabbie spoke no English and very little German so the conversation was very entertaining indeed. Met at Mjam Mjams (pronounced, Yum yums), a great little burger joint with lots of veggie selection and, according to Bjorn, the best restaurant music selection in Munster. After that, Bjorn kindly
gave a walking tour of parts of the city which inlcluded a downtown area with a
huge gothic cathedral. Virtually all of the buildings except one and the cathedral were destroyed during the war but they were rebuilt in the same style and it's lovely relaxing place to hang out and shop.

Not sure if our retelling is correct, but apparently there was once a break-off Calvinist movement that attempted, with some success, to ban the church in Munster... the church regrouped and arrested the three leaders of the movement who were hung in cages to die from the steeple of the cathedral... the cages are still there... very eerie. They now light candles in the cages for rememberance. eek.

Shopped at a the Apotheke (Chemist, Pharmacy) for pain killers and tensor bandage for Shane's ankle. Still tender and swollen.

Had a coffee in the square near the cathedral while we waited for Road Manager Bjorn to return to pick us up.

Destination Munster

Destination Munster
May 24

Munster is only a couple of hours away from Cologne so we decided to spend the morning doing a bit of shopping and exploring before we left. Bjorn directed Vique and the Monkey
to a great little section of town with new and used clothing shops. The Nerd and The Cheat
did more exploring on their own as well as enjoying fresh deli buns that they were particularly smitten with. (word has it they ventured in the correct direction this time and found their way to the Kolner Dom cathedral and the old town). Vique found a great jacket in a used shop... a jacket made in Mexico, purchased by a Canadian in Germany... Monkey searched for a CD by the German band Subterfuge to no avail... but saw some great indie record stores. Vinyl is still
popular and highly sought after.

Back to the trains to Bjorn & Stef's to grab our gear and head out to Munster.
Pick up The Cheat and The Nerd along the way who are staying close to the Blue Shell at the Locas In Love road manager's flat. A quick falafel and off again!

Arrive in Munster.. ask directions to the club from pedestrians who immediately point in two seperate directions... Star Collector contingent cracks up. Arrive at club and unload. Meet
headliners, Koufax, from the U.S. Soundcheck. Koufax is nice enough to lend the use of some their gear so that we only have to use drums from our Locas In Love gear collection. Gleis 22 is a vegetarian restaurant during the day so they laid out a wonderful vegetarian pasta
with salad and dessert for the bands. Top notch! Also, like last time, a virtually unlimited supply of biere in band fridge as well as assorted snacks.

Munster is a huge town for bicycles...bike lanes and paths are omnipresent and us North Americans had to be constantly vigilante to stay off the bike lanes which are red brick paths
along the sidewalks.

- stayed with friends of Bjorn, Tobias, in a band called 'Hasenheim.'
- Luna Bar - crazy busy, Shane twisted ankle (black and blue), outside nearly run over by cyclist...
- Toasted Vique's birthday w/ champagne provided by Gleis 22 & then Jagermeisters at the Luna Bar provided by Ringo's deviant mind....
- Tobias on bicycle racing the van back to the flat, looked like a great old movie