Star Collector :: Finding Netherlands in Europe

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

2005-08-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

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!"

2005-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

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...!"

2005-07-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

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'!"

2005-07-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

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?!!"

2005-06-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

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

2005-05-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

2005-05-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

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

2005-05-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

Gee, Your Cologne Smells Terrific

2005-05-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Wow! A day off from driving! Can it be so?!... Oh, it be so!! Bjorn & Stef showed Vique & The Monkey a nice relaxing day at their home here in Cologne (Koln) while The Nerd & The Cheat (Ringo) did some shopping & beer-ing. We met up at the Blue Shell & soundchecked, then Vique, Monkey, Bjorn, Stef & their guitarist, Niklas went to The Pasta Bar ("The best pasta in Koln" said Bjorn & he was right!) Hot diggity was it tasty. We're thinking pasta for breakfast tomorrow! Nerd & Cheat did falafels & pizza (good indigenous German food...haha). We headed back to the gig & heard a great 3-piece band from Koln called News At Six. Super tunes & fine fellas all. Vique, again, attempted his German stage-patter & actually got most of his stuff right, amazingly, much to the crowd's appreciation &, of course, correcting his every blunder! Monkey was in fine form, blasting out guitar histrionics not heard since... well... last night... The crowd was bigger than in Aachen & gave us an encore so we did our first cover of the tour & shot "Do It Again" by The Kinks outta the Star Collector cannon. We were cheered on to a second encore but, alas, the curfew was enforced & we had to be satisfied with the previous hour's scissor kicks & crowd-love. Tomorrow we head off to Munster & Gleis 22! 4 shows down, 5 to go!

from London to Aachen

2005-05-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

More sleepless travel! Can you imagine? After exploring London and Windsor for the day we returned to Simon's flat in Windsor. The plan was to get some sleep and then leave at 5am for Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. As is becoming common on this trip, we ended up staying up with Ringo's buddies for more liquor-infused-madness and, while waiting for Bjorn to find us (coming from London), decided to just leave early....at 3am to get to Dover and then sleep in the van and on the ferry. We arrived in plenty of time and even managed to catch an earlier ferry then planned. The new plan was now to go straight to Koln where we could get some rest before driving back to Aachen (45 min) for the gig. Shane patrolled the outter deck (hoping for rough choppy waters?) and absorbed the Channel air. The rest of us slept either in the van or on deck. Oh... & for those of you who've never been on these ferries, let me tell ya... they make our BC ferries look like fishing trawlers! Holy! They' sooooo nice...

Our champion, Bjorn, drove from Calais, France, where the ferry docks, & we, eventually, after an 11 hour journey (total from Windsor to Koln) made it to Bjorn's home where we crashed for an hour or so. Then, like real troopers, we dragged our sorry butts out of couch & made our way to Aachen for the show at The Wild Rover. Vique decided to try out one of the only German phrases he'd learnt last fall, "Ein biere bitte" on the fellow behind the bar. The bartender laughed & said in a nice Irish accent, "I'm from Ireland, Mate, but here's your beer!". Turns out it was Rory, the owner; a super fella who kept dishing out free beer, cider, coffee & sparkling water to us & Bjorn. The place had a small but very enthusiastic crowd. We kicked arsche (one of the few other words we learned so far) & sold more merch. The stage was very small & Vique avoided having his arm sliced by Ringo's crash cymbal on a number of occasions. The gig was set up by a wonderful Italian-German fellow named Sascha & he & his band, Still-Gruppe, played an unplugged set to close out the night. Great voice & a great guy. We packed 'em up, rolled 'em out, drove Sascha back to his hometown & then made our long day's journey into night back to Koln. Arrived back at Bjorn's around 3am (again...sheesh!!) & hit the proverbial hay. Tomorrow, tho... NO TRAVEL!! Yeehaw! Zzzzzzzz...

Awake 'till sun up...

2005-05-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday arrived while we were still awake and the sun coming up... thus a day of shopping in London was thought to be cancelled... but the Nerd made a remarkable recovery (ie: he was vertical) from the previous evening's exploits... we awoke at 2pm... Simon drove Vique, The Monkey & The Nerd into Windsor for a whistle-stop tour where we brieflly explored the wonder at the size of Windsor Castle before jumping on a train for London. Ringo manned the fort in Windsor with the nutty "footy" fans watching the FA Cup and "drinking ferociously." (in the words of Ringo, "I sacrificed myself at the alter of madness for you blokes!!") Meanwhile, on trains and the Underground, 3/4 of Star Collector navigated London to discover another glimpse of Soho, Picadilly Circus, etc. An amazing all-vegetarian buffet dinner at a Thai restaurant and a bit of wandering and shopping. Jump back on The Tube, and back to Windsor to rescue Ringo from the ongoing madness... Still up at 2am waiting for Bjorn to arrive from London. At 5am we'll be heading to Dover to catch the Ferry to Calais at 8am... desitination: Aachen, Germany.

London! The Borderline!

2005-05-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Friday night... London, England... The Borderline... past home to such luminaries as Oasis, REM, The Smiths, Blondie... hmmm... were we happy to be there?... I would bloody well think so!!!! This club on Charing Cross Rd. in the heart of London was something we were so psyched about for weeks leading up to the tour.... and it didn't disappoint! The room was packed & the folks there gave our little Canuck foursome a night to remember, indeed. Much applause, dancing, celebratory toasting & merch. sales ensued. Amazingly, we even had some Canadian friends & a cool new friend from our plane trip, Lorraine, show up!

Of course, with Ringo The Cheat at the social helm, many adult beverages were consumed by he & his English friends & the "goodwill", for better AND worse as you'll see as you read on, affected our bass-man, The Nerd, in a most profound manner. First, The Nerd was heard to exclaim that this was "possibly the coolest night of my musical life!" As more drinks were consumed later at Simon, our host's, house in Windsor, The Nerd took a bet to down a very large glass of Vodka with a raw egg in it. Hmmm... Now the 'worse'... Soon after, he disappeared & Simon's shouts of "Guys! Come here! Haha! You've gotta see this!" led us to look out the window to find The Nerd sharing his evening's beans-on-toast with Simon's neighbours. Luckily, for The Nerd, The Monkey was right there to catch this moment of glory on camera. Stay tuned for the tour diary when we get back if you dare... heheh...

No sleep 'til Portsmouth!

2005-05-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we've arrived! Flight went well...no complications whatsoever. Everything on time. The Cheat and The Nerd befriended the wonderful flight attendant on Air Transat, Biranca, thus many rounds of Vodka and 7 later... at no cost to the lads... We landed in London with rain very much reminiscent of Vancouver... customs was lined up for Miles and Miles... we finally got through with very little hassle. Guitars and luggage arrived... almost too easy!

When we came through the gate, our l'il German Angel, Bjorn, who's acting as driver/roadie/merch-dude & all 'round good guy, was standing with a cardboard sign saying "Spinal Tap" (crossed out, of course) & "Star Collector" underneath... haha! We got a picture & it'll make it's way to our tour diary when we get back, you can bet!

After a drive to Portsmouth on the left side o' the road, we weaved our way through (extremely) narrow streets to our friend Nish's place. After a micro-nap to shake off the jet lag, we drove up to Salisbury where Nish's top-notch band, The Good Time Charlies', started off the proceedings with a great set of tunes... punk meets garage meets pop & man did they rock! They were follwed by 'The Spin-offs', a local Salisbury 4-piece who also did a powerhouse set & were really nice folks. Then we sauntered up & played the way any 4 boys from Canada who are playing the UK would... with pizzazz, a little homestyle Canuck self-deprecation & the electrified thrill o' the kill! It appears we "went down a treat" as the 150 strong who came out were enthusiastic, chatty & happily bought our merch. A GREAT way to start the tour!... a couple friends of Nish's were even sweet enough to grace us with moons (a full-on butt-view) as we drove out... they then pulled up their trousers & saluted us holding the Canadian flags we handed out & we were off back to Portsmoth for a bit o' kip. Nish, a cartographer by day, somehow managed to get us on the wrong motorway on the way home, much to sleep-deprived Bjorn's chagrin. Ahhh well, all in the name of rawk, I say...

Stardate :: May 17th

2005-05-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

One more sleep! The crew had one last practice and it was a rawk-us affair with much excitement and anticipation of our return visit to The Cavern! Everyone has
their bags packed, changed strings, loaded iPods and gathered reading material in preparation for departure, May 18th.

Stardate :: May 14, 2005

2005-05-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

The crew of the Star Collector Enterprise embark on the "Finding Netherlands 2005" tour in 4.0 Earth days. Here is where we will try and keep you informed of the adventures of the Flash Arrows Away Team (headed by Ace Face Vic Wayne).
Stay Tuned.