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SATURDAY,
SEPTEMBER 8TH:
Up at 6 am to fly to Leknes. We had a hair-raising 2 hour bus ride. It was
still raining and the bus driver was flying in our huge tour bus – down small
winding roads with deep ravines on the side. It is such beautiful country but
not when you think you’re going to be killed in a bus accident. It also made
several of us (including me) very nauseous. But we arrived safely and got
checked in. We had separated our luggage into the equipment and one personal
bag to take with us to Leknes. Everything else had to be checked to Bodo (our
connecting flight). SAS was great and didn’t even charge us any excess. We had
a big plane from Trondheim to Bodo and landed at the very tiny airport. Picked
up everything that we needed to store and then got on a tiny propeller plane to
Leknes. It was a beautiful flight though. Weather is perfect here – cool, but
not cold, and clear. We flew over tiny little islands with huge mountains on
them. A lot of them looked uninhabited – just one big mountain sitting all
alone in the water. There was another airplane at our gate, so we had to circle
for 5 minutes. The pilot told us he was giving us a “tour” of the area and he
did. It was great.
We landed and our promoter was there to meet us. Again, super nice people. We
had a big, beautiful bus to take us 10 minutes away to the hotel. All our rooms
were ready and it’s a really nice hotel. Seems strange not to have any
luggage….just one little duffle bag with one change of clothes. But, we have
wireless internet and I have my laptop. I am very happy. Had a great lunch in
the hotel dining room (lots of salmon, muscles, shrimp). I’ve been answering
emails for hours and have several more hours to go. They don’t perform until
midnight tonight! The show will be in another hall – which I haven’t seen yet.
There is a Classic Car Convention in town (again!) and a festtent set up just a
few blocks from my window where local artists are performing.
The promoters are so nice. I realized that I met one of them in Ose last year
with Dwight Yoakam. I worked with an “agent” here in Norway and didn’t really
get to know the promoters until we arrived.
Dinner was supposed to be available from 3 pm until 9 pm, so I went down at 8:00
to eat only to learn that it ended at 8 pm! I panicked because I knew Howard
and David would need to eat. I begged the chef to keep some of the food out.
He was so nice and actually cooked some fresh food for them. Whew! Came back
up, showered, and went to the venue. It is a huge hall with trailers out back
for dressing rooms. The promoter said it sold out 5 months in advance once they
announced that the Bellamy Brothers were performing. It was once again like
“Elvis”. All the fans were crowded as close to the stage as possible and sang
along with every song. I sat with Susan and helped her with the merchandise.
Had a really nice young man who talked to us about America. He said that he has
watched a lot of movies about America and he is scared to come there! I
couldn’t believe it. I told him to come to the South and we will treat him like
“family”.
Susan had bought some “Cheese Doodles” at the restaurant where we ate dinner
last night. David said she got in bed at around 2 am this morning and was
munching cheese doodles in his ear. Our walls were so thin, I’m surprised I
didn’t hear her. After that lunch of fish (and Susan does not eat fish), I’m
sure she was starving.
So, it’s 3 am and I am going to bed. We leave for the airport at 1 pm tomorrow
and fly all day to get to Copenhagen. No show tomorrow night. I wish we had
time to drive around this area before we leave because it is breath-takingly
beautiful. I kept looking for the Northern Lights but it is too early in the
year to see them.
L
Must come back in the winter.
Jude
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH:
At about 2:30 this morning, the other bands started coming back to the hotel.
Then they all gathered outside in a “courtyard” area right below my window and
started singing and partying. I gave them until a little after 3 am when I was
ready to go to bed. Then I called the front desk and explained that they were
disturbing other guests and they needed to ask them to go somewhere else with
their party. The reception said they had it under control as they had sent a
security guard out to break up the party. I explained that I could see the
“party” from my window and the security guard was partying with them! They
finally dispersed at about 3:30 am and then half of them went into the room next
to me and started up again. So, this morning while they were trying to sleep, I
turned the volume up on my tv so loud you could hear it 4 rooms away, shut my
door and went to breakfast! Paybacks are hell. J
We left on schedule but learned that all our equipment went on an earlier flight
this morning. Just hope we see it when we arrive Copenhagen. It was the short
prop flight from Leknes to Bodo only this time it was raining. Wasn’t too bad
though. Landed in Bodo and picked up all the personal suitcases we had stored
and re-checked everything. Then we waited and waited and waited. We knew we
had a long layover but then the flight was delayed and we left late. I was
worried about making our connection in Oslo but we landed in plenty of time.
We arrived Copenhagen on time and all our luggage and gear arrived with us.
Wonderful! It is strange being back in Denmark where I was injured on the
bike. As we were leaving the terminal with our luggage carts, several Danish
men pushed past us and shoved us out of their way. I just looked at one of the
Bellamy's guys and said, "See. No sense of personal space. Or MANNERS for that
matter. Someone met us with a large bus with bunks (it’s only 20 minutes from
the airport to the hotel). Hotel is a Scandic Hotel, so it’s very nice. Clean,
new, free wireless internet. Only problem was the restaurant was closed. We
tried to order from a delivery service but they wouldn’t accept a credit card
and the front desk wouldn’t change money for us. So, the guys had some beers
and I came to my room to work. Sorted out all my laundry and took it down to
have the hotel clean it. It’s almost 2 am, so I’m going to bed. First show in
Denmark tomorrow night and it’s sold out, too. Good tour. Lindsey keeps
emailing me photos of her and Ty Herndon’s group on the beach in Athens. I’ll
definitely get her back for that.
Jude
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