TUESDAY, AUG. 1:
I left Tuesday evening for a 3 day festival in Furuvik, Sweden. Furuvik is about 2 hour drive from Stockholm. We have The Bellamy Brothers and Jesse and Noah performing on Thursday night. Mandy Barnett and Billy Joe Shaver performing on Friday night and BR549 and Rick Trevino performing on Saturday night. I flew Nashville-Memphis-Amsterdam-Stockholm with out any problems. I can't believe it.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 2:
Mom is already over here and she meet The Bellamy Brothers when they landed (2 hours before me) on Wednesday. I got to the hotel in time for a very quick shower and then we all headed out to the park. The venue is an amusement park and zoo, so we went to have a "backstage" visit with the chimpanzees and Orangutans. Ing-Marie, who is there trainer is one of the only people in the world that can "live with the apes"
Santimo is the "leader" male and is as strong as 4 men. He is also a very lovely painter! He will also clean your feet for you, yes I had mine cleaned :)
Mandy Barnett's band left Nashville today on CO through Newark and due to winds in Newark they were delayed leaving Nashville and missed there connection in Newark. They ended up catching a flight to Oslo then Oslo to Stockholm. So instead of arriving at 8:00 am, they will arrive at noon tomorrow. Mandy on the other hand is already in Ireland so she will have an easy flight over tomorrow.
After our visit we walked across the park to the restaurant that sits on the Baltic Sea. I had the best fish I have ever had. Finally got back to the hotel around 10 and was out by 11!

THURSDAY, AUG. 3
Took The Bellamy's band over for sound check this morning then went back to the hotel to pick up Jesse and Noah for them to come over and do soundcheck. Had a few little problems, but everything worked out just fine. Came back to the hotel for a quick lunch then me, mom and Noah rented bikes from the hotel and biked into town. Gavle (where the hotel is) is a very cute little town with walking streets. We found the mall and  a great shoe store that was having a sale! Mom had to get back to the hotel, Noah and I decided to walk around  a bit more and pray that we knew how to get back to the hotel.
Mandy's band arrived at noon and made it to the hotel by 3 and Mandy arrived on time a got here about 6. Her band went up to the room and crashed.
Left the hotel at 7:30 pm to take the band and Jesse and Noah over to the venue, then I came back to pick up David Bellamy who wanted to come see the show. Jesse and Noah are his sons. Got him to the venue and mom left to go get Howard Bellamy and his wife and bring them to the venue. Jesse and Noah did a great 60 minute show and The Bellamy's of course were awesome. The crowd is great and really love the music.
We came back to the hotel around 1 am and mom and all The Bellamy's had to leave for the airport at 4:30 AM to go to the south of Sweden where The Bellamy's are performing tomorrow night. At least I get to get about 4 hours of sleep before I have to get ready and take Mandy and her band over for soundcheck at 9 am. :)

Friday, August 4:
Tonight is Mandy Barnett and Billy Joe Shaver. Billy Joe does not arrive into Stockholm till around 3 pm so I only have to do soundcheck with Mandy.  After my 4 hours of sleep, we departed the hotel to the venue at 8:30 am.  Mandy had no problems with her soundcheck and she sounds great.  After her soundcheck we were able to do another backstage tour with Tom and Ing-Marie and the chimpanzees.  Mandy, Suzanne and I got our feet cleaned again by Santino :) Mandy and her band really enjoyed the visit with the chimps.
Went back to the hotel for lunch and a very quick nap.  Billy Joe landed just a few minutes late but everything was fine. Rick Trevino and his band on the other hand were not.  They were bumped from there flight out of London to Stockholm and were going to arrive 2 hours late.  Poor Thomas (one of our drivers) had to wait at the airport all day.  One of Ricks band members was on a different flight and he did not come out when his plane arrived.  We finally figured out that he went from London to Frankfurt to Stockholm and landed at 2:00 pm instead of his original flight from London to Stockholm getting in at 5:30 pm, so he had been wandering the airport until Thomas found him at about 6:00 pm.  They ALL made it to the hotel about 9 pm.
Took Mandy over to the venue for her show and got her settled, then went back to the hotel to get Billy Joe Shaver and his band.  Mandy did a wonderful show and signed autographs.  Billy Joe Shaver is such an entertainer and we had an autograph line a mile long.  Got back to the hotel around 2:00 am.  The good news is since Rick was tired and wanted to bump his soundcheck to 10:30 instead of 9:00 am the next morning.  You can say that you have never seen me, the drivers or the stage crew so happy that we would be able to get an extra hour of sleep. :)

Saturday, August 5, 2006
Thoroughly enjoyed my extra 1 hour of sleep. Had breakfast and took Rick Trevino and his band over to the venue for soundcheck. Steve is the head of production and he is such a professional. All the musicians were so pleased with him and his crew. It made all of soundchecks run smoothly. Rick and his band finished up and BR549 came over to do their soundcheck. We were down by 1:30.
The airline lost Rick Trevino's sound guy's luggage so we ran into  town so he could purchase some "necessities". All of Rick's guys are headed straight to the airport after their performance tonight so he is going to talk to the airline about some kind of reimbursement. They are in Europe until Aug 15th, so I hope they find it soon.
BR549 went on at 9:00 pm and did a wonderful show, the crowd loved them. Rick Trevino went on from 11 and gave a great 2 hour show. The stage is outdoor in the middle of an amusement park (think Busch Gardens) and at night you of course have moths and mosquitoes. Rick had been on stage about an hour and started into another song and all the sudden stopped and started shaking his shirt out and dancing around. He told the audience that he had a bug go down his shirt and wasn't sure how big it was. Had a nice laugh and went back into his song.
Since Rick and most everyone else had to leave for the airport early we were all anxious to get back to the hotel. Rick autographed for about an hour while the band loaded the equipment up and we got back to the hotel around 2:00 AM. I am going to pack and grab about 2 hours of sleep.  
I have to say I was blessed on this trip. All the artists and musicians were great to work with, no serious problems. And of course all the people in Sweden who put this together were great and made it all run smoothly.

Sunday, August 6, 2006
Had to get up at 5:00 am to leave the hotel by 5:45 am. Rick Trevino and his band left out at 3:00 (1 hour after we got back to the hotel) to catch a 6:00 am flight to Germany. I am assuming they made it off okay since no one called me.
Was down in the lobby at 5:30 and most of Billy Joe Shavers guys were down there ready to go. I think most of them just stayed at the bar most of the night and crashed in the lobby so they wouldn't miss the ride to the airport :) Harri, our driver was also there ready to go. He had 2 hours of sleep also. I guess I will be sitting in the front seat making sure he stays awake for the drive to the airport!
I flew from Stockholm to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Memphis with no problems. We were about 30 mins late leaving Memphis for Nashville, but other than that it was pretty uneventful.
I have to say that I have  had a wonderful time. Even though it was very long days and running on 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night, it was great. All the people I meet at the festival were so nice and again all the artists were so appreciative. I hope that I get to go back next year. I will download my pictures and send them out soon.
L