Cars, Trucks, Buses..........

So, on goes the drama of my life.
The tour bus kept breaking down and it's quite old so Isaac and I had a walkthrough of the bus and ended up finding a crazy mold growing inside of it. Needless to say the bus is now gone and out of the picture.

Today we took a train to Germany and are looking for a new way to transport 18 people around Europe. Problem is, it's festival season and things aren't looking too good.We are now flying to Berlin from Munich due to the lack of transportation.

The train from Italy through Austria to Germany was absolutely amazing. Talk about the sound of Music, Austria is it.

I arrived in Munich with enought time to take a walk and find an Indian joint to eat in, come back to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow.

It's a bit hectic at the moment, but things should sort themselves out, they always tend to.

Germany is a very clean place. I actually am quite fond of it.

I found these bicycles all over town. Looks like you sit on the back while someone taxi's you around or you rent the bicycle and there is a seat on the back for you to taxi your mate around. I'll find out tomorrow and post the answer.

Johnny Marr, Tom Peloso, (band guys) Ian, Brian, Chris and I all took the train together from Italy to Germany. Everyone else took one last bus ride last night but the five of us refused to get back on it.

It was a fun ride with plent to look at. What a beautiful area. I only wish I had the time to do some hiking.

Wish us luck.....please.

Rome Show

To Ponder.

What is compassion?
It is not simply a sense of sympathy or caring for the person suffering, not simply a warmth of heart toward the person before you, or a sharp clarity of recognition of their needs and pain, it is also a sustained and practical determination to do whatever is possible and necessary to help alleviate their suffering.

Italia

Good News for People who love bad news.

Italy, Great place.
I am going to try and post some pictures when I can but the internet is quite spotty over here.

Rome was magnifico, I finally ate some really good food. Pizza, and Pastas, and Salads and antipasta's you name it we ate it.

The bus had problems again last evening and I didn't sleep well. We are trying to get it fixed at the moment. We made it to the gig and will do the show but it's quite difficult at the moment. Fortunately we have a day off tomorrow in Munich, if we can make it there.

The band and crew awoke after three hours of sleep to what sounded like a drum solo underneath the bus. We made it to Bologna. Problem there was that the hotel didn't have parking so I had the bus driver take us to the gig where I in turn called the hotel to shuttle everyone to the hotel. Took three trips in the pouring rain, lightening and thunder, (which was cool).

For those who have never done this, I don't recommend waking up a rock and roll band at 8:00 am when they went to bed at 4:00 or 5:00.
They are ugly at that time of the morning and usually have turned into trolls. Nothing worse then waking up a troll. They really hate to be bothered.

See, the problem is, there are only so many buses in Europe and this is the festival season and people who are on top of their game reserved their bus this time last year. We got stuck with a pretty shotty bus. Our tour manager keeps saying, "it's Europe thats how things are here" Not the case, but nice try. I mean the food can be bad and the internet is spotty, but transportation can still be comfortable and in working order, this isn' Bogata.

The band is grumpy today as well as the crew due to the bus and the rough ride last night. Hopefully things get fixed before someone goes bananas. I have taken over a lot of responsibilities of the tour manager. I'm learning a lot, wish I was making TM money though.

It's rough right now but it'll get better.

Saving grace is the coffee in Italy.
Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow, it's the real deal.


I miss all of you's and hope that you are all well.

I'll most likely have better news soon.

I do hope that I get to go out with the Flaming Lips here in July, being around those guys will make all of this seem like a dream. Fingers crossed.

Please enjoy your summer, drive less, walk or bicycle more, smile more, frown less,enjoy the simple comforts that you so often take for granted. You don't know how nice things are until you are away from them. Let the folks that you love know that you love them. You never know how many chances you have to tell them that.

I'm having a good time though so no worries. Just dodging bullets and jumping obstacles around every corner. It's good, keeps me on me toes!

Be good and smile.

Much Love,
Shane

All Tomorrows Parties Festival Minehead UK

Bats for Lashes: European Band. I didn't quite get it.

Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse

Minehead England

This was our first stop. It was a festival in the small town of Minehead England. It's on the southeastern part of the Island. It reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The church I am walking out of is from the 1400's. Everything is made of stone and wood and the roofs are all thatched.

The Henge of Stone

Not listening to bagpipes.

Ah Stonehenge, what a lesson that taught me. You see pictures all your life and you get really excited to go and see it and then you get there and someone put up a fence around it and another fence around that and wants you to pay money to have an unobstructed view. And well dollar to pound, lets just say somethings are seen better from far away through metal fences. So that is why you get the Spinal Tap version of Stonehenge.

Oh the pipes the pipes are calling...........

First and foremost I would like to extend a huge thanks to all of my brothers and sisters from India who have travelled all across the world and opened up restaraunts in forein countries. Anyone who has been to Scotland and eaten can attest to this. (Especially if you're a vegetarian)

Oh yeah, I have a feeling that the bagpipes were not invented as a musical instrument. I actually believe that they were invented to scare the hell out of people that may have had plans to invade Scotland.

Buenos Tardes

Hola Amigos

Ah, Barcelona, can somewhere so foreign really seem like home. I cannot read the signs and can barely talk my way through ordering food, but man, have I ever loved a place at first sight and just felt wonderful within minutes of stepping off of the plane.

There is something in the air here. The water, the breeze, it just emits relaxation. It is beautiful and inviting. I wish you could all experience this. It is wonderful.

I purchased a new camera today so I will be posting to this blog again daily as long as I can connect to the internet. It's amazing but a lot of places in England still ahve problems with conncetion, so we will see how Europe goes.

Back to Barcelona, come here for vacation.
It's wonderful.

We are playing a huge festival tomorrow called the Primavera Festival.
Lots of great bands.

I promise to keep up so please keep checking this out and let me know how you are all doing from time to time in an email.

I miss all of you a lot and think of you often and hope that you are all doing well.

Much love.
Shane