01-24-10 Ghent Belgium: 1818 hrs. Backstage at one of the better looking venues I have been in for some time. This is one beautiful city. Very old, very well built. I am not one for churches so much but the ones here are magnificently built.
I have been looking all over my computer for my show notes to see the last time I was here. I am seeing a band show in 1989 but no talking shows. Usually, I just do a show in Brussels, every great now and then, one in Antwerp as well but that’s pretty much it as far as non festival Belgian dates.
All the UK dates are behind me now. Wolverhampton was last night. Great audience. Actually, the Irish, Scottish and UK shows were all a great time. The weather was kind to us, no snow and no delays.
Touring can be an exercise in tedium. I wake up on the bust and stagger out to the front lounge to see what the new day will bring and go from there. I usually have press to do and then I head out to a gym if possible and then back to the venue or a record store if one is around. Then, it’s sound check and get ready for show time. I hit stage, finish, sometimes get a shower, sometimes not, check some mail and then get out to see who is by the bus. After everyone has left, I get on the bus, hopefully there’s some food waiting for me. I eat, unwind and get into the bunk. That’s touring pretty much in a nutshell for me. Things happen in the day to break things up and I am always working on other things but that’s the basic thing of it. I do my best to keep on things in the news. I get newspapers if I can and read things online. Often there’s a time lag between breaking news and actually getting the information so I do the best I can to keep up.
The recent Supreme Court decision to open up campaign financing is fairly breathtaking. I think it will make future elections interesting to say the least. The idea that Democracy is ours to lose comes to mind. I would hate to think that politicians would be nothing more than an arm of multinational corporations but perhaps they are to a great extent and there won’t be a noticeable change. I am interested in seeing how all this plays out.
I have to get onstage soon. Looking forward to doing shows on the continent. Tomorrow is Brussels, some great record stores to go to. Thanks for reading this. Henry