Archive for December, 1997
17
Dec '97
;)
Two days off
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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And I need them, too. Despite failing to get an appointment at my usual chiropractor, I WAS able to make an appointment at another one he recommended… it was not the same, though, and he was totally unable to crack my neck satisfactorily. Sleeping was difficult. I just made an
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16
Dec '97
Birmingham NEC show 2
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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Daniela came back to Birmingham in the car with me. The weather was still very unsettled. The wind made it particularly difficult to drive. We made it back to the venue in time for early soundcheck. I had a photo shoot for Allen & Heath, who supply the mixing consoles for my monitors. That out of the way, Daniela and I had dinner with Pete and his wife, Avril. It’s not often we get to spend a few minutes like this. Things are normally so hectic backstage. Tonight my guests were: the
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15
Dec '97
Birmingham NEC show 1
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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I hardly slept last night. There was a very noisy couple in the room beneath me… I don’t know what kind of “stimulants” they were on, but they were extremely noisy until 5am… by which time I had just about given up any hope of really getting any sleep. Having said that, I was able to drift off until around 11am… which made me feel rather groggy! But at least Hyatt do an “all day” breakfast. The weather has really become cold and extremely windy… Snow is forecast. And driving
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14
Dec '97
Manchester Nynex Arena
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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After a decent night’s sleep, I was ready for tonight’s gig. Billy Trudel and I took a walk downtown.. which was just as crowded with shoppers as yesterday. I took a couple of photos of a huge blow-up Santa climbing the town hall! We all checked out at around 4pm, and made our way to the Nynex Arena, which is just the other side of the downtown area. It’s huge – for a UK venue, anyway! And very modern. Little did we know what was in store for us this evening.
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12
Dec '97
Newcastle Arena
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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I slept well enough. The location of the Copthorne Hotel is right down by the river Tyne, near the old docks… a renovated p[art of the city. They’ve done a great job of reviving the area. I had breakfast, and then went for a swim and a workout… Davey and John Mahon were down there, too. Afterwards, I felt much better. It’s good to get the muscles going again. John Mahon and I went for a salad and a swift hal pint in a pub nearby, bafore checking out, and following the bus to the gig, which
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11
Dec '97
Glasgow SECC
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
tagged:
December 1997&text2=Glasgow SECC&text3=I was in my room, tucking into breakfast, when the alarm went off. The announcement said “there has been an incident, Please evacuate the building…” So I grabbed some clothes, and put them on, found my room key and cell phone, and made my way down the 14 floors (by stairs) to the front of the hotel. Most of the staff and guests were already gathered in the pouring rain, and some staff members were distributing umbrellas. I could see a cascade of HOT water pouring from the roof above the entrance lobby, and the staff were trying to sweep as much of it as possible out of the front door. I’m still unsure about what happened, but it seems a hot water pipe above reception started leaking, and then burst, just as an engineer was having a look at it! The fire brigade took around 20 minutes to arrive, and set about trying to pump out the excess water. In the meantime, we were all escorted into the ballroom to the side of the hotel, and sat there waiting. After a good hour and a half, I was starting to get a bit concerned, because I was due at the gig to sort out my equipment, and Lynette organised for a security guard to accompany me to my room, so I could fetch my stuff, and leave. I finally got to the gig at around 2pm, to discover that the power was STILL off. Luckily, I was told that Elton was coming in an hour later than originally planned, so I had a bit of breathing space. The generator was finally powered up at 2.30pm, and Pete and I then busied ourselves with about 3 hours worth of preparation in an hour and a half! Miraculously, we completed it in time, and Elton arrived at 4, halfway through us running through a couple of songs. He was on fine form… laughing, joking, playing tunes on the piano… We ran several numbers, until we were all satisfied, after which there was time for some food, and a bit of relaxation.Showtime was 8pm: I’m not sure what we were expecting – British crowds tend to me more reserved than those in the US. We managed to get them going, though. By the end of the main set, they were as excited as any crowd I’ve seen in the UK. As we went back on tfor the first encore, Elton said: “Well, you can’t play any better than that!” I agreed. It had been an exceptional gig… everyone played really well. After a brief rest to catch our breath and change, John Jorgenson and I packed the car, and headed off into the traffic. It took us about 25 minutes to get out of the car park, and another 20 minutes getting onto the motorway, we were in the clear, and heading for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and our hotel for the night. The journey was quite uneventful. Traffic was light, and the weather was clear, but cold. We arrived at the hotel by 2am, and collapsed into bed!
I was in my room, tucking into breakfast, when the alarm went off. The announcement said “there has been an incident, Please evacuate the building…” So I grabbed some clothes, and put them on, found my room key and cell phone, and made my way down the 14 floors (by stairs) to the front of the hotel. Most of the staff and guests were already gathered in the pouring rain, and some staff members were distributing umbrellas. I could see a cascade of HOT water pouring from the roof
10
Dec '97
Drive to Glasgow
2000 John Jorgenson & Friends UK Tour
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Up early and pack the car… I was supposed to leave by 9am, but I was waiting for delivery of two new mixing desks, from Allen and Heath. They had them with a “guaranteed before 9″ courier. Needless to say, I finally gave up at 9.20, and left.
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