waldbronn, germany. well i’m leaving for home tomorrow, and am writing from cacavas’ house. spent the day getting last minute crap done. i played the headline show last night in offenburg. not the greatest turnout, but fun nonetheless. chris sat in on 3 songs. he and his son dylan came out for it and then headed back afterwards. i stayed in the hotel and took a train back to his house this morning. the promoter, stefan was super cool and a big fan of the quartet for almost two years now.  he dj’s as well and plays the quartet often. he requested ‘how do you want me’ which i was able to play luckily though i hadn’t planned on it. i’d like to go back to offenburg because it was really a nice town.  also he took us out to dinner at the nicest restaurant of the whole tour with the best food. worth the trip, no? speaking of food, chris is a damn good cook and is upstairs getting a big last dinner ready before my trip home. he’s also cracking a bottle of 15 year old single malt scotch (my big weakness…that and smokes…but am managing to limit those to touring and recording only…hmmm). i will miss him and his family a lot. it was so fun spending time with him on the road and his crew as well…alas, though, i am incredibly homesick and can’t wait to see my wife and daughter. the time is really creeping by right now….i know i’ve mentioned it in some of the other entries, but my plan upon returning home is to try and figure a way for the whole quartet to come back over to europe some time next spring perhaps….in the immediate future i will finish up the last work on the new album (mastering and artwork) and will let everyone know about release dates when i get them…btw, check out chris cacavas at chriscacavas.com and buy his frickin’ records. you won’t be disappointed. he’s way underrepresented and definitely brings the rock. till the next tour, peace out and thanks to everyone who supports the quartet….

writing from waldbronne, germany at chris cacavas’ house. we drove back today from our last show in ebensee, austria. the last few shows were excellent. zurich was super fun, and when we arrived, the promoter asked how many of us there were. we told him five and the next thing we know he’s bringing us five swiss army knives.  no joke. i don’t know, maybe they have to give those things out, but it was so great. at the end of the night he gave us swiss chocolate (again, no joke).  i was all “what now, dude, swiss miss hot chocolate?”  and he was all “get out of my club you dirty american.”  I left with the knife though, so i think i won that little battle. seriously though it was a great show and a really nice venue. we drove a long drive the next day to ebenssee to the same venue i played last february. it’s on a lake surrounded by mountains. almost too beautiful. it’s a little theatre and lots of people came so it was a really fun night. for chris’ encore i jumped on stage and played some guitar on his last song. very rocking and so much fun. afterwards we joined a bunch of the locals at a little pub nearby and stayed there until 5 am….the austrians there drank almost to oblivion.  filipo (chris’ bass player) got some great video. we also challenged some locals to a few games of foosball and pretty much showed them what’s what… this morning we barely got out of bed and drove the 8 hours back to chris’. tomorrow i’m off to my headlining show in offenburg. chris may join me as he sat in at every show on the tour on accordian for a couple of songs which was really great.  so the cacavas portion of the tour is finished. it was very sad saying goodbye to rainer (sound tech, and driver), filipo (bass), and willy (drums). all great guys and i really hope to see them again in the near future.  it was so much fun hanging out with them every night…well, i’ll try and write one more time before i head home on the 11th.  to all the folks who came out to the shows, thank you and i appreciate the support i received on this tour and it was great meeting so many people who had seen me last february and had come out to see me again. i plan on bringing the quartet out for the next tour… peace out.

nurnberg, germany.  we had a great last two shows, halle, and nurnberg. good crowds and good response. chris cacavas’ set is really rocking and he is a great guitar player as well. a pleasure to watch. he and i have been talking about perhaps coming back to europe in the spring to do a duo/acoustic tour where we alternate songs and accompany each other on everything….the tour is coming down to the last few shows. today we have a long drive to zurich, and then on to ebensee, austria. the tour with chris will end there but then i have a solo headlining show in offenburg before i head home. yesterday i bought a 20 euro ukulele to play at the offenburg show. i have to play for about an hour and a half, so i thought i might mix it up a bit. oh, also a super cute dancing monkey in a sailor outfit. the germans will absolutely love it. i’ve name it cluck cluck. i’m not sure why yet. i am missing home, but on the whole, this tour is really fun and everyone is getting along famously.  it is a little weird going back to the same venues where i was for the first time last february. seeing the same cafe’s etc. it is becoming strangely familiar whereas before europe seemed so outside of my everyday experience. i walked into a cafe in frankfurt where i had been on the last tour, and the owner and his wife recognized me when i walked in. jack and i had only gone there maybe three or four times last february, but they remembered….since most of the shows on both tours have been in germany i have now spent a good amount of time here and seen tons of the country. i have really come to appreciate the people and culture…. at every show i get asked when i will return with the quartet…the answer is as soon as possible. i think it is getting to be time, so i’ll try and figure out how to do it when i get back… peace out.