Spring 2000, Czech Rep., Slovenja & Croatia(With The Blind Doctors)
The idea for this Czech tour came from my friend and booking agent there Stepan Suchochleb(Capricorn Promotions) one year ago. He had found a connection in Moravia to do a series of concerts in this part of the country in city sponsored venues (small concerts verses bars). Those people were not so much interested in solo acts as they were in bands. Stepan proposed the idea of me doing a two week tour in this part of the country with a band of Czech musicians that he knew. I agreed to the idea even though I did not personally know the musicians. I was assured by Stepan that they would be competent. 3 months before the tour began I sent a cassette tape of 10 songs to Prague of the songs that I wanted to play. I first considered sending direct versions of already recorded works but on further consideration I thought why not just send simple acoustic recordings and let the band members themselves come up with their own arrangements. Better for them and more interesting for me.
So Stepan booked the tour from April 11-29 and I arrived 4 days early to rehearse the band and also learn some more songs with them. Not knowing what kind of musicians they were or in which styles they were good at I had waited until my arrival there to finish the song selection. I stayed in a pension (read Soviet made block apartment type building) in the small town of Uherske Hradiste (pop. 6000) where Bob Stranky-guitarist, and Petr Kovarik- bassest lived and we traveled about 20K each day to Kolin to practice in Mareks Slapansky the drummers practice space. The musicians themselves were indeed quite competent with jazz,classical and rock backgrounds. In the end our set list finalized at: Texas Rose, Dead Is Dead, Toss, One Single Rose, Hold On, Little Toes, All For You, Withered Bouquet, I Remember, Strange Love, Ride Hard, Unmet, Maybe This Will Be The One, Hardly Ever Two, I Still Want You, King Of The World and Michigan Weather.
We rented a Ford Transit van and so our adventures began. Slovenia and Croatia were two countries I had tried to visit over the past 4 years but for one reason or another it never worked out. As I was so far east anyway touring in the Czech Republic it made sense to make the effort again and, indeed, this time it all came together. I toured here as a solo act having to take the long 16 train trip from Tabor, CZ. to Ljubjana, Slo. My good friend Chris Eckman (Walkabouts) was visiting Ljubjana during this same time so you can believe me when I say the visit was special indeed. It was 7 days in Slovenia and I played only 3 shows but I had a truly great experience there meeting many kind and generous people. In Croatia I was met by my distributor there, Aleksander Dragas, who had arranged one show for me in Zagreb which is only 3 hours by train from Ljubjana. Aleksander is a great fan of songwriters and live music in general and I'm proud to count him as a new friend. Zagreb is a much bigger city then Ljubjana (300,000 verses 1,000,000) but I had the feeling that the music scene was healthier in Slovenia. Perhaps I am wrong about this as I was only able to spend 3 nights in Croatia. I really enjoyed both countries though.
Alain Le Cloirec:
Lead GuitarThere is quite a bit of difference though between the northern and southern parts of Europe. By this I mean not only topography but in the attitudes and life styles of the people living there and having the chance to visit in the south really made it clear to me. Kind of like the difference between Austin and Boston if you know what I mean. Sincerely I am looking forward to the time when I can revisit these two fine and friendly countries!
Generally speaking the band spent each night in a hotel or pension paid for by the club. The club would also provide a hot meal for each of us or a "buy out" which meant that they would give us the money to eat. I first had the idea of keeping a record of the food I was eating each day as a different kind of "diary" but the food in the Czech Republic is not so special or at least not on the budget we were eating on. Dinners usually would consist of some kind of meat with pork being always offered (vegetarians would have a difficult time in this country!). Always there would be the cabbage of 3 colors and either potatoes or knudle, a kind of flour dumpling which was usually topped by a gravey or sauce. Breakfasts were just rolls, meat or cheese, yogurt, coffee and juice. Lunches were not often taken at all. We would usually have to vacate the rooms by 10 or 11 each morning and so would go to some store to buy food for breakfast. Unlike the rest of Europe, breakfasts were not included in most of the pensions we stayed in. The roads in CZ are really not very good, especially between the small cities and towns that we visited. There are a few major highways connecting the major cites but for the most part we took the smaller highways. One good thing though is that there is not so much traffic on these back roads and so the driving was not so stressful (as compared to Germany for instance).
Benoit Caravec:
Bass guitarThe van was comfortable and with only 4 of us in it there was room for all. You can see from the set list above the songs that were played. Mostly we would start altogether as a band. I would always play a small solo set somewhere in the show, either in the middle or at the end or sometimes both. Marek would join me on stage for a duo on the songs Digging Up Crud and Fools Like Me. The shows generally ran from 90 minutes to 2 hours. It was a good band and we really did play well together. By the end of the tour it was a special show indeed. It's really a shame that a really good recording was not done somewhere along the way but alas, it was not to be. The future perhaps..? (A note about the Czech spellings: This computer of mine does not have the accent markings that most Czech names use. My apologies for the errors).
Tour Diary CZ
11-4 Vimperk. (340 km travel) A nice old 13th century city nestled in the mountains. This was our first gig and we were all a bit nervous. Afterall, we'd only practiced 4 times to get ready all 20 songs we would be playing. Of course I knew the songs but for the band these were songs they'd only heard recently! The venue was a nice little theater and stage, quite modern but the sound men were not! A lot of times in these small cities the sound systems are rented for the evening and in the Czech Republic what you get for the night can be quite challenging.
Sound check for us this night began with the "engineer" plugging my pre-amp directly into the 240-volt system that the Europeans use (the Sunrise Preamp that I have uses the American 120-volt system and so I must use a small transformer to "step up" the power) and blowing a fuse in my system. He thought my pre-amp was the transformer! Arrgg!! He then lied to me about the whole thing which made me furious because I knew exactly what he had done and the blown fuse proved it! In any case the show must go on and we did really play very well for our first gig I think. Not many musicians would put themselves in this kind of situation and Bob, Marek and Petr should be commended for their professionalism and courage. Very friendly audience this night!
12-4 Brno (270 km)- Brno is the second biggest city in CZ and we were expecting a large crowd this night but all of us were surprised by the 170 people that showed up. Thankfully it wasn't our first show! We all played with more confidence that night and the large and friendly audience helped a lot. I think the guys had all played here before in other bands as this venue is quite famous as a rock and alternative music hall. Our biggest show of the tour.
Frank Betermin:
Rhythm guitar13-4 Blansko (33 km)- Up into the mountains just outside of Brno wishing we could take the whole audience with us from the night before. Maybe a few would come up but after seeing the road we doubted that it would happen. It was a lovely drive up into the greening mountains though. I mean we are talking little roads here, ancient things running right besides the river. No fooling but we passed some prehistoric cave dwellings the roads were that old! Blansko is basically a mining/ factory town. We played in a small, dimly lit bar this night. The band was starting to loosen up now and have fun with the music and I think the smallness of this gig helped in that process. A reserved audience (I think I'm the first American they ever saw) but they seemed to enjoy it, especially the lone girl dancer who stood in front of the speakers all night! I managed to leave my camera on a park bench just before the show and of coarse it was not there later when I had discovered my mistake. We also discovered that the van was leaking oil at a rather alarming rate. Rock and roll!
14-4 Day off and so we drove the 105 km back to Uherske Hradiste so the guys could see their girlfriends and I went to the hotel alone. Believe me when I say to that Hradiste is not the hot spot of Czech Rep. This is also rock and roll.
Jean-Philippe Deviq:
Drums15-4 Uherske Hradiste - Home town gig for the boys with lots of family and friends at the show. Klub Mir is a city supported venue nice and dark with a big stage and room for the music. Unfortunately this night I came down with a bad flu and barely made it back to the hotel that night after the show. Temperature of 35 degrees (103)! I spent the next 3 off days in bed trying to recover. Fun fun. Good gig this night even though I was not so much the funny guy. Unfortunately I spent most of the rest of the tour not feeling all that well. If you get sick on the road it's extremely difficult to recover fully. Late nights, strange beds and food make staying healthy a real challenge. Also this flu went to all the other band members and this was really the only negative factor of our time together. I think we all got this sickness from Bobs newborn son Vincernt!
16,17,18-4 off days
19-4 Novy Jicin (91 km)- Back to work today. This show was to be a solo affair for me and so I boarded a bus for the 2 hour trip. Another gig in a city supported venue. A small nice little wood room with plenty of chairs for the 15 people that did take the chance to come and see someone they'd never heard of before. I played well tonight and we all had a lot of fun.
20-4 Valasske Mezirici (19 km)- The band picked me up at 14H00 and I remember it was a bright and lovely spring day but I remember absolutely nothing about this night except that it was a good night for us musically because we were still talking about it the next day. Sorry for this lapse of memory.
21-4 Prerov (50 km)- Prerov proved to be the worst show and day/night of the tour (and maybe of my life). This whole fiasco started off with us driving around for one hour on a hot afternoon looking for the non-existent hotel address. Finally, after much effort, we found the "hotel" which proved to be nothing more than a truckers "flophouse". Filthy and disgusting. I took one look and refused to spend one more minute there. So then it's time to wait for the club to open because the promoter is not answering his phone. 2 hours at a bad tavern with a raving mad pit-bull snarling at the world behind a fence 1 meter from our table. Cool stuff and I am not making this story up. Finally someone shows up at the club 19H00. No soundman. Homemade PA system.
The club is in an old bomb shelter. Cold and ugly. A painted picture of the devil on the wall. No dinner or food. I told them about the hotel and they tried to find us another but it seemed all the rooms were full in the city. At this point I wanted to cancel the whole show which is something I have never done before but there's always a first time for everything. FINALLY- someone finds a couple of rooms by the main train station. The soundmand arrives. End of soundcheck to showtime: 10 minutes. 5 people pay to see the show and sit in the 4 chairs available. Sad, sad. Blah, blah. We pack up and head for the hotel and hot food, arriving at 22H55. Restaurant closes at 23H00! (It's not over yet folks). Bob says we can eat over at the train station so we arrive to find the station is the meeting place for the large population of Gypsys that live in the area. I order a bowl of thin bean soup (about 10 cents) and eat it all under the reproachful eyes of a starving drunkard. Enjoying the drama unfolding in front of my eyes, the most fun I've had all day (we watch some guy beg for his life in tears in front of the local "Don" and his henchman who is cleaning his fingernails with a large and very ugly knife). Back to the hotel for sleep but must wait 2 hours more as my room was directly over the local bar which had the kind of speakers we should have had at the show tonight. The breakfast the next morning was in the hotel restaurant and the name of the place was (Yes it's true) "Texas Tavern" Incredible!!!!
22-4 Ostrava (93 km)- Back to a venue The Blind Doctors and I played in last fall. Ostrava is the mining and industrial center of the Czech Republic. This night was my favorite of the gig as far as our actual playing was concerned (but not the other guys). After all these gigs we were really playing together as band. Having fun with the music instead of just playing the notes. We saw a few friends on this lovely and warm spring night. I like this city.
Benoit...
23-4 Prague (396 km)- A long drive back to the nations capital and my favorite large city in Europe. Prague is simply beautiful. A must see place I believe. Petr got a speeding ticket but for only 300kc. We arrived in the late afternoon and went directly to our hotel which is the coolest place to stay in Prague (Hotel Prokopka). We played this night at the Jazz Club Zelezna in the heart of Prague. I guess this would be about the 5th time I played in this club. This club is a typical basement club, small room, good sound system and professional operator. I've always had good shows here and tonight was no exception. This was the bands favorite show as well. 100 people showed up from all nationalities and we put on a great 2 hour show. 4 encores and they still wanted more! Warm, intimate, funny and an emotional night for all of us. It really is true that an audience and performers together make the evening special. It is not just the band that does it. I certainly did not want to go back to the hotel but, of course, we did. A special night indeed. 24-4 Prague and a day off for us all. We needed it I think and certainly my clothes needed the washing that was done today as well.
25-4 Usti nad Labem (100 km)- A not so long drive up to the northeast of CZ. All of us feeling pretty good after the Prague show but in typical fashion tonight would shoot us all back down to earth again. The club was on the top floor of a huge old factory that had been converted. The music hall was a huge room that could probably hold 500 people. Great big stage and sound system. We were really ready for this night but guess what? 3 people showed up! Apparently no promotion was done for the night at all. The promoter canceled the gig, paid us half the agreed upon money and what could we do? We packed up our stuff and drove to the pension. Check out time the next morning? 9 AM! Glad to be gone from this city.
him again....26-4 Litvinov (50 km)- Litvinov has an excellent hockey team and we stayed right at the hotel located at their skating rink! Cool stuff (I should have bought a jersey). A very nice and lovely little theater. Not so many people tonight but after last night we were happy to see faces again.
27-4 Tabor (231 km)- Our last show and tonight was the coolest venue of the whole tour. A beautifully restored 18th century theater with wonderful acoustics that would make our last show a memorable one indeed. 100 people came out tonight along with the mayor and his wife. Stepan recorded this nights show on his minidisc so I'm hoping that there will be a copy to listen to later. We played a real good show, did 3 encores and then it was over. The band would leave right after the van loaded to make the long 6 hour drive back to Hradiste (Petr and Marek had their theater show to do the next afternoon!) and I would leave the next day for Ljubjana by train. Stepan and I shared a beer back at my hotel and then he too drove away but back to Prague where he lives. The tour was over and I was, once again, solo.
Slovenia and Croatia Diary.
28-4 Ljubjana (12 hours by train from Piran, CZ.)- Ok a long day but in the end there I was for the first time in Slovenia. I was met at the station by Zlato Krec who was acting in my behalf as a booking agent (he's really a radio DJ at the national radio station) and Chris Eckman. I was tired but we immediately went to the hotel where a quick shower, a cold beer and dinner refreshed me sufficiently. I did not play this night but instead had the pleasure of attending a concert featuring perhaps Slovenia's most well know "folk" singer Vlado Kreslin and a bouzouki playing Irishman by the name of Andy Irving. Really a remarkable evening of acoustic music by two fine and talented musicians! Afterwards Chris and I and a few of my new friends went to a rock and roll disco and talked until 5 the next morning. I slept very well that night as you might guess.
29-4 Piran (170 km?)- Zlato and I left in the afternoon for a 2 hour drive to Slovenia's coast. Piran is a lovely port city full of tourists in the spring and summertimes but full of pretty houses and scenary. Tonights gig was in a small little bar that opened up onto a terrace right on the beach. Playing outside underneath a cloudy sky was the show. I had my doubts but in the end all went well with lot's of folks stopping by to listen and say hello. There had been a half page article in the national paper that day about yours truly and surely this helped. A nice beer soaked evening.
30-4 Skofja Loka- Before leaving Piran we were invited to a lunch at Dusan and Gorazd's home. It turned out to be a wonderful seafood feast with lots of good companionship, music, wine and family. I certainly did not want to leave here and really look forward to my return. Duty called though and so it's back to Ljubjana and then 25 km north to an old castle/church (13th century) sitting atop a hill. The gig was inside the keep in a round acoustically perfect room. The nuns pictures stared down on the 100 of us that came to have fun. A wonderful audience. Chris came up and we played 3 songs together a first for both of us (even after all these years!). Afterwards we drove to the top of the mountains located nearby and had a late dinner in a country pub. Nobody was feeling any pain up there that night believe me. Fun, fun.
1,2-4 Ljubjana- Off days for me where I had time to explore the really lovely city of Ljubjana. It was national holidays for everyone and so the city was very quiet which was fine for me.
3-5 Ljubjana- Tonight's show was a live delayed broadcast on the nation radio. Room for about 120 people in a free show. I must say it was really great. I was a little bit nervous at first but the friendly and enthusiastic crowd really made me feel at home. I'm hoping to get a good recording of this nights performance for perhaps a live "bootleg".
4-5 Zagreb, Croatia (3 hours by train)- Easy train trip and I was met by Aleksander Dragas, Glitterhouse's distributor there and the gentleman who arranged this nights concert for me. I was to be the opening act for a local C&W band. About a 150 people crowded into a nice venue but there was a LOT of talking during my set and I was a bit disappointed in the end. Some folks came specifically to hear me though and they did seem happy. It's my understanding that good venues for singer-songwriters are a rarity in Croatia and that's sad. Aleksander told me the story that the same reaction occurred during Steve Earle's concert there recently. Perhaps we can change that with more effort. I know it would make Aleksander happy and also the many fans of acoustic music that I did get the opportunity meet.
That's the short version friends. I spent 2 more days exploring Zagreg and then took the long, long train ride to Paris (18 hours) where I now finish this diary. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have had in reliving those nights. Of course so much more happened then what has been written about here and my apologies to those of you that were left out. Please know that I haven't forgotten you though and all of your contributions will always be remembered. My most heartfelt thanks to everyone who came to the shows and especially those of you who worked to make them all happen for me and the supporters of live music. Ciao for now.
Terry Lee Hale May 12 Paris, France
